Comparing the DC Universe with the New 52 part 2: Former Robins and other Batman-sidekicks

In the previous post I explored the changes that happened when the new 52 reboot affected the history of the Robin legacy. Lets look at what changed when Robins became new heroes in the DC and new 52 continuities, and check in on the other Batman sidekicks.

When Dick Grayson began to have trouble fulfilling his duties as Robin due to his college studies and his leadership role in the Teen Titans, Batman dismissed him as a sidekick. However Dick stayed firm in his resolve to be a hero. If Batman didn't need a Robin, Dick would fly solo. But after nearly ten years being Robin, Dick needed a more grown-up identity and costume. Using an old blue trapeze act costume his father had once wore and adding yellow to the costume as a throwback to his yellow cape as Robin, Dick Grayson became Nightwing. In the new 52 history, Dick quit being Robin after only a year of being Batman's sidekick, and crafted a blue-and-gold body armor to fight crime in as Nightwing.

In previous DC history, Nightwing felt that his blue-and-yellow costume still reflected his role as Robin, and was too brightly colored for a nocturnal vigilante. He designed a solid black bodysuit adorned with a blue bird emblem (as a throwback to his Robin days the shade of blue he chose was robin's egg), and left his home in Gotham city to become the official hero of a neighboring city called Bludhaven. In new 52, Nightwing chose a new darker costume as well, black body armor with a red (as a nod to his Robin costume) bird symbol that had aspects of the Batman symbol, and he left Gotham to become a solo hero in Chicago.

After his death at the hands of the Joker, a cosmic event brought former Robin Jason Todd back to life. When he learned that Batman didn't avenge his death and kill the Joker, Jason went over the edge. Choosing one of the Joker's original alias, Jason became the Red Hood and began a bloody rampage in Gotham city, killing criminal he felt deserved to die. Red Hood also targeted Tim Drake for replacing him as Robin, and Dick Grayson to prove the he was always the better Robin. After a confrontation with his mentor Batman, Red Hood formed an uneasy alliance with the Bat-family, and even tried to be a hero forging an identity as Red Robin. However he relapsed back into his violent tendencies and became the Red Hood again. Originally Red Hood just wore civilian attire with a red helmet hiding his face, but later he felt that he should to become the lethal hero he felt Gotham needed and desired to replace Batman, so he designed a black and white costume adorned with a red skull as his symbol. He went on a crusade violently killing criminals and posted his exploits on Youtube to garner fans to support his new "heroic" lifestyle, until he was finally stopped and sent to prison. In new 52 history, Jason was killed by the Joker, but brought back to life by a coven of witches called the Caste. They trained him to become their warrior, and gave him a sense of purpose. He later returned to Gotham as the Red Hood, wearing a black body-armor with a red bat symbol and a red helmet/mask. Unlike in the previous history, Red Hood wasn't as angry at the Batman and his sidekicks, and occasionally worked with his fellow former Robins Dick Grayson and Tim Drake instead of attacking them. He even formed his own vigilante team called the Outlaws.

When the third Robin Tim Drake found that he had been replaced as Robin by Damian Wayne, he decided to adopt and modify Jason Todd's former costume and identity of Red Robin. Like Dick Grayson did as Nightwing, Tim used his Red Robin persona to become his own hero and not a sidekick, and in fact in suit design and behaviors Red Robin began to be more like Batman than Robin. In the new 52 history, Tim Drake was never Robin, and instead began his career as Red Robin. When he quit being Batman's sidekick, Tim (with the help of a a very gifted inventor) created a new Red Robin costume that had a hi-tech metallic cape that could shift into a glider-wings to give him the power of flight. Unlike previous history, Tim's new Red Robin costume still had resembled a Robin costume and did not resemble Batman. Red Robin began a solo crusade to protect kids that had metahuman abilities and formed the Teen Titans.

In previous history, Red Robin had briefly worn a new costume that strongly resembled Nightwing before reverting back to his classic Red Robin costume. In new 52, a darker more streamlined Red Robin costume that resembled the previous history 2nd Red Robin costume was designed for Tim Drake but has yet to be worn

Barbara Gordon designed her own gray,blue, and yellow version of Batman's costume to wear to a Halloween party, but when it party was attacked by a costumed villain she charged into action as Batgirl. Barbara's accidental foray into the life of a costumed crimefighter left her wanting more, and she began to slip out every night in her costume to prowl the city. Batman tried to stop her at first, but her determination won him over and he trained Batgirl part of his team. In the new 52 history, Barbara was visiting her father at the police station where the Gotham City police had made a mock up of Batman's body armor to try and figure out how Batman's tech worked. When the station was attacked by a serial killer, Barbara put on the make-shift Batman armor to defeat the killer. Batman had arrived on the scene just in time see her take down the criminal and was impressed by her actions. Unlike previous history Batman encouraged her vigilante persona of Batgirl. Barbara was then given a costume that combined elements of Batman's costume and Robin's costume and she began her crime-fighting career.

