Batman has had several young men and women carry the title of Robin as the iconic sidekick to Gotham City’s Dark Knight, which DC Universe’s Titans has represented. Following Dick Grayson’s decision to leave Bruce Wayne’s side, the mantle was passed on to Jason Todd who to this day is defined as a major wildcard in the Bat-family. The character’s comic run had a rocky journey as the second Robin didn’t impress many readers at the time. With a fiery attitude and a passion to fight crime with extreme violence, the Boy Wonder left a bad taste in the mouths of several readers.
Today, Jason is better known to the modern audience as the anti-hero Red Hood. However, it was a long destination that began with the second Boy Wonder losing his life in an unconventional way before his resurrection. On Titans, Curran Walters portrays the iconic role that heavily pulls from the source material. Similar to his comic book counterpart, Walters’ Robin is a violent and risktaking vigilante as the first season establishes him as having taken over for Dick (Brenton Thwaites) very shortly after he left Bruce. While the show has yet to adapt the infamous A Death in the Family story, the makers of Titans is making sure viewers know of the gruesome death of Jason.
In this exclusive clip for the upcoming Blu-ray/DVD release for Titans season 2, legendary comic writer Denny O’Neil and former DC Comics publisher Dan DiDio reflect on the historical murder. While this method is, fortunately, not used today in creative’s storytelling, the way Jason was killed off was fascinating. Given the character’s complicated reception, the story was dictated by a 900-number where readers had the choice to either let Jason die or live. While his fate was ultimately to face the brutal crowbar beating by the Joker, O’Neil shares a major rumor of how Jason’s death was decided.
Ironically, DC Universe paid homage to the unforgettable phone poll, as they did a similar one where fans could vote for this Jason’s fate. Since Jason’s debut in the first season, the current Robin has been part of representing the younger heroes on the team. With Titans being a mixture of young adults and up-and-coming heroes, Jason is one of few teenage heroes-in-training on the team. Given how recent Jason took on Dick’s former mantle in the show’s canon, it’s most likely too soon to adapt his iconic death. Titans has, however, not been afraid of teasing the potential death of Jason. The biggest example is how he almost fell to his death in the recent season after being kidnapped by Deathstroke (Esai Morales,) but was saved by Superboy (Joshua Orpin.)
The second season of the Teen Titans-inspired series is officially available on Blu-ray/DVD release and Digital as of today. Containing all 13 episodes that see the group’s evolution as well as the birth of Nightwing, the “Jason Todd: Fate by the Fans” featurette is included. Production on the third season is reportedly slated for this spring which will see a few new changes. Damaris Lewis’ Blackfire will be back, but as a series regular this time around, hinting at a bigger arc for Starfire (Anna Diop.) As to Jason’s status, after his take-off in the season finale, fans will have to tune in when Titans season 3 arrives to find out.
Titans season 3 is slated to premiere sometime in the fall, only on DC Universe. Season 1 and 2 are currently available for streaming on DC Universe in the U.S. as well as on Netflix for the international audiences.
