Batmans Failure to Save Jason Todd Has Been Sneakily Retconned by DC

Batman’s Failure to Save Jason Todd Has Been Sneakily Retconned by DC

Jason Todd’s death is often seen as Batman’s greatest failure, but DC claims Red Hood’s subsequent turn to the dark side was never Bruce’s fault.

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Batmans Failure to Save Jason Todd Has Been Sneakily Retconned by DC

WARNING: Spoilers ahead for Task Force Z #1

Bruce Wayne’s failure to save Jason Todd, the future Red Hood, has always been one of Batman’s defining moments, but in recent years, DC Comics has gone out of the way to retcon one key aspect of Jason’s darker days – it wasn’t Bruce’s fault. Since his second partner’s death, Bruce has blamed himself for getting Robin killed. And after his adopted son returned to the land of the living, that guilt intensified when Jason donned the mantle of the Red Hood as a violent criminal and later ruthless vigilante.

In the years since his return, Red Hood has lost his killer edge and even rejoined the Bat-Family, though his strained relationship with Bruce and Batman’s responsibility for his suffering is always at the forefront. But while Bruce’s failure to save him still plays a key role in Jason’s arc, the issue is no longer that Batman failed to save Robin from the Joker. On the contrary, recent issues like Task Force Z #1 by Matthew Rosenberg and Eddy Barrows help clarify that Batman failed to save Robin from himself.

Having renounced his more lethal methods, the Red Hood has found himself roped into operating alongside the Task Force Z – a covert squad of zombified supervillains. During a brief exchange, Jason is asked if he believes that some souls are beyond redemption. In response, Todd says, “I’ve spent more time thinking about that than most. And I think I know the answer…but I really hope I’m wrong.” Clearly, Jason still hasn’t completed forgiven himself for the lives he’s taken and he’s not really sure if he can ever truly be redeemed. This bleak outlook does paint a picture of Todd’s current mental state, but it’s just a small part of DC’s ongoing campaign to absolve Batman of any responsibility regarding the Red Hood’s actions.

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When Jason was resurrected as Red Hood, he was furious with Bruce’s part in his death and repeatedly threatened his adopted father and his successor, Tim Drake, as an active antagonist. Later, during Batman: Battle for the Cowl by Tony S. Daniel and Grant Morrison’s time on Batman & Robin, Jason went out of his way to take the Batman mantle by force and replace its legacy with his own lethal brand of justice. Jason was genuinely unhinged, but over the course of his rehabilitation, DC Comics has gradually shifted Red Hood’s anger at Bruce into a resignment to the fact that Jason Todd was always going to be dangerous.

In Robins #1 by Tim Seeley and Baldemar Rivas, Jason and his fellow Robins discuss their time as the Teen Wonder. He notes that while the others chose their place at Batman’s side, he was drafted, and he even says, “If I hadn’t become Robin, I probably would have continued that life of crime.” Jason himself argues that he was always going to be trouble, and the current motivation for his resentment against Bruce only furthers his apparently innate darkness. After all, Jason Todd now blames Bruce not for failing to save him but for failing to kill the Joker after the clown murdered his son – a much more forgivable failing on Bruce’s part thanks to Batman’s known policy against killing.

By portraying the second Robin as having always been violent or troubled, DC Comics is essentially saying that there’s nothing Batman could have done to save Jason from the choices he made, and the Robin memorial displayed in the Batcave is as much of a tribute to Jason’s failings as it is to Bruce’s. With this new status quo, they’re asking fans to villainize the victim by making the case that Jason’s tragedy was always going to be his own fault. Bruce’s inability to save Robin will always be Batman’s greatest failure. But according to DC Comics, Red Hood should’ve been working to save himself.

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Link Source : https://screenrant.com/batman-jason-todd-death-retcon-task-force-z/

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