Red Robin is a name that has been used by several fictional characters in the
DC Comics Universe. On the alternate world of Kingdom Come,
a middle-aged Dick Grayson reclaims the Robin mantle and becomes Red Robin. His
uniform is closer to Batman's in design than any previous Robin uniform. Red
Robin then reappeared in promotional material for the DC Countdown event;
Eventually, it was revealed that this Red Robin was not Dick Grayson, but
rather Jason Todd who appeared under the cape and cowl. During the Scattered
Pieces tie-in to Batman R.I.P., Ulysses Armstrong briefly appears as Red Robin.
In 2009, a new ongoing series was introduced titled Red Robin. The new Red
Robin is revealed to be Tim Drake. Publication history
= Dick Grayson= In Kingdom Come, a middle-aged Dick
Grayson reclaims the Robin mantle and becomes Red Robin, not at the side of
his former mentor Batman, but rather with Superman's League. His uniform is
closer to Batman's in design, rather than any previous Robin uniform. Age has
not slowed him down, as he possesses all of his stealth and fighting skills. In
this story he has a daughter with Starfire; Mar'i Grayson. At the end of
the comic and the novel, Bruce and Dick had reconciled.
= Jason Todd= In Countdown to Final Crisis #17, Jason
dons the outfit in the "Bat Bunker" as he and Earth-51 Batman join the fight
raging on the Earth above the bunker. Jason keeps his new suit and identity
for the rest of his tenure as a "Challenger of the Unknown", only to
discard it on his return to New Earth and revert to his "Red Hood" street
clothing. At the start of Countdown, Jason Todd
resumes the persona of the Red Hood and rescues a woman from Duela Dent. After a
Monitor shoots and kills Duela, he attempts to kill Jason, but is stopped
by a second Monitor. This second Monitor apologizes to Jason before they both
disappear, leaving Jason alone with Duela's body. Later, at Duela's funeral,
Jason hides until all of the Teen Titans have left except Donna Troy. Jason tells
her what happened the night of Duela's death, and about the dueling Monitors.
He knows that both he and Donna Troy have come back from the dead, and
wonders which of them is next on the Monitor's hit list. The two are then
attacked by the Forerunner, but before she can kill them, the apologetic
Monitor stops her, and recruits Jason and Donna for a mission to the
Palmerverse, in an attempt to find Palmer. During the trip, Jason takes it
upon himself to name the Monitor "Bob". Jason seems to have a romantic interest
in Donna, and is shown to be visibly disgruntled when her old boyfriend, Kyle
Rayner, joins their group as they take their tour to the 52 Earths which
comprise the Multiverse. A teaser image released to promote
Countdown showed a figure resembling Red Robin among assembled heroes in poses
symbolic of their roles in the series. After a series of contradictory
statements about this figure, executive editor Dan DiDio firmly stated in the
July 2007 DC Nation column that the figure is Jason Todd; Todd, a major
player in Countdown, has gone under the aliases 'Red Hood' and 'Robin'. The Red
Robin costume, originally designed by Alex Ross for the 1996 Kingdom Come
limited series and worn by Dick Grayson, is seen in Countdown to Final Crisis #16
in the Earth-51 Batman's base of operations. In issue #14, Jason dons the
Red Robin suit and goes into battle alongside Earth-51's Batman. During a
battle with a group of Monarch's soldiers, Earth-51 Batman is killed by
the Ultraman of Earth-3, deeply affecting Jason. In his grief, Jason
murders an alternate version of the Joker who mocks his loss, vacating
alongside Donna, Ray, and Kyle to the planet Apokolips before Earth-51's
destruction. After the group is sent back to Earth, Jason leaves the group
and returns to his crimefighting ways. When the Morticoccus virus is released
from Karate Kid's body, Jason is forcibly brought back to the group by
Kyle, much to his dismay. When the Challengers return to the true Earth,
Jason disposes of his Red Robin costume and abandons the rest of the group,
though they go on to declare to the monitors that they are now the monitors
of the Monitors. = Ulysses Armstrong=
During the Scattered Pieces tie-in to Batman R.I.P., a new Red Robin makes his
appearance, at first only as a glimmering image following Robin and
suspected to have stolen a briefcase of money from the Penguin. Tim initially
suspects Jason Todd of reprising his Red Robin persona. However, Jason claims
innocence, supposing that someone may have stolen his suit when he discarded
it earlier. The new Red Robin breaks up a scuffle between Tim and Jason, and
later is revealed to be Ulysses Armstrong. He has come into possession
of the Red Robin costume worn by Jason Todd, and uses it as part of a campaign
of psychological warfare against Tim Drake. More formidable than ever, he's
revealed to be holding Lonnie Machin, a former vigilante, hostage and to have
commandeered the latter's identity as "Anarky". Where Machin's approach as
Anarky had been to cause social change, Armstrong's approach bordered more on
psychotic and meaningless acts of chaos and destruction. Armstrong later changes
costumes when he reveals himself to be the new Anarky, and after being severely
burned in an explosion, an embattled Tim Drake dons the less-revealing Red Robin
costume to hide his wounds. = Tim Drake=
After Dick Grayson takes up the mantle of Batman, he gives the title of Robin
to Damian Wayne, claiming that Robin is a student of Batman and that he sees Tim
as an equal. Tim begrudgingly accepts. Tim goes on to tell Spoiler that he will
be leaving Gotham for an unspecified period of time. He is now the new Red
Robin - an identity that is already tarnished and independent of the bat
family - traveling the world searching for Bruce Wayne. While doing his search,
Tim meanwhile is being monitored by Ra's al Ghul, who appears not only interested
in Tim himself, but also Tim's quest for Batman.
