Tim Drake
Tim Drake is a male comic superhero who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Timothy Drake
When he was a young child, he visited the circus for the first time with his parents. The Drakes asked the Flying Graysons for a photo together, resulting in a momentary bond between Tim and Dick Grayson as they met for the first time. (Batman v1 #441)
When he was 9 years old, Tim saw footage of Batman and Robin apprehending the Penguin. Robin performed a quadruple somersault, a rare maneuver that only a Flying Grayson could do. After learning Grayson was the ward of Bruce Wayne, he came to the conclusion that Grayson was Robin and that of course Wayne was Batman. Tim continued to follow the adventures of the Dynamic Duo, as well as Grayson's becoming Nightwing and Jason Todd succeeding him as Robin. After Jason's death, Timothy began to take notice of a drastic and almost psychotic change in Batman's behaviour, in which he became convinced that Batman needed a Robin to maintain his sanity.
When Nightwing left the Titans for a short time in order to find himself, Tim followed him and after helping Dick solve a mystery at Haly's Circus, was able to convince Dick that Batman needed help. However, where Dick intended to help Batman as Nightwing, Tim remained convinced that Batman needed Robin more. Dick ignored these pleas and raced off to help his mentor, only for both Dick and Bruce to be captured by Two-Face.
Realizing that his idols were in danger, Tim donned the costume of Robin, at only thirteen years old and with the help of Alfred Pennyworth, was able to rescue them. Batman, although extremely reluctant, accepted Tim as the new Robin on a trial basis after being convinced by the boy, as well as Dick and Alfred. He was trained over several months, first by Alfred, then Batman, and finally Nightwing before ever being allowed to wear the costume again or go into the field.
Unfortunately, just prior to completing his training, the ruthless Obeah Man later captured Tim's parents during a trip to the Caribbean. The Obeah man intended to sacrifice them, but Batman arrived to their rescue. Unfortunately, Janet and Jack both drank water laced with poison, and Janet died, while Jack was left in a coma. Batman began to reconsider Tim for the role of Robin, due to his fear that Tim was now motivated by anger, just as Jason had been. Tim, however, became more driven by his desire to do what was right, rather than petty revenge. After later saving Batman and Vicki Vale and defeating the Scarecrow, Bruce at last bestowed upon Tim the mantle of Robin, as well as a new costume.
Robin
Robberies were up recently, and Batman discovered that someone was sending very lame clues to the police department from inside Blackgate Prison. Figuring it was the Cluemaster, the villain refused to talk to anyone except for Robin. At Blackgate, Cluemaster told Tim that he was being blackmailed to plan crimes by some thugs on the outside and that they had kidnapped Stephanie to ensure his cooperation. Batman and Robin tracked down their lair, and Robin saved Stephanie's life. After changing into her Spoiler costume, Stephanie told the pair that Cluemaster had conned them and was in on the whole thing. Together, Robin and Spoiler rounded up the rest of Cluemaster's men, and Spoiler acted like the whole thing was a date, despite Tim's protestations that it was serious business. (Robin v2 #16)
Batman had Robin tail gangster Pretty Boy Froyd, who Batman learned was in the middle of a smuggling deal with some low-level criminals. Froyd ran into the Howler, who gutted him. Robin responded, and was aided by the demon Etrigan in driving off the Howler. Batman had warned Robin about Etrigan being dangerous and untrustworthy, but Etrigan told Robin he was turning over a new leaf. The Howler fled back to his keeper, Professor Puckett’s brother Chris was the last person possessed by the Howler, and he’d spent years trying to figure out how to cure him. Over the years the Howler had killed a number of people, who were later possessed, becoming new Howlers. Batman put a tracker on the car of the criminals set to meet Froyd. They arrived at Puckett’s seemingly abandoned warehouse, and were attacked by a Howler. They gunned him down, but the Howler’s primal spirit left the body of his host and turned the criminals into his new hosts. Puckett got control over the Howlers when Demon, who sensed the Howlers’ presence in the warehouse, appeared. The Howlers started to overwhelm him, when Batman and Robin, following up on the Froyd case, also arrived. They stunned the Howlers with flash bangs. Puckett told Batman and Robin about how he was trying to cure the Howlers, and pleaded for them not to turn the beasts over to the authorities, fearing the GCPD would kill them. He introduced Batman to Chris / Howler, saying there was still the spark of humanity in him, but the Howler turned on Puckett, eviscerating him. Glenda Mark, who’d learned of Etrigan’s location from Jason Blood’s psychic friend Randu Singh, came to the warehouse. The chaos Etrigan brought into her life made her reach her boiling point, so she unloaded the rocket launchers the criminals were going to sell to Froyd, and blasted the Howlers, killing them all. Etrigan turned into his human form, and she told Jason she loved him, even though his soul was bound to a demon, and they embraced. (Demon v3 #24)
