After attempting to steal the wheels off the Batmobile, brash street urchin Jason Todd met the Batman. Becoming the second Robin, Jason's fiery temperament led to his apparent death at the hands of the Joker. But Jason has returned from death to wage a violent war on crime on his own terms Jason Todd grew up in crime-ridden Gotham City. After his father left Jason and his mother, Catherine Todd became ill. Jason took care of Catherine until she died, and remained in the same rundown apartment, living off his wits and knowledge of the streets. One day while in Crime Alley, Jason literally ran into the Batman. He was caught in the act of stealing the Batmobile's wheels, which the Caped Crusader found amusing but not beyond reprimand. Batman had Jason put into what he thought was a school for wayward boys. In reality, Ma Gunn's School for Boys taught boys how to be criminals. With Jason's help, Batman brought Gunn and her students to justice. Batman had become acutely aware of the void created in his life since D*ck Grayson had moved out. He was so impressed with Jason's performance that he offered to let Jason move into Wayne Manor and become the new Robin. Jason eagerly accepted. After six months of physical and mental training, the second Robin was born. Later, Jason discovered that Two-Face had killed his father, Willis Todd, who was in the villain's employ. The Dynamic Duo eventually captured Two-Face and put him back in Arkham. Jason worked with the Teen Titans a couple of times, once in order to rescue Nightwing from Zandia. He was also involved in the Crisis, on Infinite Earths. While Jason soon proved to be one of Batman's most enthusiastic students, he was also the most troubled. Brash and impulsive, Jason's former life on the streets had left him with an ambiguous sense of right and wrong. This often placed Jason in opposition to the values his mentor was trying to teach him. The most dramatic of these moral clashes happened when Jason tracked down Felipe Garzonasa, a foreign national who had raped a young woman and later drove her to suicide. Moments after Jason arrived, Garzonasa plunged to his death from his apartment balcony. While the truth is still unknown, there is a distinct possibility that Jason pushed Felipe off the balcony, thereby breaking Batman's strict code against ever taking a life. Although an effective hero, the second Robin became increasingly moody, reckless and even violent. After consulting with Alfred, Batman decided to pull Jason off active duty. While kicking around his old stomping grounds, Jason discovered that Catherine Todd was not his real mother. He went in search of his true heritage and found it in Sheila Haywood. Jason Todd meets his end in BATMAN. Using the extensive resources of the Batcave, Jason was able to track his mother to Ethiopia. But shortly after their reunion, he was surprised by and savagely beaten almost to death by Batman's arch-foe the Joker, who had been blackmailing Jason's mother. The Joker then left Jason and his mother bound inside a warehouse filled with explosives. Though Jason tried to disable the bomb, mother and son seemingly perished together in the blast. Finding Jason's body, Batman was overcome with grief and thoughts of vengeance. He was eventually able to get past this with the aid of Superman, Nightwing, and the newest Robin, Tim Drake.
