Robin (character)
Robin is the name of several DC Comics superheroes, all of them teenaged sidekicks to Batman. Robin's brightly colored visual appearance and youthful spunk have served as a contrast to Batman's dark look and manner. Since the introduction of the first Robin in 1940, the character has been a fixture in the Batman franchise, appearing in most incarnations of the comic book series and most television and film adaptations.
Although Robin is best known for his adventures with Batman, three Robins have also been members of the superhero group The Teen Titans.
Robins
The following fictional characters play the part of Robin at different times, Grayson, Todd, Drake and Brown in the regular Batman continuity:
Dick Grayson
In Detective Comics #38 (1940), Batman creators Bill Finger and Bob Kane introduced the first Robin, Dick Grayson, the character still best known as Robin. The sidekick debuted only a year after Batman and was part of an effort to soften the character of his mentor, originally a dubious, nightstalking vigilante. DC Comics also thought a teenaged superhero would appeal to young readers.
The name "Robin the Boy Wonder" and the medieval look of the original costume were inspired by the legendary hero Robin Hood, as well as the red-breasted American Robin, which continued the "flying animal" motif of Batman.
The first Robin was a young circus acrobat named Dick Grayson who was the youngest of a family act called The Flying Graysons. His parents were murdered by the gangster Boss Zucco, who sabotaged their trapeze equipment to cause a fatal fall. Batman approached the boy after the murder and told him the truth of the matter. Dick learned that the criminal, who had been extorting money from the circus, had killed his parents as a warning against defiance. Dick pleaded with Batman to bring the murderer to justice and he agreed, while making the boy swear to always fight crime faithfully. Batman – as Bruce Wayne – managed to get approval to have Dick put under his custody as a legal ward, and rigorously trained the boy in physical, fighting and investigation skills to be his assistant. Together they investigated Zucco and collected the evidence they needed to bring Zucco to justice.
In early Batman comics, "Robin's code" stood for "Readiness, Obedience, Brotherhood, Industriousness and Nationalism".
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, DC Comics portrayed Batman and Robin as a team, deeming them the Dynamic Duo, and rarely published a Batman story without Robin, although stories entirely devoted to Robin appeared in All-American Comics. Robin was similarly treated in the 1960s Batman television series.
In 1964, The Brave and the Bold #60 introduced The Teen Titans, a junior version of the Justice League of America, an all-star superhero team of which Batman was a part. The Titans were lead by Robin and included other teenaged sidekicks, such as Aqualad (sidekick of Aquaman) and Kid Flash (sidekick of The Flash).
In 1969, writer Denny O'Neil and artist Neal Adams returned Batman to his darker roots. One part of this effort was writing Robin out of the series by sending Dick Grayson to college and into a separate strip in the back of Detective Comics. Robin also appeared sporadically in Batman stories of the 1970s.
In 1980, Grayson took-up the mantle of Robin once again as the leader of the Teen Titans, now featured in the monthly series The New Teen Titans, which became one of DC Comics' most beloved series of the era. In 1984 Grayson took on the identity of Nightwing, a move that symbolized his increasingly strained relation with Batman and his desire to take more control of his life as a crimefighter. The name Nightwing had come from an alias used by Superman, with whom Batman and Robin had teamed up often (although this was changed when Batman's history was rewritten in the mid-eighties).
As Nightwing, Dick has become a hero in his own right, stepping out of his mentor's shadow. Leading the Titans for several years, Nightwing became the most respected former sidekick in the DC Universe, and was even chosen by Batman to lead the Justice League when it once appeared that the Leaguers had died in battle.
After a disastrous battle in which team mate Donna Troy died, Dick left the Titans. He is now a member of the loosely-knit group of heroes, The Outsiders and takes up full-time vigilante duties in Gotham's neighboring city of Bludhaven. In 1996, DC launched a monthly series featuring Nightwing which continues until present day.
Bruce Wayne
A Batman story from the 1950s featured the young Bruce Wayne assuming the identity of Robin, complete with the original costume, in order to learn the basics of detective work from a famous detective named Harvey Harris. This story was later revised in the 1980s to edit out any reference to Bruce Wayne having ever called himself "Robin" or worn any costume before he finally donned his Batman costume as an adult.
Jason Todd
The second Robin, Jason Todd, first appeared in Batman #357 (1983). At first he was, like Dick Grayson, the son of circus acrobats killed by a criminal (this time the Batman adversary Killer Croc), adopted by Bruce Wayne. In these pre-Crisis stories, Todd was a happy, well adjusted youth. He made puns and wisecracks while fighting, used his acrobatic ability to enhance the training Batman gave, and was generally indistinguishable from the young Dick Grayson.