Red Robin
To find the killers, he had Scarab released into his care where he decided to use her to find the assassins. The trail led to Cairo where he learnt that Scarab's real name was Maat Shadid where she used a code word to trigger secret trap whilst she got away. In pursuit of her, Drake ended up encountering her fellow assassins all of whom wore similar armour to her Scarab guise. (Red Robin v1 #23) These were the Covenant of Ka who were part of the Assassination Tournament where she revealed that their new target was Red Robin. He then used a carefully coded signal to short circuit the scarab armours of the Covenant of Ka thus nullifying all of them except for Maat Shadid who tried to kill Drake but then fled the scene. After losing site of her, he contacted MoneySpider and started looking or clues in order to track down Scarab once more. (Red Robin v1 #24)
He then went to Hong Kong to help Black Cat in defeating a criminal known as the Cricket who was a gifted assassin. The white haired 10 year old was a skilled martial artist who always chirped in fights where he easily defeated both Black Bat and Red Robin. (Red Robin v1 #25)
Batman and Robin failed to catch the Getaway Genius, who robbed the Wayne Foundation art show, and Robin berated his mentor for letting an amateur give them the slip. At the Batcave Red Robin showed the heroes a piece by Vicki Vale in the Gotham Gazette that taunted them for being unable to catch the new Getaway Genius. Robin suspected that she still suspected their secret identities, and he was suspicious of Vale’s immediate presence at the crime. Batman talked to her as Dick, but got nowhere with her, and she demanded to speak to Bruce. She callously told him she didn’t really believe she’d caused Tim Drake to be injured and said she was still sure that they were the Batman Family. Dick told her to prove it, and placed a bug on her The bug revealed that the Getaway Genius was tipping off Vale for the pure thrill of it. The heroes learned that the Genius was targeting a Gotham Historical Society gala, and caught her, but Vale later discovered the bug, almost confirming her suspicions about the Batman Family. (Batman v1 #703)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of history was created with a different timeline of events.
As a child, Tim was taken to Haly's Circus, where he watched the Flying Graysons, the same day of their deaths. He witnessed Batman and Dick Grayson in action and was deeply moved by both. Later, he noticed as Robin first appeared around the same time Bruce Wayne took Dick as his ward and performed the same acrobatic movements as the latter, which Tim knew had been mastered by very few people. Theorizing they could be Batman and Robin, Tim followed their careers closely and, using his impressive detective skills, was proven correct, keeping the secret for himself. Years later, he correctly deduced Dick had become Nightwing and Jason Todd was the second Robin. After Jason's death, Tim grew worried about Batman's change in personality and tried to convince Dick to reunite to Batman as Robin, but, while impressed by Tim, he refused. Later, when Batman and Nightwing were in a dire situation against Two-Face, Tim was of vital help. Bruce then agreed to train him as the new Robin. (Detective Comics v1 #965)
He had a last stand against the swarm of Colony drones that targeted him where he said his goodbye to his loved ones over the comms whereupon weapon fire was released on him. It was believed that Tim was killed by the drones with his death mourned by those close to him. In reality, just prior to the weapon fire he was saved by the mysterious Mister Oz who claimed that Drake was close to uncovering his plans which was why he was teleporter and kept in a prison cell. (Detective Comics v1 #940)
The future version of himself intended to kill Batwoman to avert the path whereby Tim became Batman. This led to him using Brother Eye in his suit that infiltrated the computer systems of the Colony's drone fleet and dispatched it to target Kate Kane. This led to the Batfamily looking to stop the future version of Tim Drake where they delayed him long enough until Hypertime erased him from this point in the timeline. (Detective Comics v1 #968)