Tim's Red Robin costume consists of a long-sleeved red shirt or tunic, along
with black boots, tights, gloves, and a black cape and cowl. It also includes a
black-and-gold utility belt with other utility storage devices crossing over
the chest in an "X" shape, meeting at a circular Red Robin insignia. Aside from
the trademark bo staff, grapnel guns, and a customized red motorcycle for
transportation, Tim also uses throwing discs, the latter also used by the
previous wearers of the Red Robin costume. Alfred Pennyworth has slightly
altered the costume while mending it after the uniform sustained significant
damages after Tim's confrontation with Ra's al Ghul. The new features includes
bulkier utility belt and black scallops gloves similar to Batman's. The
shirttails have been removed. Tim's new cape also happens to be a "paracape",
like Dick and Damian's, which gives Tim a gliding capability when it's
semi-rigid. Red Robin eventually rejoined the Teen Titans and took over
as the team's leader after Wonder Girl stepped down.
= Other versions= An alternate Red Robin appears in Teen
Titans Go! #48. This version of Red Robin is the leader of the Teen Tyrants,
a group of young supervillains from an alternate reality where all of the
world's heroes are evil. Ongoing series
With writers Chris Yost on the first three arcs and Fabian Nicieza on the
rest and primary pencils by Marcus To, Red Robin features former Robin Tim
Drake under the identity of Red Robin. The debut of the series follows the
events of Batman R.I.P., Final Crisis, and Battle for the Cowl in which the
original Batman, Bruce Wayne, apparently died at the hands of DC Comics villain
Darkseid. Of all the characters in the so-called "Batman Family", Drake is the
only one that believes Bruce Wayne is still alive and leaves Gotham City to
begin a global search for evidence supporting his theory and hope.
= Slated characters= DC Comics Batman line editor Mike Marts
revealed characters slated to appear in Red Robin by showing his "wall" of
character thumbnails underneath the various Batman titles. Characters slated
to appear in Red Robin other than Tim Wayne include Gotham City reporter Vicki
Vale and one of Bruce Wayne's longtime enemies Ra's al Ghul. Tam Fox, the
daughter of Lucius Fox, also plays a large role.Lonnie Machin a.k.a.
Moneyspider, plays an important role as Red Robin's guide.
= Story arcs= "The Grail"
In Madrid, Tim Drake infiltrates a group of villains showing the confidence and
competence he demonstrated in his prior series. On the inside, Tim seems a bit
doubtful. With Bruce’s apparent death, he’s questioning the rules that govern
his prior mission. However, he is determined to find Bruce Wayne, who Tim
is convinced is alive. He is not the only person interested in finding Bruce
though. Ra`s al Ghul contacts Tim, and through a series of events the two begin
working together, though it is later revealed that Tim has ulterior motives
under the unsteady co-operation. "Council of Spiders"
After a string of attacks on members of the League of Assassins, Tim is forced
by Ra's al Ghul to take a hiatus from his search for Bruce Wayne in order to
lead the Leagues' attack on a rival organization of assassins: the Council
of Spiders. After setting up a few decoy assassinations for the League of
Assassins, Tim finally manages to capture a member of the Council with the
help of Prudenceand some ninjas from the League. However, he then discovers from
the captured assassin that the Council is targeting the cradle, and quickly
returns after realizing that he has left Tam there.
Meanwhile, two assassins from the Council have already broken into the
Cradle, and Tam unwittingly catches their attention. She attempts to run,
but the assassins quickly catch up to her, already proving their prowess by
defeating all of the League's available ninja. It is right when Tam is about to
be killed that Tim decides to drop in, narrowly saving Tam's life. They escape
and run to another room, where they have a surprise encounter with Ra's Al Ghul
himself; however, the rest of the Council have made it to the cradle, and
Ra's is quickly killed from behind by the walking instant death, Vitoria, who
has the ability to kill anybody she has skin contact with.
