(Medium Spoilers for Streets Of Gotham #11)
**Spoiler Space***
So in Streets of Gotham #11, it really looks like Damian Wayne slices Zsasz in half, Darth Maul style. But he doesn't. According to the Batbrat, he pulled the deathblow at the last minute and stopped short of severing Zsasz's spince. That's nice. But I wish he hadn't, and here's why.
1. Zsasz is a boring villain. He's the Joker without charm and LOLs. He's a generically creepy serial killer, and generic is something no Bat villain should be.
2. I like that Damian is a killer, and has only recently started to believing that bathing in the blood of those who would oppose you is maybe not the thing to do. I think it would be perfectly natural and in-character for Damian to think that killing Zsasz was acceptable under the circumstances.
3. Having a Robin kill a major league villian would be a big deal to the Batfam. Tim would be angry, Dick would be shamed (he's in charge, after all), and when Bruce gets back, you know he'd make Dick feel like a complete failure for letting his insane son wear the mantle of Robin, when it was so obvious something like this would happen.
4. It would give Tim a good excuse to realize why he needs to get back to being Robin.
2. I like that Damian is a killer, and has only recently started to believing that bathing in the blood of those who would oppose you is maybe not the thing to do. I think it would be perfectly natural and in-character for Damian to think that killing Zsasz was acceptable under the circumstances.
3. Having a Robin kill a major league villian would be a big deal to the Batfam. Tim would be angry, Dick would be shamed (he's in charge, after all), and when Bruce gets back, you know he'd make Dick feel like a complete failure for letting his insane son wear the mantle of Robin, when it was so obvious something like this would happen.
4. It would give Tim a good excuse to realize why he needs to get back to being Robin.
Basically, I think SoG #11 was a great opportunity to get rid of a redundant character in a dramatic way that would give some more dramatic structure to Bruce's return. I have no idea what they're going to do with Damian when Bruce gets back; I have a feeling he might die, and this makes me sad. He's a great character BECAUSE he doesn't adhere to the same values and morals as the rest of the Batfam, and that makes him dangerous. I'd much rather see him as an exiled wild card than a dead good guy.
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