Batman: The Animated Series 10 Best Characters

B:TAS portrayed two different Robins : Dick Grayson and Tim Drake (skipping over Jason Todd for obvious reasons.)

Much like with Batgirl, B:TAS demonstrated the first time that a Robin had been shown as an equal and possible successor to Batman, as opposed to previous incarnations of Robin that were along for the ride simply to make bad jokes and be the wide-eyed kid sidekick.

Both Dick and Tim were under no illusions about what they were doing by aligning themselves with Batman. They both ended up in mortal danger many times, ran the risk of being arrested, and saw their share of death and destruction.

We also got fantastic depictions and details of their backstories, albeit altered a bit from the comics. For the first time, the full story of Dick's family The Flying Graysons was shown, explaining how he came to be not only a ward of Bruce Wayne but the first Boy Wonder.

In Tim's case, he got involved with Bruce when his deadbeat father, who owed money to Two-Face, left town and his son holding the bag. Tim proved himself a tough and intelligent kid, and, since Dick had gone on to become Nightwing, a new Robin was born.

Both Robins served not only to help Batman wage war on crime, but to bring some lightness and humour to Bruce's often grim existence.

At least until Return of the Joker, anyways...