Alternative versions of Robin

Alternate versions of Robin
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Detective Comics #38 (April 1940)
Created by	Bob Kane Jerry Robinson Bill Finger
See also	Robin in other media

Robin is a fictional character, a superhero in publications from DC Comics. Robin has long been a fixture in the Batman comic books as Batman's sidekick. Since 1940, several different youths have appeared as Robin. In each incarnation, Robin's brightly colored visual appearance and youthful energy have served as a contrast to Batman's dark look and manner.

This page is a list of the alternate versions of Robin in comic books, including DC Comics, the multiverse, Elseworlds, and other sources.

In mainstream comics continuity

• Dick Grayson is the original Robin. Though he later assumes the name Nightwing in the comics, Grayson is the most commonly portrayed version in other media. Grayson was temporarily Batman, but with Bruce Wayne's return, he will go back to being Nightwing.
• A boy named Lance Bruner undergoes key elements of the Robin origin story (becoming an orphan, getting adopted by Bruce Wayne, discovering the Batcave, and donning the Robin costume to fight crime) before he is killed, all within The Brave and the Bold #83 (April–May 1969). For most of the story, he is however a "bad seed", an "evil son" whose crimes include arranging his own fake kidnapping and even an attempted murder of Batman and Robin (Dick Grayson, who remains the real Robin throughout the story).
• Jason Todd becomes Robin after Grayson, though his superheroic career is ended by his untimely death at the hands of The Joker. Todd is later resurrected and assumes the name Red Hood, and later Red Robin. He briefly tried to take over the mantle of Batman, before Dick Grayson made him fall to his apparent death; he is now the Red Hood again.
• Tim Drake assumes the Robin identity after Todd, but quits at the request of his father. After his replacement Stephanie Brown is presumed dead, Drake reclaims the mantle. Batman (Dick Grayson) passes the Robin mantle on to Damian Wayne after the events of Battle for the Cowl. Drake, reluctantly, becomes Red Robin.
• Bruce Wayne briefly assumed the role when de-aged during the Sins of Youth storyline.
• Stephanie Brown, Drake's girlfriend who was a superheroine known as the Spoiler, briefly takes on the Robin name in place of Drake, becoming the first female version of the superhero. She is now the current Batgirl.
• Damian Wayne, the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al Ghul, assumed the Robin mantle after the events of Battle for the Cowl.

Pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths,l a number of Robins lived on different "Earths" in the original multiverse (which was destroyed during the Crisis).

In a Batman story from the 1950s, Bruce Wayne assumes the identity of Robin. Richard Grayson of Earth-Two carried on his Robin mantle long into adulthood. Post-52, an entirely new finite multiverse was discovered and created, and as such, a number of Robins may exist now on other alternate Earths. In one frame of the final issue of 52, a new Earth-2 is depicted, along with a character that resembles the original, adult Earth-2 Robin. Whether it is that character or not remains to be seen, as this Earth-2 is not identical to the one that existed before Crisis on Infinite Earths. In another case, Talon is an analogue of Robin, from the new Earth-3 where his relationship with Owlman mirrors that of Batman and Robin in the mainstream universes and maintained a romantic relationship with Duela Dent. Batman #666 depicts a future in which Batman's biological son Damian Wayne becomes Batman, having previously served as Robin.

Alternate versions

Dick Grayson (Earth Two)

Main article: Robin (Earth-Two)

Robin of Earth-Two.

The Robin of Earth-Two is a parallel version of the fictional DC Comics superhero, who was introduced after DC Comics created Earth-Two, a parallel world that was retroactively established as the home of characters which had been published in the Golden Age of comic books. This allowed creators to publish comic books featuring Robin while being able to disregard Golden Age stories, solving an incongruity, as Robin had been published as a single ongoing incarnation since inception.

Robin's origin and history begins the same as the classic version except the timeframe occurs when the Detective Comics #38 was originally printed: 1940.

