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Chapter 53 He slipped
How bad could a kid chosen by Batman to be Robin be?
Speaking of Jason, his story is unique even among American comic book characters.
After the original Robin Richard Grayson left the stage, the editorial team was eager to introduce a new young hero to take his place, so they created Jason Todd, who had a similar background.
Born into a circus family, he is bold and meticulous. Apart from his blond hair and blue eyes, he is almost a carbon copy of the original Robin.
The editorial team hoped to use familiar settings to help readers quickly accept the new character, but this approach angered many fans who liked the original Robin, resulting in Jason Todd receiving consistently negative reviews.
Later, when the DC Universe was rebooted, Jason's backstory was redesigned into the version most widely known: born in Crime Alley, his father was imprisoned, his mother died early, and he pried off the tires of the Batmobile in his first appearance.
His terrible upbringing instilled in him a strong sense of righteous indignation. Unlike the original Robin, he was more ruthless and violent towards criminals, and he frequently clashed with Batman, appearing unruly, stubborn, and easily angered.
Some readers disliked the character and were disgusted by Jason's behavior; some even wrote to the editorial department to protest and demand the character be removed.
The editors wavered, and they created a new plot where readers could vote by phone to decide Jason's fate.
The side that supported the execution won by a narrow margin. Despite rumors that someone used machine programming to repeatedly make phone calls to influence the outcome, Jason's death became a fait accompli.
He was only resurrected and reappeared in the public eye after anti-heroic characters became popular and major events occurred.
But none of this has happened yet.
He wasn't grown up yet, he hadn't been able to pry off the Batmobile's tires, he was still just a child living with his friends in Crime Alley.
Zheng En stroked Jason's head. The child lowered his head, a sob escaping his throat. He bit his lip tightly, remaining silent, and large tears fell to the ground.
To be honest, Jung Eun can understand the anger and uncontrollability he displayed in the original work. Even Batman has wavered more than once, teetering on the edge of his principles, let alone a teenager.
Unlike the original Robin, Jason grew up struggling and working his way up from the bottom since birth.
He had personally experienced those hardships and knew better than most the pain and trauma those crimes would inflict on the victims.
In the Flashpoint timeline, Jason, who did not meet Batman, became a priest, and his empathy was far greater than others imagined.
His sympathy and pity for others were like kindling thrown into a fire, fueling the fire of his anger.
Zheng En had seen the comic book screenshots in the video explanation, and it was suspected that Jason had driven a criminal to his death when he was still Robin.
The man was a notorious criminal who smuggled marijuana and raped women. Jason and Batman stopped his crimes, but because he had a father who was a foreign diplomat, even if he was caught red-handed, the only punishment he would receive was extradition back to his country.
However, in the time before he left Gotham, he still had the power to threaten and intimidate the women he had previously rescued.
Jason arrived too late and only saw the hanging body.
Batman was a step too slow; when he caught up with Jason, he only saw the criminal falling from the high-rise building.
Robin, Philip fell down on his own...
Was he pushed down?
I guess my appearance startled him.
He slipped.
The simplistic illustrations in the comics were replaced by the vivid, living children before my eyes.
Zheng En squatted down. Jason was sniffling, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand, choking back tears and not saying a word.
Zheng En didn't say anything either; saying anything at a time like this would easily seem superfluous.
He watched Jason sob quietly until the other man's tears had mostly stopped falling, then took out a tissue from the inside pocket of his clothes and handed it to him.
The child's face was covered in snot and tears. He took a tissue and wiped his face haphazardly, making his nose and cheeks red from the force of the wiping.
Seeing that Jason had calmed down, Jung Eun handed over the phone she had prepared.
"It's not worth much, but you should keep it safe."
He stood up and gave Jason's head a good ruffled ruffle. "That's enough for now. The others are waiting for you to get back."
After venting his anger, the child came to his senses and seemed embarrassed. He gripped his phone tightly, his eyes darting around. He wanted to say goodbye properly, but he also felt ashamed for having just cried. He awkwardly tilted his head and glanced at Zheng En out of the corner of his eye.
"Then be careful and send me a message when you get to your apartment."
"You too."
Zheng En ruffled Jason's hair until it was a mess, like a mango pit that had been sucked. After saying goodbye, the little mango pit turned and ran into the alley. A moment later, a thin light appeared in the alley, then quickly went out again.
It's hard to get a taxi here at night, so Zheng En was too lazy to call one and didn't want to fly around with the bamboo dragonfly on her head. So she walked towards the apartment, treating it as a way to digest her food after dinner.
The panel that only he could see appeared in his field of vision.
[Mission: Dinner for the Street Children]
Status: Completed
Children are hope, they are the future.
Even if not all children can be treated kindly, at least today, you gave some homeless children a warm night.
The aroma of the hot pot will soon dissipate, and the food in their stomachs will be digested and absorbed, but the dim lighting and the smiling faces of those around them will be deeply etched in the children's memories.
[Task Reward: Settled]
[Ten thousand US dollars, 10 virtual points, and the friendship of homeless children]
He heard someone speak solemnly.
"Thanks."
Jung Eun smiled and said, "We're practically family."
Regardless of the version or universe, Jason's death was an immense blow to Batman.
The Batman that many people remember as paranoid, suspicious, and mentally unstable is essentially a father who has lost his children and doesn't want to lose any more.
The masked vigilantes' night patrols are no joke.
Batman doesn't care about his own safety, but he'll be worried about Robin's injury.
His controlling nature and neuroticism grew exponentially as the young vigilante's injuries worsened. He had witnessed too many tragedies and was even more unwilling to let such tragedies happen to Robin.
The original Robin couldn't stand his controlling nature and parted ways with him, but the thing Batman feared still happened.
Death befell the second Robin.
The enraged bat once abandoned his principle of not killing and tried to kill the Joker to avenge Jason, but failed for various reasons.
Batman cares about Jason, his every Robin, every sidekick, and every child.
He thanked Zheng En for everything he had done for Jason and the homeless children that night.