Fandom Overview: The Batfamily
Greetings, fellow humans. I'm lyraeinne, here at last to bring you the overview for DC's Batfamily. Be warned that there are a few spoilers for recent developments in the comics, most notably identity issues regarding Batman, Robin, and Batgirl.
Robin: Year One - Batman cuddles his poor, mutilated Robin.
In the simplest terms, the Batfamily is a blanket designation used by fans and creators to describe a number of ongoing series and minis published by DC Comics. The defining factor uniting them is that they all typically revolve around the adventures of Batman and his ever shifting network, or “family,” of fellow vigilantes, most of whom were inspired or trained and mentored directly by Bruce Wayne himself. Popular and long-running titles include Batman, Detective Comics, Robin, and Nightwing, but the list changes and evolves continuously as the stories themselves require it.
Batfamily stories are generally distinguished by a number of fairly unique features, the most obvious of which is the almost universal lack of actual superpowers among Batfamily members. They kick ass because they work hard for every bit of it, fighting injury and trauma and (in Batman’s case at least) ever encroaching age, every one of them knowing that this night, any night, could be the night the Joker doesn’t miss. The night they don’t get to the antidote in time. The night a random thug finally gets off a lucky shot.
The Resurrection of Ra’s al Ghul - Dick cuddles an angst ridden Tim.
It’s enough to make anyone a little crazy, really, but surprisingly it’s also part of what makes them a family rather than just your standard set team of superheroes. In one way or another they’re all lost souls, lacking blood ties entirely or disconnected on some level from the ones they do have. As much as they're motivated by altrusim, crime-fighting is also a weirdly intrinsic way to build and maintain a sense of familial love and acceptance, as well as a safety valve to blow off the pain of being victimized by violence or abandoned by loved ones.
For the sake of simplicity I’ll be sticking mostly to the current, mainstream version of continuity here, but it is worthwhile to point out that with a sliding timeline, seventy years of meta-history, and dozens of canon AUs to boot, there are a hell of a lot of different (and often really contradictory) takes on the same characters floating around out there. As you can probably imagine, continuity in this universe can often be a sticky, hard thing to tease through when you’re attempting to follow even one character, let alone a relatively large and diverse collection of them. That said however, a good first step in understanding the Batfamily is (naturally) understanding Batman.
Gotham Knights #6 - Hair kisses for Oracle.
Major Characters:
The Core
Bruce Wayne (Batman I)
When he was eight, or ten, or twelve years old (depending on the current retcon), Bruce watched his parents bleed to death in a dark alley, and that is really all you need to know about Batman. It’s what gives Bruce his motivation and what leaves him cold and empty; the source of his insanity and the reason for those superhuman feats of selflessness he does manage to pull off from time to time. Armed with an unrelentingly cool selection of Bat-gadgets and plagued with more issues than most functioning supervillains, he dedicated himself from an early age to becoming the ultimate crime-fighting machine, striving always for uncompromised physical and mental perfection at the expense of virtually every other aspect of his life. His social skills can suck quite a bit as a result, but despite that he’s served as inspiration and (often reluctant) mentor to virtually every non-meta vigilante in Gotham city. At the moment he's currently deceased, but don't worry. He'll be back. Most often shipped with Clark Kent, Selina Kyle, or Dick Grayson.
Dick Grayson (Robin I, Nightwing, Batman II)
Introduced in 1940 in an undisguised attempt to “lighten up” the oppressively dark Batman, Dick’s arrival in canon almost universally heralds the beginning of the Batfamily proper. After watching his parents plunge to their deaths during a circus performance, he was taken in by a sympathetic Bruce Wayne and became Batman’s earliest (and in some versions only) protégé, partner, and friend. As Robin, Dick is distinguished primarily by virtually unmatched acrobatics and an adorable propensity for horrendous puns, as well as an unprecedented talent for being kidnapped and tied to things. Within modern continuity he was also the first of Batman’s partners to break away and redefine himself in a more adult and indepedant identity, but even as Nightwing he remains an intrinsically important member of Batman’s family, big brothering the younger kids, kicking an impressive amount of ass both singularly and with his family, and tirelessly braving that daunting wall of Bat-angst in the interest of inspiring Bruce to talk about his feelings. Heaven forbid.
Following Bruce's recent death he retired Nightwing at last to don his own version of the Bat-cowl, taking on Damian Wayne as the newest Robin. Due to his naturally friendly, affectionate demeanor, Dick ships tend to be scattered and diverse in the larger DCU, but within the Batfamily circle alone, frequent suspects include Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake, or Barbara Gordon.