• Richard Grayson's parents are killed by Anthony Zucco.
• After a period of training, a young Dick Grayson becomes Robin. His first printed story is "Robin, the Boy Wonder."^[1]
• Robin participates in the war-time only All Star Squadron. His distant cousin is Charles Grayson, the scientific assistant of Robotman.

This version of Dick Grayson ceased to exist after the multi arc DC Universe spanning event Crisis on Infinite Earths. He was killed by the Anti-Monitor's Shadow Demons while trying to save civilians, along with Earth-1's Kole and the Batman of Earth-Two's daughter,the Huntress (Helena Wayne).

When the Multiverse was recreated in the DC Universe event, Infinite Crisis, a new Earth-Two was born, with a Dick Grayson that resemble's the original Earth-Two Grayson. It was established that this new Earth-Two was not the same one as before the Crisis on the Infinite Earths.^[2]

Talon (Earth-Three)

In Teen Titans #38 (2006), the former sidekick of Owlman II, the second Talon, is the parallel dimension's Tim Drake. He is a former member of the Crime Society and a member of the Teen Titans during the one year gap after Infinite Crisis. His costume is similar to the third male Robin costume, but with the colors reversed. According to an interview with Tony Daniel at Newsarama, Talon is supposed to look like his mentor Owlman.^[3] He briefly battled Black Adam with his fellow Titans during World War III. It was revealed in The Search for Ray Palmer: Crime Society that there have been several Talons. The first one is shown dressed parallel to that of Grayson's classic Robin costume, including brown pixie boots. On post-Crisis Earth-3, the Teen Titans' Talon and Duela Dent, the daughter of the Jokester, had been dating. When Duela revealed their relationship to her parents, her father denounced her and the two fled. It is currently unknown how the two managed to flee to New Earth, or what has happened to Talon beyond that.

Bruce Wayne Junior

In "The Second Batman and Robin Team" (Batman #131, April 1960), Bruce Wayne's butler writes a story about the possible future of Batman and Robin. In it, Bruce Wayne marries Kathy Kane, the Batwoman and they have a son named Bruce Jr. When Wayne retires as Batman, Dick Grayson takes over the role of the Caped Crusader. Bruce Jr., having secretly trained on his own, volunteers to become the new Robin, despite some objections from his mother. As Robin II, he fights alongside Batman II. Several subsequent "imaginary stories" featuring Bruce Jr. followed; the last was "Bat-Girl--Batwoman II" in Batman #163 (May 1964).

Grant Morrison used the Bruce Wayne Jr. character in JLA #9 (September 1997), in the story "Elseworlds."^[4] After the supervillain Key traps the Justice Leaguers in dream worlds, Batman dreams of a future in which he is married to Selina Kyle/Catwoman. They have a son named Bruce Junior, who was raised from birth to be a superhero and serves as Robin II alongside a Tim Drake Batman.

John Byrne created his own Bruce Jr. in the epilogue of the Batman/Captain America crossover from 1996; this Robin is a red-head and resembles a male Carrie Kelly. Captain America wakes up in modern times after having been frozen in ice towards the end of World War II. He reunites with Batman, a friend who had helped him when Joker and Red Skull joined forces. The Captain is amazed to learn that in the time he slept, Bruce Wayne has retired from being Batman, has passed the mantle to Dick Grayson and that his son Bruce Junior is the new Robin.