After the mini-series Crisis on Infinite Earths, much of DC Comics continuity changed. When Batman continuity was retconned in the mid-1980s, Todd's character was revised. He was now a street orphan who first encountered Batman when he attempted to steal tires from the Batmobile. Batman saw that he was placed in a school for troubled youth. Weeks later, after Dick Grayson became Nightwing and Todd proved his crimefighting worth by helping Batman catch a gang of thieves, Batman offered him the position as Robin.
Unlike Grayson, the post-Crisis Todd never blossomed under Batman's tutelage. He was impulsive, reckless and full of rage. This would sometimes provide him with great strength and courage, but would more often lead him to take unfounded chances and risks. In one case, a story left readers wondering whether or not Todd had actually murdered a criminal. Readers never truly bonded with this new version of Jason Todd. In 1988, DC made the controversial decision to poll readers using a 1-900 number as to whether or not Todd should be killed. The event received more attention in the mainstream media than any other comic book event before it. Some outside the comic book community thought that DC was considering killing the original Robin. Readers voted "yes" by a small margin (5,343 to 5,271) and Todd was subsequently murdered by The Joker (See also: Batman: A Death in the Family)
Jason Todd's death still haunts the Batman, who keeps his costume under glass in the Batcave as a reminder of his greatest failures: he did not save the boy from the Joker nor properly prepare him for his role as Robin. Todd's corpse, buried at a secret location, was recently stolen by The Riddler; how The Riddler will use the corpse is still unknown. In that same storyline, Clayface impersonated Todd, presenting him as a fully grown villain seeking revenge on the Batman. The impersonated Todd wore a militaristic version of the Robin costume.
In the mini-series The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller, which depicts an alternate future history, Todd's death was the central reason behind the Batman's retirement.
Tim Drake
DC Comics was left uncertain about readers' decision to kill Todd, wondering if they felt Batman should be a lone vigilante, disliked Todd specifically or just wanted to see if DC would actually go through with it and kill the character. In addition, the 1989 Batman film did not feature Robin, giving DC a reason to keep him out of the comic book series for marketing purposes. Regardless, in 1990, Batman editor Denny O'Neil introduced a new Robin.
The third Robin, Timothy Drake, first appeared in a flashback in Batman #436 (1989). In this retcon, Drake was a young boy who had followed the adventures of Batman and Robin ever since witnessing the murder of the Flying Graysons. This served to connect Drake to Grayson, clearly establishing a link to the original that DC hoped would help readers accept this new Robin. Drake surmised their secret identities with his amateur but instinctive detective skills and followed their careers closely. Years later, Drake noted that the Batman's grief and rage over Jason's death was causing him to use increasingly brutal and clumsy methods. Concerned with the Batman's safety, Drake revealed his knowledge to Grayson and Batman's butler Alfred Pennyworth. They argued that "Batman needs a Robin" to balance out the darker aspects of his war on crime, and the Batman reluctantly agreed.
While Dick Grayson was primarily an acrobat and the post-Crisis Jason Todd a fighter, Tim Drake is chiefly a detective and has been a more cerebral sidekick while still being quite physically adept. To prepare his newest Robin for duty, Batman insisted he go abroad to learn fighting skills from master martial artists. These included Lady Shiva, who is among the best and deadliest people in the world. Further, Drake was given a modified costume designed to address problems with the original bright red-and-yellow costume. The new costume's tunic is armored, the cape is black on the outside (though still yellow on the inside), and Robin's legs are covered by green leggings.
In addition to accompanying Batman on his missions, Drake is also the first Robin to be featured as the sole star of a monthly title without Batman. Robin (1993) has created a mythos independent of that of the main Batman story. Robin now has an archenemy, the Cluemaster and a romantic interest, Stephanie Brown, the Cluemaster's daughter. Stephanie adopted her own identity as a costumed adventurer (The Spoiler) to foil her father's plans. For much of his career, Drake was also further differentiated from the previous Robins in that his father was alive and, for most of that time time, did not know of Drake's secret identity. His mother was murdered before Drake officially became Robin. Drake is also a member of the newly reformed Teen Titans.
In 2004, Drake's father discovered his secret life and convinced his son to retire. After his retirement, Batman began training the Spoiler as Robin IV. However, soon after Stephanie's death in the "War Games" story arc, Drake resumed the role of Robin. His father was later killed by Captain Boomerang in the Identity Crisis miniseries.
