Jason Todd
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Jason Todd is a fictional character in the DC Comics Universe. He first appears in Detective Comics #524 (1983) to replace Dick Grayson as Robin, when Grayson goes on to become the superhero Nightwing.
In the controversial 1988 "Batman: A Death in the Family" storyline, Jason Todd is murdered by the Joker. However, Jason returns from the dead as an enemy of Batman, eventually becoming the second Red Hood.[1]
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[edit] Character history
[edit] The New Robin
DC was initially hesitant to replace Dick Grayson with a new Robin. To minimize the transition, they initially made Jason Todd almost indistinguishable[2] from his Robin predecessor. Originally, like Grayson, Jason is the son of circus acrobats killed by a criminal (Killer Croc) who is adopted by Bruce Wayne. In this incarnation he has red hair and is unfailingly cheerful, wearing his circus costume to fight crime until Dick Grayson presented him with a Robin costume of his own. At that point, Jason dyes his hair black, and in later stories, he blossoms under Batman's tutelage. Dick Grayson even states in one comic that Jason Todd is much better use to Batman than Dick was before he became Nightwing. This version of Jason is a young man who always used reasoning and judgement before doing something.
[edit] Following Crisis on Infinite Earths
After the limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths, much of the DC Comics continuity was rebooted. Dick Grayson's relationship with Batman and transformation into Nightwing remained virtually unchanged, but Jason Todd's character was completely revamped.
After this reboot, Jason Todd is now a young street orphan who first encounters the Dark Knight while attempting to steal the tires of the Batmobile. Bruce Wayne sees to it that Jason is placed in a school for troubled youths. Jason earns the mantle of Robin a short while later by helping Batman apprehend a gang of thieves. Batman realizes that while Jason doesn't possess Dick Grayson's acrobatic skills, he can become a productive crimefighter by channeling his rage. He also believes that if he doesn't help the boy, Jason will eventually become part of the "criminal element." Jason also aided Batman, while Gotham city was temporaly overrun by Deacon Blackfire as shown in "Batman:The Cult".
Unlike Grayson or the pre-Crisis Jason, the post-Crisis Jason never blossoms under Batman's tutelage. He is impulsive, reckless, and full of rage. Although his hard-headed personality sometimes fuels him with great strength and courage, it often leads him to take unnecessary risks. Even on missions in which Batman orders him to conduct surveillance, Jason attacks, ruining months of planning. Jason also uses excessive force to subdue criminals. Although Alfred assures him that the fear Batman instills in criminals is more effective than actual violence, Jason responds by stating that no matter how much the criminals fear Batman, they know he won't kill them. One story implies that Jason actually allows (or causes) the death of a rapist who evades criminal charges due to his father's status as a diplomat. It is never revealed what really happened, but Jason later denies any wrongdoing.
[edit] The Dark Knight Returns
The eventual fate of Jason Todd is foreshadowed by his conspicuous absence in the 1986 limited series The Dark Knight Returns, a non-canon telling of the last years of Batman. In this series, Jason Todd has been dead for ten years; his murder at the hands of the Joker is hinted as the reason Batman retired years ago. This miniseries shows the first appearance of what would become an iconic part of the Batcave after Jason's death in "A Death in the Family": Jason's Robin uniform suspended in a glass case as a shrine for the fallen Robin.
[edit] "A Death in the Family"
With Batman's 50th anniversary and the release of the first Batman film approaching, DC wanted to bring the character back to his solo roots as a crimefighter. In 1988, DC made the controversial decision to poll fans in order to determine Jason's fate using a 1-900 number.
Callers voted "yes" by a small margin (5,343 to 5,271, an approximate 50.339% majority). Subsequently, Jason is murdered by the Joker[3] in the "Batman: A Death in the Family" storyline after attempting to locate his biological mother in the Middle East.
For the next decade's worth of stories, Jason's death haunts Batman, who keeps Jason's costume on display in the Batcave. Batman considers this his greatest failure: not properly training Jason in his role as Robin and failing to protect him from the Joker. While some believed that DC Comics had always intended for Jason to die, Jim Aparo produced artwork for both possible outcomes of the vote, and copies appear in several books, including the A Death in the Family trade paperback. Denny O'Neil was quoted on the back cover of this book as saying of Jason "It would be a really sleazy stunt to bring him back."[4]
[edit] Return from the Grave
Years later, while trying to discover the identity of a mysterious figure plotting against him (which turns out to be Hush), Batman discovers that Robin (Tim Drake) has been kidnapped. When he confronts the kidnapper he discovers, much to his surprise, that the kidnapper is apparently an adult Jason Todd. Batman subdues this mystery "Jason" and discovers that it is only Clayface impersonating Jason.[5]
It is later revealed that Jason indeed had died at the hands of the Joker, but when Superboy-Prime alters reality from the paradise dimension in which he is trapped (shortly prior to the events in Infinite Crisis), Jason is restored to life and breaks out of his coffin, but collapses thereafter and is hospitalized. After spending a year in a coma and subsequently as an amnesiac vagrant, he is recognized by Talia al Ghul, who restores his health and memory by immersing him in a Lazarus Pit in which her father Ra's Al Ghul is also bathing. It is intimated at that time that exposure to the Pit's energies together with Al Ghul might have affected Jason's personality. On Talia's advice, Jason determines his death was never avenged, and prepares to confront Batman by traveling across the globe in the same path of trainings as his mentor.[6]
Batman Annual #25 retcons the battle between Batman and Clayface. In this version, Jason Todd has entered into a pact with Hush; he initially confronts Batman, then switches places with Clayface in order to observe Batman from afar. When Batman expresses no remorse for sparing the Joker's life after Jason was killed, Jason is further angered and takes up the mantle of the Red Hood.
