While fans might be waiting years for that Nightwing movie, or finding out the story behind Robin #2’s costume in the trophy case in Batman v Superman, it seems we will be getting live-action versions of our favorite former Batman sidekicks — just on television and not the big screen. The latest episode of the upcoming Titans television series has a very telling title, as thanks to the folks at Titans TV, we now know the name of episode seven of season one is “Jason Todd.” This very likely means that at some point in the first season of the show, Dick Grayson, played by Brenton Thwaites, will bestow the name and title of Robin to Jason Todd, before becoming Nightwing. This could all lead to his eventually becoming the popular Red Hood later on down the line.
Jason Todd is a very significant character in the Batman mythology, and to a lesser extent, that of the Teen Titans. As a character, when he was first introduced he was more or less hated, but he has eventually become a fan favorite. Jason Todd was first introduced in the pages of Batman in 1983, right around the time the now 19 year old Dick Grayson was ditching the Robin identity to become Nightwing in the pages of the New Teen Titans. Young Jason Todd was another orphan Bruce Wayne adopted who became the new Robin.
Fans at first did not take to this new Boy Wonder. He talked back to Batman too much, and its even implied he killed a criminal in cold blood. He was so unpopular, that DC Comics ran placed a 1-900 number at the end of one of their stories, asking fans to decide whether Robin #2 should live or die after being beat mercilessly by the Joker. The bloodthirsty fan base decided young Jason Todd should die by the Joker’s hands. And so Robin died, and soon was replaced by a far more popular and liked Robin, Tim Drake. Jason Todd was, for some sixteen years, a costume in a trophy case, a reminder to Batman of his greatest failure.
But when DC decided to resurrect Jason Todd, he received a whole new level of popularity. Now called the Red Hood, Jason Todd was more Punisher than Batman, not quite a hero, but not exactly a villain either. He’s been headlining his own comic Red Hood and the Outlaws for several years, and has become a staple of the DC Universe. Will the Titans TV series delve into Jason’s death and resurrection as a driven anti-hero? And how to tell all of these Nightwing and Red Hood stories without a live-action TV Batman? It definitely seems that the Titans show will be the place that we may see the extended Bat-family finally come into play in live-action first, as movies about Nightwing and Batgirl continue to hit walls at Warner Brothers.
What do you think of Jason Todd/Robin making it to live-action? And which actor would you like to see don the red hood? Be sure to let us know your thoughts down below in the comments.
Images: DC Comics
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