Iโm new to comics and you seem to be the relevant person to ask this question. Do you know if Duke was planned to have powers from the beginning, or that something he acquired later on? From the comic I read, it seemed like he might become Robin but then it turned out differently?
This is the kinda thing that I so desperately wish that I could link an interview to Scott Synder with a definitive โyes/noโ. I did some preliminary searches and couldn't find anything conclusive (most interviews I found that would've been relevant were hyping up All Star Batman/Dark Days but obvi didn't go into details abt duke specifically)
I def believe that those storylines are where Snyder had actually figured out what direction he wanted Dukeโs character to be pointed in because he most clearly started laying the foundation for Dukeโs powers in the Cursed Wheel arc in ASB. But the thing about comics is that all these writers & artists are sharing these characters. It's all one big game of โyes andโ where ideally editorial helps keep things coherent & somewhat on track, but anyone can decide to derail at any time. (For better & for worse)
So from Dukeโs unnamed appearance waaaaay back in Batman (2011) #21? No, I donโt think Snyder was writing him with the idea that he was a meta in mind. For all intents, Duke was unnamed civilian character 24,601 that got a few lines with Batman, then disappeared for half a year before heโd be brought back with a more significant purpose for his character. And that's what's nice, but is usually rare in comics, is when those kinds of characters are allowed to more fully join the story like that, to become more fleshed out and eventually morph into their own character. Because I do think Snyder's plan was always to have the Thomas family introduced as an โearlyโ part of this era of Batman's mythos, and for them to be paralleled with the Waynes by the end of his writing, effectively putting narrative bookends on Zero Year vs Endgame and his Batman run. It tells me he was being intentional with his writing, and while I don't personally care for a lot of the New 52, I have a lot of respect for writers like him that were taking advantage of the โclean slateโ and staking their claim. Even if again, i realllllly donโt love what those clean slates did for a lot of my favs BUT ANYWAYS-
I think some writers saw some potential in Duke at the time & that was the era where they had started playing around with the idea of him joining the batfam. For example, Batman & Robin: Futureโs End takes place btwn those story arcs and also is in the middle of the time period when Damian had died. Not sure if this or We Are Robin might be what you're referring to, but they both are points that lend credence to Duke more fully joining the batfam in the future, whether as a Robin, or as something new.
So by the time Snyder gets the reins on Duke again after WAR? Yea, he probably had a clearer idea of making him a meta, or maybe it was something someone in editorial threw around as an idea & Snyder ran with. We don't know these things unless the teams tell us. And like I said, I couldnโt find anything conclusive on that end.
Imo, with comics being such a collaborative medium, it doesn't leave a lot of room for speculation on authorial intent. Because it's not just one writer's intent. It's what the artists contribute, it's what editorial allows/mandates, it's what teams before them built and what the teams afterwards will do with what was given. And what comes after can sometimes be VERY different from what came before.
This kind of question I think can be interesting in certain other mediums (for a book, a movie/tv show with consistent writing teams, or a limited series/run for example), but might be a bit limiting when approaching comics like these where so many creative teams become involved in developing these characters, and the characters might change hands a few times. The best we can hope for is that Duke does get more stories in the future! And him being the only meta in the batfam, established as a โdaytimeโ hero, having a stake in more of Gothamโs community & not just fighting against the rogues. Snyderโs set up a lot of WONDERFUL threads for the right creative team to pull at. I just wish that DC would actually take a fucking nibble on that goddam bait already! GIVE MY BOI AN ONGOING DAMMIT
