Fans may think of Batman and Robin as DC’s ultimate team, but the Dark Knight has sometimes treated his sidekick terribly. In fact, when Tim Drake began pulling back from the role of Robin, Batman lashed out by exposing his secret identity – a petulant act of revenge that most people would consider below Bruce Wayne’s heroic standards.
Batman goes to absurd lengths to keep his identity secret. From having his allies dress up as Batman so they can be seen with Bruce Wayne to trolling the internet to discredit the idea he’s the hero under the cowl. Likewise, Batman has impressed upon his friends and family how important it is to protect their secret identities as well. Some adaptions have suggested that Bruce wouldn’t even allow Dick Grayson to reveal his identity to the Teen Titans, despite literally living with them. Nobody took this secrecy more seriously than Tim Drake, who went to extremes to keep his identity under wraps. At one point, Tim even chose to destroy a camera that spotted him over chasing a criminal down, despite the fact he was wearing his mask.
Batman Told Spoiler Robin’s Identity
Batman’s ultimate betrayal is shown in Robin #87 by Chuck Dixon, Pete Woods, Andrew Pepoy, and Noelle Giddings. At this point, Tim has mostly moved away from working with Batman – if there’s an all-hands crisis, Robin will be there, but otherwise Tim is operating as a solo hero. A lot of this is due to Tim’s civilian life making it difficult to always be in the Batcave when needed – something Batman resents, as he feels Tim isn’t living up to their shared war on crime. In response, Batman officially recruits Spoiler to the Bat-Family, including telling her Tim’s secret identity.
Robin Rightly Called Out Batman’s Hypocrisy
Tim and Stephanie Brown’s Spoiler had a complicated relationship, since they actually met as their vigilante personas. While Tim was able to quickly figure out who Stephanie was, he kept her in the dark to protect his family, which was going through a tumultuous time. This remained true even as the two began developing a romantic connection, with Tim dating Stephanie only as Robin, making it clear to her that he would not share his civilian life with her. It’s likely Tim would’ve eventually revealed his identity in his own time, but Batman made that choice for him. While Batman makes excuses for why this was necessary, Tim points out that he hasn’t told Stephanie he’s Bruce Wayne, and later comics all but confirmed that Batman was punishing Tim by replacing him with Spoiler, eventually having her take the Robin mantle when he officially quit.
Secrecy is one of the biggest strengths that Batman has. For many years the people of Gotham weren’t sure if he was a man or a myth, but despite this, it seems the only secrets Batman cares about are his own, since he had no trouble telling Robin’s secret identity to the last person Tim wanted to know it.
