Superhero fans know that Batman is nobody without aRobinat his side, spending almost a century facing villains, reboots, relaunches, and makeovers along with the Dark Knight himself. It’s fair to say Robin is not only an essential piece of Gotham, or even DC history, but one of the most visible sidekicks the world has ever created.
In all that time many people have held the mantle of Robin, and the costume has changed just as often. Without further ado, here arethe best Robin costumes in all of DC history, each marking the legacy of another iconic hero playing the part of the greatest sidekick of all time.
10Tim Drake’s Red Robin is a Full Evolution
Robin Tries His Hand at a Batman Costume
Tim Drake’s Red Robin era was an emotional peak for his character, showing he was just as good a superhero as Batman himself. To prove this, he broke away from being solely Batman’s sidekick, and created his own Robin persona apart from any team-up or partnership. Shown in his dark cape and his cowl, Tim Drake is the spitting image of his adoptive father (who has agreed thatTim Drake is by far the best Robin).
In his efforts to divert from being a sidekick, this Red Robin is familiar, but different, shaking off many of the most formulaic costume qualities that make the Boy Wonder a Robin. Eventually, Tim Drake comes back from his solo adventures and sleuthing to a costume that does justice to Dick Grayson’s vision, while ultimately championing his own personality, in his very next iteration of this Red Robin.
9Jeff Lemire’s Robin Is a Modern Redesign
Dick Grayson Sees His Armored Suit For the First Time
Dick Grayson is the original Robin, and although he’s been Nightwing for many years and practicallysurpassed Batman by shutting down gods, he got his start as the famous Boy Wonder. An acrobat born into a circus family, Dick’s costume was meant to only ever aid him in his acrobatics. But in this retelling of Batman and Robin’s first days, Robin’s costume serves a different purpose, one more suited to Batman’s fighting style.
InRobin & Batman,by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen,Dick Grayson gets his best costume yet.Removing all the silly circus frills and maintaining a more armored look meant for battle,this costume provides a Robin costume for a modern age, as if Batman and Robin’s first days were today and not in the forties. This is a minimalist Robin, designed to stalk in the night, not to perform.
8Damian Wayne’s Original Costume Was a Repurposed Suit
Robin Took Dick Grayson’s Look and Made It His
One of the most controversial Robins in history (even more than Jason Todd) isDamian Wayne’s Robin- and yetno one has reinvented the title of the Boy Wonder as much as Batman’s son.His first costume appeared in Grant Morrison’sBatman, and is a refitted version of Dick Grayson’s costume. Damian believed himself to be the ultimate Robin, so he took the ultimate suit: that being the original.
Aside from the katana he wielded in combat, the addition of Damian’s hood also points to the background of his history as an assassin. This costume seems to answer the question Jason Todd had been begging to ask: what would Robin look like if he killed?
7Jason Todd’s Rebirth Robin Is a Dark Retcon
A Modern Retelling with a Red Mask
Told in flashbacks and memories inRed Hood and the Outlawsby Scott Lobdell, Dexter Soy, and Pete Woods, Jason Todd’s Robin outfit is nothing like Dick Grayson’s. Gone are the days of circus tricks, as the superhero world was becoming harsher and certainly more unforgiving to children They would learn eventually, the hard way.
This is a more tactical costume for a more modern era, much more suited to Jason Todd’s fighting style which is harsher and less coordinated than Dick’s.A key piece is the red color of the Robin mask, foreshadowing the hero Red Hood would later become.While every piece of this costume hints at tragedy, it’s nowhere nearthe worst costume Jason Todd has had, thanks to the Joker’s meddling.
6Red Robin’s New 52 Look Fixes Its Previous Errors
Tim Drake Is a Whole New Robin
This is a brilliant synthesis of two different components: Tim Drake’s attempt at being Batman in his first Red Robin costume, and his embracing of his innate Robin personality.The world doesn’t need another brooding Dark Knight - it needs as many colorful sidekicks as it can get.As the leader of the Teen Titans in the New 52 reboot, this Tim Drake costume keeps his previous look while upgrading most every other aspect.
Red Robin isn’t the only Robin-adjacent person Tim Drake has tried, considering he went by his last name as an alias, ‘Drake,’ and wore a costume that had fans in a frenzy for as long as he went by this moniker.
He returns to his classic domino mask, but his costume is primarly red, like his title he still holds of Red Robin. He also trades his Batman cape for one much more bird-like. This was an attempt on Tim Drake’s part to create a new Robin character when there were more than enough Robins. And in this suit, he is fully Robin, notjust a redesigned Batman.
