#we are robin movement

[inamindfarfaraway]

I don’t think that Duke would make fun of Jason for dying, at least not much and not if he suspects that Jason won’t brush it off. He understands that Jason’s death was not his fault or something he should be ashamed of, but heroic and unfortunate. Before Duke even joined We Are Robin, he watched one of its members get killed by a time bomb trying to save lives. Sound familiar? He wouldn’t insult Troy for good intentions and bad luck, so he won’t insult Jason either. An adult killed him because adults failed him. Duke blames them. He knows exactly what it is to be a kid, and a Robin, that everyone blames and looks down on.

He will, however, give Jason endless grief over his crime lord era. Almost to the same extent he’ll never let go of Dick betraying the entire WAR movement to the cops, and only less severe because Duke wasn’t personally affected by it. He is incredibly invested in uplifting Gotham’s impoverished communities, making them safer, healthier and fairer. What was Red Hood doing on a huge scale for at least a year or two? Not that.

Sometimes it’s playful…

Jason: Trust me, this is gonna work.

Duke: Says the guy who reinvented the Mafia and thought it would lower crime rates.

And sometimes it isn’t.

Jason: (generally being an asshole, says the wrong thing to Duke at the wrong time)

Duke: What drugs did you sell?

Jason: What?

Duke: You were the city’s number one drug dealer for a while. What did you sell?

Jason: (warily) You know, the usual. Meth, cocaine… heroin… fentanyl…

Duke: Uh-huh.

Jason: But I never sold to kids! Ever!

Duke: Did you sell to parents?

Jason:

Duke: Would your mother be proud of you? Do you want to pop back to the afterlife and ask her, or would you go the wrong way now?

Jason: (about to cry) I’m sorry.

Duke: You should be.

I also think Duke and Helena ���Hates Organised Crime” Bertinelli should be friends and roast Jason to a crisp together.

[casscainmainly]

Duke Thomas Character Profiles!

This is a compilation of every Duke Thomas character profile I know of and could get my hands on. This is an easy way to get to know him if you're not diving into his comics yet! I'll also be highlighting any inaccuracies I spot in these descriptions.

We Are Robin #4 - 2015

REALLY good profile for his personality at the time! Writer and nerd Duke is VERY important to me.

Batman Character Encyclopedia - 2016

Most of this is good, but the 'debt of gratitude' section is wrong - Bruce saves Duke before Duke's family saves Bruce (NOTE: ACTUALLY THIS IS CORRECT I JUST HAVE NO READING COMPREHENSION. Duke's parents did save him before Duke meets Bruce, it's just told non-linearly!). I like the 'powers and abilities' section, as well as the summary of his backstory! Also I BELIEVE IN 5 FT 6 INCHES DUKE THOMAS!!

DC Comics Encyclopedia All-New Edition - 2016

Sorry for the quality I couldn't find this ANYWHERE this is a screenshot of a YouTube video 😭. Idk why The Nest is in 'enemies' (The Nest was never really an enemy even if Duke didn't fully trust it). Also, I'm pretty sure Joker did not attack Duke's parents because they helped Bruce? It's implied Joker chose Elaine and Duke because of their meta gene in Dark Days. Although I guess both of those could be seen as connected reasons for Joker attacking Duke idk (I'm not the hugest fan of the attack being targeted at all).

Anyway I quite like this one, describing WAR as an "underground youth movement" is GREAT, also "grass-roots anti-crime crusaders" yessss. The description of Duke in Zero Year is also nice!

DC Comics Encyclopedia New Edition - 2021

This one labels his light powers as 'extrasensory', which was correct at the time but is outdated now (it's photokinesis). Also this seems to rip some of the 'allies/enemies' from the previous character profile, because the Nest (and WAR honestly since this is post Secret Files) shouldn't really be here. Also the same issue with last one about the Joker selecting Duke's parents because they helped Batman, which may be correct but I don't think is explicitly substantiated in the comics.

But this summary of Gnomon is quite good, and the timeline is generally accurate (though idk what they mean by "lone street vigilante"; he basically jumped straight from WAR to Bruce). Also Robin as an ally my Damian-Duke crumbs :))).

