DC has always had a preference for some of life’s darker aspects. However, it may be argued that they offer the DC Universe’s television series, motion pictures, and comic books a depth that many people believe superhero stories can not have. In one of these tales, Gotham is the setting.
Jason Todd slipped into a life he never imagined being possible. He overcame his unfortunate beginnings and succeeded Dick Grayson as Robin. Being Batman’s sidekick is never simple, and Gotham is constantly plagued by either new threats emerging or resurgent threats from the past.
He was a very competent hero who served as Bruce Wayne’s Batman in more ways than one. Together, they formed a brilliant crime-fighting team that Gotham really needed. Jason Todd, who had been Robin, changed into Red Hood when things went tragically wrong for him. Want to learn the tale of the once-good man who turned bad? Keep an eye out!
Batman: Under the Red Hood – exploring the dark side of Jason Todd
This critically regarded animated film came out in 2010. The movie received largely outstanding reviews from critics who praised the storytelling, animation, and plot. It is frequently cited as among the best films in the entire canon of DC Universe Animated Original Movies. With over $12 million in home video sales, the movie was also financially successful. The transition of Jason Todd into the murderous Red Hood was the best part of the film, which also beautifully depicted the villainous side of being a hero and Gotham’s seedier neighborhoods.
As soon as the movie starts, Ra’s al Ghul realises that using the Joker as a distraction while destroying Europe’s financial sectors was a mistake. The scene abruptly changes to an abandoned warehouse in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the Joker brutally beats the second Robin, Jason Todd, to a pulp with a crowbar. Jason is imprisoned in the warehouse with an explosive before Batman shows up, and the bomb explodes, killing Jason. The second Robin’s death, which Batman describes as his biggest failure, is something we witness.
The movie then swiftly cuts to five years later, where in Gotham City, a mysterious vigilante known as Red Hood gathers the city’s most powerful drug dealers for a conference. He informs them of a takeover of their drug business, taking only 40% of the proceeds and promising them safety from both the villainous Black Mask and Batman if they are caught supplying drugs to youngsters.
The complicated story thus begins with the arrival of Red Hood. The story largely centres around Batman attempting to ascertain the identity of a new villain known as “The Red Hood,” who had either bribed or murdered the majority of Gotham City’s seedy underworld in the short time that he had been there.
The established kingpin known as The Black Mask, a Scarface-like criminal with a black skull-face, recruits everyone he can to take down his new rival, but the Red Hood foresees all his moves. Gotham is once again embroiled in a battle between powerful entities but this one, one of them seems to be ahead of everyone else, even Batman.
We watch as Batman foils a plot to steal a shipment from Black Mask. The shipment contained an android called Amazo and with the help of Jason’s forerunner, Nightwing, Batman destroys Amazo. They subsequently realise that the thieves are working for Red Hood, who kills them to get rid of any evidence and loose ends that might lead back to him. He then pursues Red Hood to Ace Chemicals, where an explosion destroys the factory. Although Batman and his original Robin, Dick Grayson, now known as Nightwing, track down the Red Hood, the villain effortlessly escapes.
At Arkham Asylum, Batman and Nightwing question the Joker about Red Hood, but he denies any connection to the new villain. As this is happening, we learn that Black Mask has put a hit out on Red Hood, to take revenge for the destruction of Amazo.
Batman and Nightwing then stop Red Hood from once again stealing Black Mask’s next batch of weapons. They pursue Red Hood to a train station, where he manages to flee after setting off a bomb that injures Nightwing. It is after this encounter with him that Batman and Nightwing become aware that Red Hood has been trained and is familiar with Batman’s techniques and equipment.
Red Hood also knows Batman’s secret identity, according to audio footage from the chase, which confuses the Dark Knight further. He then finally recalls Jason executing the same moves as Robin, and that as he grew older, Jason became more violent and murderous, with Batman having to stop him from nearly killing criminals on several occasions.
The Fearsome Hand of Four, the group of mercenaries, hired by Black Mask to kill Red Hood then entices him into a fight and nearly defeats him until Batman assists in the incapacitation of three of them and Red Hood murders the fourth, terrifying Batman – killing has always made him queasy.
Red Hood explains that he was doing what Batman refused to do all his life – executing fearless criminals who will keep returning to a life of crime if not dealt with, once and for all. In an effort to find out the truth, Batman compares a blood sample taken from Red Hood during the battle to Jason’s.