Robin’s 90s REIGN OF TERROR Costume Is the Perfect Challenge for Modern Cosplayers
Fans have seen every Robin at comic-cons, but no one’s dared to cosplay as this niche Robin from a ’90s one-shot, perfect for adventurous cosplayers.
5Robin’s Classic Look Will Always Be Iconic
Dick Grayson Debuts as the Boy Wonder
Nothing says Robin like the classic debut suit. Even asRobin’s first appearance gets a modern remaketo honor that first appearance inDetective Comics#38, Robin’s costume remains a staple of superheroes. There’s nothing so quintessential about a superhero’s costume like their original look.
With the green shorts, the Peter Pan boots, and the long flowering yellow cape,Robin is the complete opposite of Batman, looking more like the brightness of the Bat-Symbol than the dark surrounding the night.Dick Grayson not only cemented Robin as a hero for all time with this costume, but there are always more stories to be told, aswith Mark Waid’s new Year One story.It’s such an original that it keeps coming back. It’s that good.
4Tim Drake’s First Change To His Robin Costume for the First Time
Robin Loses the Green and Picks Up Brooding Instead
Before following even further into his father’s footsteps with his Red Robin look, Tim Drake was the first Robin to really perfect Batman’s brooding. Falling away from the classic Robin style for the first time, after the events ofInfinite Crisis, a mourning Tim Drake decides to lose all the green from his costume.This is the first time the colors of the Boy Wonder turned solely to red and black.
Currently, Tim Drake is still trying to figure out what kind of Robin he is, since Damian Wayne is still in the picture. Jason Todd becomes Red Hood, Dick Grayson becomes Nightwing, but Tim Drake has the most costume changes over the years as he struggles to find himself. Thankfully, he looks good in nearly whatever costume he dons, whether it’s classic or a modern deviation,as DC argues Tim Drake is the better Robin.
3Robin’s Rebirth Costume is a Brilliant Remix
Damian Wayne Finally Becomes His Own Robin
Damian Wayne returns to finally stop wearing the same clothes of his predecessor and give them his own iconic twist. As anassassin born to lead an army of killers,Damian Wayne is keen on keeping key parts of his backstory and folding them within the Robin mythos.With his Rebirth costume, he paid homage to Tim Drake’s turn of wearing black and red threads, but Damian’s version is much more shadowy, slimmer, and with a much shorter cape. The domino mask too is like one no hero has ever worn before.
It’s a new costumethat’s wholly his own - and it’s about time, considering every other Robin got to do a remix of the original. This is Damian Wayne at his peak, fully Robin to his father Batman, albeit in his own style.It’s in this costume that Damian finally completed his redemption arc as Robin.
2Tim Drake’s Original Robin Costume Was an instant Classic
With Modern and Classical Elements, Tim Drake Was a Favorite Robin
Tim Drake’s first Robin costume was the harbinger of the nineties, where modernity was catching up with comics and silliness was dying out and being replaced by super serious stories. AfterJason Todd’s tragic death as a key piece of Robin lore,Tim Drake takes up the mantle of Robin and more than lives up to it - he reinvents it and brings along more than a handful of costumes along the way.
The best, however, is his very first, that he was eventually to return to. It was the first instance of a modern Robin costume, since Jason Todd’s first real costume was just a replay of Dick Grayson’s.It’s a costume many Robin-loving fans have grown up with, and as such, it really encapsulates just what it means to be Robin - all the bright colors to be expected but in a much cooler way.
1Dick Grayson’s World Finest Suit is the Quintessential Robin
Colorful and Fun, Dick Grayson Will Always Be the Iconic Robin
Nothing says Robin like this colorful suit.It’s seen in Mark Waid and Dan Mora’s landmark seriesWorld’s Finest, which shows some of the beginning years of the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel. Importantly though, it shows Dick Grayson as a Robin just before moving on to the mantle of Nightwing. Robin fans get to see that in-between age of a Robin who is no longer a boy sidekick but hasn’t quite grown up yet.
What results is a more modern and capable suit that can withstand the era of modern comics but still hearkens back to its original era that Dick Grayson comes from.It’s bright, it’s colorful, it’s fun, and it’s everything a fan could think of when they think of Robin. While there are no shortage of wonderful suits for the Boy Wonder, thisRobincostume is absolutely the best there is.
