5 DC Resurrections Done Right (And 5 That Sucked)

1. Damian Wayne - Batman & Robin

Batman And Robin Damian Wayne
DC Comics

If Damian Wayne was a divisive character in life, then he may have been even more-so in death.

The character was created by Grant Morrison during the beginnings of the writer's stint on Batman, and wasn't particularly well-liked. He was the biological son of the Dark Knight, raised by the League of Assassins to kill, maim, and do pretty much everything the Caped Crusader definitely isn't in to. This earned the character a lot of ire from certain circles, but Morrison stayed the course and proved Damian's value time and again, especially when he was forced to grow up and become Robin in the wake of his father's death.

Come Batman: Inc., Damian and Bruce were the dynamic duo. They fought together, father and son, and whether it was Morrison writing the pair or Peter J. Tomasi, they accrued a devoted following. Little did those fans know, however, that Morrison had planned to kill Damian off from the start, and that death came in Inc., when he was killed fighting his evil clone, the Heretic.

This left DC with something of a dilemma. Damian was Morrison's creation, and he'd been able to open and close the book on the character in a satisfying manner. However, there was also no denying the potential the character had, and seemed as though Tomasi and artist Patrick Gleason agreed.

The son of Batman returned in the pages of the New 52's Batman & Robin comic, but it was only made worth it in the way it was done. Batman and co. literally journey to Apokolips to resurrect Damian, and the splash page of Bruce embracing his child illustrated that the right decision had been made.

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WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.