Stephanie Brown
Stephanie Brown, Tim's girlfriend and the costumed adventurer previously known as the Spoiler, volunteered for the role of Robin upon Tim's resignation. However, after only a few weeks, Batman fired her for not obeying his orders to the letter. In a misguided attempt to prove her worthiness, Stephanie snuck back into the Batcave and set into motion a series of events which would kill her. Like Jason Todd, who has likewise been deemed unworthy of the role, Stephanie's ignorance and disobedience led directly to her death. The events she caused (a storyline called "War Games") were part of a plan by Batman to unite the Gotham underworld under a single leader to make it easier to control. This leader was to have been "Matches" Malone. Unbeknownst to Stephanie, Malone is actually one of Batman's aliases, and the plan was to be used only in a dire emergency in which Batman's only option would be to seize control of the underworld himself and weaken it from the inside. Without Batman/Malone's involvement, the plan backfired, causing a gang war that terrorized the city. While trying to help end the war she caused, Stephanie was captured and tortured by Black Mask. She died of her injuries a short time later.
Brown is the first female Robin in the regular Batman continuity and is also noteworthy in that she was an unwed mother, a trait she shares with only two other DC superheroines: Rocket and the current Hawkgirl. A relationship with another boy prior to her involvement with Tim resulted in a pregnancy. She stepped out of her Spoiler role during the pregnancy and ultimately gave the child up for adoption.
Carrie Kelly
The famous 1986 mini-series The Dark Knight Returns introduced Carrie Kelly as the first female Robin in the Batman franchise's chronological history. In that series, which takes place in an alternate future, Kelly was a Batman fanatic who instantly took it upon herself to become Robin after Batman returned from retirement. Her presence as Robin is something of a strain on Batman and Alfred's relationship because of the fate of that future's Jason Todd, whose death was the primary motivation behind the Batman's retirement.
By the time of the 2001 sequel The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Kelly had taken the identity Catgirl but continued to accompany Batman and his allies. Both of these stories take place in a future that has not come to pass in current DC continuity, and so neither is considered canonical.
Robin in other media
- Batman and Robin were frequent guest stars on the Adventures of Superman radio drama from 1945 to 1949. On that series Robin was played by Ronald Liss. In 1966 a record album of Batman adventures in a radio drama format was released, with stories co-written by Liss, who reprised his role as Robin (the narrator of the episodes was Jackson Beck, the narrator of the Superman radio series).
- In Columbia Pictures's movie serials of the 1940s, Robin/Dick Grayson was played by Douglas Croft in Batman (1943) and by Johnny Duncan in The Adventures of Batman and Robin (1949).
- In the campy 1960s Batman television series and its spin-off movie, Robin (Dick Grayson) was played by Burt Ward. This version of Robin was known for the line: "Holy [relevant pun], Batman."
- In various Batman-related cartoon series produced at Filmation and Hanna-Barbera, which appeared throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Robin/Dick Grayson was voiced in turns by Casey Kasem and by Burt Ward.
- Robin did not appear in the Tim Burton movies Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992). This was the first time in which Batman and Robin were not presented as an inseparable pair to those who did not follow the comics.
- In Joel Schumacher's much lighter sequels Batman Forever (1995) and Batman and Robin (1997), Robin (Dick Grayson) was played by Chris O'Donnell. In those films, the tension between Batman and Robin was greater than in most adaptations.
- Batman: The Animated Series, which debuted in 1992, had Dick Grayson wearing a Robin costume similar to that worn by Tim Drake in the comic books, but he appeared only occasionally because he was often away at college. In its third and final season (1994–1995), the show was retitled The Adventures of Batman and Robin as Robin appeared regularly. Robin was voiced by Loren Lester. In the reinvention of the series, Batman: Gotham Knights (1997–1999), Dick Grayson became Nightwing, and his place as Robin was taken by Tim Drake (Mathew Valencia). The animated series continuity does not include Jason Todd, although the cartoon Drake's origin is almost identical to Todd's and bears little resemblance to the comic Tim Drake's. A version of the Carrie Kelly Robin also makes a short appearance in Batman: Gotham Knights, in a dream sequence in the episode "Legends of the Dark Knight".
- Explaining the lack of a Robin in the TV series, Batman Beyond, the Tim Drake Robin appears in a flashback sequence in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (released in 2000), which shows the events leading up to him leaving the role in the animated continuity.
- Robin (voiced by Scott Menville) appears in the Cartoon Network adaptation of the comic book series Teen Titans but he has not been referred to by given name (none of the Titans in this series are), and it is unclear whether he is meant to be Dick Grayson or Tim Drake; writers have admitted to designing him with aspects of both Robins. In one time-travel themed episode Starfire encounters Robin in a future where he has taken on his role as Nightwing, and in another episode an alternate universe Robin shows up named 'Nosyarg Kcid' (Dick Grayson spelled backwards). Another episode also showed an image of two acrobats falling from a trapeze while Raven went into Robin's mind.