The Hidden Grove

The Robin Hood: Bold Outlaw Annex

Robin the Boy Wonder
Part 11: A Flock of Robins

by Allen W. Wright

I began this article in 2015 in honour of Robin the Boy Wonder's 75th anniversary. The popular superhero was named for Robin Hood . I uploaded the Robin the Boy Wonder articles between 2019 - 2021 to a special section of my site available to those who made donations to my chosen charities.

The page is now open to all, but I strongly urge you to consider making a donation to one of my chosen charities.
The previous sections looked at how Robin the Boy Wonder (named for Robin Hood) was introduced as Batman's kid sidekick in 1940, went away to college in 1969, and in the early 1980s finally left his Robin identity behind and became the grown-up hero Nightwing. But the story doesn't end there. Jason Todd took up the Robin identity from Dick Grayson, but he was not the last Robin.

The Other Robins

This multi-part article was mainly devoted to the growth and development of Dick Grayson, the original Robin. But I wanted to take a brief look at the other people who claimed the identity of Robin after Dick left it behind. 

DC Comics have published many versions of Batman and Robin. There are the various reboots to continuity such as 1985's Crisis on Infinite Earths and 2011's Flashpoint -- where the world was transformed and writers were free to alter details of the characters without fear of violating continuity. But beyond such changes, there are versions of Robin from alternate futures or parallel dimensions. For the most part I'll look at the mainstream regular Robins -- with a couple special exceptions.

The Robin of Earth-Two

Technically, this is the same Robin I described in the early parts – Dick Grayson who became Batman’s sidekick in 1940. Batman and Robin are a rarity in that they were continually published from the 1940s to the present. Most comic book heroes ceased publication after World War II and drastically revamped versions of other heroes were introduced in the 1950s and 1960s.

DC Comics established that the World War II versions of their superheroes existed in another dimension – Earth-Two. Every year, the Justice League of America teamed up with the Justice Society of America, their older, extra-dimensional counterparts. In 1967, the now-adult original Robin joined in the adventure, wearing a Batman-like costume with a few Robin flourishes.

Later appearances introduced a more Robin-like costume, and established that the older Richard Grayson was the US ambassador to South Africa. On Earth-Two, South Africa had ditched apartheid decades before it had in our world. He was also a senior partner in the law firm Cranston, Grayson and Wayne. (The Wayne in the firm’s name was Helena, the Earth-Two Bruce Wayne’s daughter with Catwoman. She faught crime under the alias The Huntress. ) 

DC Comics celebrated their 50th anniversary in 1985 with a giant crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths. At the conclusion of the storyline, all the parallel Earths had been collapsed into one, and the Earth-Two Robin was killed. Later storylines re-established the multiverse, and new variations on this character have appeared.

After the DC Universe was transformed in a 2011 event called Flashpoint, a new Earth-2 was introduced. In this reality, Dick Grayson had never been Robin -- instead that role had been filled by Bruce Wayne's daughter Helena, who took on the role of the Huntress again when she travelled to the regular DC Universe.

Jason Todd

When he was first introduced, Jason was a carbon copy of Dick Grayson, another orphaned circus acrobat.

When the entire DC Comics Universe was rebooted with changes in the 1985 mini-series Crisis on Infinite Earths, Jason was re-conceived as a street kid, caught stealing the hubcaps off the Batmobile. This new Jason Todd had a rash, rebellious attitude that was not popular with readers.

In 1989, the Joker bludgeoned Jason to death with a crowbar, but in reality it was the readers who killed him in a special phone-in poll to determine his fate. Several years later, Jason Todd returned to life and is now either a villain or anti-hero using the alias Red Hood. (It sounds like a Robin Hood reference, but it's really an old alias of the Joker's from a 1950s comic.) 

Carrie Kelley

In 1986, writer/artist Frank Miller transformed the Batman story with his mini-series Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. The comics were published on thick, glossy paper with a firmer spine -- a format that would be labelled "prestige format". 

The comics feature a much-older Bruce Wayne who had retired upon the death of Jason Todd. Wayne comes out of retirement to fight crime as a middle-aged Dark Knight -- in a world that is very much a satire of the mid-1980s, with all the political and pop culture concerns of that decade.

A rebellious teenage girl named Carrie Kelley makes herself a Robin costume and heads out to join Batman in his vigilante quest for justice. She uses a slingshot, like Dick Grayson did in some of his early adventures.

Decades later Miller and others would follow up the story with sequels where Kelley had moved onto the identities of Catgirl and Batwoman. 