This is when Batman discovers that Jason’s body isn’t real and he goes to meet Ra’s al Ghul and demands to know the whole truth. Ra’s says that he felt responsible for Jason’s death, so he exchanged Jason’s body for a counterfeit one and resurrected him in the Lazarus Pit as a peace offering. Jason was pushed to the brink of insanity after his resurrection and managed to flee.
After surviving a Red Hood assassination attempt, Black Mask releases the Joker and orders him to assassinate Red Hood. Joker, on the other hand, kidnaps Black Mask and the drug dealers and plots to light them on fire; Red Hood then comes and confesses that the Joker was his true target all along.
The hostages are saved, and the Joker is captured by Red Hood. In retaliation for his own murder, Red Hood severely beats the Joker and finally confronts Batman. During the fight, Red Hood takes off his helmet, revealing his identity as Jason. Their struggle concludes with Jason holding Batman at gunpoint in the run-down facility where Jason is keeping the Joker. This scene is hands down one of the darkest scenes in DC’s Animated Movie Series.
Jason conveys that he was unhappy that the Joker was still alive after killing him, even though he had forgiven Batman for not rescuing him five years ago. Batman says that he has often considered punishing and killing the Joker, but that he will not do so because he fears that if he kills even once, he will not be able to stop. Jason then hands Batman a gun and tells him that unless Batman shoots the Joker, he will be executed instead.
When Batman refuses and drops the gun, Jason fires at him but his pistol is jammed by Batman’s batarang. Jason’s right hand gets mangled and the gun is ruined when he pulls the trigger once again, causing it to fire back onto his hand. Jason then detonates a time bomb after being defeated, and Batman subdues the Joker before rushing to save Jason. The bomb goes off; Batman and the Joker are unharmed, but Jason disappears.
The Joker is brought back to Arkham, while Black Mask is apprehended for aiding the Joker’s escape. After everything that has happened, Alfred offers to dismantle the glass case installation of Jason’s Robin outfit from the Batcave, but Bruce refuses, arguing that it makes no difference. Jason’s first day as Robin, which he proclaims to be the finest day of his life, is seen in a final flashback.
While the twist in the Red Hood’s identity is clear, the movie’s substance and mood win out. This is a dark cartoon with plenty of blood and violence, as well as a noirish colour style of blacks and greys, earning it the PG-13 rating. Except for intricate action moments where cars and backdrops are produced with computers, the remainder is hand-drawn. The characters are sensitive to mature emotions, yet the magical comic book battles offset this.
Rather than relying solely on action, the film strives to give the Batman legend some significant emotional purpose, adding to the character’s already deep-seated psychological turmoil. Furthermore, the film’s thick-bodied, deep-voiced Joker behaves more like Heath Ledger’s murdering sociopath Joker than the raging crazy villain of The Animated Series.
Under the Red Hood is a crucial component of Batman legend that has been very well adapted. It’s a story that gets a lot of attention in comic book circles for obvious reasons, but it’s also a fantastic Batman story in and of itself. It’s a tragedy that unfolds in a hideously twisted manner, brilliantly showing the old adage that Batman never truly wins — he simply loses less than he would have otherwise.
Batman: Death in the Family – the spiritual sequel to Under the Red Hood and a game of choice!
Another film that did exceptionally well and was a fresh take was Batman: Death in the Family which was released in the year 2020. The Blu-ray edition is interactive, allowing you to choose how certain events will unfold. It’s a 21st-century twist on the classic “A Death in the Family” comic narrative, in which DC fans were given the option of calling one of two phone numbers to find out whether Robin survived the Joker’s wrath. They famously chose death, forever altering the path of Batman comics and the DC Universe, as well as producing a pop culture moment that is still argued upon and discussed today.
In the animated rendition, you get to make that decision, as well as a few others, giving you the ability to reverse it and save Robin from the Joker’s onslaught. This offers a type of parallel timeline of what may have happened if fans had chosen that option in 1988.
The film is firmly set in the same universe as the DC animated film Batman: Under the Red Hood, which was released ten years prior, in 2010. This film informs audiences about what is “supposed” to happen with Jason Todd, so that’s our starting point. Part of the fun of Death in the Family is seeing how the interaction subverts many of those events, which works even better if you’ve seen them before.
The film essentially puts the audience in the driving seat, as we get to decide whether Todd lives or dies. Even if Jason had survived the attack, Batman: Death in the Family reminds us that the Joker’s horrific attack on him was still a frightening and devastating occurrence. Even if it didn’t make Jason’s life, it was likely to have a significant impact on him.
