As one of the lesser known Robins, Jason Todd was the second to take the name after Dick Grayson left the role behind. Todd was a street orphan living on the streets of Gotham, forced to commit crimes to survive. The circumstances of how he met Batman change with each continuity shift at DC Comics. Back in the '80s, he tried to steal the tires of the Batmobile, while in the New 52, Batman catches him stealing medicine from medical clinic. Regardless, Bruce eventually takes Todd in and trains him to be Robin. Unlike Dick, Todd is a lot more aggressive when fighting criminals, and is more likely to disobey Batman. Todd's life reaches its tragic end when he travels to Europe in search of his birth mother. Unbeknownst to him, his mother is blackmailed into working for the Joker, who captures to boy and, in one of the most painful moments in comic book history, beats him brutally with a crowbar. Joker then traps Todd and his mother in a warehouse with a time bomb. Batman tries to save him, but watches with horror as the building explodes before him, killing Todd. Batman considered Todd's death to be his biggest failure, and kept Todd's uniform on display in the Batcave as a memorial. In a medium where characters are frequently revived, resurrected, or had their deaths faked, Todd's death was one of the few that actually stuck. This changed in the 2000s when Todd was resurrected from the grave. Originally brought back after Superboy Prime altered reality (changed in the New 52 to having his corpse revived in the Pit of Lazarus), Todd went on a journey around the world to enhance his skills, eventually returning to Gotham to take his revenge on the Joker and deal his new form of hard justice on the criminals of Gotham. Taking the identity of Red Hood, Todd reunited with Bruce, who although was surprised to see him alive, disapproved of Todd's new methods. The two of them fought on multiple occasions, but recently Todd has been able to slightly patch things up with Batman and the others, although he still operates separately from the rest of the Bat-Family.
Adam Holmes is a writer who loves a good story whether it's fact or fiction. When he's not day-dreaming about time travel, he's usually immersing himself in all things film, television and comic books. He hopes to one day break into the entertainment journalism industry. Yes, he is aware of his resemblance to Clark Kent and McLovin. Keep up on the latest geek news by following his articles at Unleash The Fanboy: http://www.unleashthefanboy.com/author/adam-holmes
