Jason Todd
Jason Todd is a comic book character that first appeared in Batman #357
Killed by the Joker as the second Robin, Jason Todd has returned from the dead due to the events of Infinite Crisis. He now fights crime as an anti-hero, taking down criminals by any means necessary.
History
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.
But still, Jason Todd was not Dick Grayson. It was not a matter of who was a better Robin. Jason had the skill and the determination. What he had that set him apart was a mean streak. He was a darker and more aggressive Robin. The dealers, the pimps and the murderers received no pity from him. As far as he was concerned, they did not deserve him going out of his way to treat them gently. Once, when a criminal named Felipe Garzonas raped a young woman and walked due to his father being a diplomat, a questionable incident occurred with Jason. No one really knew what happened on that roof when Robin caught up to him. All that was certain was that Garzonas fell to his death. It could have been an unavoidable accident, or it could have been avoided but Jason let it happen. Even worse, Jason could have pushed him. The truth was never known or asked for.
One of his successes was helping Batman take Gotham City back when Joseph Blackfire overrode and ran it. This is documented in the graphic novel "Batman: The Cult".
Death of Jason Todd
Jason Todd heard that his mother was actually still alive and in the Middle East. Catherine Todd, the woman he thought was his mother, was actually his stepmother. He took off on Batman to go look for her. At the same time, Joker was in the Middle East trying to hijack a nuclear warhead. When Joker noticed him, he scared Todd's mother so badly that she sold out her son to him. Joker found Jason, beating him savagely with a lead pipe. When Todd awoke, he and his unconscious mother were next to a bomb in a warehouse. His last action was to try to shield his mother from the blast. Batman came in time to see the warehouse explode. He tore through the rubble and found Jason's dead body.A memorial case was installed in the Batcave in remembrance of Jason.
Jason is brought backResurrection
Due to the reality warping effects of Superboy-Prime punching his way in, Jason Todd's corpse was revived in his grave. Still badly injured from what the Joker did to him, he was able to dig his way to the surface and walk over twelve miles before collapsing and being found by a lost couple driving down the road. He was brought to the hospital and treated as a John Doe, slipping into a coma. He would eventually awaken and escape through the window. However, he had suffered brain damage and remained partially catatonic as he lived on the streets. Fighting a homeless man who had attacked, his moves were witnessed and recognized by a former hired thug he had fought as Robin. The thug called in some own contacts to turn him in for a reward. Word made its way to Talia al Ghul, and she paid to have Jason abducted and brought to her.
Ra's al Ghul was intrigued but unconvinced of his daughter's opinion that Jason was worth anything to them, due to the severe brain damage. He decided that Jason would be sent away but remain protected and cared for out of respect for Bruce Wayne. To do anything more with the Jason outweighed the potential risk if Batman were to find out, as far as Ra's was concerned. However, Talia disobeyed her father. She took Jason to the Lazarus Pit her father was using and shoved him in. The shock and healing properties of the pit healed Jason's mind. He was confused and panicked, but Talia rushed him away before her father could retaliate. She had little time to explain anything to him, so all she said was for him not to go to Batman and find out the truth instead. He had not been avenged.
Jason took off with a motorcycle and a bag of supplies Talia had waiting for him. He did what she said, investigating what had happened to him on his own instead of going home to Bruce. He could not figure out how he returned from the dead, but everything else was clear. The Joker had murdered him, and Batman did nothing. To that day, the Joker was still breathing and committing crimes. Jason was enraged.
After that, he set off on his own journey across the world, mimicking the one Bruce Wayne took but not copying it exactly. He wanted to learn it all but remain under the radar. Talia remained an ally to him and helped him when and how she could.
Hush
Eventually, Talia sent him word of something being planned in Gotham against Batman. It was being orchestrated by a man calling himself Hush, and she thought Jason should get involved.Jason agreed and met with Hush. Jason told Hush that if he wanted to get inside Batman's head then he could help with that. All he wanted was the chance to face Batman. He had to see Batman for himself, from the perspective of someone standing against the man and not alongside him. He hoped to see some flash of regret when the time came, but he saw nothing of the sort. Seeing it for himself was all he needed. He slipped out of Hush's planned attack, letting Clayface take over for him. He had his own plans to begin now.