The film isn’t particularly long when watched from beginning to end—the longest variants last about thirty minutes. However, the objective is to experiment with different options and observe what happens. However, the plot is definitely shocking—and it is also a lot of fun—to discover those alternative results in Batman: Death in the Family.
Jason Todd in Young Justice animated series
The sheer popularity of his character resulted in him appearing in various animated films and shows, and one of them was the fan favorite, Young Justice. Jason Todd is a character in the cartoon series Young Justice. Jason became Dick Grayson’s successor as Robin on the team for the five years following season one. While he had a good run as Robin, he perished under mysterious circumstances, leaving Tim Drake as his successor. In various episodes of Young Justice: Invasion, including “Satisfaction,” “Darkest,” and “Endgame,” a holographic projection of Jason can be seen in the sanctuary for fallen heroes.
A little something about his comic book origins
Todd’s comic book origins are just as interesting. Jason Todd was the second Robin in the comics. Originally a circus performer whose parents were slaughtered by Killer Croc, her origin was revised during the Crisis on Infinite Earths to be less like Dick Grayson’s. He was reimagined as a street orphan who attempted to steal the Batmobile’s tyres.
Jason Todd was born to Willis Todd and Sheila Haywood, yet when Willis married Catherine Todd, his mother was forced to abandon custody. Catherine was a heroin addict who died of an overdose, while his father worked for Two-Face and was assassinated by him. Jason, a legal orphan, resided in a run-down building in Crime Alley with his father, where he resorted to crime out of need.
Jason became an expert at stealing tyres from cars, and during one of his routine thefts, he ran into Batman while attempting to take the Batmobile’s wheels. Batman took Jason to Ma Gunn’s school in the hopes of reforming the young bloke. Jason, on the other hand, quickly discovered Gunn was engaging in unlawful acts with the children at her “school,” and he managed to flee. When Batman found him, Jason informed him of Gunn’s misdeeds and even aided Batman in apprehending her group, after which Batman adopted Jason as the new Robin at the age of twelve.
Jason was ready to take the stage as the new Boy Wonder after six months of preparation. Robin aided Batman against renowned criminals such as Two-Face, Mime, the Crime Doctor, The KGBeast, Deacon Blackfire, and the Dumpster Slasher in his early escapades. Jason got more hostile and driven towards crooks while working on this last case. Jason, unlike Batman’s first protegee Dick Grayson, was rash, reckless, and enraged at all that was wrong with the world.
Jason’s brutal tactics against criminals resulted in the death of one of them. Jason’s attitude landed him and Batman in hot water, but he showed no signs of relenting. Instead, Jason got more irresponsible, to the point where he was barred from dressing up as Robin.
During those moments, Jason discovered the truth about his biological mother, and after more inquiry, he was able to track down potential suspects in the Middle East. Jason set out on his own at first, but was soon joined by Batman, who was on the hunt for the Joker, who had recently fled Arkham. Jason and Bruce were able to thwart Joker’s plans to deal with terrorists, but they were unable to apprehend the psychopath.
It is in the highly publicised A Death in the Family incident, Jason was murdered by the Joker. The story unfolded in a brutal and tragic manner.
With the danger averted, Jason and Bruce began their search for Jason’s biological mother, which they eventually found in Ethiopia. Shelia Haywood was helping the refugees with relief efforts, and when she was finally reconnected with Jason, she told him the truth about her murky past. Sheila, however, had a criminal past, which Joker exploited by blackmailing her and exploiting her for his personal gain. Shelia tried her best to keep this from Jason, but he eventually noticed Joker in the area and tracked him down to a warehouse with his mother. Jason notified Batman after learning of Joker’s plot, and Batman went out to stop a truck loaded with Joker Venom.
Meanwhile, Robin rushed to help his mother from the Joker, but he was tricked into falling into a trap by his own mother, who was also a criminal and thus couldn’t risk being discovered. The Joker used a crowbar to pummel Robin to a bloody pulp in the warehouse. Joker then bound Sheila to a post and detonated a bomb in the warehouse, killing both mother and son. Jason was able to free his mother, but they were still unable to flee before the bomb detonated, killing both of them.
Batman arrived at the scene but realised that he was too late to save them, so all he could do was clean up the crime scene to preserve Jason’s identity before arranging for their bodies to be taken to Gotham and appropriately buried. Jason’s death plagued Batman for years, as he saw it as his biggest failure: failing to properly train Jason as Robin and failing to protect him from the Joker. Nonetheless, he learned from his blunders with the third Robin, Tim Drake, and did not repeat them with the fourth Robin.
