Online Encyclopedia
Robin (Batman)
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.
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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.
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.
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 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 the leader 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.
When the Batman continuity was rewritten in the mid-1980s, Todd's character was revised. He was 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, Batman returned for Todd and offered him the position as Robin.
Unlike Grayson, 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. Also, readers never truly bonded with him. 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. Regardless, the vote narrowly favored killing Todd and he died at the hands of The Joker (See also: Batman: A Death in the Family)
Jason Todd's death haunts the Batman to this day, who keeps his costume under glass in the Batcave as a reminder of his greatest failures; both to save the boy from the Joker, and to properly prepare him for his role as Robin.
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 Batman #436 (1989). Tim was a young boy who had followed the adventures of Batman and Robin ever since witnessing the murder of the Flying Graysons. An amateur (but instinctive) detective, Drake surmised their secret identities and noted that after Jason was killed, Batman was becoming more prone to overly violent and clumsy methods because of his inner grief and rage. Eventually, Tim revealed himself to Dick Grayson and Batman's butler Alfred Pennyworth, who in turn helped persuade Batman to take on Tim as his sidekick to help him regain some self-control.
While Dick Grayson was primarily an acrobat and 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, which eventually included Lady Shiva who insisted on instructing Tim on her own. Further, Tim was given a modified armoured costume designed to provide more protection, such as a cape that was dark colored on the back while still yellow in the interior and tight leggings to finally protect the previously bare legs.
In addition to accompanying Batman on his missions, Drake is also a member of the newly reformed Teen Titans and has been featured in his own monthly solo series, beginning in 1993. The only Robin to be featured as the sole star of a monthly title without Batman, Robin’s solo series has created a mythos all his own with an archenemy, the Cluemaster and a romantic interest, Stephanie Brown, the daughter of the Cluemaster, who became the super heroine The Spoiler to foil her father's plans. Tim is also further removed from the previous Robins in that his father is alive and, for quite some time, did not know of Drake's secret identity.
In 2004, Drake's father discovered his secret life and convinced his son to retire. However, Drake soon resumed the role of Robin during the "War Games" story arc.
Stephanie Brown
Stephanie Brown, Tim's girlfriend and the superheroine previously known as The Spoiler , volunteered for the role of Robin upon Tim's resignation. However, after only a few months, Batman fired her for not obeying his orders to the letter and Tim has returned.
Brown was 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 history. In that series, which takes place in a possible future and should not be considered a part of normal Batman continuity, Kelly was a Batman fanatic who instantly took it upon herself to become Robin after Batman returned from retirement.
In the 2001 sequel The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Kelly takes the identity Catgirl but continues to accompany Batman and his allies.
Robin in other media
In Batman theatrical 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, 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 the Dick Grayson Robin wearing a costume of Timothy Drake's design, but 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. However, the Carrie Kelly Robin makes a short appearance in the episode, "Legends of the Dark Knight" when a girl fantasizes being Robin while telling her story about Batman which is essentially some scenes from The Dark Knight Returns.
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'.
External Links
- Nightwing at the Big Comic Book DataBase