Damian Wayne

It was revealed that Damian’s conception had happened within canon, as Talia al Ghul had manipulated Bruce Wayne. After his conception, Talia had the embryo of Damian removed from her body and grown in an artificial womb, allowing her to manipulate his genetics to perfect his fighting skills. Talia would raise the boy in the League of Assassins, perfecting him into the perfect assassin.

Damian was seven years old when Talia had him spy on Bruce with her. Talia revealed Damian's existence to Bruce Wayne at ten years old and left him in his father's custody in an effort to disrupt Batman's work. Precocious, spoiled, selfish and violent, Damian battled Robin (Tim Drake), whom Damian wanted to replace as Batman's sidekick, and sucker punched him off the T. Rex model in the Batcave. Grounded by Batman, Damian escaped, donned a variant Robin costume made of Jason Todd's old tunic and assorted League of Assassin gear, and got into a fight with the villainous Spook, whom he decapitated. Although misguided and malicious, Damian seemed to genuinely want to aid Batman's war on crime as Damian saw himself as Wayne's true son though that remained unconfirmed. Eventually, Batman confronted Talia, but both Talia and Damian were soon caught in an explosion. They survived the explosion, but a badly injured Damian required transplants of harvested organs, which his mother ordered her physicians to carry out. Damian made a full recovery.

Talia, Head of the Demon, takes Damian to the Australian Outback where he is tutored in the secret history of his grandfather, Ra's al Ghul. Talia is unaware that a former servant of Ra's, named White Ghost, plans to use Damian as a shell for the soul of Ra's to return to Earth. This process would, of course, kill Damian. Talia is able to save her son from his fate at the last minute. However, Ra's is still able to return, as a rotting, shambling undead corpse, still needing Damian to stabilize his form. Damian flees to alert Batman, but he's still pursued by his evil grandfather. Upon entering Wayne Manor, Damian attempts to relay to Robin the fact that Ra's has returned. However, Robin, suspicious of Damian's intentions, does not believe his story and begins a fist fight. Damian flees and encounters Alfred. Before he can effectively relay his news he is attacked by Robin, who perceives Damian's attempt to help a tripping Alfred as an attack, and renews their battle. As they fight, members of the League of Assassins approach the manor with the intention of killing all others within and bringing Damian back to Ra's alive. Damian and Robin (Tim) fight side-by-side against Ra's and his minions, with the help of Nightwing. However, their collaboration is hindered by their very different philosophies of battle, not to mention their strong dislike - even hatred - of each other. Damian is willing to betray Tim at any moment for his own safety. Ra's captures the two and tells Batman that he will use one of them for his own body. Batman offers his own body instead. Ra's refuses the offer, feeling that he needs someone of a younger age. The choices are Robin or Damian. Batman offers a third alternative: "Fountain of Essence," which contains the qualities of a Lazarus Pit. Batman and Ra's go in search of the fountain, leaving Tim, Damian, Nightwing, Alfred, and Talia to battle the Sensei. Damian leaves his mother and Tim to an unknown fate, while he goes off to be with his father. Unfortunately, he ends up captured by Ra's and nearly loses his life. Batman and the others manage to save him, and Talia takes her son and escapes.

Sometime after surviving Ra's resurrection, Damian had sensed that someone is out to get Batman. In response to this, Talia began to formulate a plan. It was later revealed that Bruce Wayne had performed a DNA test on Damian to determine any blood connection between them. After learning of Batman's disappearance, Talia took Damian to Wayne Manor, where they deactivated a series of traps and saved Commissioner James Gordon in the process. Damian rescued Alfred from a burning batcave and the kid took the Batmobile, driving it to Arkham in order to aid Batman against the Black Glove. On the road, Damian knocks an ambulance off a bridge, much to Alfred's dismay. After Batman's apparent death, Damian was left in the care of Alfred Pennyworth and trained by Dick Grayson.

Despite working as Grayson's Robin, Damian expresses a strong willingness to take over the Batman identity himself if Dick is not "up to it." Damian has no respect for Grayson, and tells him that he needs to earn it if he wants his respect.

It is revealed that Damian has begun to visit his father's former friend and enemy Thomas Elliot, also known as Hush, in the prison at the top of Wayne Tower that Dick and Tim put him in, and engages him in chess games. Damian claims that these visits are out of his curiosity for why Hush would alter his appearance to that of Bruce Wayne's. But Hush suspects that the visits are rather Damian's form of grieving for Bruce and a way to "spend time with your old man."

It becomes apparent that Grayson had chosen Damian instead of Tim because he sees Tim as an equal and not a sidekick. He chose Damian as he feels his character needs developing or he could be like Jason. Still, Damian mocks Drake and offers him the position of Batgirl, causing Tim to lash out and become the Red Robin and search the globe for Bruce Wayne, who Tim believes is still alive. After his first fight alongside Dick, Damian gets upset with Grayson and goes looking for the villain Professor Pyg himself. The Professor captures him, or rather, is led to believe so by Damian, who is in complete control of the situation, waiting for the right moment to make his move. Despite his good intentions, however, Damian is still overpowered by a large number of Dollotrons. Bent on catching Pyg, he is saved only by the timely intervention of Dick Grayson. While pursuing Pyg, he overlooks an earlier promise he had made to Sasha (a promise to save her and take her to safety), the only Dollotron who has an intact personality. As a result, the young girl's sanity is bent by her traumatic ordeal and disfigurement, ripe for the Red Hood to sway to his side, as her opposite number in the Red Hood battle against crime. The two are eventually defeated by Grayson and Damian.

It appears that under Dick's teachings, Damian has begun to grow a conscience and has even demonstrated signs of empathy, particularly towards children. This is demonstrated by his behavior during a mission with the new Azrael and more recently during a Christmas case, in which Damian and Dick find the bodies of several dismembered kids, causing Damian to vomit in horror.

Damian and Dick came to a blow with Stephanie Brown, the new Batgirl, and Barbara Gordon, who acts as her mentor. However, even though Stephanie and Damian initially do not get along, he is intrigued by the new Batgirl, watching her in an attempt to "figure out what makes 'Stephanie Brown' tick" (something said while drawing a stick-figure Batgirl in the snow).