‘Titans’: Robin Thinks Jason Todd Was Brainwashed by Batman

Fans are buzzing with excitement for the live-action Titans series on DC Universe with its full lineup of popular DC characters, but one character that fans might be looking forward to most is Jason Todd, the boy who has replaced Dick Grayson as Batman’s Robin — and for Dick it comes down to something more than simply being replaced. He thinks his former mentor may have brainwashed Jason.

As fans have seen in trailers for Titans, Dick has distanced himself from Batman to make his own path towards justice as a detective in Detroit, but according to Brenton Thwaites, who plays Dick in the series, Dick’s distance has given him a perspective that maybe Jason isn’t operating under his own free will.

“Well, Jason Todd has become a replacement for Dick Grayson, so he has fulfilled my position working for Batman,” Thwaites told ComicBook.com at New York Comic Con. “So there’s a little bit of tension in the scenes where we meet because I have left for a reason. Like I was saying, it’s not the way of fighting crime that I believe in, and Jason Todd is, what I think, being brainwashed by Batman to believe that his brutal, destructive, murderous way of fighting crime isn’t right. So there’s a little bit of tension in me trying to teach him to right those wrongs and to not do everything he says.”

The idea that Dick is trying to teach Jason a different path than Batman’s could end up creating a different kind of tension depending on how the first season of Titans plays out. At this point it’s unclear how big of a role Jason has, but in comics Jason replaced Dick as Robin after Dick became Nightwing, but the decision to bring Jason on as Robin is one that ultimately haunted Bruce when Jason was killed. Jason was ultimately restored to live, but became the anti-hero known as the Red Hood — something that sounds like it could well be in the future for Titans‘ take on Jason based if he stays on Batman’s path.

It’s a possibility that the series will have time to develop should they go down that road. It was announced on Wednesday that the series has already been renewed for a second season.

Titans is set to release its first episode on Friday, October 12 on the DC universe streaming service.