Byrne revists Bruce Jr. in his Superman & Batman: Generations series. There, Bruce Junior, son of Bruce Senior and an unnamed woman who strongly resembles Julie Madison, trains as a boy in hopes of following his father's footsteps. However, his mother refuses to let "BJ" become Robin until he turns eighteen, and Dick Grayson, then Batman, says that she has final say. However, on Halloween night of 1964 and at age fifteen, he and Superman's daughter Kara (Supergirl) sneak out to have an adventure and, with the help of Wonder Woman's daughter Wonder Girl and The Flash's nephew Kid Flash join forces to defeat some of Flash's Rogue's Gallery, deciding to form their own team called the Justice League.^[5] BJ and Kara become romantically involved as adults, but BJ puts the relationship on hold when Joker kills Dick, forcing him to become the third Batman. BJ and Kara eventually marry, but their wedding is halted by Kara's bother Joel Kent. Joel, who had been manipulated into hating his family by Lex Luthor- due to Joel having lost his powers when he was exposed to gold kryptonite in the womb, Luthor claiming that his parents did it deliberately so that Joel would never surpass his father when in reality Luthor was the one who did it-, attacks and savagely kills Kara using a formula that Luthor had developed to give him powers. After Joel is killed by Luthor- who mockingly reveals to Joel as he dies that the serum which restored his powers was only temporary and that his father had always told him the truth while Luthor had done nothing but lie to him-, BJ agrees to take care of Joel's son, marrying the boy's mother Mei Lei some time later.^[6] The child, named Clark Wayne, becomes BJ's Robin and is offered the mantle of Batman when he becomes an adult, but turns it down in order to pursue his own heroic identity, Knightwing, reasoning that only a Wayne could be Batman. Later Bruce Jr. becomes head of Ra's al Ghul's criminal empire which his father had turned to good. After having his life artificially extended by al Ghul's Lazarus Pit, BJ dies fighting an alien invasion and is greeted by Kara, welcoming him into Heaven.^[7]

For more information on a similar concept, see Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne's son by Talia al Ghul. In the wake of his father's apparent death, his father's first Robin, Dick Grayson, has taken over as Batman with Damien serving as the new Robin.

Batman: Digital Justice

In the digitally rendered tale Batman: Digital Justice, James Gordon the grandson of his namesake, Commissioner Gordon, takes on the mantle of the Batman. A character named Robert Chang, who is somewhat reminiscent of the post-Crisis Jason Todd, takes on the mantle of Robin.

Zero Hour

Introduced as an alternate Dick Grayson from a timeline when his Titan teammate, Donna Troy, had a son who was driven mad, took on the mantle of Lord Chaos and conquered his world. This version of Dick stayed in his identity of Nightwing and helped train squadrons of superpowered teenagers that became known as the Team Titans. He was involved with the much younger Titan, Mirage, during this time. This alternate-future Nightwing came back in time and briefly joins the Team Titans when their mission takes them to their past, our present. This version of Nightwing, attacked and corrupted by a dark version of Raven shortly after his arrival, changes his name to Deathwing, and serves as her assistant. He becomes so twistedly evil, he at one point tracks down his one time lover, Mirage, and rapes her. She becomes pregnant and has a child named Julienne

During the Zero Hour event that retroactively erased this timeline, Mirage, Terra and Deathwing survive. It is later established that they are from the current time-line, and were shunted through time and given false memories by the Time Trapper, who wished to use them as sleeper agents against the time travel villain, Extant.

It wasn't revealed until one of the later runs of the Teen Titans that this was not Dick Grayson, in fact his true identity was never uncovered. After this storyline, this version of Nightwing has not been seen since. Whether this version existed at all, after the events of Infinite Crisis or would later to be revealed to be an alternate Dick, Jason, or Tim, is unknown.

Kingdom Come

Main article: Red Robin (comics)

Red Robin in Kingdom Come.

In Kingdom Come (a post-Infinite Crisis Earth-22), a middle-aged Dick Grayson reclaims the Robin mantle and becomes Red Robin, not at the side of his former mentor Batman, but rather with Superman's League. His uniform is closer to Batman's in design, rather than any previous Robin uniform. Age has not slowed him down, as he possesses all of his stealth and fighting skills. In this story he has a daughter with Starfire; Mar'i Grayson (Nightstar). Starfire has apparently died by the time of the story, according to the Elliot S! Maggin novelization, and Nightstar calls Bruce Wayne "Grandpa", despite no blood relation. At the end of the comic and the novel, Bruce and Dick had reconciled.