Alfred Pennyworth (Alfred Pennyworth)
After the death of Bruce’s parents it was Alfred, their butler, who took on the full responsibility of raising him. In the years since then he’s weathered the majority of the insanity and depression that followed, becoming by default one of the most invaluable components of Batman’s support system in the process. He cleans the house, he fixes the costumes, he patches the wounds (not even just the physical ones), and he plays referee and double-advocate in family spats. And, not only did he raise Bruce and Dick almost single-handedly, but he’s also contributed to the upbringing of virtually every other Batkid who ever happened to wander under Bruce’s wing. He’s also one of the few who can and will give Batman the smackdown when need be.
Sadly, there really isn’t much fic focusing exclusively on Alfred, but his role in the Batfamily is so integral you’d be hard pressed to find a story anywhere in which he doesn’t make an appearance in some form.
Tim Drake (Robin III, Red Robin)
Tim’s relationship to the Batfamily began when he also happened to inadvertently witness the deaths of Dick Grayson’s parents, an incident that eventually led him to devote much of his early life to an only slightly creepy and disturbing obsession with Dick, and by extension Batman and Robin. He landed a spot in the Robin-suit himself while attempting to reunite the original dynamic duo, and while he failed at convincing Dick to put the green panties back on again, his presence in the family did provide the necessary catalyst for Bruce and Dick to finally reconcile.
As Robin, Tim was one of the few members of the Batfamily who, until fairly recently, still maintained a separate civilian identity with no obvious ties to Bruce Wayne. And, while he’s certainly no slouch in the department of kickass, his best weapon in the war on crime will always be his intellect and mad detective skills. Dick loves him, Bruce loves him (in his own slightly dysfunctional way), and fandom, by and large, tends to love him as well. Most often shipped with Dick Grayson, Stephanie Brown, or Kon-El.
Barbara Gordon (Batgirl I, Oracle)
As the daughter of Commissioner Gordon, Babs grew up with the concept of Batman as something significantly more concrete than the abstract ideal held by most of the city. From an early age she took that cue as a challenge, self-training under a grueling regiment and persisting relentlessly until Batman and Robin finally had no choice but to take notice. Thus, she became the first member of the Batfamily to become a superhero through sheer fortitude and determination rather than a reaction to personal tragedy or direct help or guidance from Batman himself. Or, you know, help or guidance from anyone at all. Not that Babs really would have needed it, of course.
Shortly after voluntarily choosing to hang up the cowl for a while to reevaluate her priorities, she was brutally shot by the Joker and paralyzed from the waist down. But, rather than giving up the fight and resigning herself to her disability, she instead utilized her ridiculous, frightening, scary sharp intelligence to redefine herself as the computer network and information gatherer Oracle, and thus became even more indispensable to the rest of the Batfamily. Most often shipped with Dick Grayson or Dinah Lance.
Cassandra Cain (Batgirl II)
Cass was initially raised by her father to be the ultimate human weapon, deprived of all sources of language from birth in order to help her develop an extraordinary ability to read her opponents through their body language. When she began to realize the fallacy in his methods and philosophy, she ran away from home and fell in with the Batfamily, taken in and mentored by Barbara Gordon and Bruce Wayne, and accepting the mantle of Batgirl with the approval of both. While she eventually did gain the ability to speak, reading and writing remained a challenge for her, as did her intense guilt and shame in association with the physical and psychological abuse she suffered at the hands of her father. She’s a multi-faceted and unusual character, tough, smart, but easy to misread due to her lack of natural social skills. Fandom tends to ship her most often with her close friend, Stephanie Brown.
Newcomers, Former Members, and Rotating Cast
Stephanie Brown (Spoiler, Robin IV, Batgirl III)
Steph began fictional life as a supporting character in the Robin title, fighting crime on the outskirts of Gotham as the self-made teen vigilante Spoiler. After gaining her own fairly substantial fanbase, she’s floated in and out of the immediate circle of the larger Batfamily, gradually building connections to the other characters and continuing to distinguish herself by being relatively awesome in spite of having virtually no help or recognition from anyone else. She’s fun, cute, frighteningly persistent, and amazingly likable in almost every way. Following Tim Drake’s retirement from the Robin role she served a short stint in the costume before being killed off during War Games, though unrelenting fan love and support spawned a recent resurrection and subsequent rebirth for her character. Most often shipped with Cassandra Cain or Tim Drake.