The Dark Knight had a massive influence on how Batman was depicted in the regular comics -- sometimes seeming more psychotic in his quest for justice. The biggest influence on Robin was Jason Todd's empty Robin costume in a trophy case in the Batcave -- something that eventually became a fixture of the Batcave in the regular comics too.

Carrie Kelley eventually appeared in the mainstream Batman comics as a college-age acting instructor to the then-current Robin Damian Wayne. In the mainstream comics, she only wore the Robin costume for Halloween, a nod to her more famous incarnation.

Tim Drake

This bright young kid had deduced Batman's true identity and pleaded with Dick to resume his Robin identity as Batman had grown unstable after Jason Todd's death. Smart and wise beyond his years, Tim was the polar opposite of what readers hated about Jason Todd. He starred in a very successful solo comic book series.

The Robin costume was redesigned (gone were the bare legs and pixy boots) and the few Wyeth-like flourishes on the original costume were lost.

Tim Drake later used the aliases Red Robin and Drake, but it was confirmed in 2020 that he would return to the Robin alias. How he co-exists with his successor as Robin remains to be seen.

Stephanie Brown

She originally went by the alias of Spoiler, a friend and ally to Tim Drake. Stephanie is also the daughter of the minor villain Cluemaster. She becomes Robin when Tim had temporarily retired. 

Stephanie tried to prove her worth to Batman when she discovered a backup plan of his for taking out the gangs in Gotham City. Batman had kept many secrets from her, and she failed to realize the plan hinged on Batman taking control of the mobs under a mobster disguise he often used when infiltrating the underworld. Gotham City erupts in gang warfare and Stephanie appears to be fatally wounded in action.

Batman's long-time ally Dr. Leslie Thompkins refused to treat Stephanie -- sacrificing the life of this Robin to send a message to Batman that his actions had consequences.

Many fans were outraged. They were outraged at Stephanie's death, outraged at how Leslie Thompkins seemed to betray her Hippocratic Oath, and outraged that Stephanie's time as Robin was quickly overlooked. She was often treated as a mere substitute when Tim Drake returned to the role. Fans wondered why Stephanie didn't have a memorial in the Batcave like Jason Todd did.

Eventually it was revealed Dr. Thompkins had only faked Stephanie's death. Stephanie appears alive and well, and operates for a time as Batgirl before returning to her Spoiler identity.

Her look was inspired by Carrie Kelley, the girl Robin from Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.

Damian Wayne

Introduced in 2006, Damian is the biological son of Batman and Talia, daughter of his arch-enemy Ra's Al-Ghul. (A 1987 graphic novel had shown Talia having Batman's son, and other writers had played with the concept prior to Damian's introduction.)
Raised by the League of Assassins, Damian can be imperious and far more blood-thirsty than his predecessors. Although he borrowed the costume on a few occasions previously, Damian formally became Robin in 2009 when Bruce Wayne was temporarily killed in action and Dick Grayson had assumed the Batman identity.

(This meant there was a light-hearted Batman and a grim Robin, an inversion of the usual dynamic for the duo.) Bruce Wayne was restored to life, but eventually Damian was killed in action. Like everyone else, he "got better" and even temporarily gained super-powers when restored to life. Damian's costumes featured hoods and restored a few of the original medieval flourishes. One of his early appearances shows that he's an excellent archer, outclassing his teacher, the League of Assassins' Merlyn.

In 2020, he left Batman and the Teen Titans behind, but in 2021 he'll headline a new Robin comic book. 

We Are Robin

The 2015-2016 comic book We Are Robin focuses on an army of street kids being inspired by the Robin tradition, each with their own skills to aid in the fight for justice.

In a USA Today interview, the comic's writer Lee Bermejo said the cast was a diverse one, moving on from "teenage white kids who all look the same."

The lead character is Duke Thomas, a young African-American hero, who later became Batman’s partner Signal. 

What happens next?

As I write this in late 2020, the role of Robin appears to be in transition again -- Damian Wayne has quit the role and Tim Drake appears to be returning to the Robin role. But then DC announced a new Robin comic starring Damian Wayne would premiere in April 2021.

But who knows -- maybe Robin will change again.

In October 2020, artist Karl Kerschl announced that Mia "Maps" Mizoguchi -- a popular young detective in the Gotham Academy comics that Kerschl drew would be appearing as Robin in an upcoming issue of Batman: Black and White.

This might only be a one-off, out-of-continuity appearance, but there are a lot of only fans who want Maps Mizoguchi to become the official Robin.

