The Evolution of Robin's Costumes Through History

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The Evolution of Robin's Costumes Through History

DC Comics

 Batman has gone through a number of Robins in his career. Here, then, is a look at the evolution of Robin's costumes through history. 

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The original Dick Grayson Robin costume

DC Comics

 The most fascinating aspect of the evolution of Robin's costume is the fact that the original Robin costume, introduced in 1940 by Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson, remained pretty much unchanged for nearly fifty years! The only real variation in the costume was how many ties he had on the middle of his costume (originally there was a bunch, but over the years it went down to between three-five, depending on how many ties the given artist drew. In this 1982 DC Style Guide piece by Jose Luis-Garcia Lopez, he has four ties). Even when Jason Todd took over as Robin from Dick Grayson, the costume remained the same. 

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Original Earth-2 Robin costume

DC Comics

 While the regular Robin costume remained the same, that wasn't true over on Earth-2. Earth-2 was an alternate Earth where Batman and Robin were older than their counterparts on Earth-1 (the "main" Earth). So Robin is now a grown man and Batman has retired from crimefighting. So Robin takes on a new costume that is basically a combination of Batman and Robin's costume. It was designed by Mike Sekowsky and Sid Greene.

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Second Earth-2 Robin costume

DC Comics

 In Justice League of America #92, the Robins from both Earths team-up. Earth-1 Robin's costume is destroyed, so Earth-2 Robin lends him an alternate costume he had considered before settling on his current costume. Dick Dillin and Joe Giella drew the issue, but in the issue, they credit Neal Adams as the costume designer, so it's likely that Adams designed the costume. Earth-2 Robin ended up adopting this costume for his own for the rest of his career. 

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Carrie Kelley Robin

DC Comics

 In Frank Miller's famous 1986 mini-series, Batman: The Dark Knight (now best known as The Dark Knight Returns), an older Batman gains a new female Robin named Carrie Kelley. Carrie's costume is basically the classic Robin costume, with the tunic a bit longer. 

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Tim Drake original Robin costume

 After Jason Todd died, Batman eventually added a third Robin, Tim Drake. This Robin, though, got his own unique costume. Neal Adams designed this sharp update on the iconic Robin look, adding a black edge to the yellow cape and adding long pants (plus a new stylized R). 

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Red Robin Kingdom Come costume

DC Comics

 In 1996, Alex Ross designed a costume for a grown Dick Grayson in the future storyline established in the mini-series Kingdom Come by Ross and writer Mark Waid. 

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Stephanie Brown Robin costume

DC Comics

After Tim and Batman had a fight, Batman tried to cajole Tim to come back to work as Robin by pretending to replace Tim as Robin with Tim's vigilante girlfriend, Stephanie Brown (known as the Spoiler at the time). When Tim agreed to return as Robin, Batman got rid of Stephanie. Batman can be a real jerk sometimes. Stephanie's Robin costume was basically just a slightly altered Neal Adams' Robin design. 

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Tim Drake second Robin costume

DC Comics

Following DC's Infinite Crisis crossover, Tim Drake changed his costume to the one that Bruce Timm had designed for Drake on The New Batman Adventures animated series. 

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Damian Wayne first Robin costume

DC Comics

 When Grant Morrison began writing Batman, he introduced Batman's son (which he didn't know about), Damian Wayne, who was raised by his mother, Talia Al Ghul, in her League of Assassins. Damian tried to replace Tim as Robin, coming up with his own costume. 

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Damian Wayne second Robin costume

DC Comics

When Bruce Wayne was thought to have been killed, Dick Grayson took over as Batman and Damian Wayne officially became the new Robin, using a costume designed by Frank Quitely that he still uses to this day.

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Tim Drake first Red Robin costume

DC Comics

With Damian now Robin, Tim Drake adopted the Red Robin identity, using the Alex Ross costume design. 

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Tim Drake second Red Robin costume

DC Comics

 In the new 52, Tim Drake adopts a new Red Robin costume that allows him to fly! He uses a slightly different costume in the first few issues of the Teen Titans, but it is clear that he is working towards a new costume, so I think it's fair to skip the in-between design and stick with this final version of his new 52 costume (presumably designed by Brett Booth). 

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New 52 old Red Robin costume

DC Comics

 In the New 52, Tim Drake was now never Robin. This, then, was his original Red Robin costume back when he was Batman's sidekick. 

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New 52 Old Dick Grayson Robin costume

DC Comics

 Similarly, Dick Grayson's original Robin costume in the New 52 was also different. 

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New 52 Old Jason Todd Robin costume

DC Comics

 Finally, Jason Todd, also, was given a retroactive original New 52 Robin costume.