There is a testy confrontation between the Council and Tim, where Tim realizes
that the Ra's that was just killed was actually a body double. Vitoria also
discovers this a few moments later, and an unequal battle between Tim and the
Council occurs. It is in this battle that reveals that Tim has grown as a
hero, adopting and improving on all of the techniques and abilities of his
mentors. However, it is clear that it is impossible for Tim to actually win the
fight, and he is well aware of it. As he begins to tire, the White Ghost and
Prudence come along, and begin fighting off the Council as Tim grabs Tam in
order to make a quick getaway. They run to the main computer of the
League, and Tim manages to overload all of their servers, causing multiple
explosions and loss of information within League bases all over the world,
including the cradle. The structure begins to crash and fall
around them. Tim grapples a rock through a hole leading to the surface, grabs
Tam, and leaves the Cradle. Tam experiences a moment of adrenaline, and
kisses Tim in the excitement. However, she quickly lets go when Ra's contacts
Tim through an earpiece that he had retained, telling Tim that he had better
prepare for his revenge. Tim and Tam leave for Gotham.
Miraculously, the Council of Spiders survives the cave-in, and ominously
decide to change their targets from League assassins to superheroes.
"Collision" Tim returns to Gotham with Tam, where he
receives a call from Ra's Al Ghul after a brief meeting with his best friend
Conner Kent while on patrol. Ra's Al Ghul informs Tim that he is targeting
all of the people the original Batman had a close connection with, though he
does not specify who. Tim then returns to the Batcave, where he finds that the
current Batman and Robin are no longer residing, but rather the current Batgirl
and Oracle are. The two team up and manage to save Leslie, a doctor and one
of the people on Ra's Al Ghul's list. While the two are on a rooftop,
presumably trying to figure out what to do next, Prudence arrives and reveals
that she had been ordered to kill Stephanie, though she doesn't do so. It
is then implied that she has switched sides and has decided to help Tim out.
After this, the deadliest assassins in the League arrive, sent by Ra's Al Ghul
to kill all of them. However, Tim, Stephanie, and Prudence manage to get
away with one of the assassins attached to their ride.
After the interrogation, the captured assassin reveals the list of targets to
Tim, which includes Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne, Stephanie Brown, Vicki Vale,
Commissioner Gordon, Barbara Gordon, and Selina Kyle, among other people.
There is then a brief encounter with the current Batman and Robin, where Tim
tells Dick the bare bones of the story and promises to explain everything when
he gets back. Tim goes after Ra's Al Ghul, and Ra's taunts Tim, asking him if
getting to him was really worth sacrificing the lives of Bruce's closest
affiliates. It is implied here that all of the attacks were to be performed
simultaneously, and Tim would have no chance of saving all of the victims by
himself. Tim then holds up a walkie-talkie to Ra's, where it is
revealed that Tim has called in for the help of his friends and acquaintances.
Tim states that he is not Batman, and that he has friends.
There is a scuffle where Tim is obviously the lesser fighter, and Ra's
throws him out of the window. Luckily, Dick manages to swing by in the nick of
time and save him. Tim eventually wakes up, and finds
himself surrounded by Dick, Damian, Alfred, and Stephanie. He's grateful,
though most of them are a little bit ticked off at him, and are going to
demand answers from him once he's healed a bit more. Tim is then given the Gotham
Gazette, where a paparazzi photo of him is beside a picture of Tam's, with the
title "Wayne-Gagement?" written across the top.
In other media A nod to Red Robin was included in The
Batman. The police of the future seen in the episode "Artifacts" believe that
Bruce Wayne is the civilian identity of Robin, whom they incorrectly refer to as
"Red Robin", while they think Thomas Wayne is Batman and Martha Wayne is
Batgirl. The Red Robin costume is a DLC for Robin
in Batman: Arkham City. Red Robin appears in the handheld
versions of Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes.
The Red Robin costume is one of four costumes available for Robin in the
Young Justice: Legacy video game. In Teen Titans Go!, Robin uses the
codename Red Robin in mission. The only two official animations of Red
Robin to date is now Tim Drake as a sidekick of Batman in Batman Unlimited:
Animal Instincts and its sequel, Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem. In Animal
Instincts, Red Robin teams up also with Nightwing, Green Arrow and The Flash. In
Monster Mayhem he teams up again with Nightwing, Green Arrow and this time
Cyborg. References
External links