[edit] The Red Hood
Shortly after the events of War Games and War Crimes, 18 year old Jason Todd reappears in Gotham City as the Red Hood,[7] hijacking a shipment of Kryptonite from Black Mask. In the midst of a battle with Batman, Nightwing, and Mr. Freeze, the Red Hood gives them the Kryptonite back, and tells them he has gotten what he truly wanted: a "lay of the land." Shortly afterward, the Red Hood finds the Joker (driven out of Gotham by Hush) and beats him with a crowbar just as the Joker had beaten Jason. Despite the violence of the beating, Jason has the Joker saved, intending to use him later against Batman.
The Red Hood assumes control over several gangs in Gotham City and starts a one-man-war against Black Mask's criminal empire. Over all, he strives to cleanse the city of its corruption, such as drug dealing and gang violence, and to kill the Joker in revenge for his own death. He is used to killing when he finds it necessary. Because of his anti-heroic activities he repeatedly comes to blows with Batman and several of his allies. A Robin mask was found in the Batmobile, which never belonged to Dick or Tim, but it was of the style that Jason wore as Robin. Around this time, Batman discovers that Jason's coffin has always been empty, and he begins to question whether or not Jason had actually died.
Knowing that Tim Drake has not only replaced him as Robin, but is reportedly a better Robin than he had been, Jason breaks into Titans Tower to confront Tim. Wearing an altered version of his own Robin costume, Jason quickly immobilizes the other Titans and strikes Tim down in the Tower's Hall of Fallen Titans. Furious that no memorial statue was made for him (despite his short tenure as a Titan), Jason demands that Tim tell him if he is really as good as Jason has been told. Tim says "Yes" and passes out. As he leaves, Jason tears the 'R' emblem from Tim's chest. In the Epilogue, Jason has apparently developed a grudging respect for his replacement as he states "I'll admit. He's good". Jason is also left wondering if perhaps he would have been a better Robin and better person had he a life like Tim's and friends like the Titans.
Jason's return crescendos when he kidnaps the Joker and holds him hostage, luring Batman to Crime Alley, the site of their first meeting. Jason asks Batman why he has not avenged his death by killing the Joker, and Batman tells Jason that he will never cross that line. An enraged Jason explains that Joker deserves it, because he has done evil in the past and, according to Jason, is "doing it because he took me away from you". Despite this, Batman explains that it is not too hard for him to kill the Joker, it would be too easy. Jason offers Batman an ultimatum: Either he must kill the Joker or Jason will. Holding the Joker at gunpoint, Jason throws a pistol to Batman and begins to count to three. At the last moment, Batman throws a batarang that slices Jason's neck. The Joker takes advantage of the situation, detonating nearby explosives that engulf the platform they are on and send them plunging into the bay.[8]
[edit] One Year Later
- See also: One Year Later
Jason has resurfaced in New York City, patrolling the streets as a murderous version of Nightwing. He executes a kidnapper, nearly beats a rapist to death, and slices Dick Grayson's hand when the two spar on a rooftop. Jason shows no intention of giving up the Nightwing persona, and continues to taunt Grayson by wearing the costume and suggesting that the two become a crime-fighting team. Grayson refuses to join his side and methods of crimefighting. Not long after the two Nightwings meet up, Jason is captured and imprisoned by unknown mobsters. Reluctantly rescued by Grayson, Jason briefly acquires the ability to transform into an insectoid and swallow people. After helping Grayson defeat the Pierce brothers, Jason leaves New York City and the Nightwing mantle to Grayson, along with a telegram telling Grayson he has returned to normal and still considers them family.
Despite his return, Jason's Robin costume remains in its memorial display case in the Batcave; when Alfred asked if Bruce wanted the costume removed, Bruce replied that the return of Jason "doesn't change anything at all."
