We finally havea release dateforTitansSeason 3. After numerous production delays due to the ongoing pandemic, the third season of the series will stream on its new home, HBO Max, in August 2021. As revealed during DC FanDome, the Titans are headed to Gotham City where they will reunite with old friends and meet new enemies. And one of those new enemies is Red Hood, a new character for the series who will be obsessed with taking down the Titans.
Despite being a much newer addition to the canon (he was introduced in the early 2000s), the helmeted villain-turned-anti-hero Red Hood is a fan-favorite character from the DC Comics. and even leads his own title. The first look at Red Hood’s costume inTitansSeason 3has already been revealedin all its comic book accurate glory, and anticipation for the character’s live-action arrival is growing.
In the comics, Red Hood was the moniker adopted by Jason Todd, the second Robin who fought alongside Batman, and the show is set to follow in the comics’ footsteps by havingCurran Walters’ Jason Todd follow the same journey. The background of the character is fascinating in the comics, as it has been so far on Titans. And while casual DC readers may not be familiar with the character (especially given his convoluted origin story), we’ve put together a bit of a primer of what you should know about Red Hood before hisTitansdebut.
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Red Hood’s Comics Origin Story
In the comics, Batman took young Jason Todd under his wing when he caught the boy trying to steal the Batmobile’s tires, and this part of Jason’s origin story was hinted at onTitansas well. Fearing for Jason’s future, Batman decided to train him to become the second Robin. There was a vacancy after Batman had dismissed the first Robin, Dick Grayson, from the role because of the dangers of crime-fighting. (If it seems contradictory for Batman to fire his almost-adult Robin to replace him with a much younger one, well it is. Commissioner James Gordon even called him out on it.)
Batman only took on a second Robin because he thought that if Jason was left to his own devices, he would become part of the criminal element. This notion initially had less to do with Jason’s personality and more to do with his circumstances — Jason was an orphan and homeless, and when Bruce Wayne found a youth shelter for him to live in, it turned out to be a front for a crime syndicate. Over the last few decades, Jason’s youthful attitude has shifted towards a more rebellious and violent one. In the “New 52” and “Rebirth” arcs, he is written as the bad boy of the Bat-family, even before he became the Red Hood.
Jason onTitanshas a similarly violent streak. In his introductory episode, Jason beat up a bunch of police officers because Gotham City Police Department had picked on him when he was younger. Jason has continued to be mutinous in his subsequent appearances on the show — he is often irreverent towards his predecessor, Dick Grayson (Brenton Thwaites), because Dick plays by the rules and doesn’t live up to Jason’s expectations of being a violent vigilante.
Jason Todd as Robin was unpopular with many readers, and when DC Comics launched a telephone poll for fans to vote on the fate of the character in the 1988Batman: Death in the Familyarc, the majority voted for his death. Batman’s greatest fears then came true when Jason was captured by his arch-nemesis, the Joker, clobbered with a crowbar and then blown up. Jason remained dead for several years, before he was seen again in 2003’sHush. The villains in this storyline were masters of disguise, and during the final battle, Clayface pretended to be an older Jason tormenting Batman for his death. As explained inBatman: Lost DaysandBatman: Under the Red Hood, that actually was the real Jason, back from the dead. After being killed, Jason was resurrected by accident (depending on the writer, he was either from an alternate Earth or he was resurrected using a Lazarus Pit) before being kidnapped by Talia al Ghul and her father Ra’s al Ghul, head of the League of Assassins. They were planning to use Jason against Batman, but Talia changed her mind and let Jason escape.
Once Jason was free of the League, he began to remember more about his former life, most notably the fact that the Joker had killed him. On returning to Gotham, Jason learned that Batman had not avenged his death – the Joker was alive and still terrorizing Gotham. Jason donned a new look, took the name Red Hood (because the Joker was part of the Red Hood gang in some iterations of the character), and began ruthlessly killing Gotham’s criminals. His aim was to kill the Joker, which obviously didn’t happen. You’d think Batman would have been grateful, but he has a code against killing and Red Hood was going against it. Once Red Hood revealed himself to be Jason Todd, he also blew up Blüdhaven, home of Dick Grayson, because Jason was purportedly jealous of Dick. Dick survived, but this act caused a rift between Jason and Bruce.
Ensuing comics series have shown Jason and Bruce attempt to mend their relationship, but the character is often stuck in place, unable to heal from his death and Batman’s inaction towards the Joker. However, in a reversal of fortune for Jason, the character’s popularity has soared since he adopted an anti-hero persona. Jason’s connection to the Bat-family and his friendship with former Titan, Arsenal (Roy Harper), also humanized the character.
How Will Red Hood Be Different on ‘Titans’?
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers forTitansSeasons 1 and 2.]
Red Hood’s origin story onTitanswill differ from his comic book origins. It won’t be possible for the showrunners to copy Jason’s comic book arc because none of the characters involved in Jason’s resurrection have appeared onTitansyet. The Lazarus Pit was introduced and destroyed in the CWverse’sArrow; the character Hush has already been killed on Batwoman, and the Joker has only been mentioned on the show and has never appeared.
According to executive producerGreg Walker, Jason will be"the child that burns the village down,“which means Jason is unlikely to be killed off like his comic book counterpart. Jason faced near-death duringTitansSeason 2, when Deathstroke captured him and threw Jason out of a skyscraper. DC Universe, the original streaming platform forTitans, had run a social media poll after the episode streamed to determine Jason’s fate, but the voters chose to let him live. Jason was subsequently saved in the nick of time by Superboy, but he was left traumatized by his brush with mortality.
By the end of the show’s sophomore season, Jason had recovered from his trauma but his heart was broken by his girlfriend, Rose Wilson/Ravager. Rose confessed that she had infiltrated the Titans at the behest of her father, the supervillain Slade Wilson/Deathstroke. Following this betrayal, as well as Jason’s disillusionment with his idol Dick Grayson and his team, Jason left to follow his own path. Currently, Jason’s motivations for turning away from his team are a bit thin. The writers will need to flesh out Jason’s anger a lot more to portray his evolution into a full-fledged villain.
TitansSeason 3 is the first time Red Hood will appear in live-action form. There’s a lot of expectation riding on the character, but Red Hood is one figure who fits perfectly with the gritty nature of the show. He’s trigger-happy and volatile. For the character to succeed on the show, he will need a redemption arc — it just depends on whether that takes place in the third season or later.
TitansSeason 3 will premiere on HBO Max in August.
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