Bruce Wayne and Jason Toddd have had a pretty rocky relationship ever since the latter’s death and prodigal return. The two have clashed several times over the years, usually because of Jason’s anger over how Batman chooses to handle Gotham City’s laundry list of villains. Red Hood has been all over the morality spectrum, going from hero to villain and back again more times than anyone should have to count. Batman’s “Hush 2” storyline has once again pit father against son as Jason Todd joins the evil Thomas Elliot’s side in his twisted game to bring down the bat. Except this might just be their final clash, as Batman #160 revealed that Jason Todd is dying, and only Hush has any chance of saving him. If he even plans to. And if Hush lets Jason die, I’m done.
Hush Said Three Robins Die Tonight
So, how did we get here? This whole confrontation started in Batman #158, when Batman stumbled upon the Joker attempting to flood the Gotham City reservoir with Joker fish. While trying to stop the madman, Batman was knocked into the water and the Joker was kidnapped, only for the Dark Knight to be resuscitated by Talia al Ghul. Batman looked into why the Joker would be repeating an old crime, only to stumble into a conspiracy orchestrated by his childhood friend turned enemy, Thomas Elliot, Hush. Hush forced Batman to take a dying Joker to the Batcave for observation, only for Jason Todd to attack Batman and kidnap the clown alongside Hush.
The end of issue #160 showed Batman confronting one of Hush’s goons while Nightwing battled Red Hood. However, this too was all a part of Hush’s game, as Hush was able to take Damian Wayne hostage, while the Joker grabbed Jason’s guns and pointed them at the two former Robins. Hush promised that no matter what Batman did, three Robins would die tonight. Even worse, is that Joker might even have to send Jason back to the grave, as Hush revealed that Jason is dying. His brain is deteriorating to the point that not even the Lazarus Pits could save him, and his fate rests in the grimy hands of Hush, the world’s greatest surgeon. I am so mad about that.
So Jason Todd is Dying… Again
Once again, it would seem that DC wants to kill Jason Todd, and honestly? They need to stop. “Hush 2” has been nothing more than a continuity-ignoring nostalgia fest, and it would seem that they intend to keep that train going by bringing back the only part of Jason’s character that anyone seems to remember. Ever since he was quite literally cheated out of life by a phone vote, Jason Todd has been remembered as the Robin who died, something that stuck even when he returned. It’s something that left Jason bitter and when Jason first came back from the dead, this was understandable. Dying like he did gave him every right to be upset, however, the years since have not been kind to the poor boy.
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Jason has been a villain, then redeemed himself, then remembered he was angry over his death and became a villain again. This cycle repeats over and over in every comic he stars in, dragging him into conflict after conflict with the Bat Family over issues that they have long since resolved or put behind them. Jason being back and an active member of the Bat Family has such incredible storytelling potential, but DC has refused to do anything interesting with it. Now they threaten to kill him again, and I cannot stand here and say nothing while they continuously torture him like this. Jason’s original death was an impactful moment because nothing like that had ever happened before, and it fundamentally changed Batman as a character, but that can only be true for the first time.
If Jason died again today, frankly speaking, it wouldn’t have a tenth of the impact it did back in the day. Not only because literally every other Robin (and most comic book characters in general) have died and returned, but the only consistent character trait Jason has had since his return is that he died. He is literally only defined by his death, and while he’s attempted to grow past it several times, he is always dragged back down to being the angry little man he was right after his resurrection. Take the end of the “Gotham War” arc, for instance. Despite its many flaws, this storyline ended with Jason and Bruce reconciling for everything they’ve done to each other, and even had Jason literally sacrifice himself to bring down Zur-En-Arrh. This was a beautifully resonant moment, because Jason faced and overcame his greatest fear and the thing that separated him and Bruce, and used it as a statement of his love and loyalty to his father. He was immediately brought back with Lazarus Resin, but the point stands.
Now, instead of Jason having overcome his death, he’s right back where he started and is dying again. Gosh, Jason Todd is a character that DC has never known what to do with, but killing him again will only make things worse. Jason deserves to be allowed to grow and change as a person beyond this one event in his life, but DC keeps dragging him back to the starting point. Killing Jason again wouldn’t give them a way to interestingly change the character, it would just make his existence way worse for no reason. If Jason is supposed to be interesting, he has to change, and literally starting this cycle again is the worst possible thing they could do.
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