DC Power 2024 - 2024

The most egregious thing here is Elaine and Doug being deceased (they're not?? if a comic writer reads this and thinks Elaine and Doug are dead I'm suing DC). No mention of Cousin Jay in "Known Relatives" either. Also, Duke discovers his mother has metahuman powers, not his father. (Unless they mean Gnomon, but that doesn't make sense since Duke discovered his powers before meeting Gnomon). I'm also unsure if the comics ever said Duke's powers were amplified by the sun, but it's a cool tidbit!

Besides those inaccuracies, this summary is great and the most detailed on this list; this is the one to read for the full Duke journey!

Anyway that's all I'm aware of!! Have a good day and read We Are Robin :).

[violent138]

I think the idea of child and teen Robins running around didn't faze Gothamites in the slightest. Kids in their city learn young what turf to avoid, what kind of people are threats, growing up seeing Zsasz, Falcone, Maroni on their screens. They're involved with the smuggling, survival, and crime of the city and it makes complete sense that they'd be involved in bringing justice back to the city too.

[luxaofhesperides]

We Are Robins meeting to Signal apprehending Danny ; requested by @zylev-blog!

“Hey, Danny. How are you feeling?”

Danny gives Duke a tired smile, his head falling back against the wall. He’s sitting up today, which is good. It’s definitely an improvement from the many days Danny was unable to do much but lie down and grit his teeth through the pain as Duke checked on the gunshot wound. It’s a good thing Danny’s a meta with a healing factor, or nothing Duke could have done would have saved him.

As it is, the wound was severe enough to keep Danny vulnerable and unable to move on his own without making it worse. Though Duke has looked, he hasn’t had any luck in finding whoever did this to Danny. He hasn’t brought it up to the rest of the We Are Robin gang, but only because Danny only let him help if he kept it between the two of them.

What’s another secret? If it lets him stay close to Danny and make sure he’s healing well, then he’ll keep quiet and carry on the search by himself. He’s got plenty of practice in doing things on his own.

“Busy out there?” Danny asks as Duke sits down next to him, dropping his backpack onto the ground. 

“Yeah, it’s tough with the cops after us, but someone needs to help Gotham and with Batman gone…”

A pained expression crossed Danny’s face. Eyeing him carefully, Duke opened his backpack and pulled out a few protein bars and sports drinks for him. Once Danny takes them and began eating one, Duke takes out the first aid kit, always kept at the bottom of the backpack, and sets it in front of Danny.

The most he can do is offer supplies and company at this stage of Danny’s healing. He gets twitchy and tense when Duke tries to tend to his wound, and seems to have plenty of practice in patching himself up. 

He didn’t answer when Duke commented on it once, so Duke let the matter drop. 

Metas may have legal protection, but that doesn’t stop people from targeting them. Duke has no intention of pushing Danny into remembering unpleasant things while he’s already wounded, hiding out in the upper corner of an abandoned warehouse taken over by a group of homeless people. Most aren’t inside during the day, choosing instead to be out with the rest of the city, which leaves them alone. 

Duke keeps an eye on the ground floor of the warehouse, making sure no one comes in while Danny tends to his wound. When he peeks back, he can see that it’s much smaller than it was the night Duke found him, crawling down an alley with one hand clutching his side, tears slipping down his face. There had been so much blood that Duke was sure he had just stumbled upon someone dying and froze, horrified. 

And then a shout down the road prompted him to move, hauling Danny up and helping him into the warehouse to hide. 

For a normal person, if it didn’t kill them, the wound would still be raw and bleeding, larger than any gunshot wound he’s seen before. But Danny’s wound is closing up quickly, no longer bleeding, the edges a healing pink.

It doesn’t look like it’s going to scar, either. 

“Think it’ll be all healed up by the end of the week?”

Danny glances up, then continues covering it with new bandage, large enough to cover the entire wound. “Hopefully,” he says. “Then I’ll be out of your hair and can figure out a way to get home.”

“Your folks gonna look out for you?”

“Probably. I’m not planning on telling them, though, since they’ll get way too overprotective. The only reason they’re not tearing Gotham apart looking for me is because I came here with my godfather and he told them we’d be gone for two weeks. Can’t believe he tried to kill me on day one…”

“Your godfather tried to kill you?”

