Batman vs. Robin (2015) Reaction: We Loved the Twist But Couldn't Get Over Damian's Age

Our overall verdict on Batman vs. Robin coming out of this first watch is that it is the darkest entry we have seen so far in this run of DC animated movies, and we were into it, even though one plot choice at the very end left us stuck.

We want to flag why this one matters if you have not seen it yet: it is the film that properly introduces Damian Wayne as Robin alongside the Court of Owls, and it sets up a family dynamic between Bruce, Damian, Alfred, and Dick Grayson that clearly carries forward into whatever comes next.

The Dollmaker opening set a creepier tone than we expected

We said the movie was "a lot darker than the other ones," and pointed to the Dollmaker sequence right at the start as the reason why, calling the villain "so creepy." We noted that leaning into that torturous, morally messy side of Batman's world felt "very on brand" for the character, since these films keep exploring his battles with morality and what is right and wrong.

Talon's backstory worked as a dark mirror for Damian and Bruce

We were genuinely drawn into the Talon storyline as a foil for the main family. Talon's account of worshipping a father figure who was a thief, wanting desperately to please him, and then being recruited and raised by the Court of Owls after failing to do so, felt like a version of what Damian could become if nobody stepped in. As we put it, "we all just want to belong," and Talon and figures like him "never feel like they belong." We also picked up on Nightwing telling Talon at one point that he "would have made a great Talon," which we thought underlined how close that path was for people in Batman's orbit.

We are still stuck on Damian being sent off at ten years old

The ending, with Bruce agreeing to let Damian go train at a monastery in the Himalayas, is what we kept coming back to. We understood the argument that Damian is exceptionally capable and that he needs to find his own place in the world, but we pushed back hard on the idea of a ten-year-old being allowed to roam and fight crime like that in the first place, especially given how tense and unhealed the father-son relationship still is. As we said on the show, "That's too young. Like 15, 16, different. 10, uh-uh. Uh-uh. That's not it. That's not happening." We also compared it to Talia keeping her own son corralled, joking that "I'm sorry, I'm a woman, I have to pause and be like, don't let your kid just roam like that."

Alfred, Nightwing, and the animation upgrades stood out as highlights

On the positives, we loved finally seeing three generations of crime fighters in the family together, and we were happy to see Alfred physically "throw down" in a fight rather than just support from the sidelines. We also liked Dick Grayson stepping in to try to mediate between Bruce and Damian, pointing out that Dick actually had loving parents before Batman, unlike Damian. On the technical side, we felt the car chase and fight choreography looked more deliberate than in earlier films, and that the fire and liquid effects seemed elevated, which we chalked up to growing production budgets over time.

Do you think Bruce was right to send Damian away to train, or should he have kept him closer to home while they worked things out?