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This article, Jason Todd (Earth-41417), is property of MarvelousMarty. |
All-Caste (formerly; allies)
Jason (paternal grandfather),
Willis Todd (father; estranged),
Catherine Todd (stepmother),
Sheila Haywood (biological mother, deceased);
Bruce Wayne (adopted father),
Dick Grayson (adopted brother),
Tim Drake (adopted brother),
Cassandra Cain (adoptive sister),
Damian Wayne (adopted brother),
Faye Adrienne Gunn (first cousin);
Artemis of Bana-Mighdall (wife);
Rose Wilson (ex-girlfriend);
Isabel Ardila (ex-girlfriend)
Batman Vol 1 25
History
From where I came from and how I grew up, the barrier between vengeance and justice is nothing but a load of bullshit. Nothing but a thin line made up by the rich and powerful so they can take and take, while they trample over the weak and helpless. It's why I didn't bother crossing it. Some monsters are just better off damn dead. Or worse.
- -- Red Hood
Jason Todd (born August 1992) was born to a short-lived affair between Doctor Sheila Haywood and Willis Todd, a lowlife but somewhat disciplined criminal who secretly worked as a henchman for various organized crime across New York and New Jersey. However, after Haywood had broken up with Willis and left him due to him being a married man and unapologetic criminal to keep making a living, a young Jason grew up believing that his true mother was Catherine, Willis' longtime wife. The only unfortunate thing was that Jason being born from her husband's affair made Catherine hold a form of grudge and resentment towards the child which also worsened her depression and drug addiction. Into his teenage years, Jason ended up taking care of his mother on his own after his father's disappearance, believing that he died in prison after being apprehended as one of the scapegoats for the Penguin's crimes during his earlier feuds against the Maroni Crime Family.
But considering that Catherine's rehab and treatment programs were quite expensive and below his salary of working even in multiple shifts, Jason wounded up resorting to a life of crime thanks to his close peers at his shelter and school, Ma Gunn's School for Wayward Boys, who saw his desperation for money to help his mother with his rehab. Whenever he wasn't partaking in their illicit gigs, Jason would commit petty crime for a few bucks and one time, he managed to steal three out of four tiles off the Batmobile. Such a fateful decision eventually led him to get the attention of the Batman himself, who—instead of beating him up and bringing him to jail—fed the teenager and gave him a second chance, one that the kid rarely had in his young life. After getting to know each other in a manner akin to a mentor and student, Batman and Jason helped each other with bringing down the secret criminal empire of Ma Gunn and exposing their crimes to the authorities and public. With no one else to go after his school was shut down, Batman took Jason in his custody while Bruce Wayne also did his best to give most of kids at Gunn's school a second chance to start over and live a normal life, free from crime, courtesy of Wayne Care Center.
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Jason takes on the mantle of Robin (mid to late 2000s)
Not long after, Bruce began to secretly fund the rehab fee of Jason's mother so she could start her treatment as soon as possible, and it was the final straw that made Jason realize that Batman and Wayne are the same person. When Jason accepted Bruce's offer to train him and fight crime under his wing, Jason took on the mantle of Robin, becoming the second person to carry it as the Batman's sidekick after the first one had become independent as Nightwing. As Robin, Jason seemed to have demonstrated more strength than his predecessor (at least when Grayson was the same age) as agility that rivaled his in the following two years, but Batman began to worry about how the kid became more aggressive and brutish towards the criminals they were apprehending or interrogating that it would sometimes slow their progress. Such flaw in Jason's behavior and recklessness allowed him to be taken advantage of by some of the Dark Knight's greatest enemies, the most notable one being Ra's al Ghul. When the League of Assassins were secretly forming their newest generation of recruits across the globe, Ra's al Ghul took interest in the young boy due to his astounding skills and violent tendencies, eventually hiring the Joker in a plan that would distract Batman and Robin and perhaps make the latter turn on his mentor and join Ra's al Ghul and the League.
