Robin

On Earth-16, super-heroes have been around for less than a decade, but the Justice League already has sidekicks. Yearning to be considered as real heroes, these teenagers form “the Team”. The Team specializes in covert missions and reconnaissance.

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The show’s tone was a healthy blend of teen angst, humour, and action. Throughout the series, the plot remained fresh while respecting the source material.

At this stage, our Young Justice profiles cover the first 10 episodes of Season 1.

Background

Powers and Abilities

Although he doesn’t possess any superhuman powers, Dick Grayson’s prodigious athletic abilities, intellect and skill have transformed him into a potent crime-fighter and an invaluable member of the Young Justice team.

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For the last four years, Robin has endured a brutal physical training regimen that was put together specifically for him by the Dark Knight himself. While the details of the regimen are unknown, it is clear that it was designed to capitalize on Dick’s uncanny knack for acrobatics and the uncommon strength that he possesses in his youthful frame.

This, combined with his years of training as a circus acrobat, has made Robin as physically strong, fast and agile as possible for a youth his size and weight.

After carefully crafting Robin’s physique and speed, the Batman further augmented his youthful ward with intensive training in several martial arts disciplines, transforming him into one of the world’s more capable hand to hand combatants.

Robin has mastered several martial arts disciplines from aikido to boxing, and usually goes into combat armed with the appropriate paraphernalia (anything from Batarangs to Escrima sticks).

Sneak sneak sneak

Outside of purely physical pursuits, the Batman rigorously trained Robin in variety of other skills that would prove useful to any urban vigilante. These skills include: escapology, criminology, stealth and a seeming multitude of other combat/non-combat disciplines.

In particular, Robin has excelled in escapology and stealth. He has the uncanny ability to seemingly disappear from sight and move without detection within seconds (much to the chagrin of his comrades) and makes good use of this ability to surprise his opponents.

Despite all of his other gifts though, the one skill that Robin possesses that has proven to be of greatest value to his peers is his seemingly superhuman ability with computers. Over the course of his adventures, Robin has demonstrated an unparalleled ability to hack into nearly any computer system regardless of size, complexity or security measures (from firewalls to encrypted data).

He has opened doors, written viruses, and “hacked” into complex systems within seconds and without effort. Floor plans, medical histories, criminal records, employment histories are all pieces of information that he can seemingly retrieve in seconds.

Finally, Robin’s lengthy experience as a vigilante and his natural ingenuity make him a capable strategist for his team, and his deductive abilities are without peer amongst his group.

History

(This is an abridged version of the history that can be found in the Young Justice (Main Article) writeup. See said article for a more detailed description of the Team’s History.)

Dick Grayson was the youngest of a 3 man aerialist act named the “Flying Grayson’s”. Alongside his parents, John and Mary Grayson, Dick thrilled audience after audience around the globe with his near superhuman aerial maneuvers from city to city. He lived a happy and successful life until their circus travelled to Gotham City.

While there, a gangster named Tony Zucco began to extort money from the circus owners using the age old protection racket. When the owner finally refused Zucco’s demands, he snuck onto the circus grounds and sabotaged the Grayson’s trapeze equipment as a warning against the owner’s defiance.

That night, when the “Flying Grayson’s” performed, Dick could only watch as his parents plummeted to their deaths.

Bruce Wayne

Batman, in the guise of his alter ego Bruce Wayne was present when the “accident” occurred. Witnessing the tragedy and empathizing with the sense of profound loss that Dick felt, Bruce offered to take him in and become his legal guardian. Dick having few other options reluctantly agreed.

Batman went about his investigation of the crime, but slowly recognized the desire for justice burning within his new ward. Despite his better judgement, Batman revealed his secret to Dick and began to rigorously train the boy, teaching him hand-to-hand combat, martial arts, and detective skills.

The two formed an inseparable bond, with Dick coming to look to the Batman as a father and Batman looking to Dick as a son.

When he was ready, Dick donned a colourful red, yellow and green costume and joined Batman as his partner, Robin.

Over the next four years, the “dynamic duo” tore a path through the seedy underworld of Gotham City. They faced all manner of strange new criminals and brought them to justice.

Perhaps it is no small coincidence that the first case the two solved together was the murder of the Flying Grayson’s; with Batman by his side Robin got a small piece of closure after investigating Tony Zucco, collecting the evidence and eventually bringing him to justice.

