10 Shocking Batman Plans You Won’t Believe Almost Happened

9. Dick Grayson Almost Became Robin Again

Batman Laughing
DC Comics

Comics are notorious for their characters remaining the same age throughout the decades. Kid sidekicks seem to be an exception to that rule though, often taking up new costumed identities as they grow into adulthood. Dick Grayson kicked off this habit when he gave up the Robin mantle to become Nightwing.

However, that change was very nearly undone. While Nightwing was away and serving as the leader of the Teen Titans, Batman writers were struggling with the lack of a sidekick to act as a sounding board to their protagonist. One idea that was floated around was that Dick could be de-aged back to being a young boy and return to serving as Batman's sidekick.

Luckily, Marv Wolfman, the writer of Teen Titans, had a lot of influence around the office (he was writing one of DC's best selling comics and was best friends with Len Wein, the Batman editor) and convinced them to create a new character instead.

This led to Jason Todd becoming the second Robin. Interestingly, while most people know him as a brash and abrasive character, Jason was pretty much just a carbon copy of Dick in his first appearances. It wasn't until Jim Starlin took over writing that he became the character fans loved so much they voted to kill him.

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I was just a mild-mannered NCTJ accredited journalist until one day I found out the truth... that I could share my nerdy ramblings with people on the internet! It's just like mumbling to myself on the train, but without all the strange looks.