Jason Todd: the infamous ‘undead’ Robin.
Now he’s the beloved anti-hero Red Hood, but did you know that back in the ‘80s,
fans REALLY hated him?
With Dick Grayson, the first Robin, adventuring with the Teen Titans, the team writing the
Batman comic wanted to have Robin back at Bruce’s side!
Unfortunately, the writers and fans of Teen Titans were LOVING what was being done with
Dick and were unwilling to surrender him back to the Dark Knight.
To please everybody, Dick Grayson’s character became Nightwing which then freed up the name
Robin.
That ladies and gentlemen is where we got Jason Todd.
Initially, Jason was a carbon copy of Dick Grayson right down to him being the orphaned
son of deceased circus parents.
After the first “Crisis”, Jason’s origin was retconned so that he grew up as a tough
kid living on the streets with the tenacity to steal the wheels off of the Batmobile!
Impressed, Bruce took Jason in and trained him up as the new Robin.
This origin lasted for decades, but in popular DC Comics fashion, it was changed AGAIN after
Flashpoint so that Bruce instead met Jason while the little scamp was stealing prescription
medicine.
Take your pick of an origin story since it really doesn’t change the fact that fans
absolutely HATED Jason.
Maybe it was because they saw Jason as “stealing” Dick’s spot since at this point in comics,
there was never any kind of real legacy character name-trading.
,but it could also be argued that fans hated Jason because he was was angry ALL THE TIME
and used excessive force when fighting crime.
Traditionalist fans despised Jason so much that in the famous “A Death in the Family”
story arc, Jason was captured by the Joker leading DC Comics to do something bold.
They opened up a hotline and invited readers to call in and vote to decide Jason’s fate.
After a close race, the Joker savagely beat Jason with a crowbar and left him for dead
in the desert to be blown up alongside his mother since yeah… the fans voted for Jason
to die…
To further add insult to injury, the Joker then became Iran’s representative at the
United Nations…
Because comics.
Years later, after an alternate universe Superboy shattered reality… by… punching it…
Jason returned to life.
After crawling up from his grave, a quick dip in the Lazarus Pit, and teaming up with
the villain Hush, Jason assumed the mantle of the “Red Hood”, an identity once used
by the Joker.
Jason resented Bruce for not avenging his death by killing the Joker, so he decided
take revenge into his own hands.
Heh, justice is served.
As the Red Hood, Jason butted heads with the Bat Family and even stole the identity of
Nightwing for a while.
Eventually, Jason sought some level of redemption alongside Donna Troy, Kyle Rayner, and Ray
Palmer in an effort to save the Multiverse, and even took it upon himself to become the
new Batman after Bruce Wayne’s apparent death.
A wild and murderous Batman... with guns…
Yeah, that’s gonna go over great with the Gotham City PD.
Luckily, Nightwing intervened and ultimately became the new Batman, leaving Jason to attempt
and reassemble his life.
Wiiiiich resulted in Jason returning to his role as the Red Hood and antagonizing Dick
Grayson and Damian Wayne.
Upon Bruce Wayne’s return, Bruce secretly reincorporated Jason back into the Bat Family’s
via his new corporate entity, Batman Incorporated, as the hero Wingman.
Seemingly redeemed in the eyes of both readers and Batman, Jason operates as Red Hood…
again, now brandishing the Bat-symbol across his chest.
Recently though Jason has been working with Green Arrow’s former sidekick, Arsenal,
and Nightwing’s ex-girlfriend, Starfire, in a group known as the Outlaws.
Though at this point in time, Starfire has left the team and now stars in her own book
leaving Jason and Arsenal to have their own adventures.
Jason’s life has been up and down and his character has been written with wildly different
interpretations over the past decade, but there is no denying his significance and impact
on not only the DC Universe, but also on comic-book storytelling as a whole.
If you’re looking to get into the crazy world of Jason Todd, I’d recommend checking
out Batman: A Death in the Family, Batman: Under the Hood, Batman: Battle For the Cowl,
and Batman & Robin: Batman Reborn.
So what would you like to see a video on next?
Red Arrow/Arsenal or the Lazarus Pit?
Click a picture and cast your vote!
You can click on this annotation to see a video on the origins of EVERY Robin or you
can click on this one for the history of Harley Quinn!