Dick Grayson Robin and Batman from Robin's Reckoning

Nightwing and Tim Drake Robin from Old Wounds

The Transformation of Robin in Movies and TV

Comic book fans were entranced by the changes in the Batman and New Teen Titans comics of the early 1980s, as Dick Grayson became Nightwing and Jason Todd stepped in as the new Robin. But for the general public, it was business as usual.

There was no sense that the Robin on toy shelves and lunch boxes throughout the 1980s was anyone other than Dick Grayson -- the Robin of the 1960s TV show, reruns of which were still being shown in the 1980s. The comic book change was ignored in the long-running cartoon in Super Friends. Casey Kasem voiced Robin in the show's final season (now retitled The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians) -- just as Kasem had back in the show's first season in 1973.

For most people, Batman and Robin were inseparable -- and very much the same characters who had appeared in the 1960s TV show and the various cartoon shows. That perception began to change with the release of the 1989 Batman movie directed by Tim Burton. It was the biggest film of the year, but Robin was nowhere to be seen.

At least not on the screen. Robin was forced into the script, somewhat awkwardly, as producers believed him to be an essentially component of the Batman mythos. But Robin's parts were never filmed. The Boy Wonder (possibly to be played by Marlon Wayans) appeared and then disappeared from the script for the 1992 sequel Batman Returns.

Robin did appear in the popular 1992 cartoon series Batman: The Animated Series. Yes, Robin was Dick Grayson still, but this more mature take on Batman borrows from many aspect of the character's long history. This Dick Grayson is a college student who only occasionally teamed up with Batman, much as Robin had been in the comic books of the 1970s.  He often clashes with Batman's leadership as Dick had done in early 1980s comics written by Marv Wolfman. Also, instead of wearing the traditional short-pants, this new cartoon Robin wore a version of the outfit that Tim Drake wore in the then-current comic books. 

For many (myself included) Batman: The Animated Series was the definitive other-media adaptation of Batman, featuring well-written and well-directed stories with a superb voice cast including Kevin Conroy as Batman and Loren Lester as Dick Grayson. Later in the show's run, it was retitled to appeal to kids -- "The Adventures of Batman and Robin".

When the animators started making new episodes in 1997 to supplement their Superman series as part of The New Batman / Superman Adventures, the animators decided to make some changes. Dick Grayson was now Nightwing -- for the first time outside of comic books. Tim Drake was the new Robin, although his origin used some elements of Jason Todd's second origin as a street urchin.

In between the two main incarnations of Batman: The Animated Series, Robin finally appeared in the Batman movie franchise. Chris O'Donnell played a slightly older Robin in 1995's Batman Forever, once again in a variation -- a shiny, metallic variation -- of Tim Drake's comic book costume. Dick had suggested Nightwing as a possible code name, a nod to the comics. In the 1997 film Batman and Robin, O'Donnell's Robin essentially wore the Nightwing costume (with the traditional blue parts swapped out for a more Robin red.)

Val Kilmer and Chris O'Donnell in Batman Forever

Chris O'Donnell in Batman and Robin

Most of the comic book Robins have appeared in the animated TV shows and features of the 21st century. If Dick Grayson may still be the classic Robin but he's not the only Robin in the minds of many viewers.

The transformation from Robin to Nightwing has also occurred in live action.

Brenton Thwaites stars as Dick Grayson, the central character in the Titans TV series which began in 2018. Dick has broken away from Batman, declaring in the first episode "F*ck Batman!" In the sixth episode of the first season, Dick discovers Batman has taken on a new Robin, Jason Todd, played by Curran Walters. In the next episode, Dick burns his Robin costume. At the end of the second season, Dick finally adopts his Nightwing identity.

Like in the comics, Jason Todd is killed and returns to life as the anti-hero Red Hood. In the third season, actor Jay Lycurgo joins the cast as Tim Drake -- the third Robin.

Where to go from here:

PREVIOUSLY:

PART 1 - The Golden Age of Comics and the Development of the Kid Sidekick

PART 2 -What's In A Name? Robin and Robin Hood

PART 3 - Early Adventures (including Robin's origin)

PART 4 - Batman and Robin meet Robin Hood in The Rescue of Robin Hood (Detective Comics #116)

PART 5: The Caped Crusaders in 1950s and 1960s Comic Books and Television

PART 6 - Batman and Robin Meet the Archer (1966 TV episodes)

PART 7 - Robin Leaves the Nest (1969 - 1975)

PART 8 - The Dynamite Duo and Goodbye, Hudson University (1975-1980)

PART 9 - Robin No More: The Birth of Nightwing (1980-1984)

PART 10 - Reboots and Retcons (1984 to present)

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