Red Hood (Jason Todd) Reading Order

No character in the Batman family has a stranger, more compelling arc than Jason Todd. He was the second Robin, a fan-hated replacement for Dick Grayson, killed off in 1988 because readers literally voted for his death over a phone line. Then, nearly two decades later, DC did the unthinkable and brought him back — not as a hero, but as the Red Hood, a gun-toting, morally furious antihero who wages a one-man war on crime the way Batman never would. It is one of the great redemption-and-resentment stories in superhero comics.

The problem for new readers is that Jason’s story is scattered across decades of Batman continuity. This Red Hood reading order pulls the essential chapters into a single clear path: his beginnings as Robin, the death that defined him, the resurrection that made him the Red Hood, and the modern series where he headlines his own book. A brief content note: these are violent, mature-leaning Batman stories dealing with death and trauma.

The books to buy, in reading order

These are the collected editions that cover the path below, in the order to read them.

Start here

Our take: The story that made Jason Todd matter: the death readers voted for. Read this first for the emotional foundation, then follow it with Under the Red Hood.

Who is Jason Todd?

Jason Todd became the second Robin in the 1980s after Dick Grayson grew up and became Nightwing. Where Dick was sunny and acrobatic, Jason was an angry street kid Batman caught trying to steal the tires off the Batmobile. Readers never warmed to him, and in a now-infamous 1988 stunt DC set up a 900-number phone poll letting fans decide his fate. They voted, narrowly, to kill him. He was beaten with a crowbar and blown up by the Joker — and stayed dead for years, his memorial case a permanent guilt-object haunting Bruce Wayne. That death is the fulcrum of everything that follows.

Reading order at a glance

Order	Collection	Era / creators	Why it matters
1	Batman: Second Chances	1980s, Starlin et al.	Jason's origin as Robin
2	Batman: A Death in the Family	1988, Jim Starlin / Jim Aparo	The death fans voted for
3	Batman: Under the Red Hood	2005, Judd Winick / Doug Mahnke	The resurrection; Red Hood is born
4	Batman: Battle for the Cowl	2009, Tony Daniel	Jason in the post-Batman power vacuum
5	Red Hood and the Outlaws, Vol. 1	2011, Lobdell / Rocafort (New 52)	Jason headlines his own team book

Step 1 — Jason's beginnings as Robin

You can technically start with the death, but Jason lands harder if you first meet him as Robin. Batman: Second Chances collects his post-Crisis origin — the tire-thief version reworked by Max Allan Collins and others — where Batman takes in a defiant kid from Crime Alley. It is optional homework, but it pays off: the more you understand Jason's chip-on-the-shoulder anger as a boy, the more his rage as the Red Hood makes sense.

Step 2 — A Death in the Family (1988)

This is the essential starting point. Written by Jim Starlin and drawn by Jim Aparo, A Death in the Family sends Jason to the Middle East searching for his birth mother, straight into a trap set by the Joker. The sequence where Batman arrives too late is one of the most famous and devastating in the character's history. Because of the phone-poll stunt, it is also a genuine piece of comics history — a story whose ending was decided by readers. Everything about the Red Hood grows from this book.

Step 3 — Under the Red Hood (2005)

Here is the payoff. Judd Winick, with art by Doug Mahnke and Paul Lee, engineers Jason's return in the "Under the Hood" arc that ran through Batman #635–650. A ruthless new crime boss called the Red Hood is cleaning up Gotham's drug trade with brutal, lethal efficiency — and he knows Batman's secrets far too well. The reveal that this is a resurrected Jason Todd, furious that Bruce never avenged him by killing the Joker, gives us the central moral argument of the character: is Batman's refusal to kill principle, or failure? It is the definitive Red Hood story and the emotional heart of this whole reading order.

Winick also collaborated on the excellent 2010 animated film Batman: Under the Red Hood, which adapts this arc faithfully and is one of the best DC animated movies. It is a great companion — but read the comic first.

Get Batman: A Death in the Family on Amazon

Step 4 — Battle for the Cowl (2009)

After the events of Batman R.I.P. and Final Crisis removed Bruce Wayne from the board, Gotham was left without a Batman — and several people wanted the cape. In Batman: Battle for the Cowl, Jason makes a violent bid to become a lethal, gun-toting Batman himself, putting him in direct conflict with Dick Grayson and Tim Drake. It is a useful bridge chapter that shows how far Jason is willing to go, and it feeds directly into the modern era.

