Every life is a product of nature
and nurture. Certain elements are hardwired into our DNA because of our parents,
their parents and so on. Other elements are the product of experience. The
child of an addict has a greater likelihood to become an addict because of their
parents. Some children don’t attempt to fight this sort of predestination,
while others spend years fighting internal demons to try and be better than
those before them. I’m getting way too existential for this one. True, the life
of Jason Todd is very much a nature v nurture story, but his life can’t be so
simple. Or is it? I’m getting ahead of myself, here’s Red Hood. Side note, I'm making a new Anti-Hero classification. Todd began his Red Hood career as a villain, but later shaped it into a brutal avenger, the typical anti-hero set up. He and Punisher are the only one's I've covered so far that'll get the profile distinction, I'll just tack it on to other villains that have dabbled at being good guys. On with the show.
 |
| Jason, after he put a little more Batman into his costume design. |
Jason Todd’s life sucked before he
met Batman. His mother Catherine was a drug addict that OD before he was living
on the street, and his father Willis was an enforcer for Two-Face. Willis disappeared
after a botched assignment. They never found the body, but Two-Face isn't known for being kind. Dent is kind of a dick that way. Jason spent an
unspecified amount of time on the streets of Gotham. He did what he needed to
survive, stealing mostly. One night he came across an odd sight, the Batmobile
parked in Crime Alley. Now your normal kid (and most adults) would have backed
away slowly, watching the shadows for a large man-shape with pointy ears, and
filed the memory away as awesome but terrifying. Jason apparently was unimpressed.
So much so that he tried to steal the tires off the car. Kid's got guts, not much sense but lots of guts. Batman found him, and
decided to try to help the boy out. This eventually led to his recruitment as
the new Robin.
Jason wasn’t as skilled or
physically gifted as his predecessor Dick Grayson, but he had berserker style
strength and ferocity to make up for that. He also had a contempt for
authority, which extended to Batman, whom the boy viewed as a mentor and father
figure. He relishes in fighting, and causing pain. He views crime as an illness
that could only be stopped by purging the world of the criminal element. The
event that highlighted this most involved a serial rapist named Felipe
Garzonas. Garzonas was a special kind of monster, he enjoyed making women
suffer and because his father had diplomatic immunity he could indulge in his
hateful acts as much as possible. Jason finds the corpse of one of Garzonas’
victims, she hung herself, and went straight to Garzonas’ to take care of the
problem. Batman followed and was just in time to see Garzonas’ fall to his
death. He found Jason at the ledge, who claimed Garzonas’ was spooked by him,
fell off the ledge, and slipped from his hands when Todd tried to save him. It’s
left ambiguous, but I think we all know what the more likely scenario was.
 |
| Batman says goodbye. For now. |
Jason Todd’s story was paused for
about twenty years after the Death in the
Family story arc. In it, Jason sought out his biological mother, Sheila.
She was an aid worker in Ethiopia whom was being forced to give the Joker
medical supplies. Apparently Sheila had been embezzling from her company and the Joker found out about it. Part of the deal they made for his silence was the medical supplies, the other part the deal was that she handed over her son to the Joker. Joker takes them
both, (a double cross from the Joker, surely not!) locks them in a room wired with explosives, and beats Jason within an
inch of his life. Batman arrives just in time for the bomb to go off. He takes mother
and child back to Gotham and buries them.
Todd's revival is weird, so I’m going
to explain it as simply as I can. An evil Superman from a parallel universe known
as Superboy-Prime or simply Prime, was trapped in a parallel dimension. He was
not happy with this, despite the fact it’s described as a paradise dimension,
and was desperately trying to escape. Prime beat against the walls of his
prison, and by extension the walls of reality. This caused ripples of distortion
that spread out across reality, time and space. One of these ripples caused
Jason to spring back to life. He escaped his grave, and spent the next few
years in delirium. He’s eventually picked up by Talia and the League of
Assassins. At the time, two years after his revival, Jason had no memories of his past as a Robin and was only a little more than a vegetable. The League wipe any evidence of his return from Gotham. Talia bathes Jason
in the Lazarus Pits, which restore his mind but shatter his psyche.
