Jason Todd

Jason Peter Todd is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. Jason Todd first appeared in Batman #357 (1983) and became the second Robin, sidekick to the superhero Batman, when the previous Robin Dick Grayson went on to star in The New Teen Titans under the moniker of Nightwing.

Though initially popular, following a revamping of his origin by Max Allan Collins, the Jason Todd version of Robin was not well-received by fans. For 1988's Batman: A Death in the Family storyline, DC Comics held a telephone poll to determine whether or not the character would die at the hands of the Joker, Batman's arch nemesis. The character was killed off by a vote of 5343–5271. Subsequent Batman stories dealt with Batman's guilt over not being able to prevent Jason's death. However, in 2005's story arc "Under the Hood" the character was resurrected, eventually becoming the second Red Hood and assuming a new role as an antihero who resembles Batman in many ways, except with a willingness to use lethal force and weapons.

Beginning in June 2010, Todd will star in "Red Hood: The Lost Days", a six issue miniseries to coincide with the release of the DC animated film Batman: Under the Red Hood, which is a movie adaptation of the comic series Under The Hood. The story, written by Judd Winick, will concentrate on Jason's Todd's lost years of globe-trotting and training after his death and resurrection before his return to Gotham.

Pre-Crisis History
The initial version of Jason Todd had an origin that was a similar origin to the first Robin, Dick Grayson. Originally, like Grayson, Jason is the son of circus acrobats killed by a criminal (Killer Croc) and is later adopted by Bruce Wayne. Distinguished by his blonde hair (as opposed to the black hair of Dick Grayson), Todd is unfailingly cheerful, wearing his circus costume to fight crime until Dick Grayson presents him with a Robin costume of his own. At that point, Jason dyes his hair black, and in later stories blossoms under Batman's tutelage.



Following the revamp of the Batman mythos due to Crisis on Infinite Earths, Jason Todd is recast as 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. However, Todd does not wear the Robin costume (an improved version of) until after six months of training. 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 temporally overrun by Deacon Blackfire.

Post-Crisis History
Unlike Grayson or the pre-Crisis Jason, the post-Crisis Jason is impulsive, reckless, and full of rage.

Jason Todd was the child of Willis and Catherine Todd, being raised in Gotham City. His father was a petty crook who ended up serving a prison sentence, and even after the sentence was served, his father did not return to the family. That left Jason alone with his drug addicted mother, who he tried to take care of by ripping off car parts like tires for cash. Sadly, his mother would soon die of an overdose and he would be left alone. He fended for himself just as he had taken care of his mother by continuing to rip off car parts. One night, Jason came across the Batmobile parked in an alley. Batman had recently put new tires on the vehicles but not replaced the hubcaps with the redesigned ones yet. This created an opportunity that Jason did not pass on. Batman caught him when he had already stolen one of the tires and was coming to take the others.

Batman tried to put Jason in a boarding school for troubled kids, but this did not work out for Jason as the owner of the school was actually running a training ground for youthful criminals. Batman instead decides that perhaps the boy's anger could be channeled against criminals as Robin, or else the boy would likely end up a criminal himself. This is how Jason Todd became the second Robin. He was not the acrobat Dick Grayson was, but he was a strong kid with skills from life on Gotham's streets.

On their first official mission as Batman and Robin, it was discovered that Jason's father was killed by the criminal Two-Face. Furious at the knowledge and the fact that Batman knew of it, Jason went on a rampage until at last confronted with Two-Face. Rather than kill Dent however, Jason mastered his anger and let Dent be arrested, much to Batman's pride.

While Jason soon proved to be one of Batman's most enthusiastic students, he was also the most troubled. Brash and impulsive, Jason's former life on the streets had left him with an ambiguous sense of right and wrong. This often placed Jason in opposition to the values his mentor was trying to teach him. Jason often uses excessive force to subdue criminals. In one adventure, asked to "hold off" villains, Jason instantly takes to firing at them with a gun, despite Batman's abhorrence for firearms. The most dramatic of these moral clashes however happened when Jason tracked down Felipe Garzonasa, a foreign national who had raped a young woman and later drove her to suicide. Moments after Jason arrived, Garzonasa plunged to his death from his apartment balcony. While the truth is still unknown, there is a distinct possibility that Jason pushed Felipe off the balcony, thereby breaking Batman's strict code against ever taking a life.

Afraid of Jason possibly murdering someone, Batman asks Barbara Gordon, to come out of retirement as Batgirl, and work with Jason on a case, hoping that she might gain a better insight into Jason's behavior. Although the pair work well together, Barbara is unable to deny a darkness in Jason, which she later warns Bruce about.

