The Best Robin

When I am not writing, and usually when I should be writing, I am can often be found fooling around on Twitter. For something that can only be 140 characters you sure can waste a lot of time on it. One such wasteful time period I saw someone I follow arguing which Robin would win in a fight between all the Robins. Which leads one to wonder, which is the best of all the Robins?

Now just to be clear I am only going to be judging among the main 4 Robins. No Stephanie Browns (who has been retconned away as a Robin) and no Carrie Kellys (who was only a Robin in The Dark Knight Returns). Also no Joseph Gordon Levitts (who is only a Robin due to a joke at the end of Dark Knight Rises). None of these characters had a long enough career as a Robin to really be considered. I am judging the 4 sons of the Bat. Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, and Damian Wayne.

The interesting thing about comparing all the Robins is that you’re really comparing different aspects of Batman. As I pointed out in a previous entry (see here) the different choices for Robin are all in someway younger versions of Bruce Wayne. While the physical resemblance is obvious, it is an emotional resemblance that the Robins share as well. Dick is Batman’s athletic and gymnastic prowess. Jason is his weapon and fighting skills. Tim is Batman’s technological genius. And Damian is Batman’s ruthlessness. They are all a piece of Batman.

Dick Grayson was the first Robin. He gets a special place in Batman lore solely for being the first. In many ways, that first Robin became the prototype for all super hero sidekicks, not just the Robins. So beloved was Dick Grayson as Robin that he was allowed to grow and mature and become a hero of his own, Nightwing. Also he was the leader of his own group of heroes, the Teen Titans. He even took on the mantle of Batman on several occasions when Bruce was unable to. In many ways, he is the heir to the Bat.

Jason Todd as the second Robin was a much sadder story. Already abandoned as a street kid, Batman took him in when he tried to steel the tires off the Batmobile. Sadly Jason Todd became a fan least favorite, DC Comics set up a hotline to determine if the character would die in a particular story (which overwhelming the vote was that he should). For many years Jason Todd was in that category of “Cannot Resurrect,” a category reserved just for Bruce Wayne’s parents and Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben. It was only after a brief tease in the Batman Storyline HUSH and the also amazing Under the Hood that Jason Todd was brought back as The Red Hood.

Tim Drake is Bruce Wayne’s brilliance. His origin was discovering Batman’s real identity through deduction and reasoning. More than just a sidekick, Tim has acted as a technical genius, helping Batman with computer problems and gadgets. As a Robin he was the most competent to be a hero as just Robin. Not having to be part of a team or a watered down Batman like Dick. And not getting himself recklessly killed like Jason. Tim made Robin a hero in his own right.

Damian is in many ways the opposite of a Robin. The character of Robin has always been described as a grounding agent for Batman. Someone to keep him from going too far over the edge. But Damian, having been raised by the League of Shadows, is if anything far more over the edge than Batman is. Damian had to learn how not to kill. In many ways, Damian is the embodiment of a remind of the restraint that Batman has to employ when dealing with his enemies.

In the end, the best Robin is really all of them. They are all funhouse mirror reflections of Batman. While Robin, in all his incarnations, has proven to be a hero in his own right, it will always be the relationship to Batman that will define the character. Without Batman we inevitably see the character of Robin morph into someone else. Dick Grayson without Batman became Nightwing. Jason Todd became the Red Hood. Tim Drake became Red Robin. Damian will one day become Batman. It is only when these Robins are teamed up with Batman that they remain the character of Robin.