History of Every Robin | From Dick Grayson To Carrie Kelley
Batman and Robin, the Dynamic Duo, the Caped Crusaders, the Greatest Detective and the Wonder Boy, father and son. They are possibly the best superhero duo in the DC universe, or even in the whole comic book industry. There have been various people over the years to take the mantle Robin. Let's look at some of them, from the first Robin to the worst Robin to the latest Robin.
The First Robin Ever
Dick Grayson was the first person to be 'Robin'. First introduced in Detective Comics #38, in the year 1940, 'Robin' is turning 85 years next year, in 2025. (And yes, he gets made fun of his name,"Dick") Richard John Grayson, the first Wonder Boy was the son of John Grayson and Mary Grayson, was adapted by Bruce Wayne, aka. Batman, after the tragedy of his parent's death.
Long story short, after he got adopted, he later became Robin by 8 or 12 years old, depending on which continuity, and founded the Teen Titans and the New Teen Titans. And as any boy does, he grew out of his father's wings (get it?) and is now working as a vigilante called 'Nightwing' in Bludhaven. He's not only the first one, but also the only one to have various personas other than Robin, like Nightwing, Batman, Agent 37, and also, technically Ric Grayson (we don't talk about that), Flying Grayson and Target.
He is the fan favourite and one of the most beloved characters in the DC universe next to Batman. Not only that, but, he is the most successful legacy superhero. People love to see a character they used to read back in the good old days, growing up little by little and becoming not just his own independent superhero from a sidekick, but a man from a little boy, too. Last but, not least, he is generally a charming and charismatic young man (with a fine ass).
Recommended Books: Robin: Year One, Nightwing: Year One, New Teen TItans, Nightwing by Chuck Dixon, Battle For The Cowl, Black Mirror, Batman and Robin (2009), Agent Grayson, Nightwing by Tom Taylor
Winter Soldier?
A teenage sidekick of a popular costume superhero in a comic book not only dies but also, gets forgotten and later be brought back in the modern comics as an antihero and becomes more popular than ever. Sounds pretty similar, eh? Of course, I'm talking about the fan's least favourite Robin, Jason Todd, the 2nd Robin and the 2nd Red Hood. What not a lot of people know is that Jason wasn't the first person to be 'Red Hood.' It was actually Joker's former identity before he drowned in an acid tank and became the Joker, who later killed Jason. Now, I'm not going to try to be spoiler-free because we all know the story of "Under The Red Hood," right?
I was going to talk about how Jason was trying to steal the wheels off the Batmobile with a crowbar in Jason's second first appearance or reintroduction of him and how he gets killed by it, but I just realized it isn't really a crowbar. It's a metal tool for making or taking apart things, (it's actually mentioned that it's called 'tire iron' in the comic) but it isn't quite a crowbar. But, that would've been cool if his story started with the same object that ended his life. Anyway, that's almost it for his origin, I think. He got caught while trying to steal the wheels on the Batmobile and Batman helped him and then Jason helped Batman, so he somehow became the new Robin. Soon after became t Robin, he died and was resurrected to become the Red Hood.
Honestly, his time as Robin wasn't really memorable. It was a pretty short period of time compared to others and he didn't do anything as Robin, except...die. Although, I have to mention that people hated him. People loved Dick (no pun intended) and now they had to see a random kid replace him. People hated the general idea of Batman having a sidekick other than Dick in general, maybe not Batgirl. You gotta understand that this was the first next Robin if that makes sense. Eventually, DC made a death of Jason story and let the fans decide the fate of Jason Todd.
However, for Red Hood, I have a lot to talk about. How the movie "Under The Red Hood" is my favourite DC animated movie and my favourite Batman animated movie or even possibly my favourite DC movie of any kind. I could talk about how his character reflects on Batman and his decisions over the years. Or how messed up and crazy the Joker is and why he is Batman's greatest enemy. Or how I love his tragic story and his motives overall and so on, but I will try to keep this post more about Robins than anything. If you want, let me know if I should make a blog post about just Red Hood/Jason Todd.
Recommended Books: Batman #357, Batman #408~409, A Death in The Family, Under The Red Hood, New52 Red Hood And The Outlaws, DCeased: Unkillables +Under The Red Hood
The Smartest Robin?
The Robin in the 90s and early to mid-2000s, Tim Drake is the third Robin we're going to talk about today. Here are some cool facts about him. Unlike Dick and Jason, he wasn't 'found' by Bruce. He was the one to put himself into a part of Batman's adventures and crusades. He figured out who Batman and Robin are by analyzing the moves of Robin, a quadruple somersault, only a Flying Grayson could do. He is considered the smartest Robin for many reasons including the one I just told you. Also, he was the first one to ditch the original Robin costume and have his own unique costumes, the second Robin after Dick to be a member of the Teen Titans, the first and only one to be a part of the LGBTQ community, and the only one to stay Robin even after "getting replaced."
