Damian Wayne, a.k.a. Robin, has been picked by the voters as our latest Character of the Month. Earning that title means we'll look at the little dude's history and highlight some of the best stuff from it, but it also means we'll throw him into the Battle of the Week and see how he handles it. For his first fight, we thought it would be fitting to place him against Hit-Girl, another very young character who's also very well trained and all kinds of dangerous. Damian has turned his back on killing (or at least tries his best not to), but Hit-Girl embraces it in her world and has no problem stabbing a man in the heart or shooting a criminal in the face. But is that enough to defeat Batman's son? According to the voters, the answer is a very loud and clear no. Robin wins!
Hit-Girl may have no issue slaughtering countless goons, but a good majority of the voters don't think her arsenal and willingness to kill will give her a critical advantage over Bruce's son. Even though Mindy has all kinds of weapons -- explosives, blades, firearms -- it couldn't save her from Damian's speed, agility, and swift hand-to-hand skills. Sure, the boy's arrogant and that could cost him against someone who's willing to fight dirty and go for the kill, but his extensive training and experience against a variety of opponents gives him what he needs to eventually close the gap, disarm and defeat Mindy. Whether it's by knock out or incapacitation, Robin has the advantage once they're in close quarters combat. And, if he feels like he really needs to use stealth (which wouldn't be too likely because of his confident personality and he sees he's fighting a kid), he could fade into the city and sneak around. Mindy's mentality, plethora of deadly weapons and the big starting distance can make this fun to watch, but once Robin gets close, it's game over, man! Game over! 21% sided with the KICK-ASS character and a whopping 71% thought Robin would be the one standing when all is said and done. 8% believe this one pretty much has an equal chance of going either way. Now, let's see what some Viners thought about this match.
Mrnoital
"As skilled as Hit-Girl is, Damian has real training, while she has brutal ability, he has experience fighting in/with the League of Assassins, who have similar abilites as her, but with more knowledge, and I say that gives him the edge
It won't be an easy fight, especially with her standard gear, but he should pull out the win."
RandomSid
"Ok, I do believe Damian would win the majority, but I also believe that people are not giving Hit-Girl the respect she deserves. This isn't Hit-Girl from the movies(at least that's the impression I got from reading the OP), it's Hit-Girl from the comics. She is MUCH more badass in the comics than in the movies.
I'd be willing to give her a 4/10 win ratio at the lowest, maybe even make it too close to call."
G_leno
"Damian wins 7/10 fights, but he won't be getting the flawless victory some say he would. He can dodge almost everything Mindy can do, but I do think she could still pull off a win here and there. Damian has been shown to rush in without assessing the situation properly and has made mistakes in combat due to arrogance."
hiddeninhell
"This is a tricky one. If they were both already aware of each other Damian would probably have about 8/10 assuming he sticks to the bat's no killing policy, but if he goes in underestimating his opponent (and factoring in his ego and the fact he is fighting a pre-teen girl he probably will) an experienced fighter, even if not quite as skilled or well trained could, could take advantage to quickly take the upper hand.
So I'd say it could go either way depending on whether Damian survives the first onslaught without seriously impairing injuries."
lagozzino
"See my way of thinking is that, since they are from two different universes that have different ideas of what a regular human can do, you have to decide what set of narrative rules the fight is following before you can begin. I mean, in Robin's world, completely regular people can outrace bullets and withstand a superpowered punch that could break a wall simply because they've got a lot of training. These are essentially superhuman feats, but they're written away with the excuse that these characters are trained to the peak of human ability or something like that.
Hit Girl could also be said to be trained to almost the peak of human ability, but the thing is that in her universe that doesn't suddenly grant her the ability to snap a tree in half with a kick or fight an army of superpowered Man-Bats or whatever. She's just got better reflexes than most people, better aim than most people, and better at fighting than most people.
So you've got to decide what universe we're in here; Either Damien grew up in the more realistic world of KickAss where he doesn't have the magical ability to dodge a barrage of bullets at close range just because he was trained a lot, or Hit Girl was brought up in the DCU and should be able to perform practically superhuman feats because of the lifetime of crazy intense training she's been given.