Damian Wayne (Robin V)
As the (alleged) illegitimate child of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul, Damian was created and engineered specifically for the purpose of becoming as badass a killing machine as humanely possible. Raised mostly by assassins and monsters and chock full of entitlement issues, he’s abrasive, angry, attention-starved, and more than a little unhealthily obsessed with his father’s legacy. Fans tend to be rather hit or miss with the kid, but love him or not, he can be counted on to shake up the status quo whenever he appears. Recent canon has him taking on the mantle of Robin alongside new Batman, Dick Grayson. Given that he’s canonically still a pre-teen Damian shipping is a bit sparse at the moment, but there has been a nice influx of future fic recently reaturing Damian paired with various other Robins.
Jason Todd (Robin II, Red Hood)
Jason had the tragic misfortune of being the second kid to don the Robin-suit, dumped by Bruce into the panties with little prior training and saddled with a lot of the baggage of his predecessor as a result. Already burdened with a host of issues of his own related to beginning life fending for himself on the street, Jason’s term as Robin was brief, and cut tragically short by his brutal death at the hands of the Joker. Devastated by the loss, Jason’s murder became a powerful symbol for Bruce and by extension the rest of the Batfamily, a status quo that lasted nearly twenty years until his recent resurrection. Since then he’s floated around the DCU most often as the villain Red Hood, lethally punishing criminals and occasionally battling it out with various members of his adopted family.
He’s the Robin who tends to get the least love in canon and fanon, the Jan Brady, the black sheep of a family he’s never quite managed to belong to. I’d feel sorry for him, but then he might shoot me in the face. Most often shipped with fellow Robins.
Batman/Nightwing: Bloodborne (now with helpful, self-slashing properties) - Dick cuddles a frozen and unconscious Bruce.
Fandom Resources:
Databases of General canon information
DC Wiki
Titans Tower
General fic indexes, rec communities, and fanwork resources
dcfic_index - General recs
dcu_slash_index - General recs
dc_ficfinders - For all your fic-finding needs
batfic_betas - For all your Batfic beta-ing needs
batfic - For any and all Batfic
Discussion boards and communities
Scans_Daily 2.0 - For scans and discussion of comics in general
noscans_daily - For discussion of comics in general
Newsarama - For discussion of comics in general
Character/Ship fan comms
we_love_damian - Love for Damian Wayne
robin_daily - Love for any and every Robin
we_love_dick - Love for Dick Grayson
batknights - Love for Bruce Wayne/Dick Grayson
batcat_fic - Love for Bruce Wayne/Selina Kyle
bruce_love - Love for Bruce Wayne
robincest - Love for Robin on Robin
dick_tim - Love for Dick Grayson/Tim Drake
Bruce loves his boys.
Robin: Year One - Batman cuddles his poor, mutilated Robin.
In the simplest terms, the Batfamily is a blanket designation used by fans and creators to describe a number of ongoing series and minis published by DC Comics. The defining factor uniting them is that they all typically revolve around the adventures of Batman and his ever shifting network, or “family,” of fellow vigilantes, most of whom were inspired or trained and mentored directly by Bruce Wayne himself. Popular and long-running titles include Batman, Detective Comics, Robin, and Nightwing, but the list changes and evolves continuously as the stories themselves require it.
Batfamily stories are generally distinguished by a number of fairly unique features, the most obvious of which is the almost universal lack of actual superpowers among Batfamily members. They kick ass because they work hard for every bit of it, fighting injury and trauma and (in Batman’s case at least) ever encroaching age, every one of them knowing that this night, any night, could be the night the Joker doesn’t miss. The night they don’t get to the antidote in time. The night a random thug finally gets off a lucky shot.
The Resurrection of Ra’s al Ghul - Dick cuddles an angst ridden Tim.
It’s enough to make anyone a little crazy, really, but surprisingly it’s also part of what makes them a family rather than just your standard set team of superheroes. In one way or another they’re all lost souls, lacking blood ties entirely or disconnected on some level from the ones they do have. As much as they're motivated by altrusim, crime-fighting is also a weirdly intrinsic way to build and maintain a sense of familial love and acceptance, as well as a safety valve to blow off the pain of being victimized by violence or abandoned by loved ones.
For the sake of simplicity I’ll be sticking mostly to the current, mainstream version of continuity here, but it is worthwhile to point out that with a sliding timeline, seventy years of meta-history, and dozens of canon AUs to boot, there are a hell of a lot of different (and often really contradictory) takes on the same characters floating around out there. As you can probably imagine, continuity in this universe can often be a sticky, hard thing to tease through when you’re attempting to follow even one character, let alone a relatively large and diverse collection of them. That said however, a good first step in understanding the Batfamily is (naturally) understanding Batman.
Gotham Knights #6 - Hair kisses for Oracle.