Step 5 — Red Hood and the Outlaws (New 52, 2011)

When DC relaunched its line as the New 52 in 2011, Jason finally got a starring ongoing: Red Hood and the Outlaws, by Scott Lobdell and artist Kenneth Rocafort. It teams him with Arsenal (Roy Harper) and the alien princess Starfire as a trio of outcast antiheroes. The tone is pulpier and more action-forward than the earlier tragedies, and it is where Jason settles into his long-term role as the family's black sheep who is, deep down, still trying to do good. Later runs — including a well-regarded second volume during DC Rebirth — continue from here.

Edition	Collects	Best for
A Death in the Family (TPB)	The 1988 arc + extras	The emotional foundation
Under the Red Hood (TPB)	Batman #635–650 arc	The definitive Red Hood story
Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 1	New 52 #1–7	Jason's own ongoing series

How Jason fits in the Bat-family

Jason's story only fully lands in the context of the wider Batman world. He is the second Robin, so it helps to understand the whole legacy of the role — our Robin reading order traces every kid who has worn the R, and our broader Batman reading order shows where these arcs sit in Bruce Wayne's timeline. Because the Joker is so central to Jason's death and rebirth, fans of that rivalry should also see our guide to the best Batman villain comics. And for the bigger DC picture, the DC hub collects all of our universe guides in one place.

A note on the character's popularity

Jason Todd went from the most hated Robin to one of DC's most beloved cult characters, and the turnaround is almost entirely down to Under the Red Hood. He is proof that a "dead" comics character is never truly gone, and that the right creative team can transform a punchline into a fan favourite. If you have only encountered him through the animated film or live-action rumours, the comics offer a far richer, more contradictory figure.

Frequently asked questions

Where should I start reading Red Hood?

Start with Batman: A Death in the Family for the emotional foundation, then read Batman: Under the Red Hood, which introduces the Red Hood identity. Those two books are the core of the character.

Is the Under the Red Hood movie the same as the comic?

Very close. The 2010 animated film was co-written by Judd Winick, who wrote the original comic, and it adapts the "Under the Hood" arc faithfully. Read the comic first for the full context, then enjoy the film as a companion.

Do I need to read every Batman comic to follow Jason's story?

No. The four or five collections in this guide give you Jason's complete arc without requiring the entire Batman library. A little background from our Robin reading order helps but is optional.

Is Red Hood a hero or a villain?

Neither, cleanly. Jason is an antihero: he genuinely wants to protect the innocent, but he is willing to kill to do it, which puts him in permanent conflict with Batman's code. That moral grey area is the whole appeal.

Continue with our Batman reading order, dig into his enemies in the best Batman villain comics, or browse the full DC hub.

Who was the original Red Hood?

The original Red Hood was the Joker. In the comics, the Red Hood identity first appeared in the 1950s and was later tied to the Joker's origin, most famously in Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's The Killing Joke, where a failed comedian in the hood falls into a chemical vat. Jason Todd taking the name in Under the Red Hood is a deliberate jab at the man who killed him.

How did Jason Todd come back to life?

Jason Todd's resurrection is famously convoluted. Under the Red Hood established that a reality-altering ripple from the Infinite Crisis event revived him in his grave, after which he was found, nursed by Talia al Ghul, and restored by a Lazarus Pit, which left him angry and unstable. Later reboots have tweaked details, but the Lazarus Pit is the part every version keeps.

Does Red Hood have superpowers?

Red Hood has no true superpowers. Jason Todd relies on training from Batman, later lessons from assassins and mercenaries, and a lot of firearms, which is the biggest practical difference between him and the rest of the Bat-family. Some versions add a lingering Lazarus Pit rage or brief mystical abilities, but at heart he is a skilled, ruthless street fighter.

What is the difference between Red Hood and Nightwing?

Red Hood and Nightwing are both former Robins who left Batman's side, but they went opposite ways. Dick Grayson became Nightwing, a hopeful, acrobatic hero who keeps Batman's no-killing rule. Jason Todd became the Red Hood, an armed antihero who thinks Batman is too soft. Their brotherly friction is a recurring highlight, and our Nightwing reading order covers Dick's side.

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