After successfully digging into Jason's past, Ra's plan involved bringing in his birth mother, Sheila Haywood, back to his life. Such discovery also indirectly allowed Ra's to have Batman learn of Sheila's whereabouts. However, Ra's al Ghul underestimated the Joker's unpredictability and malevolence as the psychopathic clown would end up betraying him and breaking their deal by trapping both Sheila and Robin in a warehouse where they would be reunited. Not to mention, Jason had a fallout with Batman at the time for knowing about his true mother's whereabouts behind his back and upon failing to realize it's a trap, Robin tracked down Sheila's location while Batman fell into Ra's original plan of having the vigilante deal with an armed robbery in Gotham committed by the Joker's goons. As planned, the two were reunited after Robin took down the warehouse's henchmen, only for Robin to be devastated as he was betrayed by his own mother. The reason for Sheila's decision was to keep her records clean from any criminal activity in hopes of running for the position of councilwoman, but the fact that the Joker, Ra's al Ghul, and other criminal masterminds were aware of her past affiliation with the Maroni Crime Family had made her desperate to erase anything that may stain her image and reputation by any means.
Despite his mother's betrayal, Jason still chose to protect his mother as he was ambushed by the Joker himself, who mercilessly and maniacally beat down the Boy Wonder until the villain left them inside the warehouse. With his struggling breath and broken bones, Jason freed his mother from captivity and in her last change of heart, she tried to help her son escape the building together. However, it was too late when both Jason and Sheila had realized that the warehouse was rigged with explosives. Even from outside, Batman drove all the way from the bank after but despite his efforts, he still failed to reach his mentee in time. The bombs detonated, taking the lives of Jason and Sheila. Finding their bodies under the rubble, Batman was able to hear Sheila's dying words, regretting her betrayal so she could simply win an election instead of cherishing his twisted but fateful reunion with Jason and accept him as her son. Seconds later, the Dark Knight had managed to the lifeless body of his sidekick, mentee, and son figure, striking him through the heart as Bruce broke down in tears as held Jason's body in his arms.
Jason Todd's passing was one death in the Bat Family that Bruce would always remember as one of his greatest failures and while Batman was able to successfully track the Joker down and brought him back to prison after beating him to a pulp, he could only be haunted and traumatized by the untimely passing of his sidekick. Such loss prompted him to stop operating as Batman for a few months, allowing his allies to do everything they could to fight crime in Gotham in his absence. But it was not the end of Jason's story, because while Ra's al Ghul became guilty and sorrowful for allowing the Joker to take Robin's life in a tragedy, he took this opportunity to retrieve the teenager's body at his burial and continue his intention of taking him under his wing in the ways of the League of Assassins, once he had him resurrected through the Lazarus Pit of 'Eth Alth'eban, the same elixir that gave Ra's longevity and immortality. The resurrection was successful, although the process initially left Jason rageful and vengeful towards the people who left him to die. Ra's took advantage of his vulnerability and saw it as Jason being reborn, allowing the latter to be trained under the ways of the League, most notably under Bronze Tiger, Lady Shiva, Bane, and Ra's' daughters, Talia and Nyssa.
However, Jason began to recollect more memories and principles from his past life over time, and after being disillusioned with the more selfish ways of the League of Assassins, he escaped 'Eth Alth'eban after a mission and found himself being taken in by the All-Caste, warrior monks who sought to help him overcome the internal demons raging within Jason. His training and learning under the All-Caste helped him balance the brutal ways he exhibited as an assassin, finding a sense of inner peace for a while. However, the arrival of the League who tracked him down ruined Jason's path to finding healing and self-acceptance as the onslaught forced the All-Caste to go into hiding after most of them were killed during a battle against Ra's al Ghul's assassins and allies, a casualty that included All-Caste's leader Ducra. While Ducra believed in Jason's redemption, some of the All-Caste blamed Jason for causing their sect to break out and hide their presence even more, leaving Jason all alone after renouncing the League enough for them to stop bothering him.