In previous DC history, after years of being Batgirl, Barbara Gordon was shot in the back by Joker and was permanently paralyzed from the waist down. Being confined to a wheelchair didn't stop the former Batgirl form fighting crime. She soon became the world's foremost computer hacker, the Oracle, and help Batman with information and even organized her own team of field operatives that she called the Birds of Prey. Oracle even designed a virtual reality armor inspired by her Batgirl costume that allowed her to physically move in the new 3-D cyberspace called Internet 3.0 and fight computer viruses and internet crime in the holographic world. In the new 52, Joker's bullet only injured her back, and didn't cause permanent damage. After 3 years of physical therapy, Barbara designed a body-armor that gave her weakened spine extra support and became Batgirl again. She never became Oracle as in previous history.

Helena Bertinelli was only a child when a mafia hit killed her parents. The trauma of her family's death drove her to want to hunt down every member of the mob and make them pay. Inspired by the Batman and taking advantage of her natural archery skills, Helena became the arrow-shooting Huntress. In new 52 history, Helena Bertinelli was an alias used by former Robin Helena Wayne (the daughter of Batman and Catwoman from a parallel dimension) when she wasn't in her new costume as the Huntress. Her Huntress costume had elements of bother her parents respective costumes.

Stephanie Brown was the daughter of a wannabe super-villain called the Cluemaster. Creating a costume for herself to hide her identity, she set out to spoil his plans and stop him from committing crime. Stephanie realized she had a knack for crime-fighting and continued using her costume as the Spoiler. Her exploits led her to become friends with Tim Drake in his Robin persona. He helped to train her and improve on her skills. This later resulted in the two heroes falling in love with each other. Spoiler's talents made her valuable enough that when Tim Drake briefly stopped being Robin, Batman allowed her to replace him as Robin in the interim. When Tim reclaimed his Role as Robin, Stephanie resumed her role as Spoiler. Later Barbara Gordon helped train Spoiler to become the new Batgirl. In new 52 history, Stephanie appears as Spoiler, claiming to have info on a gang war. Her costume incorporates aspects from her original Spoiler costume, along with her pre-52 Batgirl costume.

Cassandra Cain was the daughter of two of Batman's most formidable foes, Cain and Lady Shiva. Raised to be an assassin, young Cassandra was never spoken to, forcing her to learn to read body language as  her only means of communication. Her body reading talents were so precise she could anticipate how a person would move before they did. As a small child she was force to kill a man and the horror made her run away. Years later she would find a home with former Batgirl Barbara Gordon. Cassandra eventually took on her mentor's identity as Batgirl. Slowly learning to speak and read, Cassandra eventually became Batman's trusted partner and she assumed a new identity as Black Bat (modifying her full face cowl into a sleek domino mask). In new 52 timeline, Cassandra is Black Bat, a trusted agent of a future Barbara Gordon.

Bette Kane was the niece of Kathy Kane aka Batwoman. Upon discovering her aunt's secret identity, Bette decided to join her as Bat-Girl. Taking inspiration from her idol, Dick Grayson's Robin, she designed a red and green costume. In new 52, Bette was the cousin of Kate Kane, the New 52 Batwoman, and began her career inspired by Dick Grayson as Nightwing and became Flamebird. Her Flamebird costume maintained the Bat-Girl red-and-green color scheme, with the addition of yellow flame designs.

When it was apparent that nobody took her seriously, Bette Kane decided to devote herself to becoming a serious hero. Patterning herself after Nightwing, Bette became Flamebird using a crimson-and-gold costume with flame designs and built in light-and-electricity based weaponry. In the new 52 universe, Bette revealed her Flamebird persona to her cousin Batwoman and asked to be trained to be a legitmate hero. With Batwoman's training, Flamebird donned black-and-bronze armor with flame-throwers and a jet-pack and assumed the new codename Hawkfire.

Comparing the DC Universe with the New 52: The Robin saga

With the history of the DC Universe getting wiped clean and rebooted, things were bound to change. Some characters changed in minor ways, and some were greatly altered. One of the the greatest changes was the history of Batman's sidekick Robin.

In the original history, Dick Grayson was an 8-year old circus acrobat who first became Robin after his parents were killed and he was adopted by Batman. Patterning his costume after the red-and-green costume he wore in the circus, and using his mother's nickname for him as a codename, Robin took flight in the well-known shorts and pixie boots along side his mentor Batman, until he outgrew the role and left Batman's shadow as Nightwing. In the new 52 Dick was a teenaged parkour runner and the son of trapeze artists. In addition to Dick already being in his teens, another change to the history was that the family circus costumes were blue with a bird design, not red-and-green. Dick's parents were killed and he was sent to an orphanage (not adopted by Batman as in previous history) where he did computer searches on Batman and Bruce Wayne and deduced that Bruce was Batman. Wanting to become a hero to avenge his parents he tracked down Batman and was reluctantly made Bruce's sidekick. He took scraps of old Batman armor to make his costume (no pixie boots or shorts), and chose the name Robin in honor of the robin bracelet he had given his mother before she died. Where Dick was Robin for nearly 10 years before becoming Nightwing, in the new history Dick assumed his role as Nightwing only a year or two after being Robin.

When Dick became Nightwing, a young thug was selected to be the new Robin for Batman when he tried to steal the hubcaps off the Batmobile. Brash and cocky, Jason was a much different Robin than Dick, and he often was at odds with Batman over his anger and violent tendencies. He was seemingly killed by Joker only to be resurrected by a time-shift and became the Red Hood. In the new 52 history, Jason had a similar back story of being a streetwise orphan with criminal tendencies and a bad attitude that was taken in by Batman after a run-in with the Dark Knight as a replacement Robin. Jason was not given Dick's costume as he was in previous history, but was given his own armored costume when he became Robin. Not long after he was killed by the Joker but brought back to life by a coven of witches called the  Caste and became Red Hood.

The biggest change occurred to the third Robin, Tim Drake. In previous history, Tim was a child prodigy who idolized Batman and used his detective skills to uncover Batman's identity as Bruce Wayne. Seeing that Batman was out of balance after the death of his Robin, Jason Todd, Tim took it upon himself to become the new Robin. He earned Batmans' respect and designed an armored Robin costume for himself, finding the costumes worn by Dick and Jason too impractical for his tastes. Later, when Batman learned he had a son named Damian and made him Robin, Tim created anew identity for himself as Red Robin. In new 52 continuity, Tim's last name was not Drake, and he was a gymnast and a  genius who devoted his time to pushing himself to new challenges. Attempting to discover the identity of Batman, he was unknowingly being watched by Batman as a potential Robin after the death of Jason Todd. When Tim computer hacked the bank accounts of a criminal, he put his family in danger and they were placed in witness relocation. Tim's parents asked Batman to take him in, and Batman gave the boy the identity of Tim Drake. Tim was made Batman's sidekick but Tim felt he shouldn't be Robin and did not want to replace the memory of Jason Todd. Instead he designed an armored costume (similar to his second Robin costume in the previous history) and jumped straight to being Red Robin.

Little to no change happened to the fourth Robin Damian Wayne. In both previous and new 52 history he was the son of Batman and the villianess Talia, who was reunited with his father and made Robin. Being the child of a known villain made Damian a sociopath who cared little for others and he believed he was the only son of Batman and the only true Robin. When Batman was thought to be dead was he taken in and trained by Dick Grayson who was posing as Batman until Bruce's return. Damian was friendly with Dick but harbored deep resentments towards Tim Drake. The only changes were in previous history Damian had the original Dick Grayson Robin costume and a yellow cloak over a dark green-light-green bodysuit, but in new 52 he wears a red vest over a black suit with green gloves and boots and a black-and-yellow cape.

In previous history, young vigilante Stephanie Brown was made the first female Robin when Tim Drake briefly quit being a hero, and when he returned she became the new Batgirl. In new 52 history, Helana Wayne was the daughter of a parallel universe's Batman and Catwoman as well as the first female Robin before she was transported into the new 52 timeline and became Huntress.

In a dark dystopian future, Carrie Kelley became the Robin for a much older, darker Batman, and wore Dick Grayson's original Robin costume. In the new 52, Carrie Kelley was a friend of Damian Wayne, teaching the young hero how to act like a normal child. When he disappeared, Carrie went to Bruce Wayne for answers and became part of the Bat-family. Carrie wore modified version of the original Robin costume.

Cartoon Network's Birthday FAIL!!!