The Red Hood resurfaced in Star City, shooting down at where Danny Brickwell is fighting the local criminals, and the two make an alliance against Green Arrow and the recently arrived Batman. The Green Arrow defeats Jason in a sword fight, however Jason escapes and kidnaps Speedy. Aware of Speedy's past, Jason remarks how similar they are, and fights her. Although Jason wins, he lets Speedy go and tells her that she's the only one who will understand him.
In Outsiders (vol. 3) #44, Jason makes contact with Grayson to deliver information regarding Black Lightning, having learned that the former Outsiders member was innocent of murder.
In a recent DCU panel at the New York Comic Convention, Dan DiDio let slip that the Red Robin in the recently shown teaser pic for DC's Countdown event is in fact, Jason Todd.[9]
[edit] Skills and abilities
Jason Todd possesses the normal human strength of a 6-foot, 180-pound young man who regularly engages in intensive physical exercise. For the role of Robin, he was trained by Batman in acrobatics and martial arts.
After his return, Jason expands on his training by training with people of the same caliber as those who trained his mentor, Batman. This has given him fighting skills that allowed him to fight his former mentor and Nightwing to a standstill. Jason held his own against the Green Arrow in a sword fight, and overpowered Tim Drake at Titan's tower, showing himself to be a formidable adversary.
Through Talia al Ghul, Jason has access to high-level civilian and military-grade weaponry, including firearms, explosives, and even rocket launchers. However, the kris still remains his preferred weapon of choice for hand-to-hand combat. Although Jason does not possess the wealth of Bruce Wayne, his arsenal is nearly on par with Batman's.
[edit] Behind the scenes
In an interview for the Infinite Crisis hardcover, Jeanine Schaefer states that Geoff Johns' original intention was for the Red Hood to be the Jason Todd of Earth-Two. The following is in quote by Jeanine:
Well, Geoff's idea was to have Red Hood be the Jason Todd of Earth-Two. So he'd be this kid, who wanted to be Batman's sidekick. He sneaks into the Batcave, and the first thing he sees as he boots up the bat-computers is... Batman murdered. And so he uses Bruce's stuff, training himself to take over for him. I think there was even talk of his possibly being Deathstroke's Robin. [1]
[edit] In other media
Even though Jason Todd's death has had a significant impact on the Batman mythos, he has rarely appeared outside the comic book realm. For example, although Jason has never appeared in the DCAU, the animated Tim Drake from The New Batman Adventures is depicted as a hybrid of these two characters' comic versions, with a background almost identical to the Post-Crisis Jason's. In the comic version of Batman Adventures, issue #15 shows Jason's costume, but offers no explanation.
The short-lived live-action television series Birds of Prey references Jason, but it is the Teen Titans animated series that actually depicts the character onscreen. Beast Boy, in the episode "X", asserts that the person behind the mask of Robin's one-time persona Red X is a robotic monkey, but does so with the aid of a diagram illustrating numerous different possible identities, including Jason Todd.
Comedian Brian Posehn, who voices the Wisdom Cube in the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "The Cubing", is credited as Jason Todd. Posehn is an avid comic book fan, and he reads comic books in the movie and television show Comedians of Comedy.
[edit] Note
- Bruce Wayne mentions that Jason (still thought to be dead) would have turned 18 at the start of Batman: War Drums: Part One. Shortly after this story arc and War Crimes, which last a few weeks, Jason Todd returns to Gotham and wages war on the crime lords. In One Year Later, as Nightwing in New York, he would be about 19.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| Robin | |
|---|---|
| Creators: | Bob Kane and Bill Finger |
| Secret identities: | Dick Grayson • Jason Todd • Tim Drake • Stephanie Brown |
| Allies: | Batman • Alfred Pennyworth • Batgirl • Nightwing • Oracle • Teen Titans |
| Antagonists: | Tony Zucco • The Joker • Catwoman • King Snake |
| Locations: | Batcave • Gotham City • Wayne Manor • Blüdhaven |
| Miscellanea: | Other media • Alternate versions of Robin |
| Batman | |
|---|---|
| Creators: | Bob Kane • Bill Finger • Other writers and artists |
| Supporting Characters: | Robin (Tim Drake) • Nightwing (Dick Grayson) • Batgirl • Batwoman • Alfred Pennyworth • Lucius Fox • Barbara Gordon • Commissioner Gordon • Harvey Bullock |
| Villains: | Bane • Catwoman • Clayface • Harley Quinn • Joker • Killer Croc • Mr. Freeze • Penguin • Poison Ivy • Ra's al Ghul • Red Hood (Jason Todd) • Riddler • Scarecrow • Two-Face • Other villains |
| Locations: | Arkham Asylum • Batcave • Gotham City • Wayne Enterprises • Wayne Manor |
| Miscellanea: | Batarang • Batmobile • Batsuit • Popular media • Publications • Storylines • Alternate versions of Batman |