Major Characters:
The Core
Bruce Wayne (Batman I)
When he was eight, or ten, or twelve years old (depending on the current retcon), Bruce watched his parents bleed to death in a dark alley, and that is really all you need to know about Batman. It’s what gives Bruce his motivation and what leaves him cold and empty; the source of his insanity and the reason for those superhuman feats of selflessness he does manage to pull off from time to time. Armed with an unrelentingly cool selection of Bat-gadgets and plagued with more issues than most functioning supervillains, he dedicated himself from an early age to becoming the ultimate crime-fighting machine, striving always for uncompromised physical and mental perfection at the expense of virtually every other aspect of his life. His social skills can suck quite a bit as a result, but despite that he’s served as inspiration and (often reluctant) mentor to virtually every non-meta vigilante in Gotham city. At the moment he's currently deceased, but don't worry. He'll be back. Most often shipped with Clark Kent, Selina Kyle, or Dick Grayson.
Dick Grayson (Robin I, Nightwing, Batman II)
Introduced in 1940 in an undisguised attempt to “lighten up” the oppressively dark Batman, Dick’s arrival in canon almost universally heralds the beginning of the Batfamily proper. After watching his parents plunge to their deaths during a circus performance, he was taken in by a sympathetic Bruce Wayne and became Batman’s earliest (and in some versions only) protégé, partner, and friend. As Robin, Dick is distinguished primarily by virtually unmatched acrobatics and an adorable propensity for horrendous puns, as well as an unprecedented talent for being kidnapped and tied to things. Within modern continuity he was also the first of Batman’s partners to break away and redefine himself in a more adult and indepedant identity, but even as Nightwing he remains an intrinsically important member of Batman’s family, big brothering the younger kids, kicking an impressive amount of ass both singularly and with his family, and tirelessly braving that daunting wall of Bat-angst in the interest of inspiring Bruce to talk about his feelings. Heaven forbid.
Following Bruce's recent death he retired Nightwing at last to don his own version of the Bat-cowl, taking on Damian Wayne as the newest Robin. Due to his naturally friendly, affectionate demeanor, Dick ships tend to be scattered and diverse in the larger DCU, but within the Batfamily circle alone, frequent suspects include Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake, or Barbara Gordon.
Alfred Pennyworth (Alfred Pennyworth)
After the death of Bruce’s parents it was Alfred, their butler, who took on the full responsibility of raising him. In the years since then he’s weathered the majority of the insanity and depression that followed, becoming by default one of the most invaluable components of Batman’s support system in the process. He cleans the house, he fixes the costumes, he patches the wounds (not even just the physical ones), and he plays referee and double-advocate in family spats. And, not only did he raise Bruce and Dick almost single-handedly, but he’s also contributed to the upbringing of virtually every other Batkid who ever happened to wander under Bruce’s wing. He’s also one of the few who can and will give Batman the smackdown when need be.
Sadly, there really isn’t much fic focusing exclusively on Alfred, but his role in the Batfamily is so integral you’d be hard pressed to find a story anywhere in which he doesn’t make an appearance in some form.
Tim Drake (Robin III, Red Robin)
Tim’s relationship to the Batfamily began when he also happened to inadvertently witness the deaths of Dick Grayson’s parents, an incident that eventually led him to devote much of his early life to an only slightly creepy and disturbing obsession with Dick, and by extension Batman and Robin. He landed a spot in the Robin-suit himself while attempting to reunite the original dynamic duo, and while he failed at convincing Dick to put the green panties back on again, his presence in the family did provide the necessary catalyst for Bruce and Dick to finally reconcile.
As Robin, Tim was one of the few members of the Batfamily who, until fairly recently, still maintained a separate civilian identity with no obvious ties to Bruce Wayne. And, while he’s certainly no slouch in the department of kickass, his best weapon in the war on crime will always be his intellect and mad detective skills. Dick loves him, Bruce loves him (in his own slightly dysfunctional way), and fandom, by and large, tends to love him as well. Most often shipped with Dick Grayson, Stephanie Brown, or Kon-El.
Barbara Gordon (Batgirl I, Oracle)
As the daughter of Commissioner Gordon, Babs grew up with the concept of Batman as something significantly more concrete than the abstract ideal held by most of the city. From an early age she took that cue as a challenge, self-training under a grueling regiment and persisting relentlessly until Batman and Robin finally had no choice but to take notice. Thus, she became the first member of the Batfamily to become a superhero through sheer fortitude and determination rather than a reaction to personal tragedy or direct help or guidance from Batman himself. Or, you know, help or guidance from anyone at all. Not that Babs really would have needed it, of course.
