robin

Robin is a fictional character published by DC Comics. Robin has long been a fixture in the Batman comic books as Batman's sidekick. Since 1940, several different youths have appeared as Robin. In each incarnation, Robin's brightly colored visual appearance and youthful energy have served as a contrast to Batman's dark look and manner.

Robin is also the title of a comic book series, first published in 1991, featuring the Tim Drake version of the character.

History

About a year after Batman's debut, Batman creators Bob Kane and Bill Finger, along with inker/later ghost artist Jerry Robinson, introduced Robin the Boy Wonder in Detective Comics #38 (1940).

The name "Robin the Boy Wonder" and the medieval look of the original costume were inspired by the legendary hero Robin Hood.

Although Robin is best known for his adventures with Batman, three Robins have also been members of the superhero group the Teen Titans with the original Robin, Dick Grayson, being a founding member, and the group's leader.

The following fictional characters have donned the Robin costume at various times in the regular Batman continuity:

Dick Grayson

Main article: Dick Grayson

Richard John "Dick" Grayson was an eight-year-old circus acrobat, the youngest of a family act called the "Flying Graysons". A gangster named Boss Zucco (loosely based on actor Edward G. Robinson's Little Caesar character) had been extorting money from the circus and killed Grayson's parents, John and Mary, by sabotaging their trapeze equipment as a warning against defiance. The Batman investigated the crime and, as his alter ego millionaire Bruce Wayne, had Dick put under his custody as a legal ward (later adopting him as his son). Batman rigorously trained the boy, teaching him physical, fighting and detective skills. Together they investigated Zucco and collected the evidence needed to bring him to justice.

From his debut appearance in 1940 through 1969, Robin was known as the Boy Wonder. However, as he grew up, graduated from high school and enrolled in Hudson University, Robin continued his career as the Teen Wonder, from the 1970 into the early 1980s. The character was re-discovered by a new generation of fans during the 80s because of the success of The New Teen Titans, in which he left Batman's shadow entirely to assume the identity of Nightwing.

Jason Todd

Main article: Jason Todd

DC was initially hesitant to turn Grayson into Nightwing and to replace him with a new Robin. To minimize the change, they made the new Robin, Jason Peter Todd, who first appeared in Batman #357 (1983), almost indistinguishable from a young Grayson.

Jason Todd was also the son of circus acrobats killed by a criminal (this time the Batman adversary Killer Croc), adopted by Bruce Wayne. In this incarnation, he was red-haired and unfailingly cheerful, and wore his circus costume to fight crime until Dick Grayson presented him with a Robin suit of his own. At that point, he dyed his hair black.

After the mini-series Crisis on Infinite Earths, much of DC Comics continuity was rebooted.

Dick Grayson's origin, years with Batman and growth into Nightwing remained essentially unchanged, but Todd's character was completely revised. He was now a black-haired street orphan who first encountered Batman when he attempted to steal tires from the Batmobile. Batman saw to it that he was placed in a school for troubled youths. Weeks later, after Dick Grayson became Nightwing and Todd proved his crimefighting worth by helping Batman catch a gang of thieves, Batman offered Todd the position as Robin.

Readers never truly bonded with Todd and, 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 in the A Death in the Family storyline, in which the psychopath beat the youngster severely with a crowbar, and left him in a warehouse rigged with a bomb.

Jason Todd later returned as the new Red Hood (the original alias of the Joker). A year after the events of Infinite Crisis, Jason appeared as Nightwing.

Tim Drake

Main article: 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 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, Batman editor Denny O'Neil introduced a new Robin.

The third Robin, Timothy Drake, first appeared in a flashback in Batman #436 (1989). 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, establishing a link 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.

Tim has stated on numerous occasions that he wishes to become "The World's Greatest Detective", a title currently belonging to the Dark Knight. Batman himself has stated that one day Drake will surpass him as a detective. Despite his combat skills not being the match of Grayson's (although there are some intimations that they are far superior to Todd's when he was Robin), his detective skills more than make up for this. In addition, Batman supplied him with a new armored costume which included full leggings to give Drake improved protection.

Tim was introduced as a happy medium between the first two Robins in that, from the readers' point of view, he is neither overly well behaved like Dick Grayson nor overly impudent like Jason Todd. Apparently, the compromise was successful with readers, as Drake is the first Robin to have his own comic book series.

