Robin

[JokerMeThis]

I like Batman best as a dark loner. It's okay to introduce Robin and other partners of Batman after Batman has been shown as a loner for a time though. I think it helps Batman evolve into a more social person who can trust people again. Notice that Bruce became a much lighter and happier person between Batman Forever and Batman and Robin. The influence of a "son" and crime fighting partner like Robin might have helped. Maybe it helped Bruce to finally have a friend besides Alfred. A friend who also lost his parents to an insane criminal.

[Edd Grayson]

I think you're right JokerMeThis. Robin is Batman's first real friend after Alfred as well as a fellow crimefighter who was also traumatised as a child.

I've read that Robin will allegedly have been killed by The Joker in the new franchise, but it's just a rumor.

[riddler]

I like Batman best as a dark loner. It's okay to introduce Robin and other partners of Batman after Batman has been shown as a loner for a time though. I think it helps Batman evolve into a more social person who can trust people again. Notice that Bruce became a much lighter and happier person between Batman Forever and Batman and Robin. The influence of a "son" and crime fighting partner like Robin might have helped. Maybe it helped Bruce to finally have a friend besides Alfred. A friend who also lost his parents to an insane criminal.

While you're not wrong, the reason Bruce doesn't act as dark in the 4th film is because the events of Batman Forever cure him of his guilt; he realizes he doesn't have to be Batman, he chooses to be. Also in a deleted scene he finds out that it was not his fault his parents died.

[The Dark Knight]

I like Batman as a dark loner, but Robin doesn't have to take away from this completely. I like the on-again, off again nature of Robin in BTAS, especially in the earlier episodes. As the years pass I'm more welcoming of this particular approach, because I think it makes Batman's universe feel more complete.

There's something about Robin that humanises Bruce. It gives him added purpose, and let's face it, Bruce (and Batman comics in general) thrive when things become personal. I dig the whole 'son becomes the father' angle. Passing on knowledge to the next generation, with each character growing as a result.

Burt Ward can be laughed at for the jokes he was given, but he injected genuine heart and soul into that performance, along with Adam West. They got along well. I believed they were close, and importantly, a team.

I think it's time we saw more of Robin. It would be a shame for him to be airbrushed out of history for fear of 'camp' and all that jazz. The Arkham series approached things quite well, I think, even if a little too much on the grim side.

[riddler]

It's important to show the hero in peril sometimes; the illusion of invincibility can make them boring. And Batman sometimes can seem as though he can do anything but he can't. Sometimes the villains do outsmart him and that's where Robin comes in. It does add to Bruces character that every time he is saved he shrugs it off and pretends he had it.

[Edd Grayson]

Update: I quite like Tim Drake now too, as well as Jason Todd 

But I still wish we saw Dick Grayson as Nightwing, and more of the Batman-Robin partnership in movies. I don't think Ward and O'Donnell were that bad, even if they were campy... and the team should not be thought of as just a 60's thing,  Batman TAS, TNBA and Under the Red Hood prove otherwise.

[The Laughing Fish]

Update: I quite like Tim Drake now too, as well as Jason Todd 

I heard that Jason Todd is the least liked Robin out of all of them among some fan circles. I don't mind him, but I do understand the criticism. Unlike Dick and Tim, who always had the mental strength and bright personality to overcome their tragic backstories - perhaps even more so than Batman himself - Jason always lacked the emotional intelligence that was needed to survive as a crimefighter. Being street smart wasn't going to cover up his attitude deficiencies. And his impulsive attitude ultimately got himself killed.

The sad thing about Jason is he looked like he was heading towards the right path.  In Batman #411 - Second Chance, Jason was outraged when his father was killed by Two-Face and Batman kept the truth away from him.



But towards the end of the story, he saved Two-Face from being crushed to death, and turned him over to the police instead. Despite knowing that Two-Face killed his father, Jason seemed to understand that revenge would be useless and took more comfort that Two-Face would answer for his crimes, much to Batman's pleasure.