He was then resurrected when Superboy-Prime altered the multiverse in Infinite Crisis, and has since assumed the identity of Red Hood. He continues to fight crooks, but in a more ruthless manner, including torture and murder.
What makes him the perfect Robin?
Todd was a dedicated young man and once he was recruited by Batman to be the second Robin, he put his heart and soul into training. Jason has reached the pinnacle of human potential and perfection thanks to years of rigorous and lengthy training, unique dietary regimens, and meditation techniques from Batman, as well as training after his resurrection.
He has demonstrated, like Batman, that he is significantly superior to Olympic-level athletes by matching his former mentor in combat. His strength, speed, reflexes, agility, stamina, durability, endurance, healing, and senses are all near-superhuman levels. He, like Batman and Nightwing, represents the height of human physical potential.
He can tear through a submarine hull with a single blow, seamlessly lift a grown man over his head with only one hand and chuck him numerous metres through an aeroplane window, kick an aeroplane door off the hinges while it was still flying, sending Deathstroke flying with a kick, throwing an alien with just one hand, hold the roof of a crumbling building, and bearing the weight of an extremely large cruise missile for an extended period of time. Jason’s power and sheer might are comparable to, if not identical to, those of Batman, and he is virtually a superhuman.
He has the ability to run and move at speeds that are equivalent to the best human athletes, and much quicker than average humans. He outran a moving truck and collided with Green Arrow before he could respond. His highly trained and developed body has been conditioned into not getting fatigued like the rest of us and is far more resistant to fatigue than typical humans, allowing him to have far greater endurance and lung capacity.
He has such a large lung capacity that he can hold his breath underwater for long periods of time with little to no effort. Jason’s agility rivals that of a Chinese acrobat and surpasses that of any Olympic gold medallist gymnast in history. He has perfect balance, equilibrium, flexibility, bodily coordination, and dexterity in his physique. Jason’s agility rivals that of a Chinese acrobat and surpasses that of any Olympic gold medallist gymnast in history.
His training with Batman also resulted in him becoming a master marksman. His accuracy and precision were honed to the point that he superseded Batman’s marksmanship. He is also incredibly skilled with other weapons as well and is a swordsman in his own right.
Jason Todd is also a very proficient combatant as a result of his extensive and rigorous training by Batman, who has mastered every kind of hand-to-hand fighting and martial arts known to humankind. Even though he was always more of a brawler during his time as Robin, he traversed the world after his resurrection to complete his training, mastering every style of martial arts he could, just like Batman.
His martial skills were further strengthened when he was also trained by Lady Shiva, the Bronze Tiger, and the All Caste, and he was regarded as their most accomplished pupil. He has demonstrated mastery of more than a half-dozen combat styles, including Karate, Aikido, Krav Maga, Capoeira, Ninjutsu, Savate, Kickboxing, and Tae Kwon Do. He has successfully integrated the martial disciplines he’s learned into a unique, harmonic style that plays to his strengths.
Aside from physical skills, he also had a sharply trained mind. Jason received an exceptional education and tutoring from both private tutors and Bruce after being adopted. As a result, Bruce has extensive knowledge in a variety of subjects, including Science, Math, Medicine, Geography, Criminology, World History, and English. As the Red Hood, he has also proved to be a highly effective criminal strategist and well-organized. Jason has demonstrated some competence as a detective and is also a skilled hacker after being taught by Bruce Wayne. Jason is also skilled at questioning techniques, ranging from law enforcement procedures to blatant torture.
He no longer ages and regenerates from injuries at a rapid rate ever since his perfect resurrection via the Lazarus Pit, allowing him to perfectly dodge death on multiple occasions. Thus, his strength, speed, stamina, agility, reflexes, endurance, metabolism, and immune system have all been improved even further since he took on the mantle of the Red Hood.
This character has had an incredible trajectory, from Batman’s aide and sidekick, to violent vigilante – Red Hood. The sheer brutality that Red Hood exhibits when dealing with criminals makes him an R-rated character. The character has been toned down as time has gone by; however, it was definitely interesting to see the dark side of Jason Todd come out. As we all know, DC does a fantastic job with the darker characters and it’s safe to say that they smashed this one absolutely out of the park. What do you think about Jason Todd and his journey from Robin to Red Hood? Let us know in the comments section below!