Jason Todd had returned to Gotham City and was going to stay.
The Red Hood
Jason hit Gotham as the Red Hood, taking his new identity from the Joker's origin. He did not come to fight crime in the city. He came to influence it. He called a meet with the top street dealers in Gotham and informed him that he would be running the drug trade from now on by showing them the heads of their top lieutenants he had killed. The new rules were simple ones. He would get forty percent of the profit, and they would not sell to kids. If they broke that last rule, he would kill them. He also made moves to get the attention of the major crime figure of the time in Gotham, the Black Mask. He disrupted a major weapons shipment coming in from the docks, destroying most of the weapons and activating an Amazo android so Batman and Nightwing would take care of it. What he took from it was a crate of Kryptonite and then acted like he was willing to sell it back to the Black Mask. In return, the Black Mask sent Mr. Freeze to kill him, but he was expecting something of that nature anyway. He took out the hit-men accompanying Mr. Freeze and escaped when Batman and Nightwing showed up, saying all he wanted was the lay of the land.
Done with making his big debut as the Red Hood, he tracked down the whereabouts of the Joker to some abandoned carnival fair ground. He did not kill the Joker, but he did beat the man near to death with a crowbar. Similar to how the Joker originally killed him.
Now that his identity was no longer a mystery, he broke into Titans Tower to confront Tim Drake, the boy who had replaced him. He subdued Cyborg, Beast Boy and Raven so he and Tim would not be interrupted. The two Robins fought. Jason ridiculed the belief that Tim figured out who Batman really was and said that if anything, Batman meant for him to find out. He also ridiculed the idea that even Kole had a memorial statue in the Tower but not him. He may have only been a Titan for a very brief time, but he had been one. He became impressed with Tim in their fight and started to understands why Bruce's chose him as the new Robin and he had to cheat to beat Tim, gasing Tim and left him unconscious to be found by the Titans later, leaving a note in blood on the wall saying "Jason Todd Was Here." Afterward, he observed that Tim was a good Robin and wondered if he had friends back when he was Robin like Tim did if he would have become a better person.
Later, he kidnapped the Joker and ventured to Crime Alley, where they first met and where Bruce Wayne's parents died. He questioned Batman about why he didn't murder Joker to avenge him, and Batman said he refused to kill. They argued, and Jason finally gave him a choice-kill Joker or he would. He counted down from three after tossing Batman a loaded gun, but Batman sliced his neck with a Batarang. Joker detonated explosives then that exploded the platform they were on, ending the fight.
Nightwing?
Some months later, Jason had relocated to Manhattan and taken on the Nightwing identity in Dick Grayson's absence. When Dick found out, Jason taunted him over it. To Jason, it was all a big joke, but Dick did not appreciate what Jason's fatal methods were doing to his reputation. Along with a third Nightwing, Cheyenne Freemont, they had to deal with a pair of metahuman brothers. Jason was nearly killed and temporarily mutated by a creature the brothers employed. He recovered and left the Nightwing identity back to being Dick's alone.Back Under the Hood
Jason returned to his Red Hood identity and traveled out to Star City. Some of the weapons shipments he was counting on went bad because of Batman's and Green Arrow's interference, so he wanted to make a point. He made an alliance with Star City crime boss Brick to keep the two heroes busy and allow him to abduct Speedy. He put her through the paces but also talked to her. They had a lot in common. They were both the street kids taken in by billionaire mentors. She knew as he did that sometimes you had to do bad things to do greater right things. Green Arrow and Batman arrived to save her after he had already blown up the gymnasium he had her in. She survived, saying she managed to escape before the blast. However, this was not shown and the truth was possibly that they came to an understanding and parted ways.Challengers From Beyond
Out as the Red Hood, Jason rescues a woman from Duela Dent and then witnesses Duela being killed by a Monitor. This Monitor attempts to also 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 Nanoverse, in an attempt to find Ray Palmer. It was Jason who thought to name the Monitor "Bob" after finding that they have no names of their own.