But having remembered his past in Gotham only made him believe that the only way he could truly conquer his demons was by returning home. There, he planned to exact vengeance on those who caused his demise, the Joker and other criminals like him, while also showing his old mentor his greatest mistake: allowing evil-doers to live another day. Upon arriving on Gotham, Jason became a masked mercenary who secretly turned various criminal factions against each other by offering his services to protect them, not realizing that they too, would be finished off by the end of their contract. Holding a grudge against the Joker, Jason started wearing a helmet and embraced it as his new moniker, one that is similar to identity of the Crown Prince of Crime before his rise to villainy: Red Hood.
As a more lethal vigilante, Red Hood crossed paths with Gotham's smallest and greatest criminals and rose through the ranks of the criminal underworld as a hitman and mercenary, slowly revealing his true colors as an antiheroic figure with no moral code to keep him from killing evil-doers to end their threat over the city and its people. Such a notably threatening element finally allowed Jason to have a twisted reunion with his old mentor, Batman, learning that his league or family of heroes had grown since his death and resurrection. Along with it, Jason wanted to plot a plan to extract his revenge against the Joker after how much he had tormented him in his past life. When certain criminals such as Black Mask, who recently rose as Gotham's most powerful crime lord, began to turn on against the Red Hood out of fear, the Bat Family also took the opportunity to face and confront the Red Hood himself. After a series of chases, brawls, and investigations, Red Hood would come to reveal his true identity as Jason Todd to the rest of the Bat Family and his whereabouts in the past year, much to their surprise.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Abilities
- Peak Human Condition
- Acrobatics
- Escapology
- Genius Level Intellect
- Indomitable Will
- Interrogation
- Intimidation
- Leadership
- Martial Arts
- Stealth
- Surveillance
- Tactical Analysis
- Thievery
- Throwing
- Toxic Immunity
- Tracking
- Weaponry
- Firearms
- Swordsmanship
- Pedagogy
- Meditation
Strength level
Class 15+
Weaknesses
Paraphernalia
Equipment:
- Red Hood Suit
- Plated Armor
- Utility Belt
- Various Gadgets
- Robin Suit (Formerly)
- Red Robin Suit (Formerly)
- Batsuit (Formerly)
Transportation:
- Batmobile (Formerly)
- Batcycle (Formerly)
Weapons:
- Firearms
- Dual Handguns
- All-Blades
- Batarangs
- Combat Knife
- Crowbar
- Katana
Notes
- Jason debuted as Robin in the spring of 2007, but later perished at the hands of the Joker in the autumn of 2009. He was resurrected through the Lazarus Pit approximately six months later. After almost a year of training and working for the League of Assassins, Jason would begin to operate as the lethal vigilante Red Hood upon his return to Gotham City.
Trivia
- While Jason stopped killing as the Red Hood in his later years of making amends with Batman and the rest of the Gotham Knights, his final kill was the Joker, whom he shot multiple times in the finale of the Arkham War in 2025 in order to save an injured Batman from the Clown Prince of Crime's fatal strike.
See Also
- Appearances of Jason Todd (Earth-41417) (Chronological)
- Appearances of Jason Todd (Earth-41417) (Unordered)
- Character Gallery: Jason Todd (Earth-41417)
- Fan-Art Gallery: Jason Todd (Earth-41417)
- Quotations by Jason Todd (Earth-41417)
Discover and Discuss
- Search News for: Red Hood · Jason Peter Todd · Jason Todd (Earth-41417)
Links and References
- None.
Batman Family member   This character is or was an incarnation of or an ally of Batman, and a member of the Batman Family. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the "Batman Family members" category. |
 This character is or was primarily a member of the younger superhero team known as the Teen Titans, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Teen Titans members" category. |
| League of Assassins member |