A Death in the Family
Jason later discovers his mother was not his biological mother, and runs away to find the woman who gave birth to him. After following a number of leads, Jason finally tracks his mother, Sheila, to Ethiopia, where she works as an aid worker. While Jason is overjoyed to be reunited with his real mother, he soon discovers that she is being blackmailed by the Joker, who is using her to provide him with medical supplies. Sheila herself has been embezzling from the aid agency and as part of the cover-up she hands her own son, who arrives as Robin, over to the Joker. The Joker beats the boy brutally with a crowbar, and then leaves him and Sheila in the warehouse with a time bomb. Sheila and Robin try desperately to get out of the warehouse but are still inside as the bomb goes off. Batman arrives too late to save them and is only able to hold Jason's lifeless body in his arms. The bodies are taken back to Gotham City for burial. 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 these his greatest failure: not properly training Jason in his role as Robin, and failing to protect him from the Joker.

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.

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 (six months after his death), 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 suggested 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.

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.

As the Red Hood
Shortly after the events of War Games and War Crimes, Jason Todd reappears in Gotham City as the Red Hood, 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 spares the Joker, 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. 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. 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."

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, even ignoring all the people he's killed and the crippling of Batgirl, he belived that after his death at the hands of the Joker, he'd finally be able to kill him, "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; he has never once not fantasized about taking the Joker somewhere private and torturing him for maybe weeks before finally killing him, but refuses to go to that place. Jason offers Batman an ultimatum: Jason will kill the Joker unless Batman kills Jason first. Holding the Joker at gunpoint, Jason throws a pistol to Batman and begins to count to three while standing behind the Joker, leaving Batman with only a headshot if he wants to stop Jason pulling the trigger. At the last moment, Batman throws a batarang that cuts down an object and 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.

One Year Later and Countdown
Jason resurfaces one year after the Infinite Crisis patrolling the streets of New York City as a murderous version of Nightwing. Jason shows no intention of giving up the Nightwing persona, and continues to taunt Dick 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. Rescued by a reluctant Grayson, the two join forces to 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.

Jason appears once more in several issues of Green Arrow alongside Brick as part of a gun-running organization, which brings Batman to Star City. Jason's true motives are shown in the third part as he kidnaps Mia Dearden (Speedy) in an effort to convert her to his side, feeling that they are kindred spirits, cast down by society and at odds with their mentors. The two fight while conversing but when Jason is unsuccessful in his bid to turn Mia, he settles for blowing up her High School. Mia is deeply troubled by what transpired between her and Jason, but ultimately decides to stick with Green Arrow.



At the start of Countdown, Jason Todd resumes his persona as the Red Hood and rescues a woman from Duela Dent (aka the Joker's Daughter). After a Monitor shoots and kills Duela, he attempts to kill Jason, but is stopped by a second Monitor. This second Monitor apologizes to Jason before they both disappear, leaving Jason alone with Duela's body. Later, at Duela's funeral, Jason hides until all of the Teen Titans have left except Donna Troy. Jason tells her what happened the night of Duela's death, and about the dueling Monitors. He knows that both he and Donna Troy have come back from the dead, and wonders which of them is next on the Monitor's hit list. The two are then attacked by the Forerunner, but before she can kill them, the apologetic Monitor stops her, and recruits Jason and Donna for a mission to the Palmerverse (a section of the Nanoverse discovered by Ray Palmer), in an attempt to find Palmer. During the trip, Jason takes it upon himself to name the Monitor "Bob".

On Earth-51, Jason meets that world's Batman. It was shown that this version of Batman had begun using lethal force since his Jason died. Jason Todd of New Earth is then given a new costume and the code name Red Robin. Earth-51 Batman had originally planned to give those to his Jason, but he died before it was time. During a final confrontation on Earth-51, Batman is killed, much to Jason's fury. After landing on Apokolips and battling against Darksied's forces, the team returns to New Earth, Jason once again turns his back on life as a costumed hero, and returns to his old ways of dealing with crime.

Batman R.I.P.
Following Batman's disappearance during the events of Batman R.I.P. Jason begins manipulating the Gang Wars in Gotham, so as to take control of them. Unfortunately, Jason's approach leads to more blood shed and violence. With both Nightwing and Batman unavailable, it falls to Tim Drake to deal with the mess Jason created. Jason however, asks Tim to join forces with him, though Tim of course refuses on the grounds that Jason's methods are too questionable.

This leads to a confrontation between Jason and Tim Drake, which is interupted by the arrival of another Red Robin, whose identity is initially a mystery but later turns out to be Ulysses Armstrong. Due to a combination of Red Robin's involvement and a gun-toting gang member, Jason was shot in the leg and arrested by police. Upon the resolution of the gang war in Gotham, Tim Drake - under a pseudonym - visited Jason in prison to give him the Justice League access code to release himself from prison, due primarily to the fact that Tim believes that Jason should be given another chance at redemption. Following his escape, Jason continues on the mend, and is summoned by Tim to come to the Batcave, where Batman has left his Last Will and Testament statement for him. After hearing the statement in private, Jason prepares to leave, not revealing what he was told, although he does pause before his old costume and the tattered remains of Batman's.

