Red Hood (DC Comics)

Jason Todd is Red Hood, a vigilante anti-hero who is a member of the Batman Family and the Outlaws. Jason became the second Robin after Dick Grayson became Nightwing and Batman was in need of a new sidekick. Jason was trained by Bruce, and was his ward and partner until his death at the hands of the Joker. He was resurrected by Talia al Ghul using the Lazarus Pit, and then trained by both the League of Assassins and the All-Caste. He eventually returned to Gotham City under the new alias Red Hood, using more lethal methods to fight crime. Jason Peter Todd (b. August 16), is the son of criminals, who were Willis Todd and Shelia Haywood. Though his father would marry Catherine Todd, she was a drug addict, who died from an overdose. With his father having been killed by Two-Face and his mother not a part of his life, Jason was forced into a life of thievery and other petty crimes at a young age. One night, the audacious Jason attempted to steal the tires off the Batmobile. Batman caught him in the act, but also took pity on the boy and decided to take him in as he had once taken in Richard Grayson. He sent him to a school led by Ma Gunn, but Jason learned of Gunn's illegal activities, and escaped to tell Batman. Batman and Jason defeated Gunn and the operation, and Bruce decided to take him in at the age of twelve. Soon, Batman had turned Jason Todd into his second Robin, having trained him to his physical peak. Though Jason quickly showed himself to be arrogant, mean-spirited, and ruthless, he still sometimes performed legitimately heroic deeds, including saving Batman from Deacon Blackfire and later helping stop Mongul during his first usage of the Black Mercy Plant. Ultimately though, Jason's increasingly vicious behavior prompted Batman to dismiss him, though the two would later work together anyway to try and locate Jason Todd's mother, Sheila Haywood. Unfortunately, she sold her son out to the Joker, who she had been in league with. The Joker savagely beat Jason with a crowbar and then left him to die in a warehouse rigged to blow. Batman raced to save his former disciple but was too late. The warehouse exploded and Jason Todd died. This was not to be end of Jason Todd's story however. Revived via a Lazarus Pit (Pre-Flashpoint, his revival was the result of Superboy Prime altering reality, with the Lazarus Pit simply healing his body afterward) Jason Todd spent several years rebuilding himself and training himself further until he was far more dangerous and skilled than he'd ever been previously. Learning that Batman had not avenged him by killing the Joker, Jason was enraged and vowed to kill the Joker himself, as well as do what he felt Batman should do but could not: clean up Gotham City in a far more brutal and lethal manner. So it was that Jason Todd became the Red Hood and brought his own brand of justice to Gotham City. Though typically seen as a villain by this point, Jason Todd is still technically battling against criminals and fighting to stop meances like the Joker, and though far more ruthless and brutal then most DC heroes he still has scruples and a code, and has no desire to hurt innocent civilians. He has also consistently shown a concern for the well-being of children (likely having to do with his own troubled childhood) and saved the life of a teenage girl who had been victimized by Professor Pyg before taking her under his wing much the same way Batman had once taken him in. In current DC continuity, Jason Todd has worked with fellow anti-heroes Arsenal and Starfire as they are pursued by all manner of different foes, including some of Jason Todd's former teachers the All-Caste.