Red Robin reappeared in promotional material for the DC Countdown event; Eventually, it was revealed that this Red Robin was not Dick Grayson, but rather Jason Todd who appeared under the cape and cowl.^[8][9] The Red Robin costume was stated to be more symbolism, than an actual costume choice, as Jason has been both the Red Hood and Robin, being shown as Red Robin.

However, in Countdown to Final Crisis #17, Jason dons a Red Robin suit from a display case in the "Bat Bunker" (Earth-51's equivalent to the Bat Cave) as he and Earth-51 Batman join the fight raging on the Earth above the bunker. Jason keeps his new suit and identity for the rest of his tenure as a "Challenger of the Unknown", only to discard it on his return to New Earth and revert to his "Red Hood" street clothing.

During the Scattered Pieces tie-in to Batman R.I.P., a new Red Robin makes his appearance, at first only as a glimmering image following Robin (Tim Drake) and suspected to have stolen a briefcase of money from the Penguin. Tim initially suspects Jason Todd of reprising his Red Robin persona. However, Jason claims innocence, supposing that someone may have stolen his suit when he discarded it earlier. The new Red Robin breaks up a scuffle between Tim and Jason, and later is revealed to be Ulysses Armstrong. Armstrong later changes costumes when he reveals himself to be the new Anarky, and after being severely burned in an explosion, an embattled Tim Drake dons the less-revealing Red Robin costume to hide his wounds. He later returns to his standard uniform.

In 2009, a new on-going series was introduced titled Red Robin. The new Red Robin was revealed to be Tim Drake/Wayne.

Stan Lee's Robin

DC created a version of Robin for Stan Lee's Just Imagine... line of comics, in which DC Comics characters were re-imagined by Marvel Comics luminary Stan Lee. Robin is an orphan who has been forced by Reverend Darkk, the series' main villain, into becoming a thief and a murderer. He meets Batman when Darkk assigns Robin to kill him. Batman survives the attack and in return shows Robin what kind of a man Darkk really is. Robin joins the good side for a time, but in the crisis issue it is revealed that Robin has in fact been working with Darkk the whole time; in the end he is transformed into a Hawkman, before being reborn through Yggdrasil as the Atom.

DC One Million

In the 853rd Century, the current Batman is aided by the robot called Robin the Toy Wonder. This Batman's parents were guards on the prison planet of Pluto and died in a prison riot that turned into a mass slaughter of the guards. Robin is programmed with the personality of this Batman as a boy and acts as a foil/source of perspective so that he will not become consumed by darkness in his quest for justice. This Robin believes this was the same reason Bruce Wayne brought Dick Grayson into his life.

Dick Grayson (Earth-43)

In this universe, the setting of Batman & Dracula: Red Rain and its sequels, the Flying Graysons are killed by the vampire Batman, as shown in DC Infinite Halloween Special. Dick grows up to become an obsessive vampire hunter, but is turned by Batman in The Search for Ray Palmer: Red Rain, and becomes his partner.

Dick Grayson (Earth-50)

In the Wildstorm Universe, Dick Grayson is a Planetary agent in Gotham City, partnered with a man named Jasper who resembles the Joker. He appears in Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth, prior to the Planetary team's shift into universes with a Batman.

The Dark Knight Universe Robins

These stories are set in Frank Miller's Dark Knight Universe, which is not considered canonical. Miller has stated that the Dark Knight Universe consists of: Batman: Year One (the only book canonical to the DCU as well), All Star Batman and Robin, the Spawn/Batman crossover, The Dark Knight Returns, The Dark Knight Strikes Again and the upcoming Holy Terror, Batman!^[10] Holy Terror, Batman! has since been disassociated from Batman.

In this version, Batman looks upon his sidekicks as employees rather than proteges (although he refers to Robin as a protégé in All Star Batman and Robin #9), whom he threatens to "fire" from their "jobs" and even does so in the case of one of them.