It is later revealed that the message left for Jason was of Bruce admitted that of all his failures, Jason was the biggest. Bruce states that he regrets never offered Jason any help or feeling for his obvious emotional hardships, but instead dressing him up as Robin and putting him in constant danger.

These words, however, only cause Jason to snap completely, leading to the events of the Battle for the Cowl.

Battle for the Cowl
Following his escape from prison, Jason apparently decided to put a bid in for the Bat-mantle. He wore a black and grey Batsuit with two handguns, various other weapons and a mouth-plate. He is also living/operating out of an abandoned Gotham subway system. His inner monologue demonstrated that he'd always had a desire to eventually replace Batman, and his displeasure with Batman becoming a public figure, rather than an urban legend.

Jason begins his war on crime using lethal tactics and leaving slips of paper saying "I AM BATMAN".

After Jason manages to takes down a group of thugs, he then escapes only to have Nightwing and Damian Wayne on his tail. Nightwing deduces that the impostor is Jason Todd. After a short quarrel, Damian is shot by Jason. At the same time, Tim Drake begins a search to stop the imposter and dresses as Batman in order to demonstrate how the real Batman would have acted. Tim finds Jason Todd's "Batcave" in a subway station, and is saved from a booby trap by Catwoman, who knows Tim is behind the mask. Jason ambushes them, disposing of Catwoman, and then getting into a fight with Tim before impaling him in the chest with a batarang, exclaiming "One more to go".



After questioning himself, following Damian's near death, Nightwing goes forth against Jason, intending to take down Todd once and for all. The pair battle, all the while with Jason claiming that Tim is dead, unaware that Tim survived and was saved by Damian and the Squire. The battle accumulates to Nightwing kicking Jason off a speeding train.

When Dick attempted to help Jason, the other man refused and fell to his supposed death, though claiming they would see each other again soon. This allowed Dick to officially assume the mantle of Batman.

Revenge of the Red Hood
Jason survived his fall and gave up his claim to Batman's mantle. Dick was Batman now, and Jason set out to become Dick's direct competition. He reworked his Red Hood identity to be more dramatic and attention-grabbing by creating a costume for it, a costume very similar to the original Red Hood outfit the Joker had used. Also, he stopped dying his hair black and allowed it to grow red again with a small gray streak left by his previous exposure to a Lazarus Pit. To complete his transformation, he even found himself a sidekick. This was Scarlet, the daughter of a criminal and the victim of Professor Pyg's practice of mutilation. His intent was for them to become Gotham City's new dynamic duo, supplanting the old one.

With his new partner, Jason resumed his brutal and lethal methods of dealing with criminals, but now there was a twist. Using the media and internet, he exposed his methods to the public and actively marketed them as the way should be done. Public opinion was actually at least somewhat in his favor, especially after he showed Batman and Robin protecting the Penguin from him and Scarlet. He was able to keep ahead of Batman and Robin, getting to criminals first and evading their attempts to apprehend him. That lasted until he tracked down a criminal who got away from him to finish what he had started. Batman and Robin arrived to stop them, and the two duos fought. The fight went in Jason's favor. Instead of the two heroes capturing him, he captured them, stripped them naked, and locked them out of his way for the time being. His plan was to reveal to the world on a Twitter webcam, the identities of Batman and Robin, if the public offered enough attention to it.

It was then that Jason and Scarlet were ambushed by an assassin called Flamingo. He took two shots from a sniper's rifle, shattering his helmet. While Batman and Robin escaped from his trap, Todd and Scarlet attempted to combat against Flamingo. However, both of them proved inferior to Flamingo's skills, and it was only with the timely arrival of Batman and Robin that they were not killed. Jason used the Dynamic Duo as a cover, proceeded to crush Flamingo with a truck, while Damian threw himself in front of an attack to save Scarlet, leaving him crippled. Scarlet escaped, and Jason was again taken into police custody. As he was dragged away however, he shouted at Dick that if the Lazarus Pits could revive him from the dead (a half-truth), then why hadn't Dick done it for Bruce?

