Batmans' Grief Induced Madness

To be fair I think Batmans' handling Damian death pretty well in most titles. But Batman and Robin? Not so much. The things he does there are so over the top that you have to wonder if Bruce has lost it and needs to be locked up for everyones' safety. Since many of us are wondering how far he'll go to piss off the people trying to help him I decide to map out Batmans' many crazy schemes and how he screws over his family. I'll be adding to this as the story goes on.

Damian:

 

Yep, I'm adding Damian to this list because Bruce sure as hell isn't considering him. This is a kid that grew up surviving on clone parts when he was seriously injured and heard all about the pit his grandfather uses. He learns that side of the family isn't as great as he once thought and fights the undead in various books. (The Black Lanterns, the zombie things prior to DOTF, and vampires.) We don't know if he wants to return from the dead or what he even thinks of the idea. Bruce is obsessed with bringing him back and his first method has to do with reusing the process that created the Frankenstein monster. To do this he stole bodies (that were donated for science just not for that) to help him tamper in gods' domain. Think about that for a moment. He was going to make Damian into a undead zombie like creature. One that never aged and was made from parts of other dead people by taking apart this first version while he was awake.

 

I think we'd all agree Damian would never want that to happen. His father would have crossed a line to do something very Al Ghul like, maybe even worse than anything Ras would do. He would be a monster, likely hating himself and his father for his thoughtless actions. Like Frank said it would have been a horrible thing to do. Remember this was Bruces' first idea for bringing him back.

Tim:

Bruce has been a bit of an ass to his older sons before Damians' death and I'm only mentioning this with Tim because how little the two have interacted recently. During DOTF Bruces' reaction to Tim is the most curious. He debates things with the others, tries soothing Barbara, feels frustrated that Jason's reminding him of past failures with the Joker, annoyed that Dick is forcing this and Tim? Bruce tells him to be quiet before he can finish, cutting him off a couple of times. I think RR came across fairly logical and in control of his emotions all things considered. Bruce is cold to him, bitter at the apparent abandonment of most of the family and says that Damian is the only one that deserves better. (Which is ironic considering Bruces' actions.) Things even turn physical when he throws a punch before pinning his former sidekick to the wall. Tim tries to bring some sanity into the situation only to get dismissed forcing him to take a more direct course of action. His hope that Bruce understands is in vain. No words are exchanged just a cold look as Bruce leave him to put Frank back together. All things considered Tim got off fairly easy but of course his efforts are ignored by his ungrateful mentor.

Bruce was acting insane, Tim stopped him and what did he get out of it? Cruel words, coldness and a punch to the face.

 

Jason:

 

I said most of this so I'll don't have much to add. Although I did read a review with someone claiming Bruce was doing Jason a favor by making him face his worse memories. No, he wasn't. Nothing about that was about Jason, which was one of the reasons it pissed him off. He was starting to move on from his past when Bruce triggered his PTSD making the memories so bad that Jason went to literally remove them in his own title. In RHATO he's said that his first memory post death was in the pit. These are some lovely post-death memories that were shown preboot that Bruce likely brought back.

Waking up in his own coffin then having to dig his way out.

 

Having the injuries prior to his death return and almost kill him again. This resulted in a coma.

 

 

Of course that part will likely be cut out as will the section with him living on the street and being attacked while brain damaged from the blows to the head Joker gave him. But they did mention Jason not being all there before the pit so that part's still canon. Maybe the Al Ghuls still had their ninjas trigger his muscle movement by attacking the brain damaged kid?

 

 

Gotta say, I think this is literally the worst thing Bruce has ever done. He's seriously emotionally and mentally scarred his son further. Hard to imagine him topping that in the coming months. Guess who isn't winning father of the year in 2013?

 

Barbara:

 

Not really one of his kids per se but all he really did was yell at her. I kind of thought she deserved it so not much to add here.

 

Selina:

 

Definitely not one of his kids but she's sort of in the family since she's pretty much the one for him and in some canon the mother of his daughter. Bruce was a little miffed at her but he actually made amends for previously dickish behavior. Selina's the only one that didn't know what he was going through since this version isn't as close as she used to be.

 

Dick:

 

Although he's mad at Bruce in other titles he shows up here and for whatever reason Bruce isn't a complete ass to him.

 

Alfred:

 

I always get the impression Bruce forgets Alfred has feelings or cares about their family too. This is the second time he's up his own grief over Alfred's, the first being Jason's death but that one was never acknowledged.