10 Things From DC Comics That REALLY Haven't Aged Well
5. The Initial Cause Of Death For Jason Todd And Jimmy Olsen
The Death in the Family is considered a classic Batman story, but it was almost turned into something entirely different.
It all began with the writer Jim Starlin campaigning to have the then Robin, Jason Todd, killed off. Starlin was firmly against the idea of a kid sidekick and was quick to submit Robin to a list of possible characters that would be killed off in an upcoming issue about AIDS.
Back then, DC had supposedly wanted to do an educational story about AIDs, where a character would contract the virus and subsequently die as a result of it. DC knew that Starlin was gunning for Robin, though, and decided against his idea.
Instead of Jason, DC planned for Jimmy Olsen to be the one to die. DC would change their mind about this as well, though, when it was discovered that Marc McClure, the actor who portrayed Jimmy Olsen in the eighties, was gay.
Not wanting to stir-up that kind of controversy, DC finally decided to drop the story altogether. It's a wonder, though, how it was still acceptable for Extrano to get HIV at the same time?