A surprising argument in Gotham City is perfectly summed up by a line from Kendrick Lamar and you can’t tell me otherwise

Warning: Spoilers for Batman & Robin No. 11!

Summary

• Due to Alfred’s death, Robin inherits a feud with Bane from Batman.
• The generational conflict between Batman and Bane has a direct impact on Robin.
• The feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake reflects the way Robin inherits Batman’s feud with Bane.

Maybe I’ve been listening to too much Kendrick Lamar this summer, but I can’t stop thinking of one of his lyrics when I think of a particular feud that was passed down by Batman To Robin. Anyone with access to the Internet this summer knows that this season has been dominated by conversations about Kendrick Lamar’s feud with Drake. His record “Not Like Us” alone became the song of the summer.

However, it is Kendrick Lamar’s “Euphoria” that keeps going through my head as I read. Batman and Robin #11 by Joshua Williamson and Juan Ferreyra. Similar to How Kendrick inherited a feud with Pharrell, how Robin inherits a feud with Bane that used to belong to Batman.

I know it sounds far-fetched to link a Pullitzer Prize-winning rapper to a 30-year-old comedian rivalry, but I can’t escape the connection. And I can’t escape the idea of ​​generational feuds and how easily the past can at least influence the presentif not even directly influence it.

Understanding Bane’s old feud with Batman

Dating back to “Knightfall” from 1994

Before we can get into the feud between Robin and Bane and its connection to Kendrick Lamar, we need to trace it back to Batman’s original feud with Bane, dating back to the famous “Knightfall” arc. This arc presented Batman with a challenge unlike any he had ever faced before. DC Comics introduced Bane as someone who not only Overwhelm Batman on a physical level, but outsmart him on an intellectual levelThese traits eventually led to Bane breaking Bruce in half, forcing him into a brief retirement.

The relationship between Batman and Bane became closer and more complicated over the years.

While “Knightfall” is undoubtedly the most well-known platform for their feudtheir feud continued to simmer in later years. The relationship between Batman and Bane grew closer and more complicated over the years, with numerous twists and turns entering their dynamic, such as Bane taking on the Batman mantle himself, and even the two briefly thinking they were brothers, which was quickly proven false. Of course, Bane’s vendetta against Batman extended to him interacting with other members of the Bat-Family – including, in one tragic storyline, Robin Damian Wayne.

Robin’s feud with Bane takes a new form

Like father, like son

After all these years, there is an almost uncanny level of mutual respect between Batman and Bane. For a guy whose career and life were nearly ended at the hands of this behemoth, Batman is surprisingly polite around Bane. Perhaps it is that unwavering Zen that Batman has at his disposal – but one person who does not have Zen is Damian. Whatever Batman’s seething hatred for Bane should be, or once was, Robin has it now, and this hatred stems from watching Bane kill Alfred In Batman #77 by Tom King, Mikel Janín, Tony S. Daniel, Norm Rapmund, Tomeu Morey, Jordie Bellaire and Clayton Cowles.

I’m not lying, Robin finally getting revenge on Bane is something I and others have wanted to see for years.

This brings us back to Batman and Robin #11. The two title characters and Nobody investigate Bane’s sudden appearance and his stay on Dinosaur Island. While they watch Bane eliminate some poachers, Damian Wayne suddenly has a flashback to the moment he saw Bane break Alfred’s neckwhich forces him to advance in Bane’s direction. I’m not lying, Robin finally getting revenge on Bane is something I and others have wanted to see for years, but that’s not his problem. It should be Batman’s.

Keyword: Kendrick Lamar’s music and its connection to the Bane feud

What is beef if you inherit it?

I still have to understand how Kendrick Lamar is involved in all thisso let me explain a few things for anyone who doesn’t follow rap feuds (or at least isn’t online chronically enough to watch the feud from start to finish). so to trace where this whole drake and kendrick feud started would require a whole timeline and a decade of thread, but all you really need to know is that during their song back and forth, kendrick released a track called “euphoria.”

Among all the insinuations, innuendos and insults that K. Dot threw at Drizzy, Kendrick’s mention of fellow Grammy winner Pharrell Williams’ name stands out. Previously, Drake had some unkind words directed at Williams, and so in “Euphoria,” Kendrick expresses that because he is not a fan of Drake addressing Pharrell so disrespectfully, “I inherit the beef.“To protect a collaborator and ally, Kendrick adopts someone else’s beef. Outside of Pharrell, Kendrick obviously has issues with Drake, but this one line turns the rivalry into a temporary one as Kendrick steps in front of Pharrell to defend him.

That’s what happens in this DC Comics moment between Robin and Bane. Damian Wayne inherited Bruce Wayne’s feud with Bane. Robin has problems with Bane that have nothing to do with Batman, but Bane’s haunting of the Bat-Family makes it even more personal for Robin. As if Robin wasn’t already an instant rival to Bane because of Batman, Alfred’s death made things even more personal. He wants to avenge Alfred’s death, but his problem with Bane dates back to before Damian was born. Bane’s problems started with Batman, and with each domino effect over the years, Bane moved closer to Robin’s direction.

How a DC feud can affect generations

The problems of one generation are passed on to the next

I would say that what Robin and Bane have is something like a generational feud. I would define a generational feud as something that is more than just a feud that lasts for generations, but also a feud that affects future generations within a family. Batman and Bane are still locked in this never-ending feud, but that’s to be expected. They’ve been at it for 30 years, and while the respect has been renewed, the love hasn’t been lost.

Robin is now a teenager. There’s a chance he would never have met Bane if it weren’t for his father’s feud, and perhaps Alfred would still be alive if it weren’t for it. A feud that began between Bane and Batman seeps into the present, forcing his son to collide directly with the Juggernaut. I never thought that mentioning Kendrick Lamar’s name would be the best way to understand a multi-year rivalry that has seen Batman, Robinand Bane or anything about Gotham, but hey – here we are.

Batman and Robin #11 is now available from DC Comics.