Stephanie Brown

Main article: Stephanie Brown

Stephanie Brown, Tim Drake's girlfriend and the costumed adventurer previously known as the Spoiler, volunteered for the role of Robin upon Tim's resignation. Batman fired the Girl Wonder for not obeying his orders to the letter.

While trying to prove her worthiness, Brown inadvertently set off a gang war on the streets of Gotham. While trying to help end the war, Brown was captured and tortured by the lunatic crime boss Black Mask. She managed to escape but died shortly after due to the severity of her injuries and the lack of treatment from Dr. Leslie Thompkins.

Pre-Crisis

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. John Byrne later worked this aspect into his non-canonical story Superman & Batman: Generations.

Post-Crisis, there was one instance in continuity when Bruce Wayne adopted the Robin persona. In Batboy & Robin, a tie-in special to the DC Comics storyline Sins of Youth, Bruce and Tim Drake, the third Robin, had their ages magically switched. In an effort to keep up the illusion of Batman, Bruce had Tim adopt the Batman identity while he is forced to be Robin.

Richard Grayson of Earth-Two

On Earth-Two, home of the Golden Age version of DC's superheroes, the grown-up Grayson continued to be Robin as an adult, even after the Golden Age Batman's death. He adopted a more Batman-like look for a time, and by the 1960s had become a lawyer and the ambassador to South Africa. Richard eventually became a member of the Justice Society of America and the All-Star Squadron. He died, however, during the 1985 miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths, in which the DC Multiverse was reduced to one universe, and this version of Grayson, as well as the Earth-Two Batman, were deemed never to have existed.

Other comic continuities

The following fictional characters don the Robin costume at various times in alternate continuities:

Bruce Wayne Junior

In a story from 1961, Alfred writes a tale about an imaginary future: Bruce Wayne married Kathy Kane and they had a son named Bruce Jr. As Bruce Sr. retires from being Batman, that post is filled by Dick Grayson. Dick's post as Robin is filled by Bruce Jr. The future dynamic duo wear the same costumes as the present versions, but with a II added on the chest of each. The villains featured in the story are the Joker and his son.

Robin's mantle was also carried on by Bruce Wayne Jr. in the epilogue of the Batman/Captain America crossover from 1996.

Robert Chang

In the digitally rendered tale Digital Justice, Commissioner Gordon's grandson James Gordon takes on the mantle of the Batman and a character named Robert Chang, who is somewhat reminiscent of the post-Crisis Jason Todd, takes on the mantle of Robin.

Kingdom Come Red Robin

In Kingdom Come, 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. 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; the beautiful Nightstar. Starfire has apparently died by the time of the story.

Stan Lee's Robin

DC did a version of Robin for Stan Lee's Just Imagine... line of comics, where a few DC Comics characters were re-imagined by Marvel Comics luminary Stan Lee. Robin was an orphan who had been controlled by Reverend Darkk, the series' main villain, into becoming a thief and a murderer. He met Batman, when Darkk assigned Robin to kill him. Batman survived the attack and in return showed Robin what kind of a man Darkk really was. Robin joined the good side for a time, but in the crisis issue it was revealed that Robin had in fact been working with Darkk the whole time; in the end he was transformed into a Hawkman, before being reborn through Yggdrasil as The Atom.

DC One Million

In the 853rd century the current Batman is aided by the robot called 'Robin The Toy Wonder.' This Batman's parents were guards on the prison planet of Pluto and died in a prison riot that turned into a mass slaughter of the guards. Robin is programmed with the personality of this Batman as a boy and acts as a foil/source of perspective so that he will not become consumed by darkness in his quest for justice. This Robin believes this was the same reason Bruce Wayne brought Dick Grayson into his life.

