Robin (also referred to as The Boy Wonder ) is the name of several fictional characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, originally created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson, as a junior counterpart to DC Comics superhero Batman. The team of Batman and Robin is commonly referred to as the Dynamic Duo or the Caped Crusaders .
The first incarnation of the character— Dick Grayson —debuted in Detective Comics #38 (April 1940). Conceived as a vehicle to attract young readership, Robin garnered overwhelmingly positive critical reception, doubling the sales of the Batman related comic books. The early adventures of Robin included Star Spangled Comics #65-130 (1947-1952), which was the character's first solo feature. As Robin, Dick Grayson made regular appearances in Batman related comic books and other DC Comics publications from 1940 through the early 1980s until the character was reinvented as the independent superhero Nightwing.
Following the retirement of Dick Grayson as Robin, a new version of the character— Jason Todd —debuted in Batman #357 (1983). The new character made regular appearances in Batman related comic books until 1988, when the character is murdered by the Joker in A Death in the Family (1989).
The premiere Robin limited series was published in 1991, featuring the third incarnation of the character— Tim Drake —training to earn the role of Batman's junior partner. Following two successful sequels, the monthly Robin ongoing series began in 1993 and ended in early 2009, which also helped establish Robin as a superhero in his own right.
After the forced retirement of Tim Drake (by his father) as Robin, Drake's on-and-off girlfriend, and an established DC Comics character named Stephanie Brown — alternatively known as the Spoiler — became the fourth incarnation of Robin and the first in-continuity female version of the character. However, shortly after her acquisition of the mantle of Robin, Stephanie was stripped of the identity by Batman and was apparently killed by the supervillain Black Mask in the crossover Batman: War Games (2004). It has since been revealed her death was a ruse. Following the "death" of Stephanie, the Tim Drake character reclaimed his former role as Robin the Boy Wonder.
In the final issue of Battle for the Cowl , Bruce Wayne's son, Damian Wayne becomes the new Robin after rescuing Tim from death, with Grayson becoming the new Batman. Tim Drake later takes on the identity of Red Robin.
Character history
About a year after Batman's debut, Batman creators Bob Kane and Bill Finger introduced Robin the Boy Wonder in Detective Comics #38 (1940). The name "Robin the Boy Wonder" and the medieval look of the original costume were inspired by The Adventures of Robin Hood . Robinson noted he "came up with Robin because The Adventures of Robin Hood were boyhood favorites of mine. I had been given a Robin Hood book illustrated by N. C. Wyeth... and that's what I quickly sketched out when I suggested the name Robin, which they seemed to like, and then showed them the costume. And if you look at it, it's Wyeth's costume, from my memory, because I didn't have the book to look at." (Later re-tellings of Robin's origin have instead often said the name comes from the American robin bird, not Robin Hood, Frank Miller's All Star Batman and Robin being a notable exception; sometimes both sources are credited, as in Len Wein's The Untold Legend of the Batman .) Although Robin is best known as Batman's sidekick, the Robins have also been members of the superhero group the Teen Titans with the original Robin, Dick Grayson, being a founding member and the group's leader and with Tim Drake being the current team leader.
In Batman stories the character of Robin was intended to be the Batman's Watson as Bill Finger, writer for many early Batman adventures, once wrote: “Robin was an outgrowth of a conversation I had with Bob. As I said, Batman was a combination of Douglas and Sherlock Holmes. Holmes had his Watson. The thing that bothered me was that Batman didn't have anyone to talk to, and it got a little tiresome always having him thinking. I found that as I went along Batman needed a Watson to talk to. That's how Robin came to be. Bob called me over and said he was going to put a boy in the strip to identify with Batman. I thought it was a great idea.” However, in later stories, the character Alfred Pennyworth fills the role better, being the Dark Knight's doctor, friend and confidant. He also has a British military background where he practiced medicine on the battlefield.
