A Plethora of Alternative Robins

There’s no Robin in the official DC Comics continuity right now, and the company is trying to raise questions about the fate of Dick Grayson as Nightwing in the “Forever Evil” crossover (accompanied by a shift in the Nightwing comic book’s writer).

But the company is offering a plethora of Robins in alternative universes. These include:

• Andy Kubert’s Damian: Son of Batman comics miniseries, exploring a possible future for Damian Wayne if he hadn’t, you know, been killed by a giant clone of himself under orders from their mother.
• A future Red Robin appearing in Teen Titans Annual, #2, with the promise of more. The first Tim Drake also faced possible grown-up selves in various magical or time-travel scenarios. I’ve argued that because Robins represent growing up, stories with alternative futures are of major significance in their mythos.
• Earth-2’s former Robin and now Huntress, Helena Wayne, continuing her quest for home.
• A form of Carrie Kelley appearing as Robin in the Ame-Comi line of comics, featuring all-female versions of the standard DC pantheon. (Another Carrie appears inside the current Batman continuity.)
• A young black Robin previewed for Detective Comics, #27, again from a possible alternative future.
• A one-eyed Dick Grayson mentoring Terry McGinness in Batman Beyond, yet another possible future, in this case spun off from DC’s Animated Universe launched in the 1990s.
• The put-upon Robin of Tiny Titans, on his way back in a comics miniseries.
• The Robin in Teen Titans Go!, who manages to substitute ego for heroism.
• Hollywood gossip/publicity about the casting of Nightwing for both the TV show Arrow and the upcoming movie Batman v. Superman. In only one of those versions would Nightwing maintain his function as the prettiest hero in the DC Universe. In the other, the storytellers seem to be emphasizing the “estranged ex-sidekick” aspect of the character.

None of these alternatives is, of course, adequate for fans of one Robin or another—though none of those specific Robins might satisfy everyone. Together they do demonstrate the continued storytelling viability of Robin as a symbolic figure.