During this time, Robin comported himself with enough professionalism and skill that Batman decided that he was ready for provisional League membership.

A League of their own

When the invitation was extended to him (in addition to the other sidekicks), Robin did his best to emulate his mentor and hide his enthusiasm. To no one’s surprise, he failed.

On the day of his official induction (the Fourth of July) Robin rushed through a battle with Mr. Freeze in Gotham City Park, even going so far as admonishing Batman for taking too much time to put an end to their cold opponents machinations.

After the dynamic duo put the finishing touches on Freeze, they travelled to Washington DC, the home of the Hall of Justice which acted as the Justice Leagues public headquarters. There they waited for the remaining inductees to arrive and with the appearance of the Flashes, they finally entered the Hall.

Though Robin initially joked about how routine the tour was, a sense of awe eventually penetrated his cool exterior as he and the other protégés walked the hallways of the Hall of Justice. Unfortunately, when the tour concluded with the main monitor room and library he was disappointed to realize that he would still have limited access to the League’s true headquarters.

He would also still be considered a junior member of the League.

Fighting a sense of betrayal, he chose to stay when Speedy stormed out of the Hall in anger at their treatment. Instead, he sat back and waited as the League left unexpectedly to address an emergency, and then did the unthinkable.

As soon as the Leaguers left the room, he hacked into the League’s mainframe (it used the same security scheme as the Batcave computers) and perused the confidential information held within regarding an explosion at Cadmus labs.

With a smug grin sitting square in the middle of his face, it took very little work on his behalf to convince Kid Flash and Aqualad to investigate a fire that had broken out at Cadmus Labs and show up the adult Leaguers at their own game.

In the course of their actions, the heroic trio unintentionally:

• Uncovered the secret Genomorph Project deep within the bowels of Project Cadmus.
• Freed the slumbering Superboy.
• Brought the corrupt head of the facility to justice.

Despite the success the 4 young men enjoyed (Superboy joined their number), they found themselves on the receiving end of a reprimand from the adult members of the League.

The Team

To Robin’s pleasure, instead of backing down his friends stood up to their mentors, proudly claiming that they would continue to fight injustice wherever they found it, together as a team. He added his own voice to their number and then waited expectantly for Batman to make a choice.

In the face of their combined passion and conviction, the adults had but one option. Batman decided that he would have to find a use for such youthful passion.

Four days later, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Robin and Superboy were officially inducted into the Justice League’s covert operations group (operating out of Mount Justice) and at the same time they were introduced to their fifth member, Miss Martian.

The teens enjoyed their time together, training and sharing a single adventure before they were given their first official mission. The mission took them to the island nation of Santa Prisca where they were tasked with covertly discovering what had caused a worldwide shortage of the illegal drug, Venom.

During the mission, both Robin and Kid Flash attempted to assert their authority over the others. They both failed miserably to inspire confidence in their teammates and nearly caused the mission to fail. In a moment of clarity, Robin realized that he was truly not the right fit for the job, and deferred his leadership to Aqualad.

To the team’s relief, Aqualad reluctantly assumed the mantle of leadership, but with the proviso that we would only do so until Robin was ready to take over.

With that, the group managed to gel into an effective team and achieved a measure of success over not only Bane, but the forces of Kobra as well and successfully complete their mission.

Description

Robin’s costume is the familiar yellow, red and black number that he can be seen wearing in his more recent incarnations in the comics. The costume’s torso is made up of a red tunic that is separated by single sinuous black line with yellow straps that cross it.

The tunic actually seems to run midway down to Robin’s thigh. A round black disk sits on the left pectoral region of the costume and has a yellow capital R sitting prominently in the centre. Sitting prominently around his waist is a yellow metallic utility belt with several solid pouches and a round buckle in the front.

A dark black cape hangs loosely down his back, starting from his throat region to just above his calves. To be more specific, the cape’s exterior is midnight black, but it’s interior is a golden yellow colour. The sleeves of his costume are short and expose his arms from his biceps down, and the sleeves are black.

He wears a pair of black gloves and boots, both which are covered in some small pocket like structures. His left glove contains his holographic computer and his hacking equipment. Finally, Robin wears a simple black domino mask to hide his facial features; when he wears the mask his eyes become opaque and hidden.

