Tim Drake, also known as the third Robin, officially came out as bisexual in Batman: Urban Legends #6. Read on to find out why it took him years to confess.
Robin Finally Realizes He’s Queer
It was a lightbulb moment for Robin to finally realize who he is and accept his sexuality. In his comic panel, he said:
“Like something out in the ether has been taunting you, teasing you. Like you know you’re supposed to be on the same page as your brain, but not everything made sense. People keep asking me what I want. But I couldn’t grasp it. Whatever it was. It always felt just out of reach.”
Clearly, the young lad is troubled with uncertain feelings. When he caught up with his friend, Bernard Dowd, he admitted thinking about the other night they fought together. Bernard, then, asked Tim for a date, which the latter agreed to.
Meghan Fitzman, the comics writer, said in an interview with Polygon that the team is not putting any label on Robin’s emotions and that the idea of sexuality is a journey and not a defined destination. He is still figuring himself out, and he does not possess the language to articulate all of it yet.
Why It Took Him So Long To Realize
DC Comics never wanted to make Robin queer, but the comics writers seemed to find a way to slowly incorporate the idea. Back in 1954, a psychiatrist named Frederic Wertham wrote a book, Seduction of the Innocent, and targeted that comic books are influencing the minds of children. Even Batman and Robin’s relationship was called out as “a wish dream of two homosexuals living together.”
With Robin becoming canonically queer, DC Comics has decided to turn it into a positive association. It is now something that the young hero needs to embrace. The comics community has been making an effort to be inclusive of everyone, regardless of gender and sexuality.