Red Hood, The Bastard Son of the Bat

Can someone who kills ever be a hero? If you’ve read my past articles you’ll probably guess the answer is no. Reading about people like Aquaman, Northstar, or Steel, you’ve seen that they pretty much epitomize your classic hero archetype. But there will always be the anti-hero, the person who walks a fine line between good and evil, the one who seeks a better world through evil means, the name which disgusts heroes and makes villains cower. No one exemplifies the anti-hero better than Jason Todd, the second robin, better known today as the Red Hood, the bastard son of the Bat.

Jason was brought up in a broken home with his father, a petty criminal and his mother, a drug addict. When his father was taken to jail for breaking and entering, Jason’s mother fell into a deep depression. Jason tried to become the provider for their household by performing petty crimes for quick cash to pay his families debts. Nonetheless, his mother was too depressed to live and, as a result, took her own life through a drug overdose. Jason then became a common criminal and joined the scourge of the underworld. However, Jason made a point of never hurting innocent bystanders and tried to ensure that no one would be hurt during his crimes.

Times were still tough on Jason until one night, when he ended up in a fist fight with a Gotham gang. He was brutally beaten almost to the point of death until Batman intervened to save him. When Batman was trying to take Jason to a late night clinic, a nurse confronted Batman and told him that this boy was doing good for Gotham. She told Batman that he should protect him and teach him the right way to protect the city. Batman saw this in Jason and adopted him as his son. He began to train him to become the second Robin. Being one of his most enthusiastic pupils, Jason soon became skilled enough to go on patrol with Batman. This continued until one night when Jason pushed a pimp off a building, causing him to fall to his death. Batman scolded Jason and took him off the streets. This caused Jason to fall into a deep depression and grow distant from Batman. His depression allowed him to fall into a trap set up by Batman’s nemesis the Joker. The Joker savagely beat Jason with a crow bar and left a time bomb in the warehouse he had taken him to. Batman didn’t make it in time and was forced to watch the explosion that killed his ward, later holding Jason’s lifeless body in his arms. Jason’s death, due to Batman’s actions, would haunt Batman forever.

Jason’s lifeless body was stolen by Talia Al Ghul and dipped into the Lazuras Pit, which brought Jason back to life. Being trained by Talia, Jason saw that Batman never avenged his death which caused him to hate batman, and don the title Red Hood, the Joker’s original name, and hated Batman ever since.

Jason Todd, is hands down, the strongest of all the Robin’s when it comes to combat. Before he had any formal training, Jason was able to fight off multiple opponents at once, use a variety of weapons, and was never afraid to use dirty tactics. After not only being trained by Batman, Alfred, and Nightwing, Jason was also trained by Talia Al Ghul and the League of Shadows. Jason is at the peak of physical human conditioning, having the endurance greater than an Olympic athlete. He is a master of several martial arts, a skilled acrobat, trained in a variety of melee weapons, detective training, and bomb assembly.

Perhaps Jason’s greatest asset is his proficiency with firearms, especially with his custom 9mm handguns. Jason is said to be the third greatest marksmen with a firearm, only to be surpassed by Deathstroke and Deadshot. He has his own version of Batman’s utility belt, a leather biker jacket containing a knife, explosives, Taser, glider wings, caltrops, his own version of the Batarang, and ammunition. His iconic Red Hood mask contains many beneficial functions such as a gas mask, GPS tracking, radio transceiver, night vision, and infrared vision. He is multi-lingual and is one of the best automobile drivers in the world, usually preferring his upgraded El Camino or motorcycle.

Jason Todd has been able to go toe to toe with the worst Gotham and the World has to offer. Upon his resurrection, Jason Todd kidnapped the Joker and beat him savagely with a crowbar which if you know anything about comics you know it’s no easy task to pull one over the Joker. He has been able to fight mutants, ninjas, mobsters, all of Batman’s rouge gallery, alien races, undead assassins, and the entire Bat Family. He is the last warrior of the All Caste, a secret society that trained him under orders of Talia Al Ghul, and has been able to take down 80 men at a time, alone, with no help. Currently in the comics, he is assisting the Bat family with Joker, putting his feeling aside to fight a common foe.

Jason is a damaged hero. He feels like Batman never truly loved him like a son and that because he was never avenged his life meant nothing. He was always tortured by the fact his parents were horrible people and that he never really had a place in society. However, Batman always loved Jason and his death always tortured him, always claiming that it was his greatest failure. Jason Todd is a tragic hero and a force to be reckoned with. No matter what villain he faces or what challenge comes his way the Bastard son of the Bat is ready.