Red Hood (Jason Todd)

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“	You walk the grey line too, Selina.	„
	~ Red Hood in Injustice 2

“	Blindly, stupidly, disregarding the entire graveyards he's filled. The thousands that have suffered. The friends he's crippled. You know, I thought...I thought I'd be the last person you'd ever let him hurt. If that had been you that he'd beat to a bloody pulp... If he had taken you from this world...I would have done nothing but searched the planet for this evil, death worshiping garbage, and sent him off to hell!	„
	~ Red Hood to Batman on The Joker.

Red Hood (Real Name Jason Peter Todd) is a vigilante from Batman's corner of the DC Universe. Originally the second Robin, after Jason's death at the hands of the Joker he was revived via Ra's Al Ghul's Lazarus Pit, and subsequently turned into a more brutal and vicious but still well-meaning crimefighter.

He was created by Gerry Conway and the late Don Newton.

History

“	He knew that Jason Todd was not Dick Grayson. It wasn't about skill, or endurance, or even their will to succeed. No. It was that Jason had a "mean streak". Jason was dangerous. And as a father... he was at a loss for what to do.	„
	~ Alfred Pennyworth on Bruce Wayne and Jason Todd.

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.  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) 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 works 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.

Quotes

“	I generally have several madness-inducing hallucinations before breakfast. And nothing in this real world can be as frightening as we can imagine... right?	„
	~ Red Hood

“	But there are some crimes -- sins -- that Gotham can't wash away.	„
	~ Red Hood

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