10 Most Important Events In Batman History

Weirdly, without the death of Jason Todd, the entire Batman franchise would likely be wildly different, largely because the Dark Knight wouldn't be troubled at his inability to rescue his sidekick from the Joker's clutches pretty much forever afterward.

Despite the fact that Todd died because fans called in to vote for his death, people were legitimately outraged at the death of Batman's young assistant, writing in for literal months afterwards to rip DC a new one about killing a child in explicit detail in the comic.

While this alone was a huge moment, Batman's reaction is also something of a historic landmark, as superheroes - especially stoic heroes like our Dark Knight - were seldom shown consumed by grief, whereas a Death in The Family openly showed us Batman sobbing after discovering his murdered ward, which is a big step for both Batman's character and for comics showing male heroes as character who are allowed to have actual emotions.