How old is the Batfamily (in New Earth)?
These are my personal calculations. Comics are bad at continuity, I’m sure we’re all aware.
I use Tim as my north star in my calculations because we have a couple sure fire ages for him, unlike people like Dick or Bruce whose continuity is less concrete. Tim was 3 when the Graysons died, 13 after Jason died, and he just turned 16 shortly before Jason turned 18.
Tim’s birthday is July 19th, and Jason’s is August 16th. Since Tim turns 16 the same year Jason would turn 18, Jason is exactly 1 year, 11 months, and 3 days older than Tim - almost 2 years. Jason’s death certificate says he died April 27, at 15 years old; this means Jason was turning 16 that year, and it also means when Tim arrives at 13, it’s not yet summer, so Tim is turning 14 soon. Batman #436 confirms Jason was with Bruce for 2 years, making him 13-going-on-14 when Bruce adopted him, and Tim the same age when he comes in behind him.
Dick has multiple dates presented for his birthday, so exact age is a no go. In 1940, Dick was 8 years old when he became Robin. That is impossible now, if Tim attended Haly’s Circus when he was 3, and Jason was between them as Robin. In Final Crisis, Dick’s depicted as 12 when his parents die. This would make him about 9 years older than Tim, and 7 years older than Jason. That would mean when Jason was adopted, Dick would be 20, and he’d be 22 when Jason died, and 26 when he became Batman.
Tim is 9yo when he realizes Robin is Dick Grayson. That makes Dick about 18yo. Two years later, Jason is Robin for another two years, take 6 months for his training. These ages fit together nicely.
Bruce was 25 when he finished his Batman training. Batman: Year One is probably a full year, and The Long Halloween is DEFIANTELY a year, so let’s say Bruce adopts Dick (Dark Victory) two years after returning to Gotham - 27yo. This makes Bruce 15 years older than Dick. This works for their fuzzy awkward family dynamic, where Bruce is something between a big brother and a dad, getting more parental as Bruce gets older, and grating on Dick’s growing independence as he’s being given MORE restrictions as he ages, not less. It makes Bruce 22 years older than Jason (35yo when he adopts him), a more reasonable age gap for a parent and child, which plays into Bruce’s more immediately parental relationship with Jason (and thus Dick’s jealousy over it). It then makes Bruce 24 years older than Tim (37 after Jason’s death and upon meeting Tim). Bruce’s birthday is Feb. 19th, early in the year, so its not as awkward to juggle months into the equation. This makes Bruce 41 at the end of New Earth; I was honestly surprised, it’s a pretty reasonable age for a fit man to be Batman-ing, if there is ANY age considered reasonable to be Batman-ing.
Cassandra Cain is already 18 when Jason turns 18, and her birthday is January 26, so Cass is exactly 6 months and 21 days older than Jason.
Early on, Stephanie says she’s “older” than Tim, though I don’t know how she’d know that at the time. Later, Stephanie’s attending freshman year of college when she first becomes Batgirl, so I think it’s safe to say she’s about 1 year older than Tim, making her 15 when they meet when Tim is 14, and 18 when Tim is 17 at the end of the New Earth run.
Damian… I feel like someone told me Damian was slightly hyper-aged as a toddler, but I can’t find that information r/n, and also I don’t care, so I’m moving forward as if Damian was born naturally, and not artificially altered at all. I’m convinced the more we see Damian drawn to look more like Thalia, the more we’re just casually being asked to kindly forget about the racist “genetically modified to be perfect, i.e. look more like Bruce” Thing. So I’m gonna.
Since I think the fathers day comic between Tim and Bruce occurs before we meet Damian, and father’s day is in June, and his birthday’s in July, I’m going to assume Tim is 17 when he meets Damian for the first time, who is described as 10. This means Damian is 7 years younger than Tim, 9 years younger than Jason, 16 years younger than Dick, and 31 years younger than Bruce. This is particularly interesting, because Bruce and Dick’s age gap is about the same as Dick and Damian’s age gap, which draws more of a parallel between Bruce and Dick’s awkward pseudo-big-brother/actual-adopted-dad relationship and Dick and Damian’s pseudo-dad/actual-big-brother relationship.
And then there’s Barbara. What to do with Barbara. Barbara’s got de-aged over the years to make her a more palatable ship for Dick (no hatin’, just true). It’s cute for a teenage boy to have a widdle crush on his adult friend/big sister figure who’s old enough to have a doctorate, and then have him fall in love with an alien girl closer to his own age, but when they decided they wanted this ship to be viable, they had to close that 8-10 year age gap, or Babs was gonna look like a creep. Detective Comics 871 aged her all the way down to Dick’s exact age, having them go to prom together, but you can make Barbara anywhere between 26 and 36+ by the end of New Earth and I’m not sure anyone can say you’re wrong. I have Much Fear they’re going to try to de-age her again, though, with this potential Jason romance hanging in the air.
And Alfred… look, man, I don’t know, he was 18 when he joined the British military, and that’s the extent of my understanding of how old Alfred is.
And, you know, Duke didn’t exist in New Earth, and the Prime ages are all fucked to hell. Usually, I make Duke about a year or two younger than Tim, just because it kinda sounds right.
tl;dr: By the end of New Earth, the Batfam is probably: Alfred (???), Bruce (41), Babs (26-36+), Dick (26), Cass (19), Jason (19), Steph (18), Tim (17), and Damian (10).