Reform?
Jason files an appeal to be moved from Arkham Asylum where he's been held for observation for the last several months. Bruce Wayne as Batman visits him there to inform Jason he's in Arkham for his own protection. Jason points out he's passed all the psychological tests repeatedly and there is no reason to keep him in what he calls Batman's "kennel of freaks". Jason is transferred to a Gotham prison and upon his arrival, the suicide rate spikes amongst top incarcerated crime figures there. Several homicides occur due to many botched attempts on Jason's life by inmates with a grudge against the Red Hood's tactics. Jason escalates things further by poisoning the cafeteria, killing 82 and sickening 100 more inmates. He is immediately transferred back to Arkham but is broken out of the paddy wagon by a group of mercenaries. The mercs reveal they are under orders to bring Jason to the person that hired them and that he is in no danger. Jason breaks free and fights them off all the same as Batman and Robin arrive. Once the hired guns are subdued they reveal their employer has captured Scarlet, Jason's former sidekick. Dick, Damian, and Jason go to one of the Red Hood's weapon caches where he assembles a composite costume made from his biker and "superhero" Red Hood attire. The three intend to rescue Scarlet. After Batman and Robin defeat the mercs, Red Hood rescues Scarlet and escapes using the helicopter. Batman and Robin attempt to chase him, but Red Hood tells them that he planted bombs over Gotham City months ago. Scarlet desires to stay with Red Hood as his partner. Red Hood and Scarlet head towards an unknown destination. Dick does nothing, surmising Jason was bluffing, and that though he's on the road to reforming, he'll only rejoin the Bat-Family when he himself is ready.

In September 2011, Jason will be attempting to make up for his sins by leading the Outlaws, a team of wayward heroes including Arsenal and Starfire. The red symbol on his chest is now changed to a bat, representing his reconciliation with the Batman Family.

Though he retained his agressive style of fighting, it was unclear until the first issue of "Red Hood and the Outlaws" as to whether or not Jason would continue to use lethal force against his advesaries. In said issue, Jason used his firearms in an act of self-defense to kill three mob members, and he did so with little hesitation or empathy. In issue two however he feels compassion and respect for his former trainers who he was forced to put in their zombified state, and at the end of the same issue he feels that he finally has a team.

Powers and Abilities
Peak Physical Condition: By matching his former mentor in combat he has proven that he is physically superior to most Olympic athletes, just as Batman is. His strength, reflexes,stamina, and endurance are roughly comparable to that of Dick Grayson.

Master Martial Artist: Jason Todd is a highly skilled combatant trained by Batman. Although he was always more of a brawler as Robin, following his ressurection, he gained more training and demonstrated himself to be far more skilled than previously. This is shown when he fought his former mentor and Nightwing to a standstill and when Jason held his own against the Green Arrow in a sword fight, overpowered Tim Drake at Titans Tower, and fought his former mentor himself (Bruce) to a standstill.

Skilled Acrobat: In his training as Robin he had been taught acrobatics and gymnastics routines.

Skilled Swordsman: Jason has shown to be skilled enough to hold his own against the Green Arrow in a sword fight until he ultimately lost.

Skilled detective: Jason has shown some skill as a detective most notably in Outsiders #44 and #45.

Strength level: Jason Todd possesses the peak human strength of a 6-foot, 225-pound young man who regularly engages in intensive physical exercise.

Languages: Taught by Batman, Jason is fluent in several languages having spoken English, French, German, Italian and various others with Russian being his weakest.

Intermidiate Bomb assembly and Diffusal: taught by a world renowned bomb expert in russia, Jason is able to assmble and defuse a wide variety of IED's to military grade explosives (however it is yet to be determined whether or not he can difuse Nuclear devices compared to Batman and Damian).

Vehicles: Jason has driven a variety of vehicles from cars, boats to even being trained in the Middle East by an ace pilot to fly helicopters.

Equipment
Robin Costume: After becoming Robin, Todd received Dick Grayson's old Robin costume. It includes an fabric tunic, that offered limited protection against bullets and blunt attacks, a yellow cape, green shorts and pixie-boots. His utility belt carried batarangs, grappling hooks, gas pellets and assorted other bat-related wepons.

Red Hood Costume: Following his resurrection, Jason took on the Joker's old mantle of the Red Hood. His interpretation however involved jeans, a t-shirt, and a biker's jacket. He wears two masks. The first being a red-domino mask, fixed in place with spirit gum, and includes a built-in radio transmitter/receiver and Starlite night-vision lenses. His gauntlets and boots each contain eight compartments in which he can store items. His second mask was a metallic red hood, which offered many of the same functions as his mask, thought also added better protection for his face.

Red Robin Costume: Similar in some ways to Robin's current costume, this this costume offered many of the same protections and functions, although it had added glider capability in the cape, and assorted Robin-esque weaponry.

Batman Costume: Unlike the conventional Batman costume, Jason's version was far more militaristic, with heavier body armor of gray and black. Rather than the normal cowl design, the pointed ears were made to look more like devil horns, and the lenses glowed red giving him a far more demonic appearance. The mouth of the of the mask was covered with a gas-mask type devise. Rather than carrying the normal non-leathal utility belt, Jason's was filled with assorted lethal weaponry.


 * Transportation: None known.


 * Weapons: Guns; Tasers; Explosives, Batarangs.

Appearances

 * A Death in the Family

Gallery

 * Jason Todd/Gallery