*Whew!* It is officially time to cross the finish line on this Robin marathon. I intended for this to be a single Saturday Morning Superstars installment, but I guess I underestimated just how long a history Batman’s sidekick had in animation.
In Part 1, I examined Robin’s animated debut on the Filmation cartoon The Batman/Superman Hour, his guest appearances on Scooby-Doo, his lengthy stint on Super Friends, and the late-70s The New Adventures of Batman, which was also by Filmation. On most of these shows, the Boy Wonder was voiced by Casey Kasem, although Burt Ward provided his voice on The New Adventures.
Part 2 covered Batman: The Animated Series and its follow-up, The New Batman Adventures.
Robin… well, Robins played major parts on all the previous shows to varying degrees. But in 2003, it was time for the character to nab the spotlight!
Justice For Robin
As mentioned last weekend, when Warner Bros. was developing the Justice League cartoon, plans were for the team to feature adult heroes training three younger apprentices, Robin, Impulse, and a female version of Cyborg.
At some stage, that idea was scrapped, and the focus was placed solely on the adult heroes. Throughout Justice League, the sidekicks were never mentioned, although, toward the end, there was a notable cameo that I will discuss later.
Justice League was a hit with viewers, and it was a rare show that, in my opinion, kept getting better. The DC Animated Universe was beloved.
But during Justice League‘s run, Warner Bros. announced they were developing a Teen Titans cartoon. The fandom went bonkers! A Teen Titans show set within the DCAU had no choice but to be incredible!
Then the artwork dropped. Then the first footage dropped. Fans were not happy.
Bring In the Teen Titans
The characters were not rendered in the Paul Dini style of the previous DCAU programs. They looked… ANIME!!! This was confirmed once the footage was revealed. The term “Poké-Titans” was thrown around all over message boards. (Yes. Message boards. If it was taking place now, I would say it became a hashtag. But I don’t think those existed back then.)
And in reality, when the show dropped, it was jarring in comparison to Justice League. It was comedic. It was over the top. The characters frequently reverted to chibi forms. There were speed lines. Everything was exaggerated. And in the beginning, Teen Titans was very episodic.
Many viewers tuned out. This was not what most DC fans wanted.
Buuuut, those that stuck around eventually realized there was a lot more sophistication and drama to this series than it originally seemed. Soon, Teen Titans was showcasing dark, season-long story arcs that cast a shadow over the more comedic individual episodes.
Robin was the group’s leader and, therefore, a central figure. His adversarial relationship with the villain Slade (known in the comics as Deathstroke the Terminator) was one of those major arcs. Another sophisticated subplot was Robin’s burgeoning romance with Starfire, although because these were TEEN Titans, the romantic relationships were kept emotional and pretty chaste.
In one episode, Robin adopted the villainous identity of Red X during an undercover mission. Later, a separate Red X was introduced as something of an anti-hero, but that character’s identity was never revealed.
Speaking of identities, it is unclear which Robin was featured on the show, although most believe it was Dick Grayson, as he was the Robin in the New Teen Titans comic book on which the show was based and there were multiple clues on the show that further teased this.
Plus, the characters never appeared outside of their superhero identities, although there were references to their real names at times.
Glen Murakami and Sam Register created Teen Titans. Scott Menville voiced Robin. Menville was seen in live-action as Duane, the boyfriend of Kimmy Gibler, on Full House, and he recently reprised the role on Fuller House.
For the most part, Teen Titans did not take place within the DCAU. However, the Teen Titans version of Speedy did pop up in an episode of Justice League so that puts a question mark on that. But there were never any full crossovers between the two shows, and most consider them separate.
Teen Titans was a hit. It ran for five seasons (65 episodes) plus one special “The Lost Episode” and a direct-to-DVD movie Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo.
And it spawned a sequel series. The last new episode of Teen Titans aired in 2006. But by its end, it had cultivated a devoted cult following.
The Kids Go For Teen Titans Go!
Perhaps realizing the enduring popularity of Teen Titans, WB created a new series, Teen Titans GO! which debuted in 2013. Unfortunately, in a similar fashion to the debut of Teen Titans, fans of the original show were not happy.
Teen Titans GO! consists of 15-minute gag shorts. The original voice cast returned, but the characters are drawn in their chibi styles. These shorts are completely comedic, and there are a LOT of fart jokes. Murakami and Register did not create this show. It was developed by Michael Jelenic and Aaron Horvath.
