- "The Mutants are dead. The Mutants are history. This is the mark of the future. Gotham City belongs to the Batman."
- ―Sons of Batman[src]
The Sons of Batman (sometimes referred to as the Batboys) are a vigilante group of youths inspired by Batman appearing throughout Frank Miller's Dark Knight Universe. First appearing in Dark Knight Triumphant, they were initially members of the Mutant Gang, though quickly changed to crime-fighting after witnessing the Mutant Leader's defeat at the Dark Knight's hands. The gang devoted themselves to Batman as his personal army, helping him maintain order in Gotham and take on powerful enemies like Lex Luthor.
History[]
The Dark Knight[]
Initially, members of the Sons of Batman were members of the Mutant Gang, youths who had a love of meaningless violence and anarchy. However, after watching the recently unretired Batman defeated and incapacitated the Mutant Leader, a large amount of members abandoned their former boss. Seeing Batman as their true leader, they dubbed themselves "The Sons of Batman" and began using excessively violent methods to deal with criminals. However, they were initially only a little less violent than the Mutants, even willing to kill and use firearms in their activities.
When an EMP blast detonated and knocked out power to Gotham (along with other American cities), the Sons of Batman initially wanted to attack and "purge" Gotham. However, Batman appeared at their meeting and, during an impassionate speech, rallied the group to bring order and help bring rioters under control, which included their former comrades in the Mutant Gang. He also convinced them to take on non-lethal methods to fight crime. The members all agreed, helping Batman and Robin bring stop looting and violence in the city.
After Bruce Wayne faked his death, the Sons of Batman followed him into the caves of Gotham with the Batboys. From there, he bega to train them into becoming his personal task-force and take on threats worse than "thieves and murderers".
The Dark Knight III: The Master Race[]
The Sons of the Batman, under the command of Carrie Kelley, were rebranded as the "Batboys," becoming an effective attack force for the crippled Bruce Wayne.
Weapons[]
Unlike Batman, the Sons of Batman formerly used firearms such as shotguns and sub machine guns which means they killed criminals instead of imprisoning them. This was up until Batman decreed guns were the weapons of the enemy and forbid any of them from using them.
Additionally, they don't have the same protective armour which they substitute with weaker gear such as rubber suits and padded vests.
Appearances in Other Media[]
- The Sons of Batman had some similarities to the Batmen from the Christopher Nolan film, The Dark Knight, namely being a group that was heavily inspired by Batman himself, and despite modeling themselves after Batman were also demonstrated to be perfectly willing to kill criminals despite it being something the real Batman was against. Unlike the Sons of Batman, however, Batman often fights against them (although he did fight against some of them back when they were under the command of the Mutant Leader).