This optimism changed, however, in the late 80s when Batman comics took a darker turn. During an investigation into a series of serial murders involving young women in Batman #422 - Just Deserts, Jason took his anger out at a pimp for threatening a prostitute, until he was stopped by Batman.



In Batman #424 - The Diplomat's Son, Jason's frustration with operating within the law as it prevents the arrest and prosecution against Felipe Garzonas for raping a woman because his father is a South American diplomat, reaches at an all time high when Garzonas' phone call threats prompts the victim to commit suicide.



It's implied that Robin avenged the girl's death when Robin arrives at Garzonas' apartment and supposedly forced him to fall to his death, but the scene was ambiguous and left to the reader's imagination.





Finally, things were worsening in A Death in the Family, as Jason's impatient assault attack on a child porn ring initially had Bruce deciding to ban him from duty. The situation becomes further complicated when Jason runs away upon learning his biological mother is still alive somewhere overseas, although he and Batman agree to work together again to stop Joker from selling a nuclear bomb.



As things suddenly look bright for Jason when he found his mother, who is a doctor in Ethiopia, things tragically turn for the worst as she double-crosses her own son to her boss, the Joker. Which lead to that infamous crowbar smackdown.



Amazingly, as Joker double-crosses Jason's mother and have both of them blown to bits, Jason still tries to save her moments before the two perish in the explosion.

Had Jason immediately called for Batman's help and not try to save his own mum by himself, would he have stayed alive today? Maybe. But to be fair, you might understand that Jason was afraid that his own mum's life was at stake, and never in his wildest imaginations did ever think he could be betrayed like this.

Nonetheless, that's the difference between him and Dick Grayson and Tim Drake. The other two Robins didn't let their emotion let them cloud their judgment. And they knew the law wasn't perfect, but they soldiered on. Win some and lose some. When push came to shove, Jason just mentally wasn't cut out for this lifestyle, and now Batman has to live with the guilt of Jason's death (and his subsequent resurrection as the Red Hood) for the rest of his life.

But in my opinion, I'm glad that Jason Todd existed in the Post Crisis era. His existence dealt with a compelling scenario that Batman faced over his own loneliness and realizing how he needs a sidekick to help him as he gets older. It gave complexity to his friendship with Dick Grayson, as their partnership ended on abrupt turns and Bruce's decision to taking Jason under his wing meant that letting Dick go was a mistake. One might say "he didn't learn his lesson" when he allowed Tim to become Robin afterwards, but Bruce was very hesitant, and initially even forbade IIRC, to take up the mantle, despite Tim's stressing that "he's not like Jason".

[Edd Grayson]

Thank you for the great insight, TLF. And all I knew about Todd prior to your post was "Under the Red Hood", and I could really see where Jason was coming from.

My favorite is still Dick Grayson, with Tim closing in and Jason still an interesting one. I don't know that much about other Robins, I'm afraid.

Do you like Grayson or Drake more ?

[The Laughing Fish]

Glad you enjoyed reading it, Edd. 

If I have to choose between Grayson and Drake, I'd still have to choose Grayson only because I'm more familiar with him. He was always portrayed as the polar opposite to Batman's broody personality. Besides, Loren Lester doing his 1950s voice-style acting makes me laugh. 

I still need to read more Tim Drake stories before I can give a more informed opinion about him, but I noticed, and I'm sure it was mentioned elsewhere a few times on this forum, that The New Batman Adventures TV show used Jason Todd's background for their version of the character i.e. run-down home with a struggling dad who was killed by Two-Face. In the comics, Tim's parents were still alive and they worked as archeologists until they were abducted and poisoned to a death by a voodoo magician during a trip to Africa. But both versions had one thing in common: Tim was obsessed with Batman, and followed his career closely.

[Edd Grayson]

Grayson is mine also because I was very familiar with him for a long time, and yes because he was the "light side" of the team. I like Drake too, and have you seen him in "Return of the Joker" ? 

I've also seen the 2003 "Teen Titans" Robin, assumed by fans to be Dick, and enough hints made me think so too. Still, I can't imagine Robin working for too long with no Batman. And not even Nightwing. Batman without Robin, maybe, but I still like them to be a duo.