The Dark Knight Universe Robins

These stories are set in Frank Miller's Dark Knight Universe, which take place in a future that has not come to pass in current DC continuity, and therefore is not considered canonical. Miller has stated that the Dark Knight Universe consists of: All Star Batman and Robin, the Spawn/Batman crossover, The Dark Knight Returns, The Dark Knight Strikes Again and the upcoming Holy Terror, Batman! [1]

Richard Grayson

In Frank Miller's Dark Knight Universe, Grayson's origin differs in various ways to the official DC Comics Universe. As seen in the All Star Batman and Robin title, he is a twelve-year-old boy who performs in the circus with his two parents, as the Flying Graysons. Bruce Wayne had come to the show many times to watch him perform his stunts. One night, while Wayne watched the show with reporter Vicki Vale, the Graysons performed an amazing feat. The audience began to cheer and clap when suddenly a man arrived and shot Dick Grayson's parents in the head. They fell to the floor and died. Batman took out the gunman while some corrupted Gotham City Police officers took young Dick Grayson into custody, and absconded with him. They took him to a place outside Gotham City, into a deserted stretch of forest where they tortured and/or executed people, but Batman came to the rescue, and attacked the corrupt cops, forcing them into flight. Batman rescued Dick and took him in the Batmobile and asked him to join him in his crusade against crime in Gotham City. Dick agreed to join the crusade. Upon arrival in the Batcave, Batman intended Dick to survive in the cave without any help, however Alfred Pennyworth took pity on Dick and gave him food, and a decent place to sleep. Batman is displeased, as he wants Dick to go through the same things he did, whether Dick likes it or not. The story is still ongoing.

Years later, in the Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, it is revealed that after a rocky relationship, Batman fires Grayson for disobedience, replacing him with the much preferred Jason Todd. Though Grayson went on to become Nightwing, he always harbored a dormant yet virulent resentment for Batman.

After Todd's death caused Batman to retire, Wayne remained inactive as a superhero until a crisis in Gotham forced him to don the cape and cowl once again at the age of 55. After faking his own death to continue to fight crime under ground, Grayson reemerges as a genetically altered and seemingly unkillable supervillain, taking on the persona of the recently deceased Joker. After maiming and killing a number of famous DC characters, he seeks out Carrie Kelley (see below), the new Robin/Catgirl, intending to kill her in order exact his final revenge on Batman. His plan fails, however, when Batman arrives to save Catgirl and eventually kills Grayson.

Carrie Kelley

The 1986 limited series Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (1986), written and drawn by Frank Miller, introduced Carrie Kelley as the first female Robin in the Batman franchise's history. In that series, which takes place in the non-DC Continuity Dark Knight Universe, Kelley was a Batman fanatic who instantly took it upon herself to become Robin after Batman returned from retirement. In this series, Todd's death led to the Dark Knight's retirement, but Batman still accepted Kelley.

By the time of the 2001's sequel Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Kelley had taken the identity Catgirl, but continued to accompany Batman and his allies.

In an interesting scene in Teen Titans Vol. 3, #18, when the Titans were transported 10 years into the future, we are shown a graveyard full of deceased Batman allies and villains. One tombstone reads "Carrie Kelley".

In The New Batman Adventures episode, "Legends of the Dark Knight", a girl who closely resembles Carrie Kelley, called "Kelly", is one of three kids telling what they believe the Batman is really like. The story she tells is similar to the scene where Batman drives up in his tank and battles the mutants in Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.

In the Alex Ross-illustrated Kingdom Come graphic novel, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman meet for lunch in a superhero-inspired restaurant. They are served by a waitress dressed as Robin and who may have been modeled on Carrie Kelley.

Elseworlds

See also: Elseworlds and List of Elseworlds publications

Alfred Pennyworth

Alfred is a familiar character in the Batman books as Bruce Wayne's elderly butler. But in Batman: Dark Allegiances, set in the World War II era, a young Alfred is Robin to that era's Batman.

Richard Graustark

In the 1960s set Batgirl and Robin: Thrillkiller, in which Bruce Wayne became a cop, Richard Graustark is a thrillseeking circus performer who takes the identity of Robin to impress Barbara Gordon.

Robin Drake

The main character in JLA: The Riddle of the Beast, young Robin Drake brings together all the heroes of The World to battle the Beast (Etrigan).

Rowena Wayne

In the French Revolution set Batman: Reign of Terror, Bruce Wayne's sister learns his secret identity, and designs a Robin outfit to aid him.

"Rodney"

Dark Knight Dynasty features three generations of Waynes, past, present and future. In the future section, Brenna Wayne is aided by an ape with augumented intelligence.

Redbird

In the American Civil War set The Blue, The Gray and the Bat, Captain Bruce Wayne is aided by a Native American named Redbird. Redbird's family were killed by white men, and, until he got his revenge, he wore war paint in a design similar to a domino mask.