The following fictional characters have donned the Robin costume at various times in the main DC Comics universe continuity:
Dick Grayson
Main article: Dick GraysonDick Grayson was a 12-year-old acrobat, the youngest of a family act called the "Flying Graysons". A gangster named Boss Zucco (loosely based on actor Edward G. Robinson's Little Caesar character) had been extorting money from the circus and killed Grayson's parents, John and Mary, by sabotaging their trapeze equipment as a warning against defiance. Batman investigated the crime and, as his alter ego billionaire Bruce Wayne, had Dick put under his custody as a legal ward. Batman rigorously trained the boy, teaching him physical fighting and detective skills. During this time he came to love Batman as a second father. Together they investigated Zucco and collected the evidence needed to bring him to justice. From his debut appearance in 1940 through 1969, Robin was known as the Boy Wonder. Batman creates a costume for Dick, consisting of an orange tunic, yellow cape, green gloves, green boots, utility belt, green spandex briefs and bare legs. As he grew up, graduated from high school and enrolled in Hudson University, Robin continued his career as the Teen Wonder, from 1970 into the early 1980s. The character was re-discovered by a new generation of fans during the 1980s because of the success of The New Teen Titans , in which he left Batman's shadow entirely to assume the identity of Nightwing . Recently, after Wayne's apparent death, Grayson has taken over the mantle of Batman .
Jason Todd
Main article: Jason ToddDC was initially hesitant to turn Grayson into Nightwing and to replace him with a new Robin. To minimize the change, they made the new Robin, Jason Peter Todd , who first appeared in Batman #357 (1983), similar to a young Grayson. Like Dick Grayson, Jason Todd was the son of circus acrobats murdered by a criminal (this time the Batman adversary Killer Croc), and then adopted by Bruce Wayne. In this incarnation, he was red-haired and unfailingly cheerful, and wore his circus costume to fight crime until Dick Grayson presented him with a Robin suit of his own. At that point, he dyed his hair black. After the mini-series Crisis on Infinite Earths , much of DC Comics continuity was redone. Dick Grayson's origin, years with Batman and growth into Nightwing remained mostly unchanged, but Todd's character was completely revised. He was now a black-haired street orphan who first encountered Batman when he attempted to steal tires from the Batmobile. Batman saw to it that he was placed in a school for troubled youths. Weeks later, after Dick Grayson became Nightwing and Todd proved his crime-fighting worth by helping Batman catch a gang of robbers, Batman offered Todd the position as Robin. Readers never truly bonded with Todd and, in 1988, DC made the controversial decision to poll readers using a 1-900 number as to whether or not Todd should be killed. The event received more attention in the mainstream media than any other comic book event before it. Some outside the comic book community mistakenly thought that DC was considering killing Dick Grayson, not realizing he had been replaced. Readers voted "yes" by a very small margin (5,343 to 5,271) and Todd was subsequently murdered by the Joker in the A Death in the Family storyline, in which the psychopath beat the youngster severely with a crowbar, and left him in a warehouse rigged with a bomb. Jason Todd later returned as the new Red Hood (the original alias of the Joker) when he was brought back to life due to reality being altered. A year after the events of Infinite Crisis , Todd appeared posing as Nightwing, but subsequently returned to his Red Hood persona. On the Countdown to Final Crisis series, he briefly returned to his Robin persona as the Red Robin after meeting an Earth 51 version of Batman during his journey throughout the multiverse with Donna Troy, Kyle Rayner, and a Monitor. After returning to his own dimension, he abandoned the Red Robin mantle and returned to his role as a ruthless vigilante. After Bruce Wayne's apparent death during Final Crisis, Todd attempted to usurp the Mantle of the Bat by battling Tim Drake and Dick Grayson during Battle for the Cowl as a brutal and murderous version of Batman. He ended Tim Drake's run as Robin after he severely injured him, but was later defeated by Grayson who assumed the role of Batman with his former mentor's biological son, Damian, as the new Robin. To
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