In Batman: The Adventures Continue #9, the origin of Jason Todd is revealed, and a new meaning is given to the Red Hood in the DC Animated Universe.
WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for Batman: The Adventures Continue #9, by Alan Burnett, Paul Dini, Ty Templeton, Monica Kubina and Josh Reed, on sale now.
In Batman: The Adventures Continue #1, Jason Todd returned to Gotham City, and it seemed all but clear that he had a score to settle with the Dark Knight. Since then, Jason has been keeping to the shadows, merely observing the Bat-Family and plotting his plan of attack. Throughout all this time, there was still very little we actually knew about this DC Animated Universe version of Jason Todd. After all, the character never appeared in Batman: The Animated Series or The New Batman Adventures, which made his place in DCAU history a bit of a question mark.
Now, The Adventures Continue #9 confirms that Jason was the second Robin, and something terrible led to Batman thinking he was dead. Not only that, but the issue also reveals part of Jason’s DCAU origin and, it gives a new significance to the Red Hood in doing so.
In the regular DC Universe, Jason Todd operated as the second Robin to Bruce Wayne’s Batman. However, the character eventually fell victim to the Joker. After being dead for years, Jason was brought back to life and returned to Gotham City in search of vengeance. Jason now wore the new identity of the Red Hood, part of a taunt involving the Joker’s previous criminal persona, before he became the maniacal Clown Prince of Crime.
In Batman: The Adventures Continue #9, Alfred reveals how Bruce first met Jason to the current Robin, Tim Drake. He explains that after Dick Grayson stopped being Robin, Batman was on his own for a while. During that time, he came across a street gang of thieves called The Wolves. These criminals would always task their latest recruit with the most dangerous role during a heist: to act as the lookout for the police wearing a red hood. Therefore, if the police would show up, this Red Hood would be the one thief who stood out, and the most likely to get their attention and get caught.
Jason Todd’s older brother joined the Wolves in the hopes of making some money. But while acting as the Red Hood during the gang’s latest robbery, he fell trying to escape from the police and accidentally died. Looking for revenge for what happened to his brother, Jason attacked the Wolves, which is how he got Batman’s attention.
While we have yet to see Jason wear his usual Red Hood mask in the present, he still wears a red hoodie, which suggests that he may take up his comic book identity, as the cover of The Adventures Continue #9’s cover. This means that, now that he’s an adult, Jason has adopted the identity of the Red Hood as a tribute to his brother.
Together, the siblings were orphans, and Jason’s brother only joined up with the Wolves out of desperation. Unfortunately, he ended up losing his life, and Jason had to take matters into his own hands to get revenge. Now that he’s back in Gotham, Jason wants revenge, and he honors the memory of his brother. And at the same time, he reminds Batman of his failure to protect the second Robin.
