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factual-flittermouse · 4 days

Note

Hii i love your Dick and Tim series and I love them too, I’m not sure if u take requests, but it would be so nice if you could fine times where Dick and Tim referred to each other as brothers. Or maybe Dick calling tim little brother ( I’m a sucker for that)

Top 10 Moments of Dick and Tim Being Brothers

Thank you for this delightful ask, wonderful person, I get emotional about this too. ❤ Let's do this! Here are some of my favorite moments through the years of Dick and Tim getting called brothers.

(in chronological order b/c I’m a nerd & also b/c it lets us save the best for last)

1. “He’s family. The closest thing to a brother I’ll ever have.” (Nightwing 6)

Dick and Tim have been getting increasingly closer over time, but this is a milestone: the first time Dick describes Tim as family.

In this comic, Tim is Dick’s first visitor in Blüdhaven, and at first Dick’s a bit suspicious, wondering if Bruce sent him to spy. But nope: Tim came on his own, and he insists he’s not going to say anything to Bruce if Dick doesn’t want him to. This is a big deal to Dick, whose relationship with Bruce is still rocky.

(I consider this agreement a key moment in their relationship. You can’t become honorary brothers until you’ve agreed on the key rule of brotherhood: no tattling!)

Later that day, when Tim gets caught in an ambush by mobsters, Dick tears through a bunch of enemies to save him, and thinks about how Tim’s like a brother to him.

2. “Got a friend visiting.” "Anyone I know?" “Little brother." (Secret Origins 80-Page Giant)

This is the first time Dick calls Tim his little brother!

By this time, Tim’s regularly visiting Blüdhaven, and Dick and Tim have gotten very close outside the masks. Tim is best man at Dick’s fake wedding, Dick tells Tim about his plan to infiltrate the police, Tim confides about his new girlfriend and her pregnancy, etc.

(You know they’re really becoming siblings, though, because they both have judgy opinions about each other’s relationship choices.)

In this comic, Tim’s hanging out in Dick’s apartment when Babs calls. She doesn't yet know Robin's secret identity, so when she asks if anyone's there, Dick first tells her it's a friend... and then says it’s his little brother. Well then, Babs says, she's got a case! Dick asks if Tim’s got his uniform with him, Tim says yes, and they head out as Nightwing and Robin.

3. “Guess I forgot about my other family.” (DCU Holiday Bash 3)

A little while later, Tim’s alone at Christmas - his dad and stepmom are in Chicago - and he’s feeling lonely. Then he gets an urgent message saying to come to the Clocktower at once for a mission. Tim hurries over...

...but when he gets there, it turns out it’s a surprise holiday party! (”Christmas for loners,” Babs says.) Tim realizes that he’d forgotten about his other family.

(The prank urgent-message was Dick’s idea. “Told you he’d fall for it,” he says cheerfully. This is not the last time that Dick will pull a prank on Tim. Simultaneously the best and worst older brother ever!)

4. “I was hoping to snag you, little Robin. But I’m just as happy with your big brother.” (Detective Comics 729)

A bit later, things are falling apart: Bruce is AWOL, post-earthquake Gotham City is about to be declared a No Man’s Land, the last bridge will be blown up in 45 minutes, and Dick and Tim are on their own desperately trying to defend Gotham from the villains who are already taking it over.

Dick protects Tim from an attempted kidnapping attempt - but in the process, he’s knocked out and captured himself! Gearhead tells Tim that he’s happy to kidnap Tim’s big brother instead. Tim’s not okay with that.

Tim’s on his own and on the clock, but he manages to track down Gearhead and rescue Dick by masquerading as Batman. Dick and Tim escape together and dive into the water just in time, as the last bridge in Gotham explodes.

5. “Are you as devoted to the well-being of your little brother?” (Gotham Knights 10)

(Answer: yes, yes he is.)

No Man’s Land has come and gone, Bruce is back, and Dick and Tim are closer than ever. This panel is from the Transference arc, one of my all-time favorite Dick and Tim stories. It features: Dick picking Tim up from school on his bike! Affectionate bullying! Tag! Popcorn! Tim talking Dick down from a panic attack!

Here, Dick tackles Tim to protect him from Hugo Strange’s bomb.

By now, Dick and Tim’s brotherly bond is firmly established. Tim’s constantly in Blüdhaven, they regularly call each other for help, and they both know more about each other’s personal lives than even their closest friends do (Steph and Young Justice still don’t know Tim’s real name; the Titans only visited Blüdhaven for the first time after the end of No Man’s Land; both teams are currently kinda suspicious of Dick and Tim because of Bruce’s secret JLA files; etc. etc.).

But their relationship is about to be tested.

6. “We’ve all been through a lot, big brother.” (Gotham Knights 33)

When Bruce is accused of murder and refuses to explain himself, Tim and Dick have a fight: Tim thinks he might be guilty, and Dick’s upset that Tim could even consider the possibility.

(Their different attitudes reflect their current relationships with Bruce: Dick recently got adopted and is feeling especially defensive of Bruce, whereas Tim just had a huge fight with Bruce for telling Steph his secret identity.)

As it turns out, Bruce is innocent...but Tim’s still angry at him for keeping secrets. (By contrast, Dick and Tim patched up their fight quickly.)

In this panel, Tim grumbles about Bruce to his big brother, who then scolds Bruce on his behalf.

7. “We go to baseball games together. We’re like brothers.” (Gotham Knights 45)

Some time later, a suspicious social worker is asking questions about Bruce Wayne, trying to figure out if Bruce was to blame for Jason’s death. Bruce doesn’t show up in time for the appointment, so at first Dick and Tim get interviewed instead. When asked about Dick, Tim says they’re “like brothers.”

