JayToddz for the masses

Were DCAU Tim Drake and Jason Todd the same character?

In Robin Rising, a special feature on the Batman: Animated Series DVD set, Paul Dini and Bruce Timm talk about bringing in a new Robin.

Bruce Timm: The kid Robin that we did was both a combination of Tim Drake and Jason Todd.

Paul Dini: Jason Todd was a version of Robin that was created in, I believe, the late 70s*. Served as Robin for several years and the fans liked him. He ultimately went down a darker path and was murdered by the Joker, which was a very strong story and one that we couldn’t do in our series. We ultimately abandoned it.

BT: The current Robin they had in the comics was Tim Drake, so we decided he should be Tim Drake. But Jason had a really good origin story. So we made him Tim Drake, he had Jason’s origin and some of Jason’s characteristics. So he’s really kind of a half and half conglomerate of the two different Robins.

Sins of the Father (Season 4, Episode 2) is DCAU Tim Drake’s origin story. We first see Tim stealing a police officer’s donuts — not the tires off the Batmobile. He is clearly a street youth, with tattered clothing and has a snarky mouth. The police officer calls him a “little punk.” He has an obsession with Batman (which is more like Tim Drake’s DCU origin). His father, Steven “Shifty” Drake worked for Two-Face, just like Jason’s father, Willis Todd. Tim smart mouths back to Two-Face, which is much more Jason’s personality and characteristics.

Here’s some comparison scenes, snagged from evenrobins.net. A more detailed article can be found there, as well, which notes the similarities between the two characters. Scenes are from Sins of the Father and Batman 408. Check it out!