I did not like this show from the start. But then, I realized it’s just not MADE for me. It’s not made for adult fans of the previous Teen Titans cartoon. It’s actually for KIDS.
And kids ate it up! It’s STILL running, nine years and seven seasons later. At times, Cartoon Network was airing it for HOURS a day because kids couldn’t get enough. It even spawned a theatrical movie Teen Titans GO! To the Movies, which is GREAT if you haven’t seen it.
Unlike Teen Titans, Teen Titans GO! makes more references to the larger DC Universe, with Batman and Commissioner Gordon making appearances. There have also been crossovers with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which Menville also works on, along with Greg Cipes, who voices Beast Boy.
Standout episodes involve the ’80s hair metal style song “Night Begins to Shine” and WB and Cartoon Network have announced that they are developing a spinoff series that will feature that interpretation of the characters.
Teen Titans GO! has lasted for seven seasons and consists of 356 (!!!) shorts. It’s not for me. It may not be for you, but gosh darn if it wasn’t a massive hit. And I think this makes Menville the definitive voice of Robin, as he has now voiced the character longer than Casey Kasem.
Outside of this franchise, however, Robin has continued to appear in other shows.
The Brave And The Bold
In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, the Dick Grayson version of Robin was voiced by three actors — Jeremy Shada (Finn on Adventure Time), Crawford Wilson, and Lex Lang. This show was set after Robin had matured and was no longer working with Batman. Thus, he was depicted wearing the Bronze Age Earth-2 Robin costume, although, in flashbacks, he was shown wearing the traditional Robin costume with the green shorts and bare legs. He was also depicted as adopting the Nightwing identity, sporting the George Pérez-designed outfit, which a lot of fans hate, featuring a plunging V neck and fan collar.
The Damian Wayne version of Robin also appeared, voiced by Patrick Cavanaugh. That episode, “The Knights of Tomorrow” was sort of a fantasy story paying homage to the “imaginary stories” that were popular in the ’60s.
In total, Dick Grayson, in one guise or another, appeared in 12 episodes of Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
But he would become a central figure again very soon. The Dick Grayson version of Robin was one of the core characters of Young Justice, a new animated series that debuted in 2011.
More Justice For The Boy Wonder
Perhaps to give this series its own identity, it was not simply a reboot of Teen Titans. However, Robin held a similar role as the “brains” of the group with the most experience and skill in crime-fighting. But despite that, it was determined that Kaldur’ahm, a.k.a. Aqualad, would serve as the official leader of The Team.
Also, despite his maturity, this iteration harkened back to Robin’s earliest days in the comics, when he was billed as “The laughing boy daredevil.” His Robin-rangs even laughed before exploding.
Brandon Vietti and Greg Weisman created Young Justice, with Jesse McCartney voicing Dick Grayson.
Young Justice takes large time jumps in between seasons, so during the hiatus between Seasons 1 and 2, Dick became Nightwing. It was revealed that Jason Todd had become the second Robin but had been killed. Tim Drake was introduced as the third Robin, voiced by Cameron Bowen.
Young Justice attracted an older and a largely female viewership and unfortunately, that audience didn’t buy the Mattel toys made to cash in on that property. And it turns out that Mattel was majorly financing this show, so due to low toy sales, they pulled their funding and Young Justice was killed after Season 2, ending on a massive cliffhanger. That was in 2013.
Fans spent years lobbying for WB to wrap up this story, in an impassioned movement dwarfed only by the “Release the Snyder Cut” faction. Finally, in 2019, it was announced that new episodes of Young Justice would be delivered via the DC Universe streaming app. Following the folding of DC Universe, the show shifted over to HBO Max.
Unfortunately, the new episodes have meandered a lot and haven’t cleared up the cliffhanger from Season 2. Reactions have been decidedly mixed.
But Young Justice is still going. We’ll see how this ends up.
Aaaaaaand, that’s it. That covers the animated evolution of the various Robins in animation. Well, at least when it comes to television. There have been animated versions of Robin in multiple direct-to-DVD movies, but I am drawing the line here.
Next week, I will return to reviewing individual shows. Check back for that!
What was your first animated exposure to Robin? Is that still your favorite?