The group move on to a universe resembling the Batman Beyond series. Jason confronts Bob over his inability to find Ray Palmer, but they are interrupted by the arrival of the Earth-12 Monitor. He tells them the other Monitors have all taken on names and rallied behind the Earth-8 Monitor, who now calls himself Solomon. Earth-12's Monitor's name is Nix Uotan, and he tells Bob Ray Palmer is insignificant and that he lives "a life of no consequence". They are evenly matched in a fight until Kyle intervenes and Bob is able to stun Nix. The distraction allows the group to escape into the Bleed.
Bob realizes that Solomon has seen through his tricks and is getting closer to finding them, but also that Nix unintentionally revealed the location of Palmer. The gang arrives on a near-perfect world, whose president is Liberty Belle. They find Ray, living the life of the deceased Atom and Bob tells him that he must die. The Challengers attack Bob and Jason throws a knife into his back. Donna grabs Jason and flies him away from the battle as Kyle escapes with Ray.
Donna leaves Jason on a rooftop, where he is attacked by one of Monarch's soldiers. Jason is saved by the Earth-51 Batman and brought to his Bat Bunker. Batman explains that he is not afraid to use lethal force. Batman threatens Jason, not believing he is Jason Todd, stating that he has ten seconds to confess before he shoots him. The Earth-51 Batman explains to Jason that he killed the Joker after Jason's death and then proceeded to kill all the supervillains on the planet which is why Earth-51 is so "perfect". The alternate Batman explains that they must wait for the right moment to strike back against Monarch's armies. Jason calls him crazy, saying he has friends out in the middle of the battle. Jason angers Batman by saying that he's been dead inside for years. Batman agress to help him, allowing him to put on the suit he made for the late Jason Todd of his world. Jason puts it on and Batman declares that he is now Red Robin.
Batman and Red Robin jump into the battle and Jason cuts out the eyes of Superwoman. Batman and Jason take cover as they become surrounded by Monarch's men. Donna arrives with an army behind her. Kyle and Ray find Jason and Batman and reunite with Donna. They are attacked by some of Monarch's minions including an alternate Joker. Jason and Batman fight them but Ultraman arrives and punches a hole in Batman's head. Kyle dispatches Ultraman and Jason mourns for the dead Batman. The alternate Joker laughs at Jason for being sad and Jason crushes his head with a stone. Donna recieves a message that says they should go to Apokolips.
The Earth-51 Monitor transports the Challengers away from the battlefield and off the planet. The Challengers arrive on Apokolips. They wonder why they were informed to come here. Not even Ray knows and Kyle explains that there must be some reason why they were brought there. Tired of Ray's whining, Jason breaks away from the rest of the group and travels around Apokolips. He discovers Brother Eye assimilating the planet. Jason realizes Brother Eye might be his only way back to his world.
Jason bumps into Karate Kid trying to save his friend Una after she is assimilated by Brother Eye. Red Robin tries to help by blowing Una up by Karate Kid knocks the bomb away. Jason tells Karate Kid to suit himself and leaves. Jason follows an OMAC into Brother Eye's core where he rescues Firestorm and Karate Kid. The other Challengers arrive at the scene.
