thattimdrakeguy:

Different writers, from fans and DC, all seem to have a different idea about who Jason Todd was as Robin.

Some fans say that he was a soft innocent boy before the evil writers got him.

Others constantly say he was nothing but a pain in Batman’s side.

So I collected a bunch of panels to really put together what he was actually like:

Well, Jason always smoked. I seen some people say that was added later on to make him look bad, but this comes from his first or second issue. He was always a smoker.

A bit of a Rock N Roller, and maybe metal head going off those choices of posters.

He also always had a distaste for authority and a potty mouth.

Jason didn’t even want to be adopted or taken in, since he gotten so used to his street-oriented life style.

But right from the beginning that he genuinely did have a good heart, and would put himself in harm’s way despite anyone telling him no, because he believed that someone had to stop the bad guys.

So in his first story, this was who he was.

In the next story we learned that Jason was a 5th Grade dropout.

I have no idea how old Jason was when Bruce found him though, I only know that Jason is 2 to 3 years older than Tim, because in an issue of Young Justice, Jason is said to would’ve been 17 at a time were Timmy was either 14 or 15.

Due to a time jump between his first story and this one, that’s around six months or more, also given how much training he has, and how he’s clearly growing to be quite a buff kid. I can’t exactly say how long Jason was Robin either.

We also learn that Jason really loved education, and he reminded Bruce a lot of Dick. (Maybe it’s how they cut his hair the same exact way)

So this is were people seem to have a split on who he is, because his first story introduces him as a rough street kid, and this one shows him being a kind school-oriented kid.

They seem to ignore the literal next issue though for those that wanna say he was ONLY a kind school-oriented kid.

Because surprisingly (to some people), he wasn’t a one note character and was still really violent, with murderous tenancies.

His second story showed that even though he loved school, and had a good heart. He still had a dark side to him.

Bruce wasn’t happy.

Jason wasn’t happy either, and could get quite emotional.

(The panel above was after Jason learned that Two Face killed his dad but before Jason tried to kill him)

The people that wanna say Jason was nothing but a thorn in Batman’s side ignore though, is that Batman was actually understanding of Jason.

Believe it or not, he didn’t just beat Jason in the head. He actually talked to him about it.

He still really enjoyed school too. While he wasn’t much of a typical geek or anything of the sort, given his tastes and general attitude. He still loved education and showed that he appreciated the opportunities he was given, even if he didn’t want to be adopted originally.

Despite that he still grew to be a rebel if he genuinely thought he was going to stop a good guy. The seeds that would grow once he became the Red Hood were still there. His methods were always more violent, and he still didn’t always listen.

He even showed that the knew how to use a gun excellently, but the context to this one for anyone confused, is that he’s shooting a robot. He’s not actually killing a man. I’m just showing the panel to show that A LOT of what he would be like as the Red Hood was always there.

Also apparently no one told him who the heck Nightwing was at first, and this actually made me laugh inside a little bit, because he’s just in total shock over this. Timmy would’ve gave Jason a freak out if Jason knew a little kid knew who he was.

Throughout the series we even see Jason work hard at becoming that muscular, tall, chiseled man that we know as the Red Hood from the scrawny street rat. I’m proud of him.

He also shows insecurity when he learns who Dick was. Meaning that he wasn’t completely cold hearted.

Even though there was a lot of times were he showed no sympathy towards various criminals.

Jason could also get quite cocky.

and straight reckless.

That panel is from “Death in the Family”, and people say that they made him more violent in that story, but from all that I’ve seen. He’s always been that way as a Robin.

They got straight eerie about him too.

It wasn’t a shocker he enjoyed the bars when he got old enough though.

So basically: He was an angry, emotional, reckless, rebellious, violent street kid. Who was also genuinely heroic, good hearted, and only got violent when he thought it was the right thing to do. He didn’t hurt just anybody, he only hurt violent criminals who did awful thing.



Honestly Jason just needed a therapist to help him through his problems, because he wasn’t a bad guy. He just had troubles that made him act out in violent ways.