In Batman: The Adventures Continue, the Red Hood breaks away from Batman and finds a new partner, forming an all-new deadly duo.
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Batman: The Adventures Continue #14 by Alan Burnett, Paul Dini, Ty Templeton, Josh Reed, and Monica Kubina, on sale now.
Red Hood’s mission to confront everything that Batman stands for reaches its climax in Batman: The Adventures Continue #14. After capturing the Dark Knight, Red Hood tries to force him to do the thing that, in Red Hood’s mind, he should have done years ago: Kill the Joker. Batman, always steadfast in his beliefs, refused, and in the resulting conflict, Red Hood was swept out to sea. But this was not the end of Jason Todd, but a new beginning. He woke up to find his rescuer was offering to be his new partner: Deathstroke.
The events that led Jason to come into contact with Deathstroke had him confronting a recently captured Batman. Having trapped him and Joker in the same room, Red Hood placed Robin in a tank slowly being filled with water. The goal was simple: to save Robin’s life, Batman would need to kill the Joker with a crowbar.
Batman refused to acquiesce, giving subtle hints to Robin so that he could plug his cape into the pipe that was pumping the water. From there, all Batman needed to do was stall. But then something strange happened. The Joker began playing along, refusing to fight Batman even when Red Hood threatened him. In the Joker’s sick mind, there was no fun in being forced to fight Batman. They needed to go at each other willingly.
As Joker taunted the Red Hood with his inability to force either of them to cave to his demands, Joker’s latest henchman, Straightman, burst through the floor, surprising even the Joker, who had forgotten his enhanced goon could track him. Straightman attacked Batman, but the Dark Knight maneuvered him into knocking down a wall that led to the hideout being flooded.
Red Hood got knocked away in the process. But even though Batman tried to save him, Red Hood refused, telling Batman to save the Robin who needed him. Red Hood fell into the water and was swept away into Gotham Bay. When he next woke, he was on the ship of Slade Wilson, the villainous mercenary known as Deathstroke. Slade offered Jason a home and a place to work, commenting that Jason may have found a new family.