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| Alternate versions of Robin | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Detective Comics #38 (April 1940) |
| Created by | Bob Kane Jerry Robinson Bill Finger |
| See also | Robin in other media |
Robin is a fictional character, a superhero in publications from DC Comics. Robin has long been a fixture in the Batman comic books as Batman's sidekick. Since 1940, several different youths have appeared as Robin. In each incarnation, Robin's brightly colored visual appearance and youthful energy have served as a contrast to Batman's dark look and manner.
This page is a list of the alternate versions of Robin in comic books, including DC Comics, the multiverse, Elseworlds, et cetera.
Contents
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In mainstream comics continuity
- Dick Grayson is the original Robin. Though he later assumes the name Nightwing in the comics, Grayson is the most commonly portrayed version in other media. Grayson is now the new Batman.
- Jason Todd becomes Robin after Grayson, though his superheroic career is ended by his untimely death at the hands of The Joker. Todd is later resurrected and assumes the name Red Hood, and later Red Robin. He briefly tried to take over the mantle of Batman, before Dick Grayson made him fall to his apparent death.
- Tim Drake assumes the Robin identity after Todd, but quits at the request of his father. After his replacement Stephanie Brown is presumed dead, Drake reclaims the mantle. Batman (Dick Grayson) passes the Robin mantle on to Damian Wayne after the events of Battle for the Cowl. Drake, reluctantly, becomes Red Robin.
- Bruce Wayne briefly assumed the role when de-aged during the Sins of Youth storyline.
- Stephanie Brown, Drake's girlfriend who was a superheroine known as the Spoiler, briefly takes on the Robin name in place of Drake, becoming the first female version of the superhero. She is now the current Batgirl.
- Damian Wayne, the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al Ghul, he assumed the Robin mantle after the events of Battle for the Cowl.
Pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths a number of Robins lived on different "Earths" in the original multiverse (which was destroyed during the Crisis).
In a Batman story from the 1950s, Bruce Wayne assumes the identity of Robin. Richard Grayson of Earth-Two carried on his Robin mantle long into adulthood. Post-52, an entirely new finite multiverse was discovered and created, and as such, a number of Robins may exist now on other alternate Earths. In one frame of the final issue of 52, a new Earth-2 is depicted, along with a character that resembles the original, adult Earth-2 Robin. Whether it is that character or not remains to be seen, as this Earth-2 is not identical to the one that existed before Crisis on Infinite Earths. In another case, Talon is an analogue of Robin, from the new Earth-3 where his relationship with Owlman mirrors that of Batman and Robin in the mainstream universes and maintained a romantic relationship with Duela Dent. Batman #666 depicts a future in which Batman's biological son Damian Wayne becomes Batman, having previously served as Robin.
Alternate versions
Dick Grayson (Earth Two)
The Robin of Earth-Two is a parallel version of the fictional DC Comics superhero, who was introduced after DC Comics created Earth-Two, a parallel world that was retroactively established as the home of characters which had been published in the Golden Age of comic books. This allowed creators to publish comic books featuring Robin while being able to disregard Golden Age stories, solving an incongruity, as Robin had been published as a single ongoing incarnation since inception.
Robin's origin and history begins the same as the classic version except the timeframe occurs when the Detective Comics #38 was originally printed: 1940.
- Richard Grayson's parents are killed by Anthony Zucco.
- After a period of training, a young Dick Grayson becomes Robin. His first printed story is "Robin, the Boy Wonder."[1]
- Robin participates in the war-time only All Star Squadron. His distant cousin is Charles Grayson, the scientific assistant of Robotman.
Bruce Wayne Junior
In "The Second Batman and Robin Team" (Batman #131, April 1960), Bruce Wayne's butler writes a story about the possible future of Batman and Robin. In it, Bruce Wayne marries Kathy Kane, the Batwoman and they have a son named Bruce Jr. When Wayne retires as Batman, Dick Grayson takes over the role of the Caped Crusader. Bruce Jr., having secretly trained on his own, volunteers to become the new Robin, despite some objections from his mother. As Robin II, he fights alongside Batman II. Several subsequent "imaginary stories" featuring Bruce Jr. followed; the last was "Bat-Girl--Batwoman II" in Batman #163 (May 1964).
Grant Morrison used the Bruce Wayne Jr. character in JLA #9 (September 1997), in the story "Elseworlds."[2] After the supervillain Key traps the Justice Leaguers in dream worlds, Batman dreams of a future in which he is married to Selina Kyle/Catwoman. They have a son named Bruce Junior, who was raised from birth to be a superhero and serves as Robin II alongside a Tim Drake Batman.