Outside of his costume, Robin appears to be a rather typical handsome dark haired 13 year old, with the exception that he’s excessively fit. He wears typical fashionable cloths for the day, typically a jacket with jeans and a hoodie. He always is seen with a pair of black sunglasses to cover his eyes and hopefully hide his identity.

Whether in or out of costume, Robin radiates an air of confidence and nine times out of ten, he has a wide toothy grin on his face.

Personality

Unlike the majority of his teammates, Robin has been a costumed vigilante for a third of his life. His experience clearly shows in his demeanour while he is in stressful or combat situations. He is a decisive, tactical thinker whose confidence allows him to deal with complex situations with a mere moments notice.

He approaches these (and nearly all) situations with a winning grin on his face and a light-hearted laugh bubbling from his lips.

Unfortunately, his training with Batman has become such an ingrained part of his personality that at times it hinders his ability to work well within a group. At times he simply assumes that his teammates understand what needs to be done, in the same manner that he does, and can follow through on his plans without verbalization or instructions.

In the past, he’d often disappear without warning or seemingly abandon his teammates in dangerous situations to deal with a specific threat which left them confused, irritated and sometimes in jeopardy due to their assumption that he’d be there.

His professionalism aside, Robin is still a 13 year old boy, and is still a little immature. He delights in toying with villains and generally getting into trouble. Unlike his grim faced mentor, Robin is naturally a very light-hearted individual who seems to take great pleasure in nearly everything that he does.

No matter what the danger is that he faces, he can often be heard laughing (almost manically), particularly during acrobatic feats.

With his friends, Robin behaves in a jovial manner. He takes great pleasure at provoking laughter and freely taunts those closest to him when they make mistakes; he engages in this behaviour particularly with Kid Flash who seems to be the butt of his jokes most of the time.

The two seem to share an almost brotherly relationship and have been close for some time. Robin also seems to take great pleasure in over-thinking and re-working words in order to create new ones in a childishly odd manner (he created the word “aster” which is simply the opposite of disaster by dropping the “dis”).

No description of Robin’s personality is complete though without at least briefly touching upon his relationship with Batman. Though Batman outwardly treats him as an equal partner in their relationship, it is clear that the two share a clear father-son dynamic that pushes Robin onwards.

He still looks to earn Batman’s favour and approval, and consciously attempts to live up to his mentor’s image. Dick has shown a certain possessiveness and jealously over Batman’s attention, and when he thought that Batman was favouring Khaldur over him, reacted with a tantrum of sorts during his training and struck a wall in anger.

Quotes

(Eerily and always after seemingly vanishing) “Heh ha ha ha ha !”

“You’re overwhelmed, Freeze was underwhelmed. Why isn’t anyone ever just whelmed ?”

Computer Security System: “Access denied.”
Robin: “Heh. Wanna bet ?”

(While catching up with Robin, after he disappeared leaving the others to fend for themselves)
Kid Flash: “Way to be a team player, Rob.”
Robin: “Weren’t you right behind me ?”

(After picking the locks of the shackles that had imprisoned him) “Finally ! Lucky Batman isn’t here, he’d have my head for taking so long.”

Robin: “That guy is not whelmed, not whelmed at all.”
Kid Flash: “What is it with you and this whelmed thing ?”

Mister Twister: “Frankly, I find your presence here … disturbing.”
Robin: “Well, we hate to see you disturbed. Let’s see if you’re more ’turbed‘ when we kick your can.”

Kid Flash: “You brought your utility belt ?”
Robin: “Never leave home without it. First thing Batman taught me.”

(To Aqualad after destroying the facility they were supposed to be covertly observing) “We picked the right guy to lead. Making you automatically the right guy to explain this to Batman. Heh ha ha ha ha.”

“If ’dislike‘ is the opposite of ’like,‘ is ’disaster‘ the opposite of ’aster‘ ?”

“Taking down stronger guys is part of the gig.”

DC Universe History

The events of Young Justice are canonical and take place on Earth-16 within the DC Universe. Any travel through the DC Multiverse could potentially bring the player characters into contact with this version of Robin.

By Bryan Gittens.

Source of Character: Young Justice television series, episodes 1-9 (voiced by Jesse McCartney).

Helper(s): Young Justice Wiki, reference writeups from WORG (Batman Beyond, Robin I, Robin [Teen Titans], Nightwing), Mark.