Red Hood Rising

With the release of the Titans season 3 trailer last week, fans of the HBO Max show are seeing red. As in Red Hood. This is finally the season where we see Batman’s second Robin, Jason Todd, traumatically become the vigilante he always wanted to be.

Titans follows the story of the Teen Titans, a group of teenage heroes who were sidekicks to their famous mentors: Robin (Dick Grayson) as Batman’s sidekick, Wonder Girl (Donna Troy) as Wonder Woman’s sidekick, Kid Flash (Wally West) as the Flash’s sidekick, and Aqualad (Garth) as Aquaman’s sidekick. Together, these young heroes fought crime as their own mini Justice League, and took on many other members over the years, including the ones highlighted on the HBO Max show: Superboy (Conner Kent), Beast Boy (Garfield Logan), Raven (Rachel Roth), and Starfire (Koriand'r/Kory Anders). The first two seasons highlighted Dick Grayson evolving from Robin into Nightwing as he learned to lead the team and fail to hold it together through their mistakes. New additions added to this struggle, including Rose Wilson, the daughter of the villain Deathstroke, Slade Wilson, and Batman’s latest Robin, Jason Todd. And from the trailer, we see that Jason is going to be a central figure of season 3, along with new characters like Red Robin (Tim Drake), Batgirl/Oracle (Barbara Gordon), and Blackfire (Komand'r).

As soon as Jason was introduced on the show as Robin, fans knew what was in store. If you somehow haven’t read A Death in the Family, it came out in 1988. So read a copy. Basically, the problem was this: Jason Todd was a very different Robin character from the first Boy Wonder, Dick Grayson. And fans weren’t there for it. Dick represents everything good that Batman can’t be. Orphaned at a young age from his parents’ murder, like Bruce, Dick took on crime-fighting while managing to retain his light-hearted nature. Bruce took him in as his ward and trained him in order to give him a channeling for the pain of his loss, but Dick didn’t become hardened and cynical like his mentor. Dick, as Bruce himself has said, is a purer vision of what Batman is supposed to be. Dick is the one hero besides Superman whom everyone trusts. He is kind, loyal, optimistic, and…good. He’s a boy scout, like Superman. And he’s always cracking jokes. Holy Titans Trailer, Batman!

When he grew up and decided it was time to hang up the armored leotard for the full tights, Nightwing was born. A name inspired by a story of Krypton’s gods, Nightwing is the symbol of rebirth and hope, renewing the destruction left by its counterpart, Flamebird. And if Dick is Nightwing, then Jason Todd is definitely the Flamebird laying waste to the world.

Jason was brash and hot-headed, unable to take orders well from Batman. He was a child living on Gotham’s streets when Bruce found him, and in later comics, the origin is that he was found trying to steal the wheels off the Batmobile to pawn for money. Excellent Robin material. Good thinking, Bruce. And indeed, his character was so unlike Dick’s that writers decided to put it to a vote on what should be done with him. 36 hours were given for fans to call in and cast their vote as to whether Jason Todd lived or died. By a slim difference of only 72 votes (5,343 to 5,271) Jason bit the bullet. Or rather, tire iron, ironically. Jason disobeys Batman’s orders during a desert mission and goes after the Joker on his own, resulting in a brutal beating with a crowbar, followed by a bomb explosion just to top it off. Batman’s guilt is as catastrophic as the death itself. And this is what fans are excited to see in Titans season 3? Yes. Because it doesn’t end there. The trailer has Dick Grayson's voice over saying, "This is Gotham. People die here. People like us." Yes. But they don't always stay dead.

Thought to be gone, Jason shocks everyone and returns to Gotham years later as the vigilante Red Hood. Robin no more, he dons the same title the Joker once used, and he has a plan of swift retribution coming for the Clown Prince of Crime. Jason was revived in a Lazarus Pit, a pool of water with restorative powers used by the immortal Ra’as Al Ghul. To use the Pit comes at a price, though, and Jason’s already troubled mind was affected by even more turmoil and imbalance. Already violent and aggressive as Robin, Jason now becomes lethal. As Red Hood, he breaks Batman’s one code: do not kill. To Jason, that rule is an excuse. Even though Joker killed him, Jason is furious that Bruce still refused to kill the villain. Every time Batman lets Joker live, he is responsible for the people who die as a result of his future destruction. And Jason is having none of it.

Jason believes it is better to kill one man in order to stop him from killing countless others. It is the fundamental difference of philosophy between him and Batman, who maintains the belief that every life is worth saving, even one as wretched as Joker’s. Red Hood takes on Gotham’s criminal organizations, such as Black Mask, without mercy, and he is such a popular character because of this distinction. He is different from all the Robins in that he does not hesitate to shoot someone dead. Even the use of a gun is fundamental to his character, as it was a gun that killed Thomas and Martha Wayne and is a weapon that Bruce will never touch. And so Batman and the others are left fighting Red Hood to keep him in line and clean up his mess--though Jason claims to be cleaning up the mess of Gotham's streets himself.

Jason still fights for good. But he is the rogue vigilante who finally embraces breaking all the rules he once got in trouble for as Robin. While he was written poorly and received even more poorly as Robin, he takes the spotlight as Red Hood. As disturbed as one would be from returning from the dead, Jason channels his angst into his dirty fight to defend Gotham. Fans are excited to see Joker beat him to death with that crowbar because they know what’s coming. As horrific as it is, the event carries even more weight as Bruce and Dick carry the weight of their failure with Jason, and then even more when they realize he’s returned as something fully unstoppable and renegade. Jason lives the outlaw life, literally with the group of the Outsiders, the ones who operate outside the rules of the Teen Titans. And he’s a dry humored force of brash confidence and skill to be reckoned with. Fans are ready to see Red Hood.

Curran Walters knows how important it is to see this transformation done right. When one fan commented on his Instagram post revealing the Red Hood uniform that he hopes the character will be awesome, Walters replied, “I got you. I gave my everything to this character.” And so now we wait to see if that’s enough. To keep you busy until Titans season 3 returns on August 12 to HBO Max, get ready by watching the trailer again, and by picking up Batman: Under the Red Hood to read (and watch). Jensen Ackles voices Red Hood and, ironically, will voice Batman himself in the upcoming Batman: The Long Halloween films, part 1 and 2.