Well, technically he is Red Robin, but it's just a name to distinguish from Robin, Damian Wayne, the next main Robin. He's still a Robin and the name doesn't really change what he does, like how he's fighting next to Batman as a Bat-Family member, in Tynion III's Detective Comics. Right now, I think he's working as Red Robin in the Young Justice series and his own series, but if I'm being honest the writers have no idea what to do with him after he was 'dead' and brought back.
Grandson Of Ra's, Junior Assassin
The leading child assassin in League of Assassins, the son of Talia Al Ghul, the grandson of Ra's Al Ghul, the Robin, the brat, Damian Wayne is the son of Batman and the current Robin right now. Damian first appeared in Batman #655 and in Batman #657 as Robin. However, way before that, there was a one-shot issue called "Batman: Son of The Demon" in 1987, which wasn't considered 'canon' at first. This book was about Batman teaming up with Ra's and Batman and Talia's romance, resulting in an unnamed infant. My guess is Grant Morrison used the idea of 'son of Batman and Talia' and made it into a character in the main universe. So, the credit goes to him.
Damian might be the most hated Robin of all. For some reason, I've been seeing a lot of hate towards Damian Wayne. He's more of a hate-it-or-love-it character. Some reasons why they hate him might be one of the following: he's an annoying teenage brat, going through his puberty and people seem to hate teenagers overall, he replaced Robin again after it seemed as if DC settled on a Robin, who was Tim Drake, a beloved character at that time and now, his relationship with Batman seems impossible to figure out, so his stories get repetitive and he's the flesh and blood son of Batman, which kind of throws away the whole idea of 'Batman adapting a random kid because he feels bad for him, and he needs a partner to fight crimes next to, but mostly because he's always lonely and he needs more family.'
I get it. Batman lost all of his blood-related family a long time ago, and ever since then, he always tends to gather a group of crime fighters to be his family and fill the hole that will never be fulfilled, whether he likes to admit it or not. However, I like Damian. I mean, I don't love him as much as I did when I was a teenage brat, a piece of shit, like him, but I still like him. I like these grumpy-characters-that-actually-has-a-soft-side-and-who-actually-cares-for others, but what makes him even more special is that he is an annoying brat. He's the ONLY one to rebel against Batman and disrespect him in the whole DC universe. Nobody can do that, not even Superman.
Recommended Books: Grant Morrison run, New52 Batman & Robin, Robin: Son of Batman, Super Sons, Rebirth Teen Titans, Batman and Robin (2023)
The Worst Robin
I will NOT be talking about Carrie Kelley because I already did talk enough in this article.
Recommended Books: The Dark Knights Returns, The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Dark Knight III: Master Race
Spoiler!
Stephanie Brown is also someone I should mention when talking about Robins, because even though for a short time, she was technically a Robin, too. When a bit after Tim Drake was forced to retire Robin by his father, Stephanie who was Tim's girlfriend at that time, misunderstood that he was cheating on her. Actually, what happened was Darla, one of Tim's classmates kissed him out of nowhere, for some reason. So, Stephanie intrudes into the Batcave wearing her homemade Robin suit to be Robin? And Batman literally lets her be Robin without a second thought after what happened to Jason and Tim?
WTF? Clearly, this writer has no idea how to write any of these characters, but especially, teenagers. Teenagers are stupid, as I said, but not this stupid to kiss any random person they like, even realizing they're in a committed relationship or steal their boyfriend's superhero identity to make him jealous, I guess? What in the world is this stupid teenage drama? Is your boyfriend cheating (and he didn't, he got sexually assaulted) a really good reason to become Robin? No, obviously. This might change my view on Carrie Kelley. This might be the easily the worst Robin.
Recommended Books: None for her career as Robin
Conclusion
From Dick Grayson to Tim Drake to Carrie Kelley to Damian Wayne. However there are a lot of other Robins outside the mainstream such as one story in the 1950s which reveals that Bruce Wayne used to be Robin too when he was young, and Helen Wayne Robin, the daughter of Selena Kyle and Bruce Wayne, and Batman Beyond's brother, Mathew McGinnis, and a universe where Joker is also the Robin, and Robin the Toy Wonder, and a lot more. But, we can never forget about the best Robin, Jarro the Starro.
Also, check out the history of Spider Man: https://comicsandcomics831.blogspot.com/2024/11/the-downfall-of-spider-man-comics-from.html
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