Back to Gotham
Jason went back to business as usual as the Red Hood, soon running afoul of Tim Drake. His time away in the multiverse had lost him ground in Gotham that he had to make up again. He was working at taking control of as many street gangs as possible and using them in a gang war to thin the herd. The next step would have been to use them to get at the corrupt cops, then leave them to take care of their own turfs. Batman was missing in action. Someone had to do something about Gotham City.He half-hardheartedly tried to get Tim to join him in the plan but was not surprised when that did not work out. They end up fighting, and Jason gets the upper hand on Tim. Someone dressed up as Red Robin interferes, knocking Jason's gun away. He was then shot in the leg by a gangbanger who picked it up. Injured, he was taken into custody by police. He was processed as John Doe and sent to Blackgate, where Tim soon came to visit him. It turned out that Tim had used a variation on Jason's idea to deal with the chaos in Gotham, and Jason tells him he did good. Tim left after giving Jason a Justice League teleportation code he could use to escape.
Jason wasted little time before using it and getting back on Gotham's streets. However, his leg was still injured, so there was not much he could do yet. When Batman's death had been confirmed, he was invited to come to the Batcave. Bruce had left messages for everyone, including even him. He listened to his message in isolation and left the Batcave without saying what Bruce had to say. But it was enough to push Jason over the edge. Bruce had made reference to some childhood trauma Jason experienced and urged him to get help for it. Instead, Jason decided to lash out.
The Darkest Of Knights
It was Jason who first took on the identity of Batman after Bruce's apparent death. Gotham City was going to hell, and in his view, Dick Grayson was letting it happen. He recognized that Gotham needed a Batman. He constructed his own Batcave in the ruins of subway tunnels that had collapsed in the infamous Gotham City earthquake and designed his own Batman suit. It was more heavily armored and carried a more serious arsenal of weapons. He "became" Batman, but he was a lethal Batman. He left notes declaring "I Am Batman" on criminals to let everyone know they were being hunted again, but this time they would die.
Jason's Skills
Like the other Robin’s Jason trained under Batman in aspects of crime fighting and martial arts but his training was rushed by Batman for some reason but for what Jason lacked in skill he made up for in his brutality. When Jason came back to live Jason travelled the world for more training. Jason is a skilled fighter mastering many fighting skills he has gone hand to hand with his mentor, Batman and his adopted brothers Dick Grayson and Tim Drake, even though he’s never beaten them more than once each he gave them a good fight. Jason is extremely skilled with bladed weapons like knives and swords even fighting Green Arrow to a stand still, his blade skills combined with his hand to hand fighting skill make him difficult to handle in a fight.
Jason is a skilled detective and has great knowledge of criminology, he is also trained in stealth and disguise. Jason is also a brilliant marksman being able to hit a target from a distance away. Jason’s has a arsenal of gadgets that rival Batman but unlike Batman’s gadgets his uses his to kill or cause massive injuries.
Pre-Crisis
Before the Crisis, DC was nervous and reluctant to change Robin too much, fearing a drop in sales. When Dick Grayson (now Nightwing) quit as Robin, Jason Todd took over, so DC made him almost exactly alike. Jason Todd was a young boy, the son of two acrobats, when his parents were murdered by Killer Croc. He was adopted by Batman to be his ward. Jason was happy and thought before he acted. He even dyed his hair black to be similar to Grayson. He is thoughtful and cheerful-but the Crisis changed all that.
In other media
Due to Jason being the "middle child" of the Robins, he has yet to substantially appear in any Batman cartoons and movies. Though his characteristics have been given to Dick or Tim in other media.Batman movies(1990's)
In this adaptation of the Batman universe, Dick Grayson's character has anger issues and grudge against Two-Face much like Jason Todd.The New Batman Adventures
The incarnation of Tim Drake in this animated series was somewhat of a hybrid between his comic self and Jason Todd. Also, the Two-Face grudge was carried over.Teen Titans
Jason Todd appeared very briefly on Beast Boy's board of Red X suspects.
| Super Name: | Jason Todd |
| Real Name: | Jason Peter Todd |
| Aliases: |
Jason Peter Todd Jason Todd Red Hood Robin The Boy Wonder Red Robin Nightwing Rojo Batman |
| Publisher: | DC Comics |
| Gender: | Male |
| Character Type: | Human |
| 1st Appearance: | Batman #357 |
| Appears in: | 178 issues |
| Birthday: | |
| Died: |
