u/Quiir0

Now, this is an odd question but given how many heroes start young, well, Spider-Man, the Robins, etc, this came up in my mind.

I believe most representations put him in his mid 20s when he becomes Batman, like starting at age 25. But we also have to bear in mind that... he's pretty much a master mind.

Also, The post is a lie, it's a cue in to discuss something I had in mind. If you read this through, thank you <3

Anyways I'm currently writing a fic, not centred in Batman tho. But I have ages set for characters so they make somewhat some sense for me in my head (not written, just in my notes). I just would like others to have their little bit of knowledge and opinions to help me out.

So... in this AU of mine, Bruce starts as Batman at the ripe age of late 18s to early 19s. Now hear me out.

First of all, someone close to me, graduated from high school at age 16, starting university being 16. He is someone I admire and someone incredibly smart. Now, if we picture Bruce Wayne's level of intelligence and resources, being 16, or even 15 when finishing high school (or even dropping out of it) could make sense, and beginning traveling the world and training at a very young age, where the brain is more malleable, shaping deeply the way Bruce sees the world. Now, as he starts as Batman so young, he'd have already 2-3 years of training under his belt, without even being legally an adult. So when he's back in Gotham he'd be very young.

Why does this matter? This focuses more on the Robins than Bruce, actually. Imagine Bruce is Batman from 19, and when he's 23, 4 years later, he comes into the Grayson tragedy. He's 23, legally an adult, but seriously too young to be even consider him truly a stable man. He's young, he's intelligent, he's a world class detective. But his brain hasn't even stopped developing. He sees a young 10 year old boy grieving his parents, and sees himself. He was 15-16 when he left to begin his training. He believes if he can save this little kid from seeking revenge, and shape him the way he thinks would've helped himself, he takes him in.

And taking in a 10 year old kid to fight crime is something incredibly irresponsible. Bruce is smart, but this isn't logical at all. He'd be only 23, he could even Dick's older brother rather than his dad, but he has the money, he has the wits, what could go wrong, he'd think.

Then 4 years later, comes Jason, again, this is an AU I'm writing, so timelines might differ, it follows a similar step, Dick leaves Bruce around being 14 to form the teen titans, something Bruce doesn't seem to mind because, well, he was close to that age when leaving Gotham to train, so he's like "Ok, Dick is capable enough, I trained him, he can go on his own with other super power kids", then Jason comes around "scrappy kid, actually smart, if he goes into a life of crime it'll be his downfall", so he adopts him. And makes him a Robin. Now Bruce is 27.

Who in their sane mind would make a kid a crime fighter? And do it again? Batman is smart, but he's insane, and he has to be at least not emotionally mature enough to make these wilds decisions. Also, Absolute Batman is 20-21 when he begins. So that's another basis.