Robin 3000

In the futuristic Robin 3000, Earth is controlled by aliens. Batman (Bruce Wayne the 20th) is killed trying to stop them, but his mission is continued by his nephew, Tom Wayne. This was originally written as Tom Swift 3000, but rewritten as a Robin story when the original plans fell through.

Elseworlds Annuals (1994)

Tengu

In the Robin annual, an unnamed young warrior in 16th century Japan, is raised by the Bat-Samurai, and nicknamed Tengu, after the bird-spirits, by a female Cat-Ninja. Tengu was later revealed to be the rightful heir to the imperial throne, and the usurper (believing he knew this and plotted against him) attempted to kill him. He killed the usurper in self-defense but, since he had already sworn loyalty, was constrained to suicide as a result of this dishonor.

Robin Redblade

In the Detective Comics annual, an orphan on the streets of 17th century Kingston, who became cabin boy to Leatherwing the pirate.

Legends of the Dead Earth Annuals (1996)

In the 1996 Elseworlds science fiction annuals, Earth has been destroyed, but people live up to the legends of the past in various ways.

Tris Plover

In the Robin annual humanity is trying to reach other worlds in generation ships. On one of these, a group called the Proctors have seized control and everyone else are slaves who are executed on their 30th birthdays to conserve the ship's resources.

Tris Plover, a 29 year old slave, rebels against the Proctors. She meets another rebel, called the Batman, who gives her the Robin identity. At the cost of their lives, they succeed in defeating the Proctors and Robin sets the ship on a course for the planet New Gotham.

Deals and Geela

In the Detective Comics LOTDE annual, three kids on a war-torn planet redesign a soldier-robot to resemble Batman. Two of them then design Robin costumes (the third is told he can be "Alfred Gordon").

Darkbird

This is the name of Batman's partner in the somewhat garbled fables told on another colony world, as featured in the Batman annual. While the name is based on Nightwing, the costume is in Robin's colours.

In other media

• Robin was played by Douglas Croft in director Lambert Hillyer's 1943 Batman serial.

• Batman's radio series with Robin, the Batman Mystery Club, in which Batman told ghost stories, never aired. One episode was made: "The Monster of Dumphrety's Hall".

• During radio broadcasts of the Adventures of Superman radio drama Batman and Robin were paired with Superman over the years from September 15, 1945 to 1949. The pairing was pure novelty. The Batman and Robin appearances provided time off for Bud Collyer, the voice of Superman on radio. These episodes called for Superman to be occupied elsewhere and the crime fighting would be handled by Batman and Robin. On that series the voice of Robin was played by Ronald Liss.

• In the 1949 Columbia Pictures' Movie Serial, Robin the Boy Wonder was played by 26 year old Johnny Duncan in The Adventures of Batman and Robin (1949) directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet.
• In the campy 1960s Batman television series and its 1966 movie offshoot, Robin/Dick Grayson was played by Burt Ward. This spoof of Robin was known for the line: "Holy [relevant pun], Batman."

• In Batman-related cartoon series produced at Filmation and Hanna-Barbera throughout the 1970s and 1980s such as the Super Friends, Robin/Dick Grayson was voiced by Casey Kasem or 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 read the comics at all. An unused idea from the first film shows his parents murdered by the Joker. The special edition version of the DVD has an animated storyboard sequence of one of the scenes from this subplot, the scene in which Dick Grayson's parents are killed. Dick Grayson's voice was provided by Jason Hillhouse in this special feature. In an earlier script of Batman Returns, he was portrayed as a technologically savvy street kid who would help Batman following his narrow escape when The Penguin tried to kill him. Later on, he would play a crucial role in Batman's final confrontation with The Penguin. He is simply known as "Robin", and has no known real name. He was to be played by Marlon Wayans.

• In Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever (1995), with Val Kilmer as the Dark Knight, Grayson's parents were murdered by Two-Face/Harvey Dent during a hostage situation at the annual Gotham Circus. The movie featured Chris O'Donnell at age 24 portraying the role of the Boy Wonder, who reprised the role again at the age of age 26 in the 1997 film Batman & Robin with George Clooney as the Batman. In those films, the tension between Batman and Robin was greater than in most adaptations. In Batman Forever, his costume closely resembles the Robin uniform worn by Tim Drake. In the latter film, Robin's costume resembled Nightwing's "Renegade" outfit from the comics (with a cape added).