With this sort of normalization between the two universes in mind, these two kids are almost on an even level. Robin would have a notable edge in a physical fight because he's just had more rigorous training BUT the rules sate that (1) Hit Girl is armed to the teeth, while Robin only has the basics on him and (2) Everyone is in-character, so it's a "Will only kill as a last resort" Damien vs. a "Shoot first, shoot again, shoot some more, then ask questions later" Hit Girl. So some cocky brat in a costume picks a fight with Hit Girl, she's going to be aiming her many guns at his head immediately.
If the fight is taking place in KickAss's world, well then the fight is over almost immediately because, while Damian's got good reflexes, in this world he won't be able to realistically dodge all of her precision killshots for too long.
If the fight plays out in the DCU, then things are much more even because the narrative allows for Damian to be able to dodge all those lethal shots until he gets close enough to engage in physical combat, at which point he'd probably start kicking the tar out of her. Still though, she'd be able to hold her own for a decent amount of time, and really all she needs to do is last long enough to deliver one deathblow which shouldn't be too hard, given she's armed with explosives. Even if the fight goes so far in Robin's favor that he beats her to a bloody broken pulp, she'd just have to set off one explosive at close range to kill him. As I've said before, the voters in these fights really tend to overlook that it takes much more effort to take someone down non-lethally than it does to just kill them, and if there's one thing Hit Girl knows how to do: it's how to kill effortlessly."
AllStarSuperman
"Okay lets get at this. I see some serious assumptions, that aren't really true at all. Living in a certain universe and being trained by a certain someone are not feats in themselves. Actual skill feats have to be applied to make them noteworthy. Let's look at this objectively:
Mindy McCready and Damian Wayne have both been trained since birth. They have both traveled the world learning new skills. They have both learned under formidable teachers. Damian has dodged bullets? So has Mindy. Damian's suit is bullet proof? So is Mindy's. Damian has fought super-humans? So has Mindy (Mother Russia is hinted at being superhuman in another Millarworld title.) Damian has more technical skill, he has shown the use of pressure points. While Mindy has not shown quite that level of knowledge she has mastered a hundred ways to kill a man. She has sliced 60 pounds of flesh off a guy without killing him. And Kick-Ass said "She handles those knives like a surgeon", Hit-Girl knows how to hurt, how to maim, and how to kill. Basically the way I see this fight is a case of Daredevil vs Punisher. Obviously Daredevil is Damian, he has more technical skill. Punisher is clearly Hit-Girl, she is more tactical, heavily armed, and way more ruthless.
Let's put this setup/location into perspective: The distance is in Hit-Girl's favor. Damian's range is limited with his gear, while Mindy is an expert marksmen. Has Damian dodged gunfire? Sure he has. Has he dodged gunfire from Hit-Girls accuracy level? Not that I know of. Damian is assumed to have better tech (throwing weapons and a grappling line.), just from being related to the Bat-family, his normal tech is designed to take down. Hit-Girl's weapons designed to kill (Machine gun, dual handguns, grenades, remote explosives, dual swords, smoke bombs, taser etc.) it's that simple.
Let's add on the "In Character"-ness of this fight: Regardless of who trained him, Damian is simply not as professional as Mindy. In my somewhat limited Damian Wayne reading he has consistently been shown to do what he thinks is best, not listen to people smarter then him, and this causes him not only to need saving from his team (a bunch), it also is the direct cause of his death. Hit-Girl has simply never shown Damian's unprofessional-ism. She is always a step or ten ahead of her enemys. She has outsmarted the world's biggest criminal and the captain of the New York police department in the same hour.
Lets add morals: Damian is not a killer, anymore, for the most part. He killed Nobody cause he felt he had no other choice. Damian will not kill a 14 year old girl. He will not fight Hit-Girl to the best of his abilities. For proof just see his fight with Scarlet, she's a 14 year old girl, who was also completely untrained, and he held back, and she tasered him and stabbed him. The same exact thing could happen with Hit-Girl, who is supertrained. On the other hand Hit-Girl has very loose morals for her enemys. If it comes down to it she will stick a grenade in Damian's butt.
Now this may sound weird, but Hit-Girl knows who Robin is, she is a huge comic fan and references Batman and Robin several times in her series. Robin has no idea who Hit-Girl is. Mindy will understand what she is up against, Damian just won't. All these reason's cause me to give Hit-Girl my vote."
That's it for the latest Battle of the Week. Who do you think is worthy of being Robin's next challenger? Share your ideas for opponents below or via Twitter. Don't forget to check the homepage Monday to see who Damian will fight next!