The second Robin was killed by a fan-voted telephone poll in 1988

Entertainment · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Jason Todd, the second Robin, remains one of the most controversial figures in comic history. Originally a circus acrobat, he was later reimagined as a troubled street orphan. His story took a dark turn when DC Comics let readers decide his fate, leading to a brutal, fan-sanctioned death.

Jason Todd first appeared in 1983 as a replacement for Dick Grayson, Batman's original sidekick. While his initial origin mirrored Grayson’s, the 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot transformed him into a street urchin caught stealing Batmobile tires. This version of Todd was intentionally written as aggressive and reckless, a departure from his predecessor that alienated many readers. By 1988, editor Dennis O'Neil sought to boost engagement by allowing the audience to influence the narrative through a 1-900 telephone poll.

The poll was featured in the four-part A Death in the Family storyline, published in Batman #426–429. Readers were asked to vote on whether Todd should survive a trap set by the Joker in Ethiopia. Within 36 hours, 10,614 votes were cast. The result was a narrow victory for his death, with 5,343 votes against 5,271. O'Neil later speculated that the outcome might have been manipulated by a single individual using a computer to repeatedly dial the anti-Todd number, casting doubt on the poll's legitimacy as a true measure of character popularity.

Following his death, Todd remained a symbol of Batman's greatest failure until his 2005 resurrection in the Under the Hood arc. Revived via a Lazarus Pit, he returned as the Red Hood, an antihero who challenged Batman's moral code by using lethal force against criminals. His journey from a rejected sidekick to a gun-wielding vigilante highlights the shifting tone of late 1980s comics, where the line between hero and villain became increasingly blurred. Today, Todd is recognized as a complex member of the Batman family, though his history remains defined by the controversial stunt that ended his original tenure.

The character's evolution continued across various media, including the 2015 game Batman: Arkham Knight, which reimagined his trauma under the Joker's torture. Despite the initial backlash from fans and creators like Frank Miller, who labeled the killing of Robin a cynical act, the event cemented Todd’s legacy. His return and subsequent identity as the Red Hood transformed him from a disposable plot device into a permanent, multifaceted fixture of the DC Universe.

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