Dick Grayson

In Frank Miller's Dark Knight Universe, Grayson's origin differs in various ways to the official DC Comics Universe. As seen in the All Star Batman and Robin title, he is a twelve-year-old boy who performs in the circus with his two parents, as the Flying Graysons. Bruce Wayne had come to the show many times to watch him perform his stunts. One night, while Wayne watches the show with reporter Vicki Vale, the Graysons perform an amazing feat. The audience begin to cheer and clap when suddenly a man arrives and shoots Grayson's parents in the head.

Batman takes out the gunman while some corrupt Gotham City Police officers take Dick Grayson into custody. They take him instead to a place outside Gotham City, into a deserted stretch of forest where they torture and/or execute people, but Batman comes to the rescue.

Batman takes Dick into the Batmobile and asks him to join him in his crusade against crime in Gotham City. Dick agrees to join the crusade. Upon arrival in the Batcave, Batman intends for Dick to survive in the cave without any help. However Alfred Pennyworth takes pity on Dick and gives him food and a decent place to sleep. Batman is displeased, as he wants Dick to go through the same things he did, whether Dick likes it or not.

Later, Batman brings in the killer of Dick's parents, a man called Jocko-boy Vanzetti. Batman tells him that even though Vanzetti killed his parents, someone else hired him to do so. Batman gives Grayson, who at the time had an axe, the choice of whether to kill Jocko-boy or not. Grayson cuts the tape over Vanzetti's mouth and asks him who hired him to kill his parents. The answer, much to Batman's disgust, is the Joker.

Batman orders Grayson to make himself a costume. He does so using Robin Hood as an inspiration. He becomes an archer and wears a cape with a hood thus calling himself Hood. Batman, upon seeing this, pulls his hood down, telling him that anyone could do simply that. Upon hearing this advice, Grayson loses the hood and decides to call himself Robin. With his new alter-ego confirmed, he accompanies Batman to confront Green Lantern, as Batman and Green Lantern talk in one of Batman's safe houses which Robin had painted yellow in order to keep Hal Jordan from using his power ring.

After a lengthy discussion in which Jordan loses his composure and strikes Batman, Jordan accuses Batman of kidnapping Grayson and dressing him up as his sidekick. Batman tells Jordan that Robin is not Grayson, but in fact a boy he met six years ago on a trip to Istanbul. He eventually retracts the lie and merely assures Jordan that Grayson is not Robin. Robin then reveals he took Jordan's power ring and after a short fight, Robin accidentally hits Jordan in the throat, cutting his air supply. Batman then hits Grayson to make him 'stay down', unmasks and performs a tracheotomy to save Jordan's life. After this, Batman reflects on the event, saying that he did not do a very good job of teaching Robin and then takes Robin to his parent's grave to grieve, claiming that is where it started. Dick cries and punches the headstone, after which Batman consoles his grieving and mournful young ward.

Dick Grayson as the Joker in The Dark Knight Strikes Again

Miller claims that these events precede those of The Dark Knight Returns (DKR) and its sequel Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again. In the latter series, it is revealed that Batman fired Grayson after he proved unsatisfactory. During DKR, Batman calls out to Grayson while delirious, implying a sense of fatherly love otherwise not shown. He later fakes his own death and re-emerges in order to fight a corrupt regime led by Lex Luthor.

Grayson re-appears as a genetically altered supervillain. He apparently joined forces with senior villains such as Luthor, and underwent extensive gene manipulation to gain a healing factor and shapeshifting powers. With these, he can alter his appearance at will and take on the persona of the Joker (who killed himself in DKR). After maiming and killing a number of famous DC characters, (such as Guardian, the Creeper and the Martian Manhunter,) he seeks out Carrie Kelly, Bruce's new partner, intending to kill her in order to exact his final revenge on Batman. His plan fails, however, when Batman arrives to save Catgirl and eventually kills Grayson, activating the cave's self-destruct system and dropping Grayson into the lava pit below the cave, totally disintegrating him.