Shortly after voluntarily choosing to hang up the cowl for a while to reevaluate her priorities, she was brutally shot by the Joker and paralyzed from the waist down. But, rather than giving up the fight and resigning herself to her disability, she instead utilized her ridiculous, frightening, scary sharp intelligence to redefine herself as the computer network and information gatherer Oracle, and thus became even more indispensable to the rest of the Batfamily. Most often shipped with Dick Grayson or Dinah Lance.
Cassandra Cain (Batgirl II)
Cass was initially raised by her father to be the ultimate human weapon, deprived of all sources of language from birth in order to help her develop an extraordinary ability to read her opponents through their body language. When she began to realize the fallacy in his methods and philosophy, she ran away from home and fell in with the Batfamily, taken in and mentored by Barbara Gordon and Bruce Wayne, and accepting the mantle of Batgirl with the approval of both. While she eventually did gain the ability to speak, reading and writing remained a challenge for her, as did her intense guilt and shame in association with the physical and psychological abuse she suffered at the hands of her father. She’s a multi-faceted and unusual character, tough, smart, but easy to misread due to her lack of natural social skills. Fandom tends to ship her most often with her close friend, Stephanie Brown.
Newcomers, Former Members, and Rotating Cast
Stephanie Brown (Spoiler, Robin IV, Batgirl III)
Steph began fictional life as a supporting character in the Robin title, fighting crime on the outskirts of Gotham as the self-made teen vigilante Spoiler. After gaining her own fairly substantial fanbase, she’s floated in and out of the immediate circle of the larger Batfamily, gradually building connections to the other characters and continuing to distinguish herself by being relatively awesome in spite of having virtually no help or recognition from anyone else. She’s fun, cute, frighteningly persistent, and amazingly likable in almost every way. Following Tim Drake’s retirement from the Robin role she served a short stint in the costume before being killed off during War Games, though unrelenting fan love and support spawned a recent resurrection and subsequent rebirth for her character. Most often shipped with Cassandra Cain or Tim Drake.
Damian Wayne (Robin V)
As the (alleged) illegitimate child of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul, Damian was created and engineered specifically for the purpose of becoming as badass a killing machine as humanely possible. Raised mostly by assassins and monsters and chock full of entitlement issues, he’s abrasive, angry, attention-starved, and more than a little unhealthily obsessed with his father’s legacy. Fans tend to be rather hit or miss with the kid, but love him or not, he can be counted on to shake up the status quo whenever he appears. Recent canon has him taking on the mantle of Robin alongside new Batman, Dick Grayson. Given that he’s canonically still a pre-teen Damian shipping is a bit sparse at the moment, but there has been a nice influx of future fic recently reaturing Damian paired with various other Robins.
Jason Todd (Robin II, Red Hood)
Jason had the tragic misfortune of being the second kid to don the Robin-suit, dumped by Bruce into the panties with little prior training and saddled with a lot of the baggage of his predecessor as a result. Already burdened with a host of issues of his own related to beginning life fending for himself on the street, Jason’s term as Robin was brief, and cut tragically short by his brutal death at the hands of the Joker. Devastated by the loss, Jason’s murder became a powerful symbol for Bruce and by extension the rest of the Batfamily, a status quo that lasted nearly twenty years until his recent resurrection. Since then he’s floated around the DCU most often as the villain Red Hood, lethally punishing criminals and occasionally battling it out with various members of his adopted family.
He’s the Robin who tends to get the least love in canon and fanon, the Jan Brady, the black sheep of a family he’s never quite managed to belong to. I’d feel sorry for him, but then he might shoot me in the face. Most often shipped with fellow Robins.
Batman/Nightwing: Bloodborne (now with helpful, self-slashing properties) - Dick cuddles a frozen and unconscious Bruce.
Fandom Resources:
Databases of General canon information
DC Wiki
Titans Tower
General fic indexes, rec communities, and fanwork resources
dcfic_index - General recs
dcu_slash_index - General recs
dc_ficfinders - For all your fic-finding needs
batfic_betas - For all your Batfic beta-ing needs
batfic - For any and all Batfic
Discussion boards and communities
Scans_Daily 2.0 - For scans and discussion of comics in general
noscans_daily - For discussion of comics in general
Newsarama - For discussion of comics in general
Character/Ship fan comms
we_love_damian - Love for Damian Wayne
robin_daily - Love for any and every Robin
we_love_dick - Love for Dick Grayson
batknights - Love for Bruce Wayne/Dick Grayson
batcat_fic - Love for Bruce Wayne/Selina Kyle
bruce_love - Love for Bruce Wayne
robincest - Love for Robin on Robin
dick_tim - Love for Dick Grayson/Tim Drake
Bruce loves his boys.