Holy different Robins, Batman!

Damian Wayne as Robin

I’ve been ingesting an unhealthy amount of Batman lately: comics new and old, animated series, basically whatever I can get my hands on before I get Arkham City. One thing I didn’t realize is that there have been several different sidekicks playing the part of Robin. Here’s a quick cheat sheet, in the order they took on the role of Robin:

Dick Grayson

The original Robin. He was adopted by Bruce Wayne after his parents died in a sabotaged flying trapeze tragedy. He later became Nightwing, and even took on the role of Batman for a while when Bruce Wayne was thought dead.

Jason Todd

Became the second Robin in 1983 after Grayson became Nightwing. He was killed by the Joker in the late ’80s in the comic story arc A Death in the Family. He was later resurrected and took on the role of Red Hood.

Tim Drake

Earned the right to be Robin after using his detective skills to discover the true identities of Batman and Robin, and saving their lives from Two-Face. In 2009 he took on the role of Red Robin.

Damian Wayne

The son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul (Ra’s al Ghul’s daughter). He was trained since birth by the League of Assassins and as of this writing is the current Robin at his father’s side.

There have been a couple girl Robins, too, but the guys above have been the major players. Robin’s come a long way over the years, and has evolved into being much more than just a sidekick. Plus he looks really cool wearing a hood. We can call it his “Robin Hood”. For even more poorly-written details check out the Robin Wikipedia entry.