John Byrne created his own Bruce Jr. in the epilogue of the Batman/Captain America crossover from 1996; this Robin is a red-head and resembles a male Carrie Kelly. Captain America wakes up in modern times after having been frozen in ice towards the end of World War II. He reunites with Batman, a friend who had helped him when Joker and Red Skull joined forces. The Captain is amazed to learn that in the time he slept, Bruce Wayne has retired from being Batman, has passed the mantle to Dick Grayson and that his son Bruce Junior is the new Robin.
Bryne revists Bruce Jr. in his Superman & Batman: Generations series. There, Bruce Junior, son of Bruce Senior and an unnamed woman who strongly resembles Julie Madison, trains as a boy in hopes of following his father's footsteps. However, his mother refuses to let "BJ" become Robin until he turns eighteen, and Dick Grayson, then Batman, says that she has final say. However, on Halloween night of 1964 and at age fifteen, he and Superman's daughter Kara (Supergirl) sneak out to have an adventure and, with the help of Wonder Woman's daughter Wonder Girl and The Flash's nephew Kid Flash join forces to defeat some of Flash's Rogue's Gallery, deciding to form their own team called the Justice League.[3] BJ and Kara become romantically involved as adults, but BJ puts the relationship on hold when Joker kills Dick, forcing him to become the third Batman. BJ and Kara eventually marry, but their wedding is halted by Kara's bother Joel Kent. Joel, who had been manipulated into hating his family by Lex Luthor, attacks and savagely kills Kara. After Joel is killed by Luthor, BJ agrees to take care of Joel's son, marrying the boy's mother Mei Lei some time later.[4] The child, named Clark Wayne, becomes BJ's Robin and is offered the mantle of Batman when he becomes an adult, but turns it down in order to pursue his own heroic identity, Knightwing. Later Bruce Jr. becomes head of Ra's al Ghul's criminal empire which his father had turned to good. After having his life artificially extended by al Ghul's Lazarus Pit, BJ dies fighting an alien invasion and is greeted by Kara, welcoming him into Heaven.[5]
For more information on a similar concept, see Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne's son by Talia al Ghul. In the wake of his father's apparent death, his father's first Robin, Dick Grayson, has taken over as Batman with Damien serving as the new Robin.
Robert Chang
In the digitally rendered tale Digital Justice, James Gordon the grandson of his namesake, Commissioner Gordon, takes on the mantle of the Batman. A character named Robert Chang, who is somewhat reminiscent of the post-Crisis Jason Todd, takes on the mantle of Robin.
Deathwing
Introduced as an alternate Dick Grayson from a timeline when his Titan teammate, Donna Troy, had a son who was driven mad, took on the mantle of Lord Chaos and conquered his world. This version of Dick stayed in his identity of Nightwing and helped train squadrons of superpowered teenagers that became known as the Team Titans. He was involved with the much younger Titan, Mirage, during this time. This alternate-future Nightwing came back in time and briefly joins the Team Titans when their mission takes them to their past, our present. This version of Nightwing, attacked and corrupted by a dark version of Raven shortly after his arrival, changes his name to Deathwing, and serves as her assistant. He becomes so twistedly evil, he at one point tracks down his one time lover, Mirage, and rapes her. She becomes pregnant and has a child named Julienne
During the Zero Hour event that retroactively erased this timeline, Mirage, Terra and Deathwing survive. It is later established that they are from the current time-line, and were shunted through time and given false memories by the Time Trapper, who wished to use them as sleeper agents against the time travel villain, Extant.
It wasn't revealed until one of the later runs of the Teen Titans that this was not Dick Grayson, in fact his true identity was never uncovered. After this storyline, this version of Nightwing has not been seen since. Whether this version existed at all, after the events of Infinite Crisis or would later to be revealed to be an alternate Dick, Jason, or Tim, is unknown.
Red Robin
In Kingdom Come, a middle-aged Dick Grayson reclaims the Robin mantle and becomes Red Robin, not at the side of his former mentor Batman, but rather with Superman's League. His uniform is closer to Batman's in design, rather than any previous Robin uniform. Age has not slowed him down, as he possesses all of his stealth and fighting skills. In this story he has a daughter with Starfire; Mar'i Grayson (Nightstar). Starfire has apparently died by the time of the story, according to the Elliot S! Maggin novelization, and Nightstar calls Bruce Wayne "Grandpa", despite no blood relation. At the end of the comic and the novel, Bruce and Dick had reconciled.
