Robin (comics)

Robin is a DC Comics character and, most notably, Batman's young sidekick. Since 1940, several different youths have portrayed the superhero. In each incarnation, Robin's brightly colored visual appearance and youthful energy have served as a contrast to Batman's dark look and manner.

The character has been a fixture in the Batman comic books. Played originally by Douglas Croft, he joined Batman in his first venture into motion pictures in Batman's first serial.

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 the charter leader.

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

Robins

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

Dick Grayson

In Detective Comics #38 (1940), Batman creators Bob Kane and Bill Finger, along with inker/later ghost artist Jerry Robinson, introduced the first Robin, Richard John "Dick" Grayson, an aerialist and the character still best known as Robin. The sidekick debuted a year after Batman.

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

Richard 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.

In the 1995 movie Batman Forever, 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 and Robin with George Clooney as the Batman.

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

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 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 returns as the new Red Hood, the original alias of the Joker. Jason subsequently takes the identity of Nightwing a year after the events of Infinite Crisis.

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), his detective skills more than make up for this.

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.

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.

Other comic continuities

The following fictional characters don the Robin costume at various times in the alternet Batman continuity:

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 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.

Bruce Wayne Junior

In a story from 1961, Alfred writes a tale about an imaginable 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 wears the same costumes as its version from the present, but both with a II added on the chest. The villains featured in the story are the Joker and his son.

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

Carrie Kelley

The 1986 limited series The Dark Knight Returns, 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 an alternate future, 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 sequel The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Kelley 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.

In an interesting note, in Teen Titans v3 #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: Dark Knight Returns" (1986).

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.

Alfred Pennyworth

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

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.

Robert Chang

In the digitally rendered Elseworlds tale Digital Justice, in which 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.

Redbird

In the American Civil War set Elseworld 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 warpaint in a design similar to a domino mask.

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 founder Stan Lee. Robin was a offend, who had been controlled by Reverend Darkk, the series main villain, into becoming a thief and a murderer. He meet Batman, when Darkk assigned Robin to kill him. Batman survived the attack and in return showed Robin what a man Darkk really was. Robin joined the good side for a time, but in the crisis issue it was revalved that Robin had infact been working with Darkk the whole time, in the end he was transformed into a Hawkman, before being reborn by Yggdrasil, as The Atom.

1994 Elseworlds Annuals

=Kingdom Come Red Robin

In an alternative Elseworld Tale, 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 elseworld story he has had a daughter with Starfire; the beautiful Nightstar. Starfire had apparently died.

=Tengu

= An unnamed young warrior in 16th century Japan, 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 Elseworlds Annual).

=Robin Redblade

= An orphan on the streets of 17th century Kingston, who became cabin boy to Leatherwing the pirate (Detective Comics Elseworld Annual).

Legends of the Dead Earth

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.

All Star Richard Grayson

This is an alternate continuity version of Grayson, featured in the All Star Batman and Robin title which debuted in July 2005. His origin differs in various ways to the official DC Comics Universe. In this universe, 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.

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 pun, Batman."

In Batman-related spoof like campy 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. 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) 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. 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 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

Robin, voiced by Scott Menville, appears in the Cartoon Network adaptation of the Teen Titans. He has not been referred to by given name, although several clues have indicated that this Robin is Dick Grayson. As the series most resembles the New Teen Titans, which also has Dick Grayson, this is very likely. This was confirmed by the creators at a panel at the 2005 San Diego Comic Con. When asked, they pointed to the "Nosyarg Kcid" scene as confirmation. ^*

A time-travel themed episode portrayed a future where this Robin has taken on the role of Nightwing, and, in another episode, an alternate universe Robin with the exact same DNA shows up named "Nosyarg Kcid" (Dick Grayson spelled backwards).

The first season focused a great deal on Robin and Slade, his arch-enemy. He was very determined to stop the villain from destroying the city. He got so focused that it came to the point when he started acting like Slade. His enemy used nanoscopic probes in the other Titans to make Robin follow his every order and become Slade's apprentice. But Robin eventually infected himself with the probes, knowing that Slade would hate to lose his apprentice. Every season has had an episode that focused on Robin's over-determined nature. In the episode "Trust", Robin and Starfire are the only regular Titans to speak.

In many instances, Batman was 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 interupted 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 who appears to be Bruce Wayne. When Robin rejects Slade in "Apprentice", 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.

External sources

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