Batman's 9 Greatest Failures

It was the darkest moment in a life already awash with innocent blood, and was one of the most brutal chapters of the battle between bitter enemies. Dick Grayson grew up and assumed the identity of Nightwing, leaving the position of Robin vacant. DC would introduce readers to Jason Todd; a young orphan Batman first meets stealing the wheels from the Batmobile.

Bruce Wayne thought he could raise and instruct Jason just as he had done for Dick years before. The problem was, Jason wasn't Dick Grayson, and readers knew it. As Bruce failed to mentor the bitter and headstrong new Robin, fans voted in their thousands to have the boy killed off in a phone poll.

Both events culminated in Jason finding out that his biological mother was still alive and strong-arming Bruce into helping him track her down. After a couple of red herrings, Jason would see his mother under the thrall of the Joker. While Bruce was busy, the boy charged off wrongly, believing that he had enough training to take on the homicidal clown and save his mother by himself - a move that resulted in him being bloodily beaten with a crowbar.