In this version Batman shows no sympathy at all for Grayson in spite of his pleas; when Grayson protests that he would have done anything for Batman, Bruce simply states that Grayson could not cut it, and, with no qualms whatsoever, sets about the motions to kill him. However in both Dark Knight Returns and the later All Star Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder, Batman shows signs of fatherly love towards him, but decides to hide them. Grayson is called "Joker Boy" by several people including Oliver Queen.

Carrie Kelly

Carrie Kelley as Robin.

Caroline Keene "Carrie" Kelley is a fictional character from Frank Miller's graphic novels Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (1986) and its sequel Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again (2001). She becomes the new Robin in D.K.R. when she saves Batman's life. Later in D.K.S.A., she adopts the identity Catgirl. She was the first full-time female Robin in the history of the Batman franchise, though Julie Madison had passed off as Robin for a brief time in a Bob Kane story published in Detective Comics #49 in March 1941.

Kelley's first appearance was in the critically acclaimed graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns. Kelley was a thirteen year old schoolgirl and scout whom Batman saved from a sadistic group of gang members on the night of his return from retirement. Idolizing the Dark Knight, she then spent her lunch money on a Robin outfit, set out to attack petty con-men and to find Batman in the hope of becoming his partner. Kelley used a slingshot and firecrackers as weapons. She also wore green-tinted sunglasses.

Unlike the previous Robins, Kelley is not an orphan, but she appears to have rather neglectful parents who are never actually seen — one of them mutters "Didn't we have a kid?" while their daughter is witnessing the fierce battle between Batman and the street gangs known as the Mutants. It is hinted through their dialogue that they were once activists and possibly hippies during the 1960s, but have since become apathetic stoners.

In the series, Jason Todd's death had led to the Dark Knight's retirement, but Batman accepted her as Robin when she saved his life just as he was on the verge of being killed by an enemy. He often threatened to fire her but she showed considerable ability and improvisation which impressed him enough to give her a stay of dismissal even when she disobeyed his orders.

The police, now led by newly-appointed Commissioner Ellen Yindel, took a very poor attitude to Batman and his methods and issued a warrant for his arrest. When she saw Batman with a young child leaping in mid-air and barely catching a passing hang-glider, Yindel added child endangerment to the growing list of charges against Batman.

As Robin, Carrie played a crucial part in tracking down and confronting the Joker who, at a fairground, had poisoned several children and planted a bomb on a roller coaster. While Batman went after his age-old nemesis, Carrie managed to dispose of the bomb but got into a tangle with Fat Abner, the Joker's accomplice. As they grappled together, Abner suddenly fell and was killed, driving Carrie momentarily into shock and tears, but recovering enough to rescue a seriously injured Batman from capture by the police and help heal his wounds with his faithful butler Alfred Pennyworth.

Unnerved by Batman's activities, the US government sent Superman to bring him down. As the big battle was about to start, Carrie delayed Superman's arrival using the tank-like Batmobile and a slingshot, to which the Man of Steel simply replied "Isn't tonight a school night?"

Using a variety of powerful weapons, including self-made Kryptonite, Batman managed to defeat Superman but died in the process. It later emerged that he had faked his own death and Carrie unearthed him from his grave soon after he revived. They then went underground to the Batcave where, with Green Arrow, they set about training various teenage street gangs into an army that was to deal with "worse than thieves and murderers."

In The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Miller's sequel to D.K.R., Kelley was sixteen and called herself Catgirl. She still remained Batman's able second-in-command. She wore a skin-tight cat costume with a leopard pattern, and was now trained extensively in combat. Her equipment included motorised rollerskates and an arm cannon that fired batarangs.

Catgirl's main duty was to oversee an army of "batboys" to help save the world from a police-state dictatorship, led by Lex Luthor and Brainiac. She led them into battle, liberating imprisoned heroes such as the Atom and Flash. But she also caused serious injury to a Batboy who had exceeded her orders by maiming and killing a couple of police officers. She beat him up and told the others to treat him but not bother with anesthetic. Once she was alone however she broke down in tears but was offered a comforting hand by Batman — Dick Grayson refers to her as "The daughter (Batman) never had" but also as "jailbait", a term used to describe a potential sexual partner who is underage.