“Yeah. Not personally, or anything, but he definitely hired the guy who shot me. Though he also yelled at him for shooting me? Not sure what that’s about, but I never trusted the guy and he didn’t try to help me afterwards when I ran away, so. You know.”

Duke wants to have a conversation with Danny’s godfather. Maybe bring the other Robins along to make sure the message sinks in: Don’t touch Danny.

But Danny, acting so casual about his godfather trying to kill him, would be unhappy about it, and Duke would really rather be able to take care of him than be shut out for trying to take control of the situation.

“Shit, man, that sucks,” he offers, instead of prying for details so he can hunt down his godfather. “You want a hug or something? I can’t really do much else, but if it can make you feel better about all this…”

Danny brightens and shoves the first aid kit away, his shirt (one of Duke’s old ones he offered up to replace the bloodstained one) falling to cover the bandage. “Please. I would love a hug, dude, I don’t remember the last time I felt so lonely.”

Carefully, Duke wraps his arms around Danny, leaning back so Danny could relax fully and not worry about holding himself up. Danny sighs into the hug, going fully limp as he drops his forehead onto Duke’s shoulder.

“Thanks for this. And everything,” Danny says some time later. He doesn’t move to pull away, so Duke stays as he is, watching the weak sunlight slowly move across the warehouse as it spills in from dirty windows. 

“You don’t need to thank me. I mean, I’m a Robin.” He brings up a hand to tap a finger against the R embroidered into his jacket. “It’s what we’re here for.”

.

.

.

It’s been years since he saw Danny. After he was fully healed, Duke helped him get to city limits, watching as he boarded a bus and disappeared down the road, leaving his life just as suddenly as he entered it.

After spending so much time together, quiet hours of stillness just looking out for each other, his life feels emptier without Danny in it. He knew it wouldn’t last, that Danny would go home eventually, but it didn’t make the parting any easier.

Even now, as Signal, taking a break from going on missions with the Outsiders to spend some time with the Bats, his thoughts drift towards Danny, wondering if he’s alright. In his darker moments, he wonders if Danny’s godfather has tried to kill him again, if he’s succeeded. In calmer, happier moments, he remembers Danny’s quiet stories about his family, his town, all his dreams and hopes for the future, remembers the easy company and how Danny didn’t look at him with pity when talked about his parents, just quiet and contemplative. 

Sometimes, he can’t resist the urge to look him up, but there are so many Danny’s out there that he doesn’t know where to start. He never got Danny’s last name or learned when he came from.

It’s not like he can just ask the Bats for help finding a guy he knew for two weeks before he ever joined them. They’re all busy with their own missions, and definitely don’t have time for Duke’s reminiscing. 

“Just caught sight of the truck entering city limits,” Oracle says in his ear. “It’s heading towards the Coventry.”

“On it. Any movement from the mobs?”

“None yet. I expect this to change soon. Red Hood and Black Bat are patrolling nearby if you need backup.”

“Got it. Signal out.”

His comline shuts with a little click, and then he’s grappling over the roof tops, keeping an eye on the roads in search of the truck. He doesn’t have time to think of Danny anymore, not when a shipment of new, experimental weapons is passing through Gotham. Spoiler had heard a few whispers of it and Red Robin helped find more solid details; the mobs are all looking to take the shipment for themselves in an attempt to get the upper hand in the nonstop fight for control of Gotham’s streets. 

It’s passing through during the day, visible and a good move to keep from being ambushed at night, but it’s not enough to stop mobs hoping to take out their competition with new weapons. Duke enters the Coventry just as his comline beeps once and Oracle begins giving him specific directions, along with a brief description of what the truck looks like. 

Apparently, the weapons are being moved in a U-Haul rental truck. That is… certainly a Choice™ to make for moving weapons around the country.

He follows it from the rooftops, but nothing happens. The truck passes through the Coventry without incident and takes a turn that keeps it away from Crime Alley and the Bowery. It gets to the middle of East End then pulls to a stop in the parking lot of a diner. 

Two people get out and stretch, then head in to get something to eat.