• The first two seasons of Batman: The Animated Series, which debuted in 1992, featured Robin/Dick Grayson, voiced by Loren Lester, only occasionally because he was attending college. In its third and final season (1994–1995), the show was retitled The Adventures of Batman and Robin as Robin appeared regularly. 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, voiced by 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 book's Tim Drake. A version of the Carrie Kelley Robin also makes a short appearance in Batman: Gotham Knights, in a dream sequence in the episode "Legends of the Dark Knight".

• In the Krypto the Superdog episode, "Bathound and the Robin", Robbie is a robin, and after Ace the Bathound saved Robbie's life, Robbie wanted to be Ace's sidekick, much to the dismay of Ace. Robbie's costume resembled that of Dick Grayson's.
• Robin will appear in the fourth season of The Batman.
• Robin is a playable character in both Teen Titans video games.

Teen Titans animated series

The Cartoon Network series Teen Titans appears to be an adaptation of the New Teen Titans comic book series. One similarity is that both series have the character Robin, who also acts as the team's leader. In the comic book series (as noted above), Dick Grayson is Robin. In the animated series, Robin, voiced by Scott Menville , has not been referred to by a given name, although several clues have indicated that this Robin is Dick Grayson.

A time-travel themed episode of the animated series showed a future where Robin has taken on the role of Nightwing (a role taken up by Dick Grayson). In a later episode, an alternate universe Robin with the exact same DNA shows up named "Nosyarg Kcid", which is "Dick Grayson" spelled backwards. This latter clue was confirmed by the creators at a panel at the 2005 San Diego Comic Con[2].

In many instances, Robin's relationship to Batman is heavily referenced. In the season 5 episode "Go", just before Robin attacks a thief, bats fly at him. After a while the thief says, "Aren't you supposed to be with—" only to be interrupted by Robin who says "Just moved here. I work alone now". Throughout the episode, he says he doesn't want to be in a team again so soon. In another episode, "Haunted", Raven uses her powers to enter Robin's mind; one of the images she sees is Robin's shadow in a cave area swearing an oath to someone. When Robin rejects Slade in "Apprentice: Part 2", he mentions "I already have a father", and then the screen shows a shot of a dark sky with bats flying through it, also referring to Batman. In that same episode, a battle ensues on top of a building that says, WAYNE ENTERPRISES.

The Batman TV series

In The Batman. Dick Grayson was an energetic and gifted acrobat and one of the main attractions of Hayley's Circus, along with his Mother (Mary) and Father (John) as part of the amazing Flying Grayson's act. His life was changed forever when Tony Zucco and his brothers tried blackmailing his father into taking a protection policy. When John Grayson refused, he was attacked. Young Dick managed to call the police and the call was intercepted by The Batman, who made quick work of Boss Zucco and managed to capture one of his brothers.

Angered, Zucco altered the rigs on The Flying Graysons trapeze act, causing John and Mary to fall to their deaths right in front of Dick. Young Grayson, with no surviving family members was taken in by Bruce Wayne, who saw shades of himself in Dick after his own parent's murder.

One night Dick awoke to see Alfred coming out of a grandfather clock against the wall. Dick went to investigate the clock himself. Pulling on a lever, the clock slid upwards and Dick go into an elevator that took him down into the Batcave. Before he could find a safe hiding place, the Batmobile came roaring into the cave and then and there Dick found out that his new foster father was really The Batman.

After discovering his identity, Dick said that he wanted Zucco to pay for what he had done. Batman went to look for Zucco after trailing a few leads and was then captured by Zucco in a trap. Dick sprang to his rescue. After the two of them defeated Zucco, Batman told Dick that Bruce Wayne might not be the best person to raise him, to which Dick questioned whether or not The Batman would be better.

Dick chose the name "Robin" because that is what his mother had called him.

External sources

• DC Comics - Secret Files & Origins of the three Robins (requires Adobe Acrobat)
• Extensive biography on Dick Grayson
• Extensive biography on Jason Todd
• Extensive biography on Tim Drake
• Robin's description on the animated series
• Batman On Film's "Robin" biography