10 DC Characters Who Survived Terrible Debuts
4. Jason Todd
When Jason was first created in Batman #357, he was practically a carbon copy of Dick Grayson. His parents were circus acrobats that were killed, this time by Killer Croc, and he was adopted by Bruce Wayne. Grayson presented him with his Robin costume and the natural redhead dyed his hair black to assume the role.
After the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Jason was reimagined as a tough street kid who tried to steal the tires off of the Batmobile one night in Crime Alley. Bruce Wayne arranged for Todd to be sent to a school for wayward boys, which turned out to be Ma Gunn’s School of Crime. After an extensive six-month training period, Jason Todd was finally allowed to assume the role of Robin.
Jason was no Dick Grayson. He lacked his predecessor's athletic ability and incredible deductive mind. He made up for it with arrogance and rage. Todd was a reckless Robin, to say the least. He often disobeyed orders and was overly violent with criminals. When he went to Iran to find his estranged mother, he was killed by the Joker. In reality, he was killed by fans calling a 1-900 number because the character had become so disliked. His body was stolen by Talia al Ghul and resurrected in a Lazarus Pit. Todd returned as the antihero The Red Hood, a character beloved by most Bat-fans.