Carrie attempted to kill the new Joker with arrows, thermite, acid and C4. However he still returned to make an attempt on her life, turning out to be a now homicidal Dick Grayson, who resented her because he had been shoddily treated and dumped by Batman. Her lips were badly lacerated in the fight. Thinking that she was about to die, she told Batman that she loved him, with Batman later reflecting that he felt the same (Frank Miller clarified in an interview in the book Batman through the Ages that Batman saw Carrie as a daughter).

She was rescued by Ralph Dibny while Grayson was killed by Batman.

Trinity

In the Trinity series, reality is altered, removing Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman from the timeline. In this alternate world, "Richie" Grayson is a member of the Zucco mob.^[11]

Elseworlds

See also: Elseworlds and List of Elseworlds publications

Alfred is a familiar character in the Batman books as Bruce Wayne's elderly butler. However, in Batman: Dark Allegiances, set in the World War II era, Batman, Catwoman, and Alfred were recruited to fight behind enemy lines in Nazi Germany in the winter of 1940. Alfred is given the codename Robin.

In Superman & Batman: Generations, Dick Grayson is Robin until he goes to college. The role is then taken up by Batman's son, Bruce Wayne Junior, against his mother's wishes. However, he gives up the role when Dick is murdered, in order to become Batman. Several years later, Clark Wayne, the biological son of Joel Kent and adopted son of Bruce Wayne Jr., takes on the role of Robin, before becoming Knightwing.

Set in the 1960s, Thrillkiller was written and drawn by Howard Chaykin and Dan Brereton and published in 1997-98. It has Bruce Wayne as a detective in the Gotham Police after his family was ruined by the Great Depression. Wayne Manor has been taken over by the rebellious, and a little demented, Barbara Gordon, daughter of police Commissioner James Gordon. Her live-in boyfriend is Richart Graustark, who goes under the name of "Dick Grayson", presumably to cover his German origins (World War II being still fresh in people's minds at the time). Barbara and Graustark fight crime as Batgirl and Robin, though, in true 1960s anti-establishment style, their main targets are corrupt cops, in particular those led by the Two-Face-like Detective Duell and the Joker-like but very feminine Bianca Steeplechase. In this version, Grayson's family are still circus acrobats, but their deaths are caused as a result of his activities as Robin rather than the traditional other way round. He is overcome by grief and rage over their murder and his subsequent recklessness leads to his own death. He is replaced as Barbara's partner by Detective Bruce Wayne, who takes the identity of Batman, but the memory of him drives even Barbara to the point of insanity and she adopts the Robin guise as part of seeking revenge.

The main character in JLA: The Riddle of the Beast, young Robin Drake brings together all the heroes of The World to battle the Beast (Etrigan).

In the French Revolution set Batman: Reign of Terror, Bruce Wayne's sister learns his secret identity, and designs a Robin outfit to aid him.

Batman: Dark Knight Dynasty features three generations of Waynes, past, present and future. In the future section, Brenna Wayne is aided by an ape with augmented intelligence in a Robin costume, who goes by the name 'Rodney'.

In the American Civil War set The Blue, The Gray and the Bat, Captain Bruce Wayne is aided by a Native American named Redbird. Redbird's family were killed by white men, and, until he got his revenge, he wore war paint in a design similar to a domino mask.

In the futuristic Robin 3000, Earth is controlled by despotic aliens. Batman (Bruce Wayne the 20th) is killed trying to stop them, but his mission is continued by his nephew, Tom (Thomas) Wayne. This was originally created by P. Craig Russell in 1986 as Tom Swift 3000,^[12][13] but later rewritten in 1992 as a Robin story when the original plans fell through.

