It’s a pretty common trope among comics fans that Batman is a bad father. For many, the assertion that the Dark Knight, usually in cape and cowl but in his civilian identity of Bruce Wayne as well, isn’t exactly going to win any awards for parenting has become something cliche. But while in recent years there have been more and more examples of Batman’s paternal skills being surprisingly solid — and more and more fans coming to the vigilante’s defense against those “bad dad” claims — the reality is the accusations aren’t without merit. Batman hasn’t always been a great father. In fact, there have been plenty of times he’s been downright awful.
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While Batman has certainly made major strides and fans have seen him do some truly Great Dad things, like support Damian’s passions outside of wearing a mask and supporting Cassandra through her emotional struggles, Batman has made some pretty egregious mistakes as well. While we will always be rooting for Batman to grow into the best possible version of himself, including in his capacity as a father, here are five things that point to Batman being a bad dad.
1) He Keeps Choosing Actual Children to Be His Sidekicks
Gotham is without question the most dangerous city in the DC universe and Batman’s job is probably the most lethal which is what makes his utilization of actual children as crime-fighting sidekicks not only irresponsible, but poor parenting as well. Dick, Jason, Tim, Damian, even Stephanie and others if you want to extend into Robins that aren’t Batman’s “sons” were all kids when they started joining Batman in the. night. Not only does that pose some practical questions, like how are these kids managing to get their physical needs (like rest) met so that they can remain healthy and attend school and have normal emotional lives and thus, normal human development, but it also just points to Batman essentially creating child soldiers — something that is usually seen as evil when done by anyone else. Certainly not good dad behavior and it comes with a high cost.
2) Jason Todd. Literally Everything About Jason Todd
The high cost of being one of Batman’s child soldiers is one that Jason Todd knows all too well and it’s something that has unfortunately defined everything about him ever since. In fairness, Jason didn’t especially start off from the best place; when Batman pulled him from the street as a replacement for Dick Grayson who had decided that he didn’t want to be Robin anymore, Jason was already a volatile kid. However, instead of doing something to help Jason, Batman made him a Robin but ended up not being able to control him. It all came to a head with Jason inadvertently being delivered right into the hands of the Joker which resulted in the boy’s horrific death.
While Jason ultimately came back Batman’s treatment of Jason in the years since has been wildly uneven and while there have been moments where it’s clear that Batman cares for and just wants the best for Jason, things keep seem to come back around to putting the pair at odds over and over again — and usually because of Batman’s choices.
3) He Once Made Dick Survive By Eating Rats. Yes, Really.
Batman may have called this “training” but I call this abuse and neglect. In All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder by Frank Miller and Jim Lee, part of Dick’s training sees him trapped in the Batcave. Well, trapped is kind of a generous term. Abandoned is more accurate. Left in the Batcave by Batman, Dick is informed that if he gets hungry, he can always just eat rats. Batman then just heads off to live his life and do Bruce Wayne things like it’s no big deal.
Ultimately, Afred comes to Dick’s aid — and takes up for Alfred when Bruce is none too pleased — but the fact that Bruce even thought that this sort of thing was appropriate to do to a child even in the guise of “training” just horrific.
4) He Punched Tim
Tom King’s Batman run put the titular hero through some pretty dark things, but it also saw him do some pretty dark things as well and among those includes him punching Tim Drake. Now, there is a lot to unpack here — Bane was messing with Bruce’s sanity and no one is going to pretend that Bruce was especially emotionally stable during, well, any part of King’s run especially after the whole situation with his wedding to Selina not actually happening. But when Tim attempts to console Bruce who is in obvious distress, telling his father figure that he understands that Bruce would be in pain with everything he’s dealing with, Bruce responds by punching him in the face and screaming that time doesn’t “know a damn thing” about it. There’s just no defending that. It’s not good dad behavior.
5) Multiple Emotional Failings of Damian
Batman’s failings as a father also extend to his lone biological son, Damian. There are a lot of things Batman has gotten wrong when it comes to Damian/ He split up the super team of Dick Grayson’s Batman and Damian’s Robin when Batman came back from the dead and took back the mantle, he frequently seems to struggle with Damian generally, particularly what drives the young man, and in particular, in Shadow War: Alpha #1 he fails to show any real sympathy or even empathy for what Damian is going through. You see, Damian was there when Alfred was murdered by Bane, something that has left deep emotional scars on the boy. But rather than recognizing the child’s guilt, when Batman saves Damian in Shadow War: Alpha #1 — Damian was trying to get Ra’s al Ghul’s body so he could be resurrected — Batman makes a comment about how if he had been there, he would have been able to save Alfred. It’s just emotionally careless and shows that Batman just especially emotionally aware of his son’s needs. It’s something we’re continuing to see in more current comics, with Damian feeling like Batman doesn’t trust him or see anything about him of value, prompting him to decide that he’s walking away from being Robin — and his relationship with Bruce entirely, aka the Bat Family version of no contact.
None of this is to say that Batman can’t grow and change — and again we’ve certainly got examples of Batman doing better as a parent — but as a father, the Dark Knight as a lot of work to do. Might want to hold off on that “Bat Dad of the Year” mug, at least for now.