 |
| That costume isn't really flashy maitre d', it's more motorcycle fetish in design. |
Jason returned to Gotham, donned
the guise of the Red Hood and started prepping for revenge. He built up a
massive criminal empire, assaulted his successor Tim Drake, and starts a crime
war against Gotham’s resident kingpin Black Mask. His evil plan finally
culminates in kidnapping the Joker and luring Batman to Crime Alley where it
all began. He reveals that his anger isn’t towards Drake, or even Batman
failing to save him from the Joker. He’s furious that Batman didn’t end the Joker
for it. He couldn’t stand the idea that his mentor didn’t end the Joker for
taking him from Batman. Batman admits he was tempted, but could bring himself
to cross that big fat line, not because it was hard but because he knew he
could never go back from it. Jason offers Batman an ultimatum, shoot him, or
let Jason finish the Joker once and for all. Batman, of course goes for option
3, no one dies. Batman disabled the mad former Bird boy with a well-placed Batarang/
Joker seizes the opportunity and sets off a number of nearby explosives. Batman
and Joker survive, but Jason is presumed dead. We, of course, know that this
was a temporary measure and Jason returns with a vengeances, striving to be a
better Batman than Bruce.
Jason Todd has no superhuman abilities.
His strength, speed, and agility were augmented by rigorous training under
Batman. He also became a skilled detective under Bruce’s tutelage. After his resurrection
he sought out teachers of Bruce’s caliber for darker skills. From people like Talia, he learned
how to use just about every firearm and edged weapon known to man. He
specializes with knives, which he uses as throwing weapons and in hand-to-hand
combat. With Talia's help, he was able to amass a small fortune which helps keep him fully equipped for combat.
Red Hood, and Jason’s version of
Robin, have been used sparingly by DC Comics.
 |
| When he makes you an offer you can't refuse, it's with a bag of severed heads. Gross. And to the point. |
For TV he’s only ever been showing in
Young Justice. All we, the viewers,
know is that he took up the mantle of Robin during the five year time skip
between season one and two, and died. He has a memorial hologram in a hidden grotto
in the YJ base.
There is a fan theory that a
version of him appeared in the TV series Teen
Titians. In a previous episode Robin created a villain persona called Red X to get close
to the villain of the series, Slade. A short time later, the Red X costume and all of
his related gear is stolen by a young thief. The thief ultimately keeps the
costume after proving he’s got a bit of good in him. His identity is never
revealed but Jason Todd’s name is quickly flashed when Robin and his team try
to figure out who stole the suit. It’s an interesting theory if nothing else.
Jason’s entire storyline was
explored in Batman: Under the Red Hood.
I’ll note that one of the few changes made for the film was that Jason’s
resurrection was 100% credited to Ra’s al Ghul, whom attempted to revive the
boy in an attempt to “give your son” back to Batman. In this universe, it was
Ra’s that hired the Joker to distract Batman in Europe, though he was appalled
when he realized to what lengths the Joker went to. You want more details? Look
at my review or watch the movie, either is a good choice.
 |
| Sibling rivalry at it's finest. |
I like Jason a lot. The other two
main Robins, Grayson and Drake, are so earnest in their attempt to emulate
Batman perfectly that they seem rather boring. Jason is the only who really
tried to take what he learned and be more than his mentor. Sure, he goes about
it in all the wrong ways but you got to give him points for trying. He’s angry
at the world, so much so that Batman surmised that without his intervention
Jason would have become part of the criminal world that made him, but he does
try to use that anger to fix the world instead of causing more pain. He makes
it clear (at least in the movie) that his drug dealers only deal to adults.
Anyone who does otherwise joins the various number twos he took out to show the
top dealers he meant business. He’s brutal, but efficient. I imagine a family
gathering at Wayne Manor would be filled with a lot of awkward glances from the
various Robins. Grayson to Todd for what he did to the Robin legacy Grayson
helped create. Todd to Drake for being the snot nosed brat that took his job.
And Drake to Bruce asking with his eyes “Why do we invite him?” Batman tried to
shape him, but in the end, there is a blackness in Jason’s heart that I for one
don’t think he could outrun. Even if he wanted to. He’s efficient, he’s
skilled, he’s the Red Hood. Next time, you think your father-in-law is tough on
ya? Meet Bruce Banner’s, General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross.
http://www.comicvine.com/forums/battles-7/jason-todd-vs-john-stewart-1598669/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Todd#mediaviewer/File:The_Death_of_Jason_Todd.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Todd#mediaviewer/File:RH0002.jpg
http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/Jason_Todd_%28Batman:_Under_the_Red_Hood%29
http://www.comicvine.com/forums/battles-7/jason-todd-red-hood-vs-dick-grayson-nightwing-1592791/
No comments:
Post a Comment