It would be the perfect time for someone to break in. Duke pulls the light over himself, manipulating it to make him disappear from sight as he looks down from the edge of the rooftop, tense and prepared for anything.

He almost doesn’t see it at first. It’s just a flicker, a flash of color, a shift in the shadows across the street. But he does see it, even if he can’t find it again, and drops down from the roof, creeping towards the truck.

Duke waits, holding his breath, off to the side of the parking lot. 

A minute passes. And then a figure materializes out of thin air, floating right behind the truck. All Duke can see is white hair and a black body suit; they’re either a meta or an alien, but either way, Duke is ready to take them down.

The figure lifts their hands and a bolt of neon green energy hits the truck, melting the back and leaving a large hole that gives them direct access to the weapons. And then they shoot again, destroying the weapons.

“Phantom!” someone shouts, and the truck driver comes tearing out of the restaurant, a white gun in his hand. His companion follows, her gun also out, and the begin shooting. 

Phantom dodges the blasts, then vanishes from sight. He reappears behind them a moment later, tackling back of them into the side of the truck. 

“No you don’t!” Duke say, rushing forward as he pulls at the shadows around him then sends them racing towards Phantom, restraining them. The driver and his companion collapse onto the ground, groaning weakly, and Duke grits his teeth. “O, send someone to look after the people moving the weapons. Apprehending an attacker now.”

He doesn’t wait to hear a response, tightening the shadow’s grip on Phantom, who struggles fiercely.

“We can do this the hard way, or the easy way,” he says, pulling Phantom closer to him.

Phantom doesn’t answer. They just scream, the force of it making Duke fall back. His shadows dissipate, and Phantom flies up.

“Get back here!”

Duke gives chase, dropping in and out of shadows, throwing some at Phantom in the hopes of catching him again. But Phantom is fast and it takes all he has to keep up as they cross Gotham.

He thought Phantom was flying around blindly, but the way they move across the roofs and then through the streets are too confident, too focused to be anything other than someone with a destination in mind. But where? Where could they be going? If they’ve been in Gotham, then Duke would have heard of them.

A flying, powerful meta with a multitude of powers? Yeah, he would have known about them.

Phantom flies through a wall and Duke curses, going onto the roof and looking around, waiting to see them fly out. But they don’t and Duke finds a broken skylight to drop in from, landing on the support beams of the warehouse, well above the ground.

He knows the warehouse, he realizes suddenly. It’s the warehouse Danny hid in while he was healing. Duke hasn’t been back in years.

“Just listen to me, please,” a voice says behind him, and Duke tense, spinning around to face Phantom, floating just out of reaching distance. “Those weapons are dangerous. No one should have them, it’s why I had to destroy them. Please, you can’t let them get those weapons out.”

Duke stares. Something about Phantom is familiar. The shape of his face, maybe. His voice. Maybe it’s just because he’s in the warehouse again, with someone pleading for his help.

Maybe it’s all in his mind.

“Danny?”

Phantom flinches, floating back a few inches. “What— How—”

“What happened? Is it your godfather again?”

“My— Duke? Is that you?!”

He definitely shouldn’t be doing this, but Danny’s here. Danny’s here in front of him, needing help, and he doesn’t need the Signal. He needs Duke.

He pulls off his helmet and lifts his bare face to Danny.

“Oh,” Danny breathes. “Well. I guess I should have known you’d be a hero. Can you help me one last time?”

“Yeah, of course Danny. Tell me what you need.”

“Those weapons, they were first made to kill me and others like me. It’s a whole thing I don’t have time to explain. But they’ve been changed to affect humans, all types of people, as well. I can survive a few hits from those weapons, but for most people, it would kill them instantly. I need to destroy all of them and stop any further production before the rest of the world gets a hold of them.”

“That’s why you—”

“They have to be destroyed,” Danny says. “And the people making and selling them need to be stopped. I can’t do it on my own. I’ve tried, but…”

“I’ll help,” Duke says, “I’ll help. This is a big enough problem to bring the Outsiders into it. Or the Bats, but they like to stay in Gotham.”

Danny floats closer, looking painfully relieved. “Really? They’ll be able to put an end to this?”

Duke reaches for him. “Yeah. they can do it. I’ll make sure of it.”

Danny’s feet land on the support beam as his hand meets Duke’s. They balance above the rest of the warehouse, drinking in the sight of each other. Duke rubs his thumb over Danny’s knuckles in soothing circles and watches as the tension begins to fall away from Danny’s shoulders.

“Duke,” he whispers, “I’ve missed you—”

The door below is kicked open, and a gunshot rings out. 

Moving on instinct, Duke tackles Danny, wrapping him up in his arms as they fall off the support beam. They hit the ground hard, rolling a bit, and Duke tucks Danny into his chest, bodily protecting him.

“Narrows!” 

The Red Hood stands over him, menacing, a gun pointed at him. 

“Hood?” He loosens his grip on Danny. “What the hell was that for?” 

“Thought you needed back up. You chased after our guy and lost your helmet, I think I’m right to be a little worried about you. So, who’s this?” There’s a hard edge to his voice, and Duke realizes with a sinking heart that all anyone else sees is an aggressor, a meta who attacked a truck full of weapons, attacked two people, and had to be chased down by the Signal. Jason’s seeing a threat and acting accordingly, putting Duke’s safety first. 

And with his helmet off, identity clear, Danny’s even more dangerous now that he has this knowledge.

“I’m sorry,” Danny whispers to Duke. He doesn’t have time to ask for what? before Danny’s shooting another beam of green energy at Jason then taking off, flying through the roof and out of sight.

“Shit,” Jason mutters, straightening up from where he ducked to avoid being hit, then puts his gun away and kneels next to Duke. “You alright? Why’d you let him go? I thought you had him.”

“I’m fine. He’s not… He wasn’t going to hurt me. He just needed help.”

“Sure. And what are you not telling me?”

“I knew him. He’s a good person, but he’s been in danger for a long time. This was him trying to protect others from what he went through.”

Jason takes off the helmet and stares at him. Then he sighs and reaches a hand down to help Duke to his feet. “Alright,” he says, “Let’s head back to the truck. You have until then to convince me that they’re the problem, and if they are, then I’ll help you blow up more of their weapons.” He claps a hand on Duke’s shoulder, then pulls his helmet back on. “Grab your helmet. We’re wasting daylight, Narrows.”

There’s nothing else he can do, no way to search for Danny when there are other leads to chase, so Duke grapples up to the catwalk where his helmet landed and grabs it.

Just before he puts it on, he sees a flicker of white just outside the window he’s facing. He ducks his head to hide a smile. It’s almost like he’s stepped back in time; Danny’s here in Gotham, needing help and asking for it in the warehouse. 

And though so much has changed in those years, there’s still one thing that Duke will ensure never changes: he’s Danny’s hero. Above Robin, or Signal, or anything else, Duke is Danny’s hero.

This time, he has the power to actually help Danny. He’s going to make sure no one ever hurts Danny again.

“Let’s go,” he says, jumping back down to Jason, helmet on. “I’ll tell you everything you need to know.”

[batcavescolony]

You know what piece of fanon irks me? The idea that Dick resents Jason and Tim for being Robin or that Damian is the only Robin that Dick gave his approval to.

Batman #416

This is the first issue we see Nightwing and Jason Todd's Robin together it's 18 months after Bruce fired Dick (because he got hurt and cus Bruce though he was gonna leave the nest anyways it's a thing). Dick gave Jason his approval, he was mad at BRUCE for lack of communication and being Bruce but it never carried over to Jason.

And in A Lonely Place of Dying Dick

Takes Tim to the suit basically goes "I can't be Robin. ME, I, DICK GRAYSON can no longer be Robin. Robin is a teen about *put a hand at Tim height* this tall, black hair, good at acrobatics, not afraid to tell Batman off, and a good detective, maybe he even found out Batman and Robins identities. That is Robin, but I am Nightwing not Robin. Yep. A Robin needs to be all those things. Now I'm off to save Batman!" then later looks on fondly as Tim pleads his case to Batman, backs him up, and thinks that Bruce needs to think with his heart not head and take on a new Robin. It's not explicitly written out in the text but all of this is Dick giving Tim permission to be Robin.

TL:DR: DICK GAVE ALL THE ROBINS HIS APPROVAL NOT JUST DAMIAN!

[shokuto]

I feel logically Damian should be up there with Cass in terms of raw fighting ability seeing as they were both raised to efficiently murder people by every martial art since they could walk

[ahfrickenfrick]

okay so i knew that duke’s parents had been victims of joker gas

but WHO was going to tell me it was because joker had figured out batman’s identity and then planned to fucking recreate martha and thomas’ death??

UHM HELLO??? WAKE UP PEOPLE UR MISSING PRIME ANGST?? WHY ARENT WE TALKING ABOUT THIS ALL THE TIMW!???

[r0manc3-dawn]

Love being able to one up a sibling who has liked a media longer than you have in terms of lore. Like yeah, Stephanie Brown was a Robin, I thought you were watching and reading Batman comics since you were ten, MICHEAL.

[5-7-9]

I held back a little before but We Are Robin being used by WFA as some sort of trained child soldier military IS KINDA CRAZY.

Y’all know me, I read Bermejo’s interviews. He said when creating WAR he couldn’t understand Batman training kids to fight crime, but he could understand teenagers fighting nonetheless.

I have to agree. We Are Robin isn’t just the 5 Dre, Izzy, Riko, Dax, and Shug. It was more than that. Why the fxck would Duke send out 5 people?????? A movement is effective in its full force, in numbers. It’s a bit pointless when it’s just 5 untrained people, isnt it??? The idea that a bunch of untrained We Are Robins could still work if it was a lot of them, therefore making training less of an importance, right???

[mattiebluebird]

I think it's hilarious that Duke Thomas, member & arguably leader of the 'We Are Robin' movement, is definitively and pointedly NOT a Robin.

[aingeal98]

If Duke had no real knowledge of the bats or influence from batman and robin, but chose to become a hero anyway once he got powers, what would he choose as his codename?

[twopercentboy]

Yk what Im gonna start being annoying because how tf you get obsessed with batfam right when I get re-obsessed with batfam? 🤨

Coincidence, I think NOT

Fuck you, I'm turning my blog into a Signal fan page. Fuck you, how dare you have that same interest as me. I'll never financially recover from this

we are simply so in sync, it's fate or something 😁 tumblr (the entity) was trying to get me into batfam for agesss before I finally gave in and decided to become a Jason Todd fanatic

[breadandblankets]

day one billion of asking people to quit calling we are robin a cult or a gang, yall really be showing your whole asses

[bluegarners]

gender neutral robin

[depressedtheatrekiddo]

Picture this.

Stevie on the most fucking perfect killer queen dress you could ever think about, Robbie and them decided on going to see a drag performance and then fuck around a little, dance and be so fucking fabolous and pretty and all

AND

Robin isn't there, she's running late. Why didn't he pick her up? Well, Robs was staying at Chrissy's and she was dropping them. As Steve's sent a message to Chris and she told her that she already left Robbie there, so Stevie went to check out outside.

Robs there, uncomfortable, searching a way to enter the club, their eyes scanning the street, fear on her eyes.

Steve sees there's a man with her, has them by her wrist and is awfully close

What a fucking dumbass

AND THEN BAM

Steve does that shit they did on the Russian base you know, the think that he picked up that thing and hit the Russian guard

But

Now it's her heel they quickly put in his own hand in two seconds and hit the man in the face once they see Robin being touched

And she thinks "not again" because they didn't know what happened to Robin in the Russian base but he can imagine

So he knocks out the man with her heel

"I get you're jealous because she pulls more girls than you would never but there's no need to be an asshole" And then she spits on the man eye "ya infertil ass, next one I'm gonna rip your balls and make me earrings with them"

And then she switches back as their sweet self "Are ya okay Robs?"

"Perfectly fine Stevie"

Robin's eyes goes from scared and empty to fondly and full of love as she looks at Steve. Stevie smiles softly and takes of their face a stroke of hair.

" 'm glad, wanna enter again?" Steve offers their hand and his soulmate takes it as they enter the club, Nelly Furtado singing Maneater as they do

And it's fucking epic

And they rule.

[prince-leorio]

you know, actually there are in fact TWO Asian Robins.

Damian and Mia Mizoguchi.