After a LOOOONNNGGGG hiatus (months of no new dc cartoons), Green Lantern and Young Justice's animated series both returned two weeks ago and left this viewer wanting more. However in honor of their 20th Birthday, Cartoon Network has placed both shows on another month long hiatus!!! Only 2 new eps in, and back to the doldrums of no new adventures of Green Lantern and the Young Justice team. In their place Cartoon Network is airing Dragons of Berk (some insipid show about geeky viking kids riding weird looking dragons) and I know because when I got up this morning to watch my DC Nation Cartoons (even checked the TV schedule on my DVR to make sure it was recording and it listed that they both had pending new episodes to record today) I saw lame dragons and lamer vikings. I am quite annoyed and will no longer be giving Cartoon Network the time of day...and I encourage anyone who might be reading this to do the same...boycott Cartoon Network until they get their act together and stop pulling good shows for the weird crap that they bloat their network with.

UPDATE
The DC nation cartoon block is set to return this January..so we will how long we get to watch then before the put us on another hiatus

The Shijin (4 guardian beasts) in popular culture

The Shijin (or Shishin) were 4 or 5 (depending on the country) beast gods that protected the four corners of the world, according to Japanese and Chinese mythology. The Shijin were a Blue Dragon (Seiryu/Qinglong), a Red Phoenix (Suzaku/Zhuque), a White Tiger (Byakko/Baihu) and a Black Tortoise (Genbu/Xuanwu). They represented the 4 elements, the 4 seasons, and the 4 points on a compass. Seiryu was East, Wind, and Spring, Suzaku was South, Fire, and Summer, Byakko was West, Metal, and Autumn, and Genbu was North, Winter, and Earth/Water,The Chinese myth also had a Yellow Beast (Ouryu/Huang Long) which was the Center of the Compass, and Aether (or Void). These legendary beasts have made a big impression on cartoons and video games. Here are some notable examples

The Digimon Anime had the Digimon Sovereigns who were embodiments of the Shijin. Ebonwumon (Genbu), Baihumon (Byakko), Zhuqiamon (Suzaku), Azulongmon (Seiryu), and Fanglongmon (Ouryu).

The Beyblade Anime had a team called the Breakers whose Bit-Beast allies were based on the Shijin. Draciel (Genbu), Driger (Byakko), Dranzer (Suzaku), Dragoon (Seiryu), and Gaia Dragoon (Ouryu)

Final Fantasy 10 the RPG video game had the Shijin all appear in the game as themselves, but Ouryu was replaced with a yellow dragon-like animal called Kirin (which, while having yellow dragon traits, was based on the unicorn-like Kirin/Qilin, often closely tied to the Shijin, and in fact replaced Byakko as a Shijin during the reign of the Yellow Emperor in ancient China)

The video game Monster Hunter featured many dragons and 5 of them resembled the Shijin. The tortoise-like Apceros (Genbu), the white tiger-like Barioth (Byakko), the red bird-like Hypnocatrice (Suzaku),  the blue dragon Lagiacrus (Seiryu), and the silver unicorn-like Kirin (Qilin).

The mobile game Guardian Cross had the Shijin appear as hard to kill "Giant" guardians.An interesting fact is that the Shijin in the game had the swirling orbs that the Digimon version of the Shijin had. Also there was no Ouryu, but the Unicorn in the game had golden-yellow armor (similar to Byakko's silver armor) and was huntable in the same zone as the Shijin.

The mobile game Puzzles & Dragons introduced the Shijin as the "Chinese Celestials", 5 animal-themed goddesses. Each goddess represented an element; Genbu Meimei was Earth, Byakko Haku was Darkness, Suzaku Leilan was Fire, Seiryuu Karin was Water, and Kirin Sakuya was Light.

Ouryu was also in Puzzles & Dragons as a "Chinese Celestial", but instead of a goddess, he was an emperor god called Emperor Kouryu Fagan, who shared the light element with Kirin Sakuya.

Psylocke costume history

The many costumes of Psylocke. At first, she wore a Captain Britain costume that gave her powers similar to her brother, and when her own telepathic powers kicked in, she created her first pink Psylocke costume. Later she added armor to giver her an edge in physical combat. After her mind and DNA got swapped with a Japanese assassin, Psylocke wore a blue-and-gold X-Men training uniform, before donning her iconic blue swimsuit with ribbons over the the gloves and boots, and a red sash. When her telepathy got turned into telekinesis, Psylocke switched to a black bare midriff bodysuit, and when the X-Men later all got black leather costumes Psylocke wore a black leather version of her swimsuit costume. When reality got warped by Scarlet Witch Psylocke got a black suit adorned with a purple dragon. The she got a black-and-purple bare midriff bodysuit when reality returned to normal.After regained her telepathy (and still keeping her telekinesis), Psylocke wore a black-and-silver version of her original swimsuit costume. And finally Psylocke donned a purple bodysuit with elements of her previous costume when she became a member of X-Force (a secret ops branch of the X-Men). Later she witched to a black bodysuit with a white x-emblem and purple sash belt. In the Ultimate Universe Psylocke wore a black-leather bare midriff X-men uniform.