(Dick and Tim’s connection to baseball games is a longstanding one! Dick’s parents were planning to take him to a baseball game on the day they died; Tim first invited Dick to a baseball game shortly after the end of Prodigal; and when Dick and Tim hang out in Secret Origins, Tim’s wearing a Gotham Knights T-shirt - the name of the baseball team.)

8. “Stay focused, little brother.” (Batman 631)

The next panels may look grim and serious - and they are - but they’re also secretly really, really touching.

In order to get how touching it is, you need a bit of background, because a lot has happened since the last comic, and Tim’s been seriously doubting his connection to the Batfamily. He worries that if he quits Robin, Bruce and “even Dick” will never talk to him again (Robin 120). Then his father finds his Robin costume, Tim is forced to quit, and just as he feared, Bruce stops talking to him. (So does Steph - he finds out she’s become the new Robin from the newspaper.)

Then Tim’s school gets shot up. Bruce is sure he’s fine, but Dick’s panicked about his safety. Dick sneaks into Tim’s school to find him, protect him, and bring him weapons.

When Dick finds Tim, he calls not-currently-Robin Tim “little brother.”

Imagine how much it must mean to Tim, who’s been mostly convinced he lost all his ties to the Batfamily as soon as he lost Robin, to have Dick come and find him, and then to hear that old nickname after all this time not talking to anyone. Imagine how horrified Dick must be when he hears about the school shooting, especially since Dick’s own life is in shambles - Blockbuster has murdered almost everyone Dick knows in the past week. Imagine what a relief it is to discover that Tim’s okay.

(Of course, this is just a temporary reprieve. After this, they both go through even more trauma. It’s a bleak time in DC comics.)

8. “Having to fight the brother I came to rescue? Priceless.” (Resurrection of Ra’s al-Ghul)

This panel requires a recap too, because a lot of things happen after the school shooting (Dick goes into a shame-spiral and joins the mob! the Red Hood appears for the first time!), but the most important for Dick and Tim’s brotherhood is this: Tim’s dad is killed, making Tim an orphan.

Tim turns down Bruce’s first offer of adoption, partly because he blames Bruce for Steph’s death, and partly because he’s worried Dick wouldn’t like it. Instead, Tim moves to Blüdhaven with a fake uncle. But after Blüdhaven blows up - and Bruce and Dick and Tim take a round-the-world family trip together - Bruce offers again, and Tim says yes. So after years of being brothers in spirit, Dick and Tim are now legally brothers!

Immediately after Tim gets adopted, though (the very next issue), Bruce discovers he has a biological son. And then Ra’s al-Ghul gets involved. Ra’s kidnaps Tim and Damian, and tries to win Tim to his side: Bruce will inevitably abandon you and replace you with Damian, Ra’s says, but I can be your mentor instead. Tim says no at first, but he’s tempted by the offer of the Lazarus Pit.

So when Dick arrives to rescue Tim, he discovers that Ra’s has tempted him into trying to resurrect his dad, girlfriend, and best friend. Dick drops from above to try to stop him, and they battle it out.

Don’t worry, though - in the end, Dick stops fighting, Tim gives in, and they do hug it out. Aww. Brotherly love reestablished.

9. “Nightwing...Dick...thanks for the present. It means a lot.” “Don’t get any stains on it. - Your big brother” (DCU Holiday Special 2009)

Now it’s Christmas Eve - the anniversary of the day Tim’s mom died. Tim’s gone to the cinema to watch It’s a Wonderful Life, his dad’s favorite movie. Dick finds Tim at the cinema and gives him a gift: one of Dick’s old Robin costumes with the original red-and-green design. Tim’s really touched.

This is the calm before the storm, though: this comic came out one month before Battle for the Cowl, when Dick and Tim’s relationship starts to implode.

10. “Welcome home.” “You’re my brother. You’ll always be there for me.” (Red Robin 12)

Ahhhh okay pardon me while I get emotional.

So there are about a million equally-fun-and-valid ways to interpret Red Robin, because it’s got a lot of narrative gaps and it’s often deliberately ambiguous, but in my favorite interpretation, this panel is a really touching moment of catharsis. And in order to really appreciate it, you have to know what’s come before, which is a disastrous mess.

Dick and Tim have a bunch of fights in the month after Bruce’s death, but - again, IMO - the most important fight is when Dick fires Tim from Robin, which Tim takes as a personal rejection.

So Tim spends all the earlier issues of Red Robin spiraling and wondering whether their brotherhood was ever real and half-convinced it wasn’t: “My name is Tim Wayne!” (RR 1), “[Bruce] is all I have” (RR 1), “If we really are brothers—” (RR 4), and so forth. And Ra’s—sensing an opportunity!—attempts to recruit him again. Tim ultimately says no, but he’s still not in a good place.

BUT THEN!

Ra’s threatens everyone in Gotham, Tim rushes home to save them, he remembers he has friends, he’s willing to die to save everyone...

... and then Dick saves him.

And Tim realizes that Bruce isn’t all he has.

Because he’s still got his brother.

Even though they’ve been fighting, even though they’ve both been keeping secrets, even though things are still tense... when it really counts, Dick trusts Tim and listens to him and comes to save him.

He always has. And he always will.

Final thoughts

As I’m sure you noticed, I really love this relationship. Over the course of two decades in comics, Dick and Tim go from tense strangers to found-family brothers who love each other and rely on each other more than almost anyone else in the world (”my best friend,” “my closest ally”). And like real brothers, sometimes they get on each other’s nerves or argue or fight.

But at the end of the day, they've always got each other’s backs: