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Batman & Robin (The New 52) # 4

By Mark Rodriguez

Bruce Wayne takes on his biological son, Damian Wayne as Robin and deals with his killing intent. His worries come true as a new villain, Morgan from the League of Assassins returns to take down all other members of Batman Inc, and also temps Robin to kill. He captured them both and has them trapped at an old drive in movie theater. What kind of home movies await them? Let's find out.



Issue 4 is called ‘Matter of Trust’ as Batman and Robin are tied up at a drive-in as Nobody shows them a movie with the Joker, Poison Ivy, Two Face, Bane, Mr. Freeze, and I assume Croc. Nobody monologues on how Batman just keeps catching them over and over without killing them. Batman says he doesn’t need to become a monster to catch a monster. Batman keeps Morgan talking as he activates some kind of homing device on the heel of his boot. Morgan wants to turn Damian to his side, and prepares to kill Batman



 When asked for any last words, Batman says “Lock and load, Alfred” as a remote controlled Batplane flies in to shoot him in the back. Alfred is controlling this from the Batcave and has a good lock on Nobody’s heat signature. Morgan makes a run for it but finds that his invisible cloaking device got damaged by the rubber bullets.
Batman picks up Robin and undoes the effects of the paralyzing technique by doing his own. As they go after Morgan, the villain blows up a car. The distraction, as well as the heat of the burning car gave him plenty of time to escape undetected.
At the Batcave, Alfred patches Bruce up while Damian insists he be taught the paralyzing move. Bruce objects, because if done wrong it could kill someone. They argue a bit about trust and respect, and how Damian has to earn both from him. Damian asks why he wasn’t told about Nobody and how this guy knows their names. Bruce tells him his name is Morgan Ducard, the son of Henri Ducard, one of the six men that trained Bruce to have the skills of Batman. Henri was the best at finding the world’s most dangerous criminals, and Bruce and Morgan trained together. However, that’s all Bruce is gonna tell Damian, and the boy storms out with the dog.
Alfred reminds Bruce, that his son just saw his father beaten before his very eyes that night, and he noticed the fear in his eyes as he was getting patched up. He feels he realized just how human Bruce really is, and not someone with the powers of Superman, Green Lantern or Aquaman (and don’t laugh, the guy is real friggin strong).

Outside Damian is at his grandparent’s graves, telling them how much of a jerk their son is. He holds a firefly in his hand and kills it. Damian finally names the dog Titus (sorry guys, no Ace the Bat-Hound). Just then Morgan appears, mixed within the shadows of the nightly sky. He offers Damian a chance to be who he really is, and stop crime in a way Bruce never would. It would seem that Damian is interested… 


My Opinions

I have to say again that Morgan strapping down Batman and Robin and forcing them to watch his little super villain montage sounds like something out of the Adam West show. Except of course, the Adam West show didn't have gruesome villains like Clayface.



The story is pretty intense. Alfred reminds Bruce that Damian is still a kid and nearly saw his father die, and it does affect him. He does care. Damian also still has hidden bloodlust and kills bats, I guess to kill something since the urge is strong. Will Nobody really force his hand?

I am rather curious in Morgan’s father’s name being Henri Ducard, since it was the alias used by Rah’s Al Ghul in Batman Begins. I’m not completely familiar with ALL of Batman’s history, so I don’t know if he actually faced Henri before in an actual story, or if it’s just flashbacks in this one. I would think it would be too weird for the name to just happen to be one used by one of the characters in the Chris Nolan movies. Especially since in both the movie and this comic a ‘Henri Ducard’ did train Bruce…
Another interesting thing to point out is the slight coincidence in the villain's name Nobody, being the same as a character from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I'm sure it wasn't intentional since it is an obscure character... and when I think Ninja Turtles, I think of the Turtles, Shredder and April.... not of Nobody, Renet and Radical. However, it's still an interesting coincidence since Nobody is basically the TMNT's version of Batman. It kinda-sorta goes full circle as later on in the IDW comics, Angel is given the mantle of Nobody and wears a similar suit that also lets her turn invisible. Hmm....


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