How old are Batman and Nightwing?

[Darthkush]

This is something an friend and I have been having an discussion about. I know various DC writers are always saying Batman is about 35 but i think that's ridiculous. I don't know about you but when Batman and the Grayson Robin were galivating around, the idea of Batman being about 19(as Grant morrison said in an recent interview with newsarama) is silly to me. I think Batman(and Superman too for that matter) is somewhere in the ballpark of 40-45. I think Nightwing is somewhere betwee 29-34. What do you guys think? I'm not asking how old DC or whomever declares they are but what age do you think they're realistically. Obviously batman can't really be 70 or whatever but how old do you think he and Nightwing(and Tim Drake/Robin) for that matter are? I see Robin as about 19.

 

[Doctor Baywatch]

He will always be in his 30s.

 

[RobC]

I see him a mid-thirties, with Dick Grayson around his mid-twenties, Tim Drake around the late teens. Maybe 17/18-ish.

 

[Jawn]

Ages are always relative to who is writing, keep that in mind.

Titans Tower (http://www.titanstower.com/source/whoswho/nightwing.html) however, says that Dick is 9 when he becomes Robin and 18 when he leaves Batman (supposedly he becomes Nightwing around then). The 18 thing makes sense to me -- it represents his 'coming of age.'

I've read elsewhere that he becomes Nightwing at 19 and that Bats is 29 at that point, which would make them 10 years apart (I can do math).

Frank Miller says Dick becomes Robin at 12.

According to Wikipedia:

"In his Pre-Crisis origin, Dick is an eight year-old"

"following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Dick's origins and history, like Bruce Wayne's, remain relatively unchanged, save for a few minor details. He is now a 12-year old"

"when Dick is 17, he is shot in the shoulder by the Joker, which scares Batman into finally ending Robin's career as his partner"

"Dick, now 19, realizes at that point that he has grown up: he no longer relies on Batman, and he and the Dark Knight disagree on crime-fighting methodology."

Take this all as you will.

The comics contradict themselves all over the place. Hence the 'Crisis' series.

I personally like to think the pair are about 10 years apart, giving them a brotherly dynamic. Once Tim comes along, however, Bruce is a bit older, and the dynamic between Tim and Bruce is more of a son-father one.

 

[Comics N' Toons]

Batman's in his mid to late 30's

Nightwing in his mid 20's

Robin in his late teens

Barbara/ Oracle in her mid 20's

 

[Lazlo Panaflex]

In Batman #416 Nightwing mentions that both he and Bats were a team for six years and that he was 19 when Bruce forced him to quit as Robin.

 

[Nepenthes]

Depends on who you ask ...

- there's the official DC history age...
- there's the standard conversion of comic years to real life years, i forget what it is but 70 years of real life should equal an exact age in DC years, which *may* be different to the 'official' figure...
- various creators have there own ideas and write Batman to that age regardless of what DC officially thinks....
- and of course we all have our own ideas and preferences. Ask me, I say 37


That said, it's hard to fit the history into a sensible timeline and end up at 37 though. I think it's important he spends time alone in between the Robins and is no younger than 24 when he begins. Ideally I'd like to imagine him 26 for Year One but it just doesn't work. Borrowing from Morrsion.....

24 - Returns to Gotham and begins as Batman. Year One type stories. TLH. TMWL etc.
25 - partners with Robin. Wacky fun and adventures. Sprang, 1960's, space aliens etc.
27 - Robin leaves. 'Early mid life crisis'. Lives in Penthouse, dates often, spends nights brooding alone. Meets Ra's, romps with Talia, all that.
28 - Partners with Jason Todd for two years
31 - Jason Todd dies. Barbara shot. He gets extremly depressed.
33 - Tim Drake convinces him he needs Robin again.
34 - Bane snaps his back, Knightfall.
36 - Contaigon
37 - No mans Land
38 - Bruce Waybe Fugitive, War Crimes, Hush
40 - present events

so unless I cut out bits of history (his 38th year could vanish and I wouldnt really care) then he must be at least 40. imo. Young forty, which equals 37 with a physical age 25

 

[Doctor Baywatch]

That's a misunderstanding. For a lot of years there was no aging. No one was aging between 1939 and 1969 until Dick Grayson became "suddenly" a teenager - and he was the only one who aged. Same when he became an "adult" and Nightwing.

You can say that: Batman doesn't age. He is imprisoned in the cage of immortality in the stories that play "now".

No one would want Mickey Mouse (or the Simpsons) to age so why should Batman?

 

[Kaizer]

I'd say Batman is about 40 in recent continuity, at least up until Infinite Crisis, now he looks and acts more like 35

 

[Super_Ludacris]

Timeless...

 

[RobC]

I agree with that, no-one cares how old he is, he doesn't age, that's the idea of the character...

 

[Karem-Knight]

I would say Bruce became Batman at the age of 25, and was 27 when Dick became Robin (Dick being around 12 at the time.) So, six years later Dick becomes Nightwing at age 18.

My time line of Bats:
Year One- 25
The Long Halloween- 26
Dark Victory- 27
Years with Dick Grayson- 27-31
31-Jason Todd years
32- Barbra is crippled, Jason Todd is killed.
33- Tim Drake and Knightfall
34-35- No Man's Land
36-38- War Games, Fugitive, Under the Hood, Infinite Crisis.
39- One Year Later
40- Final Crisis?

And I presume, Nightwing is around 26 years old, Jason Todd 19, and Tim Drake 16/17 ish.

 

[Amazing Afroman]

I've read alot of threads and websites that have pondered this question. The idea that others have presented in which Bats started in his mid 20's and is in his early 40's and Nightwing is now in his early-mid 20's corresponds to what I've always read and have been able to work out for myself.


Side note: Karem-Knight, your avy is f'in awsome!