Warning: Spoilers for Batman & Robin #11!
Summary
Maybe I’ve been listening to Kendrick Lamar too much this summer, but I can’t stop thinking of one of his lyrics when I think about one particular feud that’s been passed down fromBatmantoRobin. Anyone with access to the internet and this summer knows this season has been dominated by conversations about Kendrick Lamar’s feud with Drake. His “Not Like Us” record alone became the song of the summer.
However, it’s Kendrick Lamar’s “euphoria” that’s constantly on replay in my head as I readBatman and Robin#11 by Joshua Williamson and Juan Ferreyra. Much likehow Kendrick inherited a beef that once belonged to Pharrell, Robin inherits a beef withBane that used to belong to Batman.
I know, connecting a Pullitzer Prize winning rapper to a 30-year-old comic rivalry sounds like a stretch, but I can’t escape the connection. And I can’t escape the idea of generational feuds andhow easily the past can at least inform the present, if not directly affect it.
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Making Sense of Bane’s Old Feud with Batman
Dating Back to 1994’s “Knightfall”
Before we can dive intoRobin and Bane’s feudand how it connects to Kendrick Lamar, we need to trace it back to Batman’s original feud with Bane, which dates back to the famed “Knightfall” arc. That arc gave Batman a challenge like he never had before. DC Comics introduced Bane as someone who could not onlyoverpower Batman on a physical level, but outsmart him on an intellectual level. These traits eventually led to Bane breaking Bruce in half, forcing him into a brief retirement.
Batman and Bane’s relationship continued to expand and complicate over the years.
While “Knightfall” is undoubtedly the most well-known platform for their feud, their beef continued to brew in later years. Batman and Bane’s relationship continued to expand and complicate over the years. Numerous twists entered their dynamic, likeBane adopting the Batman mantlefor himself, and even the two briefly thinking they were brothers in a twist that was quickly proven wrong. Naturally, Bane’s vendetta against Batman stretched out into him interacting with other members of the Bat-Family — including, in one tragic story, Robin Damian Wayne.
Robin’s Feud with Bane Takes on a New Form
Like Father, Like Son
After all these years, there’s an almost weird amount of mutual respectbetween Batman and Bane. For a guy who almost had his career and life ended at the hands of this gargantuan, Batman’s surprisingly civil around Bane. Maybe it’s that unbreakable zen that Batman has at his disposal — but one person who doesn’t have zen is Damian. Whatever seething hatred that Batman should have or once had for Bane,Robin has it now, and that hatred stems from watching Bane kill AlfredinBatman#77 by Tom King, Mikel Janín, Tony S. Daniel, Norm Rapmund, Tomeu Morey, Jordie Bellaire, and Clayton Cowles.
I won’t lie, Robin finally getting revenge on Bane is something that I and others wanted to see for years.
That brings us back toBatman and Robin#11. The two title characters and Nobody are all investigating Bane’s sudden appearance and residency on Dinosaur Island. As they watch Bane dispose of some poachers,Damian Wayne has a sudden flashback to when he saw Bane snap Alfred’s neck, forcing him to march forward in Bane’s direction. I won’t lie,Robin finally getting revenge on Baneis something that I and others wanted to see for years, but this isn’t his beef. It should be Batman’s.
Cue Kendrick Lamar’s Music and Its Connection to the Bane Feud
What’s Beef When You Inherit It?
I still need to make sense ofhow Kendrick Lamar is involved in all of this, so let me explain some things for anyone who doesn’t follow rap beef (or at least aren’t chronically online long enough to follow the beef from start to finish). So, to trace where this whole Drake vs. Kendrick feud began would take an entire timeline and a decade’s worth of red string, but all you really need to know is that during their back-and-forth trading of songs, Kendrick released a track called “euphoria.”
“I inherit the beef.”
Among all the insinuations, implications, and name-calling that K. Dot threw at Drizzy, one part that stands out is how Kendrick name-dropped fellow Grammy winner, Pharrell Williams. Previously, Drake addressed some unkind words to Williams, and so Kendrick expresses in “euphoria” that, because he’s not a fan of Drake addressing Pharrell so disrespectfully, “I inherit the beef.” In order to protect a collaborater and ally,Kendrick adopts someone else’s beef. Kendrick obviously has issues with Drake outside of Pharrell, but this one line makes this rivalry a transitional one, with Kendrick stepping in front of Pharrell to defend him.
That’s what happens between Robin and Bane in this DC Comics moment.Damian Wayne has inherited Bruce Wayne’s beef with Bane.Robin has issues with Banethat have nothing to do with Batman, but Bane’s haunting of the Bat-Family makes this all the more personal for Robin. As if Robin wasn’t already an instant rival of Bane because of Batman, Alfred’s death made things more personal. He wants revenge for Alfred’s death, but his issue with Bane pre-dates Damian’s birth. Bane’s issues began with Batman, and with each domino effect over the years, it inched Bane closer to Robin’s direction.
How a DC Feud Can Be Generational
One Generation’s Problems Is Passed to the Next
I’d like to say that what Robin and Bane have is something of a generational feud. I’d define a generational feud as something that’s more than just a feud that lasts generations, but alsoa feud that affects future generations within a family. Batman and Bane are still involved in this neverending feud, but that’s to be expected. They’ve been going at it for 30 years, and while there’s newfound respect, there’s still no love lost.
Robin, meanwhile, is a teenager. There’s a chance that he would never have met Bane if not for his father’s feud, and maybe, Alfred would still be alive if not for it. A feud that started between Bane and Batman is oozing into the present and forcing his son to directly collide with the juggernaut. I never would have thought mentioning Kendrick Lamar’s name would be the best way to make sense of a multi-year rivalry featuringBatman,Robin, and Bane, or anything about Gotham, but hey — here we are.
Batman and Robin#11is available now from DC Comics.
BATMAN AND ROBIN #11 (2024)
Batman
One of DC’s most iconic heroes, Batman is the vigilante superhero persona of billionaire Bruce Wayne. Forged by tragedy with the death of his parents, Bruce dedicated his life to becoming the world’s leading martial artist, detective, and tactician. Recruiting an entire family of allies and sidekicks, Bruce wages war on evil as the dark knight of his hometown, Gotham City.