Red Robin has reappeared in promotional material for the DC Countdown event; Eventually, it was revealed that this Red Robin was not Dick Grayson, but rather Jason Todd who appeared under the cape and cowl.[6][7] The Red Robin costume was stated to be more symbolism, than an actual costume choice, as Jason has been both the Red Hood and Robin, being shown as Red Robin.
However, in Countdown to Final Crisis #17, Jason dons a Red Robin suit from a display case in the "Bat Bunker" (Earth-51's equivalent to the Bat Cave) as he and Earth-51 Batman join the fight raging on the Earth above the bunker. Jason keeps his new suit and identity for the rest of his tenure as a "Challenger of the Unknown", only to discard it on his return to New Earth and revert to his "Red Hood" street clothing.
During the Scattered Pieces tie-in to Batman R.I.P., a new Red Robin makes his appearance, at first only as a glimmering image following Robin (Tim Drake) and suspected to have stolen a briefcase of money from the Penguin. Tim initially suspects Jason Todd of reprising his Red Robin persona. However, Jason claims innocence, supposing that someone may have stolen his suit when he discarded it earlier. The new Red Robin breaks up a scuffle between Tim and Jason, and later is revealed to be Ulysses Armstrong. Armstrong later changes costumes when he reveals himself to be the new Anarky, and after being severely burned in an explosion, an embattled Tim Drake dons the less-revealing Red Robin costume to hide his wounds. He later returns to his standard uniform.
In 2009, a new on-going series was introduced titled Red Robin. The new Red Robin was revealed to be Tim Drake/Wayne.
Stan Lee's Robin
DC created a version of Robin for Stan Lee's Just Imagine... line of comics, in which DC Comics characters were re-imagined by Marvel Comics luminary Stan Lee. Robin is an orphan who has been forced by Reverend Darkk, the series' main villain, into becoming a thief and a murderer. He meets Batman when Darkk assigns Robin to kill him. Batman survives the attack and in return shows Robin what kind of a man Darkk really is. Robin joins the good side for a time, but in the crisis issue it is revealed that Robin has in fact been working with Darkk the whole time; in the end he is transformed into a Hawkman, before being reborn through Yggdrasil as the Atom.
DC One Million
In the 853rd Century, the current Batman is aided by the robot called Robin the Toy Wonder. This Batman's parents were guards on the prison planet of Pluto and died in a prison riot that turned into a mass slaughter of the guards. Robin is programmed with the personality of this Batman as a boy and acts as a foil/source of perspective so that he will not become consumed by darkness in his quest for justice. This Robin believes this was the same reason Bruce Wayne brought Dick Grayson into his life.
Dick Grayson (Earth-43)
In this universe, the setting of Batman & Dracula: Red Rain and its sequels, the Flying Graysons are killed by the vampire Batman, as shown in DC Infinite Halloween Special. Dick grows up to become an obsessive vampire hunter, but is turned by Batman in The Search for Ray Palmer: Red Rain, and becomes his partner.
Dick Grayson (Earth-50)
In the Wildstorm Universe, Dick Grayson is a Planetary agent in Gotham City, partnered with a man named Jasper who resembles the Joker. He appears in Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth, prior to the Planetary team's shift into universes with a Batman.
The Dark Knight Universe Robins
These stories are set in Frank Miller's Dark Knight Universe, which is not considered canonical. Miller has stated that the Dark Knight Universe consists of: Batman: Year One (the only book canonical to the DCU as well), All Star Batman and Robin, the Spawn/Batman crossover, The Dark Knight Returns, The Dark Knight Strikes Again and the upcoming Holy Terror, Batman![8] Holy Terror, Batman! has since been disassociated from Batman.
In this version, Batman looks upon his sidekicks as employees rather than proteges (although he refers to Robin as a protegé in All Star Batman and Robin #9), whom he threatens to "fire" from their "jobs" and even does so in the case of one of them.
Dick Grayson
In Frank Miller's Dark Knight Universe, Grayson's origin differs in various ways to the official DC Comics Universe. As seen in the All Star Batman and Robin title, he is a twelve-year-old boy who performs in the circus with his two parents, as the Flying Graysons. Bruce Wayne had come to the show many times to watch him perform his stunts. One night, while Wayne watches the show with reporter Vicki Vale, the Graysons perform an amazing feat. The audience begin to cheer and clap when suddenly a man arrives and shoots Grayson's parents in the head.
Batman takes out the gunman while some corrupt Gotham City Police officers take Dick Grayson into custody. They take him instead to a place outside Gotham City, into a deserted stretch of forest where they torture and/or execute people, but Batman comes to the rescue.
