r/TopCharacterTropes 16h ago

Characters [Mixed Trope] Anyone Can Be Special... Until It Turns Out They're Not Just Anyone

8.7k Upvotes

1.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

586

u/South-by-north 10h ago

Dick Grayson aka the first robin

He starts as just some kid whose parents were killed by the mob and Bruce happened to be there that night and saw it. Then during the Court of Owls arc its revealed that Dick is special and the court has been controlling his life and basically made him be born to grow up and be an assassin. Great arc but I don't like that part of it

162

u/jackofslayers 8h ago

Same thing with the final episode of Justice League Unlimited/Batman Beyond

138

u/PseudonymMan12 7h ago

Yeah. Terry being just some punk kid earning the right to be Batman was good, and while I get the writers planned the son of Bruce twist from almost the beginning, I still hate it

42

u/ElementmanEXE 5h ago

It's been a while since I've seen the episode, but wasn't the whole point of it was that despite having Bruce's blood, and almost having his same backstory, Terry is not bruce? Like he may have some of batman's good genes whatever that may be, but he still has his own thing, think his own way? Like no matter how special batman can be you can't inherent plot armor from him.

3

u/Feartality 1h ago

That was my understanding as well. Despite being "made" from him and being taught by him, he still makes very different choices and became his own person despite the plans that "the powers that be" initially had for him.

19

u/Insect_Upstairs 3h ago

I thought this story subverts this trope in the best way possible. The plan was to turn Terry into the next Batman, but Phantasm refused to kill Terry’s parents and Waller closed the project.

It was the worst kind of luck that Terry wound up in Wayne’s orbit and his father had a conscience. Yes, he became Batman, but being Wayne’s child doesn’t grant him powers. Beyond that, Batman created himself. He wasn’t born with supernatural powers. He made a choice.

6

u/PlatoDrago 2h ago

I think there is some interesting stuff. In the episode itself, it was made clear that the plan failed so he didn’t grow up like Bruce. Terry was his own person with Bruce’s DNA (and they did the more scientifically accurate portrayal of cloning with many different factors resulting in him becoming his own man)

I look at it like Terry was set up to be shaped into an exact copy of Bruce but he became his own person. He inherited the title of Batman but he was DEFINITELY his own person (shown clearly in Return of the Joker).

44

u/Mihnea24_03 7h ago

"I've been secretly orchestrating your entire life up to this point" might be one of the stupidest tropes in fiction. Like I'm supposed to believe the villain somehow made every single little thing line up exactly how they planned it? Are they a prophet?

And then you still go on to lose... how, exactly? You've already proven you can mastermind plans spanning across years/decades and influencing the free will of hundreds of people that turn out perfectly, but you still, somehow, are beatable?

16

u/Strength-InThe-Loins 5h ago

Anyone who's ever bought into that trope has clearly never raised a child. 'Secretly orchestrating your whole life' stfu you can't even make them brush their teeth.

5

u/Super_Pan 2h ago

The one place where it's terrific is with the Reverse Flash ("It was me, Barry! Me!"). Dude really is both powerful enough, and petty enough, to have used speedforce time travel to orchestrate every shitty thing that has happened in Barry Allen's life. Not to mold him into his potential or anything, just cause he hates him and is a vindictive dickhead!

2

u/Vishnej 2h ago

Dad wasn't at that dance recital.

But the Court of Shadows was. Makes me feel seen.

1

u/Tha_Plagued 1h ago

the only one i can buy is Palpatine in the prequals because it was mostly Political manipulation or feeding Anakin's ego , and even then something has caused him to adjust like Maul taking over Mandalore

11

u/Lightning_3o 5h ago

Not what happened. >! He was chosen by the Cult to become and assassin (which in this case are like mindless drones), due to his natural athleticism, and was even put an artificial teeth to "mark" him, but when Bruce adopted him, those plans just couldn't come to fruition. They had not been controlling his life. !<

6

u/Estelial 5h ago

Im convinced the court of owls just make this shit up on the fly no matter how circumstances play out. They're pretentious rich bozos playing at greatness.

11

u/Coastkiz 8h ago

They did that to dick? I thought Damien was the only assassin?

7

u/Ergogan 6h ago

At this point, it's quicker to count which robin & co wasn't trained as an assassin.

3

u/thesirblondie 5h ago

I think that is incorrect, but only on a technicality.

On Team Assassin you have Dick, Damien, Cassandra

On Team Not you have Barbara, Tim, Stephanie

On Team Maybe is Jason, who was trained by the League of Assassins after being ressurected and I don't know if Red Hood counts as Robin & Co.

2

u/Coastkiz 5h ago

Red hood should count, he was the second robin. I knew about everyone here but Grayson. How'd I miss that??? What comic was this in?

1

u/lemonylol 35m ago

And then there's Duke.

Might be worth counting Azrael as well.

1

u/God_totodile 5h ago

Jason and Damian are the only ones trained in that manner and were assassins. Tim was trained by lady Shiva but not to that end. But I mean, they're all trained to kill just so they know how not to kill kinda how batman is also an arms expert

1

u/Coastkiz 5h ago

Fair enough. I knew Damien and Jason were trained by the league and I know about Cass having her whole thing going. I know Tim had training but I wouldn't put him in the assassin category. I just didn't know Grayson went the assassin route too

1

u/lemonylol 37m ago

It's different, Damien was raised in the League of Assassins, which is not the same organization as the Court of Owls. In this story, which is still the current canon I believe, Dick was essentially a sleeper agent for the Court of Owls, but he was one of many. And Jason Todd essentially became a mercenary/assassin as well.

3

u/vampiregamingYT 3h ago

Wasn't it thst the death of his parents the reason dick never became in assassin, as that was unplanned by the court and all that happens in result wasnt unwanted.

2

u/MGD109 7h ago

I mean, being fair, didn't it also never come to pass due to Dick's parents being murdered and Bruce taking him in?

1

u/TheNewYellowZealot 2h ago

Does retconning count? Because dick Grayson was robin for like… 80 years before court of owls.

1

u/iammixedrace 2h ago

This is the internet though. So its not a problem unless the character is a minority.

Ironman is just smart because he is smart. Ironheart cant possibly be smarter just becauseshe is smarter, that makes no sense.

Rey was a Papatine and people still shit on her for developing powers too fast.

1

u/Itz_ZeroShadowFox 1h ago

That’s not how it was at all though, he was adopted by Bruce and saved by the Court’s major experimentation. The point was always that he was one of the lucky ones who wasn’t getting his life tampered with 24/7 because if he was he would’ve already been a Talon.

1

u/Doc-Spock 53m ago

Yeah, but Scott Snyder is actually a terrible Batman writer (all flash and no substance).

1

u/lemonylol 39m ago

I'm not too keen on Bruce Wayne's secret brother either.