Batman and Robin – 40

Synopsis

Answering the call of the Justice League, Damian Wayne now flies among its heaviest hitters, on the way to stop a creature attacking an island off the coast of Nagasaki. Ahead of their arrival, Batman scans the creature and discovers that it is completely cybernetic, allowing him to give his son a rare okay on inflicting maximum damage to an opponent – facilitated by the emptiness of Ghost Island. It is imperative, though, that they destroy it before it gets to the mainland and harms innocents.

Discovering a hitherto unknown ability to use heat-vision, Damian partners with Superman in taking down the creature’s extremities. Cleverly, he teams with Shazam to shove a radio tower down the creature’s throat, and use it as a lightning rod, to take the brunt of the bolt that comes when Shazam says his name. This destroys the monster, and despite their pride in him, Damian is still rather arrogant about his being responsible for their success, suggesting that the League should feel free to contact him should he be needed on a future mission. After Damian has got into the safety of the Batplane, Bruce takes Superman and Wonder Woman aside to thank them for helping to arrange a low-stakes threat that he could use to help drain Damian of his power. Returning to the plane to take Damian home, Batman says nothing of the true nature of their mission.

That evening, Bruce admits that he is not upset to learn that Damian’s powers are failing. He doesn’t know what the nature of Damian’s powers was, but he is glad they are gone. Being just Damian is going to have to be enough for his son. Damian admits that it will have to be, but he will miss flying. Alfred interrupts to point out that the Bat-Signal is shining in the sky, and father and son hurry to the Batcave and beyond, to face whatever threatens Gotham. En route, Damian notes that his father is smiling. Bruce is just happy to be back to normal.