Batman takes Dick into the Batmobile and asks him to join him in his crusade against crime in Gotham City. Dick agrees to join the crusade. Upon arrival in the Batcave, Batman intends for Dick to survive in the cave without any help. However Alfred Pennyworth takes pity on Dick and gives him food and a decent place to sleep. Batman is displeased, as he wants Dick to go through the same things he did, whether Dick likes it or not.
Later, Batman brings in the killer of Dick's parents, a man called Jocko-boy Vanzetti. Batman tells him that even though Vanzetti killed his parents, someone else hired him to do so. Batman gives Grayson, who at the time had an axe, the choice of whether to kill Jocko-boy or not. Grayson cuts the tape over Vanzetti's mouth and asks him who hired him to kill his parents. The answer, much to Batman's disgust, is the Joker.
Batman orders Grayson to make himself a costume. He does so using Robin Hood as an inspiration. He becomes an archer and wears a cape with a hood thus calling himself Hood. Batman, upon seeing this, pulls his hood down, telling him that anyone could do simply that. Upon hearing this advice, Grayson loses the hood and decides to call himself Robin. With his new alter-ego confirmed, he accompanies Batman to confront Green Lantern, as Batman and Green Lantern talk in one of Batman's safe houses which Robin had painted yellow in order to keep Hal Jordan from using his power ring.
After a lengthy discussion in which Jordan loses his composure and strikes Batman, Jordan accuses Batman of kidnapping Grayson and dressing him up as his sidekick. Batman tells Jordan that Robin is not Grayson, but in fact a boy he met six years ago on a trip to Istanbul. He eventually retracts the lie and merely assures Jordan that Grayson is not Robin. Robin then reveals he took Jordan's power ring and after a short fight, Robin accidentally hits Jordan in the throat, cutting his air supply. Batman then hits Grayson to make him 'stay down', unmasks and performs a tracheotomy to save Jordan's life. After this, Batman reflects on the event, saying that he didn't do a very good job of teaching Robin and then takes Robin to his parent's grave to grieve, claiming that is where it started. Dick cries and punches the headstone, after which Batman consoles his grieving and mournful young ward.
Miller claims that these events precede those of The Dark Knight Returns (DKR) and its sequel Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again. In the latter series, it is revealed that Batman fired Grayson after he proved unsatisfactory. During DKR, Batman calls out to Grayson while delirious, implying a sense of fatherly love otherwise not shown. He later fakes his own death and re-emerges in order to fight a corrupt regime led by Lex Luthor.
Grayson re-appears as a genetically altered supervillain. He apparently joined forces with senior villains such as Luthor, and underwent extensive gene manipulation to gain a healing factor and shapeshifting powers. With these, he can alter his appearance at will and take on the persona of the Joker (who killed himself in DKR). After maiming and killing a number of famous DC characters, (such as Guardian, the Creeper and the Martian Manhunter,) he seeks out Carrie Kelly, the Bruce's new partner, intending to kill her in order to exact his final revenge on Batman. His plan fails, however, when Batman arrives to save Catgirl and eventually kills Grayson, activating the cave's self-destruct system and dropping Grayson into the lava pit below the cave, totally disintegrating him.
In this version Batman shows no sympathy at all for Grayson in spite of his pleas; when Grayson protests that he would have done anything for Batman, Bruce simply states that Grayson couldn't cut it, and, with no qualms whatsoever, sets about the motions to kill him. However in both Dark Knight Returns and the later All Star Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder, Batman shows signs of fatherly love towards him, but decides to hide them. Grayson is called "Joker Boy" by several people including Oliver Queen.
Carrie Kelly
see Carrie Kelly
Richie Grayson
In the Trinity series, reality is altered, removing Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman from the timeline. In this alternate world, "Richie" Grayson is a member of the Zucco mob.[9]
Elseworlds
Alfred Pennyworth
Alfred is a familiar character in the Batman books as Bruce Wayne's elderly butler. However, in Batman: Dark Allegiances, set in the World War II era, Batman, Catwoman, and Alfred were recruited to fight behind enemy lines in Nazi Germany in the winter of 1940. Alfred is given the codename Robin.
Superman & Batman: Generations
In Superman & Batman: Generations, Dick Grayson is Robin until he goes to college. The role is then taken up by Batman's son, Bruce Wayne Junior, against his mother's wishes. However, he gives up the role when Dick is murdered, in order to become Batman. Several years later, Clark Wayne, the biological son of Joel Kent and adopted son of Bruce Wayne Jr., takes on the role of Robin, before becoming Knightwing.
