A buried past from many years ago comes back to haunt The Dark Knight as a brutal vigilante named Red Hood.
Years ago, when his first
Robin, Dick Grayson was fired from duty for disobedience to his master (
Nightwing – Year One),
The Dark Knight started working alone again for some time. Even before when Tim Drake was drafted into this holy war against crime as The Boy Wonder, a brave, young boy from harsh streets of Crime Alley was recruited to a life-long crusade against crime.
That young boy, Jason Todd has eventually become the second
Robin because of his unique potential after
Batman apprehends him while trying to steal tire of Batmobile and soon Jason have learnt many feats of combat from his new mentor.
Though he was always overseen by
Batman whenever they were on patrol, Jason was quite capable of defending himself on his own. However, the boy had a very bad-temper which would always get the best of him.
Batman was afraid of this ever-so reckless attitude and often argued with him to rectify his mind-set.
Eventually, Jason got tricked and captured by
The Joker in one instance and has nearly beaten him to death with a crowbar before leaving him for dead, rigged with explosives. Jason dies in an explosion before
Batman could have ever reached out to rescue him in time (
A Death in The Family).
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| Batman – Under the Hood | Comics |
Years after, a mysterious figure suddenly starts terrorizing Gotham City criminal underworld that is currently dominated by a new crime-lord known as
Black Mask, aided by right-hand man Li. This mysterious identity proclaims himself to be
Red Hood and not only his actions have changed the tide of criminal underworld, it also drew
Batman's attention.
He has been taking money from underworld goons and killing many of the drug-dealers in Gotham on occasion. To stop him for good,
Black Mask starts assembling his men from everywhere and even enlists help from reputed super-villain
Mister Freeze.
Meanwhile,
Nightwing visits Gotham to accompany his mentor and they ended up following
Red Hood, who led them to one of
Black Mask’s secret shipment that turns out to be
Amazo, an android that was originally designed to defeat every members of
Justice League and now it has turned against The Dynamic Duo.
Although, this killer-robot is a pretty tough opponent and a force to be reckoned with, by working together, The Knight and his square managed to successfully take down Professor Ivo's amazing android and in the middle of this chaos,
Red Hood managed to slip a crate full of Kryptonite to blackmail
Black Mask.
Hiring
Mister Freeze against Gotham's new vigilante menace proved less than effective. Plus, a timely intervention from The Bat and his second-in command has calmed the situation pretty quick. As
Red Hood continues to hinder crime businesses all over the city, his true intentions and alignment still remains unclear to everyone.
In the mean time, the Clown Prince of Crime was sitting in the Fun House of an abandoned carnival, where
Red Hood enters and savagely beats him down with a crowbar. When the latter finally removed his mask, it was revealed to be long presumed-dead Jason Todd.
For more information on
Batman – Under the Hood storyline, you can check out these links below.
Batman – Under the Hood (Comics) Wikipedia
Batman – Under the Hood (Comics) DC Wikia
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| Red Hood's First Strike |
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Batman – Under the Hood" from
DC Comics in issues on
Amazon.
Batman 635
Batman 636
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Batman 650
Batman Annual 25
Here is your links to buy "
Batman – Under the Hood" from
DC Comics on
Amazon.
Batman – Under the Hood Vol 01
Batman – Under the Hood Vol 02
Batman – Under the Hood
Released on 2005 from
DC Comics, "
Under the Hood" is a thirteen part storyline by renowned comic-book writer
Judd Winick (
Green Arrow,
Green Lantern) and artists
Doug Mahnke (
Final Crisis,
Justice League Elite),
Eric Battle and
Shane Davis, which ran into first monthly ongoing
Batman comic series along with an Annual issue.
Following the release of controversial "
A Death in the Family" storyline in 1988, Jason Todd dies in action and after more than a decade in the wake of “
Infinite Crisis” crossover event, he is brought to life in "
Under the Hood" storyline as a new anti-hero of Gotham. Bringing Jason back in a new avatar really did wonders for his character as people really liked him as
Red Hood more than his time as
Robin.
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| The Joker Gets Payback |
Events of this storyline was slightly hinted in previously released “
Batman – Hush” and “
Batman – As the Crow Flies” story arcs from the same publisher. Those tragic panels from "
A Death in the Family" storyline is re-created again in an homage with the characters in reverse roles, serving
The Joker as a victim to Jason Todd's vicious torture this time.
Script of this book was later adapted into a
DC Universe Animated Original Movie titled,
Batman – Under the Red Hood, releasing in 2010 and it was a nice adaptation. Actor
Jensen Ackles portrayed Jason Todd's role through his voice-over work and it was impressive.
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