Jean Grey's Phoenix costume history

The many costumes of Jean Grey aka The Phoenix. First Jean wore the black-and-gold uniform of Marvel Girl (later she would trade in the costume for a green mini-dress and a yellow version of her mask), then she bonded with the Phoenix Force and became Phoenix and gained the classic and well-known green-and-gold uniform with the phoenix emblem on a triangular field of black. When she was corrupted by the evil Mastermind, Jean became the Dark Phoenix, and the green of her phoenix costume was changed to dark red with a much larger bird emblem and no black. After she "died" on the moon, Jean came back as Marvel Girl with a green-and-yellow costume. Later Jean switched it for a sleeker red version, and then a blue and yellow version with a tiara. In the 90's Jean reclaimed the name of Phoenix she wore what is considered to be her classic look; a gold-and blue uniform with a tiara and shoulder armor. Once Jean regained the Phoenix Force she switched her costume to a red-and-gold uniform that had aspects of her 90's costume and her Dark Phoenix costume. When the X-Men all got black leather costumes, Phoenix got a black-and-gold uniform. When she fought an evil mutant posing as Magneto, she appeared as a flaming energy version of her Dark Phoenix persona.  When the Magneto impersonator killed Phoenix, a ghostly image of Jean wearing a costume that combined elements of her second Marvel Girl costume and her first Phoenix costume appeared to her daughter Rachel. When the Phoenix Force was damaged it came to Earth and re-bonded with Jean's body to heal itself and placed her in a bright red version of her classic green Phoenix costume, and after Jean asserted her control over the Phoenix she manifested a white version of her first Phoenix costume. And then when a younger version of Jean was transported to the present, young Jean wore a green, white, and black costume as her X-Men uniform. Later she redesigned her costume into a green-and-yellow uniform that combined elements of the classic green Marvel Girl and Phoenix uniforms. In an alternate timeline set during the events of the Avengers vs X-Men, Phoenix evolved her costume into a black-and-red version of her classic Phoenix costume with a golden bird-emblem breastplate. In one proposed comic Jean would have regained the Phoenix Force in the 90s and would have worn a gold-and-black stylized version of her classic Phoenix costume. In an alternate timeline shown in the Mutant X comics, Jean never became the Phoenix and was codenamed Ariel and wore a red-and-gold bodysuit. In the Ultimate Universe, Jean wore a black-and-yellow bare midriff uniform as Marvel Girl, and kept the uniform even when she became the Phoenix. In a parallel universe where events diverged in the 90's with Wolverine's death, Jean had her powers amplified by a villain named Cortez and became the Phoenix again, altering her 90's gold-and-blue costume into a blue-and-gold version of her classic Phoenix costume. In a parallel universe where Jean never left the X-factor team, she wore a black and yellow suit with an x-theme. 150 years from now Jean Grey was resurrected in a dark future world by the Phoenix Force...and found herself in a skimpy and spiky black leather costume and when she used her powers her skin turned to golden flames

Marvel's White Tiger history

The mantle of the White Tiger has been used by several Marvel characters. The first White Tiger was Hector Ayala, a martial artist who was empowered by a mystical tiger amulet. After his death, a real white tiger was evolved by the High Evolutionary into a human woman who was highly skilled in several types of martial arts (as well as able to shape-shift back into her tiger form) and was called White Tiger. Unable to cope with human emotions, the second White Tiger was permanently transformed back into a tiger, leaving Kasper Cole free to become the third White Tiger. A scion of the Black Panther, Kasper had a white version of the Black Panther suit (complete with vibranium claws) and was given special herbs to endow him with cat-like abilities until he abandoned his heroics. Hector Ayala's niece Angela del Toro was given his tiger amulet, transforming her into the fourth White Tiger, and she used her cat-like powers and stealth abilities to combat crime until she was corrupted by evil mystic ninjas known as the Hand. Angela's cousin Ava Ayala (Hector's youngest sister) was given the amulet after Angela's corruption, and is the current White Tiger, joining the Avengers Academy and learning to control her tiger-like powers.