Richart Graustark
Set in the 1960s, Thrillkiller was written and drawn by Howard Chaykin and Dan Brereton and published in 1997-98. It has Bruce Wayne as a detective in the Gotham Police after his family was ruined by the Great Depression. Wayne Manor has been taken over by the rebellious, and a little demented, Barbara Gordon, daughter of police Commissioner James Gordon. Her live-in boyfriend is Richart Graustark, who goes under the name of "Dick Grayson", presumably to cover his German origins (World War II being still fresh in people's minds at the time).
Barbara and Graustark fight crime as Batgirl and Robin, though, in true 1960s anti-establishment style, their main targets are corrupt cops, in particular those led by the Two-Face-like Detective Duell and the Joker-like but very feminine Bianca Steeplechase.
In this version, Grayson's family are still circus acrobats, but their deaths are caused as a result of his activities as Robin rather than the traditional other way round. He is overcome by grief and rage over their murder and his subsequent recklessness leads to his own death.
He is replaced as Barbara's partner by Detective Bruce Wayne, who takes the identity of Batman, but the memory of him drives even Barbara to the point of insanity and she adopts the Robin guise as part of seeking revenge.
Robin Drake
The main character in JLA: The Riddle of the Beast, young Robin Drake brings together all the heroes of The World to battle the Beast (Etrigan).
Rochelle Wayne
In the French Revolution set Batman: Reign of Terror, Bruce Wayne's sister learns his secret identity, and designs a Robin outfit to aid him.
"Rodney"
Batman: Dark Knight Dynasty features three generations of Waynes, past, present and future. In the future section, Brenna Wayne is aided by an ape with augmented intelligence in a Robin costume, who goes by the name 'Rodney'.
Redbird
In the American Civil War set The Blue, The Gray and the Bat, Captain Bruce Wayne is aided by a Native American named Redbird. Redbird's family were killed by white men, and, until he got his revenge, he wore war paint in a design similar to a domino mask.
Robin 3000
In the futuristic Robin 3000, Earth is controlled by despotic aliens. Batman (Bruce Wayne the 20th) is killed trying to stop them, but his mission is continued by his nephew, Tom Wayne. This was originally created by P. Craig Russell in 1986 as Tom Swift 3000 [10][11], but later rewritten in 1992 as a Robin story when the original plans fell through.
Tengu
In the Robin 1996 Elseworlds annual, an unnamed young warrior in 16th century Japan, is raised by the Bat-Samurai, and nicknamed Tengu, after the bird-spirits, by a female Cat-Ninja. Tengu loses his mentor in battle. Tengu was later revealed to be the rightful heir to the imperial throne, and the usurper (believing he knew this and plotted against him) attempted to kill him. He killed the usurper in self-defense but, since he had already sworn loyalty, was constrained to suicide as a result of this dishonor.
Robin Redblade
In the Detective Comics 1996 Elseworlds annual (Batman: Leatherwing), an orphan on the streets of 17th century Kingston, who became cabin boy to Leatherwing the pirate.
Tris Plover
In the Robin 1998 Legends of The Dead Earth annual humanity is trying to reach other worlds in generation ships. On one of these, a group called the Proctors have seized control and everyone else are slaves who are executed on their 30th birthdays to conserve the ship's resources.
Tris Plover, a 29-year-old slave, rebels against the Proctors. She meets another rebel, called the Batman, who gives her the Robin identity. At the cost of their lives, they succeed in defeating the Proctors and Robin sets the ship on a course for the planet New Gotham.
Bird Dark
This is the name of Batman's partner in the somewhat garbled fables told on another colony world, as featured in the "Legends of the Dead Earth" Batman Annual #20. (1996) While the name is based on Nightwing, the costume is in Robin's colors.
References
- ^ Detective Comics #38
- ^ In an interview with Wizard, writer Grant Morrison stated that he took inspiration from the Silver Age Bruce Junior stories.
- ^ Superman & Batman: Generations 2 #2 (September 2001)
- ^ Superman & Batman: Generations #3
- ^ Superman & Batman: Generations III #5 (July 2003)
- ^ Dan Didio Comes Clean On The Countdown Teaser Image - Newsarama
- ^ "DC Nation" Justice Society of America 3 (7) ((July 2007)), DC Comics
- ^ IGN: Comics in Context #119: All-Star Bats
- ^ Trinity #25
- ^ http://www.denysh.com/docs/ElseworldsAlpha.html
- ^ http://www.pcraigrussell.net/opus-list
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