Written by Joe R. Lansdale
Directed by Ethan Spaulding
Deathstroke: "Finish me. You were trained to kill your enemies, weren't you? It's what you want."
Damian: "It's what I would do."
Deathstroke: "It's what your grandfather would do. Well, do it!"
Damian: "No. I'm my father's son, too. I'm Robin."
In 2006, Batman's world took quite a turn after decades of mentoring Robins and Batgirls, he actually had a son of his own. Eight years later, DC Animated Movies decided to introduce the son in question into their movie continuity.
This movie opened with Damian Wayne (Stuart Allan) and his mother, Talia Al Ghul (Morena Baccarin) witnessing the murder of Ras Al Ghul (Giancarlo Esposito) at the hands of an overzealous Deathstroke (Thomas Gibson). Running out of options, Talia had no choice but to introduce Batman (Jason O'Mara) to his son.
Bring raised by the League of Assassins posed quite a challenge for Batman when it came to bonding with Damian. The kid's a precocious and rather violent little sod, who unlike his father didn't have a problem with killing. He also didn't have a problem reminding both Nightwing (Sean Maher) and Alfred Pennyworth (David McCallum) that he was the blood son.
Damian's a character I've taken a long time to warm to and this movie alone certainly highlighted his worse traits, even if his upbringing really did explain them. While he did butt heads with his father on many an occasion, the two of them do make for a good team against Deathstroke. Damian took on the Robin mantle.
Getting back to Deathstroke, he kept Talia prisoner in the hopes of drawing out both Batman and the new Robin but his main plan was more than that. Using Dr Kirk Langstrom (Xander Berkeley), Slade wanted an army of Man-Bats and to take over the League of Assassins. He almost succeeded.
However he had gravely underestimated Batman and Robin and while the latter was almost tempted to kill him, Batman's growing influence on Damian stopped the boy from carrying out the task. That's probably another reason why Talia then ended up letting Damian stay with his father and be Robin. Even she knew that he was better off with Batman.
- A post credit scene showed the fight between Nightwing and Robin, which the latter just about managed to win.
- The movie skirted around the way in which Damian was conceived between Bruce and Talia.
- There's some cameo appearances from Joker, Killer Croc and Ubu.
- Chronology: It was the third movie in the DC Animated Movie Universe.
I'll admit that while Son Of Batman reminded me of why I initially disliked Damian Wayne as a character, it also was the best way of introducing the character and building his relationship with Batman. Deathstroke served as a decent antagonist too.
Rating: 7 out of 10
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