As much as pop culture loves to depict Batman as an edgy, hard-boiled lone wolf who lives in perpetual isolation, Batman and Robin have been an inseparable pairing pretty much since the Dark Knight debuted. The original Robin, orphaned circus performer Dick Grayson, made his first appearance in 1940’s Detective Comics #38, only 11 issues after Batman was introduced. Robin’s presence has ebbed and flowed over the years, but more often than not, the Boy Wonder is never far from Gotham City.
Since the origin of the title, however, there have been several different Boy Wonders in mainstream DC canon. There’s Dick Grayson, perhaps the most well-known (and the one featured in Batman: The Animated Series and Teen Titans), who was briefly succeeded by Jason Todd (only to be murdered by the Joker and resurrected as the gun-toting edgelord Red Hood), followed by Tim Drake (the boy genius who Sherlock’d the Batman’s secret identity on his own), all three of whom debuted before the year 2000.
