Since Robin’s debut in 1940, every iteration of the character has been hand-picked by Bruce
Wayne, except two: Tim Drake and Damian Wayne.
Well if you look at the title of the video, we are clearly not talking about Damian so
ladies and gentlemen, it’s Tim time!
After the death of Jason Todd, the second Robin, Batman vowed that he was done with
sidekicks and he would never put another child through the dangers of the vigilante lifestyle.
Honestly, this was probably the first sane decision that Bruce has made since he started
dressing up like a bat!
Unfortunately after Jason’s death though, Batman’s anger, brooding, and all-around
gloominess were off the charts.
Batman needs a Robin.
It’s one of the only things that keeps him sane.
Despite this, Batman remained a solo act until approached by a young boy, Tim Drake.
Tim even proved his usefulness by uncovering Batman’s secret identity!
See, Tim was at the circus when the Flying Graysons were murdered, and had seen the acrobatics
of Dick Grayson, the first Robin, in person.
By studying the movements of Robin later in his career, he deduced that Dick was Robin,
and therefore Bruce was Batman!
Honestly, I’m shocked that Tim has been the only one to figure that one out.
Out of all of the Robins, Dick was the best acrobat, but Tim was the best detective.
Batman has even admitted that Tim’s investigative skills are better than his own!
Despite this display of worth, Batman vetoed Tim’s request to become Robin.
Nightwing and Alfred on the other hand disagreed, and successfully coerced Bruce on Tim’s
behalf.
Once again the Dynamic Duo was reborn.
During his time as Robin, Tim fell in love with the villain Cluemaster’s daughter,
Stephanie Brown A.K.A., the Spoiler.
Stephanie would go on to serve as Robin for a short period of time and later become one
of the Batgirls.
Wait, Flashpoint happened.
No she didn’t.
Because comics.
Tim’s also a founding member of the teenage superhero team Young Justice, where he met
his best friend, Connor Kent A.K.A.
Superboy.
Young Justice and Nightwing’s own team, the Teen Titans initially operated alongside
each other as two separate teams, but they ended up merging into one, much stronger Teen
Titans group that Tim has been the leader of ever since and to this day.
One interesting thing about Tim is that he didn’t come from a tragic childhood like
most heroes do and surprisingly grew up with both of his parents.
During his time AS Robin, though, both of his parents were murdered, prompting Bruce
to, for the first time, legally adopt a Robin as his son.
Awww.
When Batman supposedly died in the Final Crisis, Tim Drake took it upon himself to become the
new Batman since Nightwing refused multiple times, buuuuut Jason Todd ALSO decided to
become the new Batman and he beat the ever loving crap out of Tim.
After stopping Jason’s rampage, Dick FINALLY decided to become the new Batman and chose
to mentor Damian Wayne, Bruce’s biological son, as Robin.
Without an identity, Tim was forced to forge one of his own.
And by forge one of his own, I mean borrow the costume and name that’s got an interesting
history.
Meet Red Robin.
Yuuuuuum.
Okay, so here’s a bit of backstory.
The identity of Red Robin was originally used by a middle aged Dick Grayson on Earth-22
for a famous alternate universe storyline called “Kingdom Come”.
Many years later, Jason Todd was working to help save the multiverse and ended up on Earth-51
where its version of Batman gave him the Red Robin costume.
This is NOT the same costume from Kingdom Come, but looks identical.
When he eventually got back to New Earth, Jason decided to discard the costume where
it was then found and used by one of Tim Drake’s villains, Ulysses Armstrong.
After that, Tim took up the mantle himself and set off on a worldwide adventure to solve
the mystery behind what he believed really happened to Bruce Wayne.
Then the New 52 happened.
Out of the entire Bat-family, Tim’s origins were shaken up the most.
In current continuity, Tim Drake was never Robin, but instead took the name “Red Robin”
as a tribute to his predecessors, and it is unclear if he’s still legally Bruce’s
son.
Also, Tim and Stephanie Brown never met, but Stephanie is still active as the Spoiler.
Additionally, though he continues to lead the Teen Titans, Red Robin’s costume saw
a massive overhaul, and frankly I’m not totally sure on how it’s supposed to work.
That cape is ridiculous.
If you want to start reading about Tim Drake for yourself, I’d recommend hopping on with
Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying, the Robin solo series, and the Red Robin solo series
So who would you like a video on next, Stephanie Brown or Superboy?
Click to cast your vote!
You click on this video to learn more about Jason Todd, the second Robin or click on this
annotation to see every video on the Batman series that I have ever made!