In the Robin 1996 Elseworlds annual, an unnamed young warrior in 16th century Japan, is raised by the Bat-Samurai, and nicknamed Tengu, after the bird-spirits, by a female Cat-Ninja. Tengu loses his mentor in battle. Tengu was later revealed to be the rightful heir to the imperial throne, and the usurper (believing he knew this and plotted against him) attempted to kill him. He killed the usurper in self-defense but, since he had already sworn loyalty, was constrained to suicide as a result of this dishonor.

In the Detective Comics 1996 Elseworlds annual (Batman: Leatherwing), an orphan on the streets of 17th century Kingston, who became cabin boy to Leatherwing the pirate.

In the Robin 1998 Legends of The Dead Earth annual humanity is trying to reach other worlds in generation ships. On one of these, a group called the Proctors have seized control and everyone else are slaves who are executed on their 30th birthdays to conserve the ship's resources.

Tris Plover, a 29-year-old slave, rebels against the Proctors. She meets another rebel, called the Batman, who gives her the Robin identity. At the cost of their lives, they succeed in defeating the Proctors and Robin sets the ship on a course for the planet New Gotham.

Bird Dark is the name of Batman's partner in the somewhat garbled fables told on another colony world, as featured in the "Legends of the Dead Earth" Batman Annual #20. (1996) While the name is based on Nightwing, the costume is in Robin's colors.

Tiny Titans

Tiny Titans is a kiddie-based series follows the exploits of the Teen Titans (and other DCU character), as grade school kids attending school for Super-hero sidekicks. Dick Grayson's Robin is a primary character in the series, and often tries to act like the leader, although the rest of the Tiny Titans rarely listen to him. He temporarily began wearing a kiddie version of his first Nightwing costume, but later went back to being Robin. Most recently^[when?], Jason Todd and Tim Drake have both been introduced into the series as toddlers who Barbara Gordon babysits. Both Jason and Dick wear the original Robin costumes, while Tim wears the 2006 "One Year Later" Robin costume.

Batman: Year 100

An alternate version of Robin appears in Paul Pope's Batman: Year 100 limited series. This Robin is a dark-skinned teenager who acts as Batman's partner as well as the mechanic for "the Batmobile", a high-tech motorcycle. Little is revealed about this Robin's backstory other than that he was apparently adopted by Batman at a young age, and that Robin is his real name rather than an alias. Unlike other iterations of the character, the Robin in "Year 100" does not wear a costume.

References

1. ^ Detective Comics #38
2. ^ Justice Society 2008 Annual, 2008
3. ^ Rogers, Vaneta. "A Titan of an Artist: Tony Daniel Talks Teen Titans". Archived from the original on 2007-10-16. http://web.archive.org/web/20071016113130/http://newsarama.com/dcnew/titans/TonyDaniel/Daniel.html. 
4. ^ In an interview with Wizard, writer Grant Morrison stated that he took inspiration from the Silver Age Bruce Junior stories.
5. ^ Superman & Batman: Generations 2 #2 (September 2001)
6. ^ Superman & Batman: Generations #3
7. ^ Superman & Batman: Generations III #5 (July 2003)
8. ^ "Dan Didio Comes Clean On The Countdown Teaser Image - Newsarama". Forum.newsarama.com. 2007-06-29. http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=118774. Retrieved 2010-09-16. 
9. ^ "DC Nation" Justice Society of America v3, 7 ((July 2007)), DC Comics
10. ^ Sanderson, Peter (2006-02-06). "IGN: Comics in Context #119: All-Star Bats". Comics.ign.com. http://comics.ign.com/articles/685/685820p1.html. Retrieved 2010-09-16. 
11. ^ Trinity #25
12. ^ "DC Elseworlds by Feature". Denysh.com. http://www.denysh.com/docs/ElseworldsAlpha.html. Retrieved 2010-09-16. 
13. ^ "Niet compatibele browser | Facebook". Pcraigrussell.net. http://www.pcraigrussell.net/opus-list. Retrieved 2010-09-16.