Thus, Tim began taking the name of Drake as his superhero identity and after defeating their evil counterparts they decided to use a machine to try to send them back to their world. (Young Justice v3 #10)
Overview
Personality and attributes
After journeying to Earth-3, he decided to adopt the name Drake when he saw it being used by his alternate Earth counterpart. (Young Justice v3 #10)
Powers and abilities
A key advantage of Drake was his intelligence which gave him an advantage over the other Robin's as Tim could not never be as skilled a fighter as them. However, he could fight smart allowing him to outthink his foes through careful planning allowing him to create shortcuts or cheats to victory. (Detective Comics v1 #966)
After adopting the mantle of Robin, the first thing that Batman did was take Tim to Paris to learn a martial arts from a master in Paris. This was under a Tibetan master named Rahul Lama who had fled his homeland following the Chinese invasion of it. In Paris, the man had made his school where he served as the last surviving master of an empty hand and weapons form that dated from the time before Buddha and ancient when the time Rome was built. His teachings were said to include more than just fighting with meditation and the healing arts included in them. The ancient healing arts relied on pressure points found all over the body. The Tibetan arts of medicine were demonstrated to Tim who was made to repeat these actions until he had gotten it right. These could be used to sooth muscles and nerves but the other side of targeting them could bring down a man by targeting them in a fight. (Robin v1 #1)
A part of traditional Tibetan martial forms came from hunting and necessitated in Drake being taught to use weapons. He was asked to choose a weapon to learn from with Tim deciding on the sling. (Robin v1 #1)
He established the Gotham Knights Protocol to provide a self-perpetuating cycle and support network for Batman to keep him grounded. This was to allow Drake to continue with a normal life without anyone having to be reliant on his management and leadership. (Detective Comics v1 #966)
Notes
- Tim Drake was created by Marv Wolfman and Pat Broderick where he made his first appearance in Batman v1 #436 (August, 1989).
- Writer Fabian Nicieza during his tenure writing Red Robin commented on the character, "He is "the smart one" of the Bat-family, the thinker and planner. I mean, of course Bruce Wayne/Batman is what he is, and Tim isn’t quite there yet, but Tim at 17 has a more developed intellect than Bruce at 17 did. That’s not to say Dick Grayson or Barbara Gordon are dumb, of course they’re not, but Tim’s level of thinking is a bit... thicker... than theirs. For me, Dick is about superior reflexive thinking, Barbara about superior operational thinking and Tim is about superior comprehensive, or all-encompassing, thinking. What I love about Tim is that he shares some of the strongest traits of various Bat-family members. The intellect and detective skills of Bruce, the ability to lead others and be a friend to others like Dick has and even the ability to make cold, harsh decisions like Jason does."
Alternate Versions
- In the Titans Tomorrow storyline in Teen Titans v3 #17 (2004), a dark timeline was shown ten years in the future where the Teen Titans adopted a more ruthless authoritarian streak in eliminating the villains from the world. It was mentioned that events began to change following the Crisis where Batman was killed. This saw Tim becoming the new Batman and he was romantically involved with Bette Kane who became Batwoman. At some point, Duela Dent went mad with anger after being rejected by her father whereupon she killed Bette Kane, Cassandra Cain and Alfred Pennyworth. Drake as a result took the gun that Joe Chill used to kill the Wayne's and executed Duela Dent. Afterwards, he began systematically eliminating the other rogues in Gotham and made a deal with Ra's al Ghul to resurrect Bette Kane. In Teen Titans v6 #15 (2017), this version targeted Jon Kent and when his suit was damaged he established a new identity for himself on Prime Earth as Savior.
- In The New 52: Future's End (2015), an alternate timeline version of Tim Drake was shown who survived a brutal war on his Earth when the refugees from Earth-2 arrived on his world. During this time, a battle occurred in Paris with the Teen Titans being killed and Drake the only survivor though he was presumed dead in the fighting. Tim then abandoned the life of a superhero and adopted an alias named Cal Corcoran where he opened up a bar in New York City as he became an adult. Around this time, a time displaced Terry McGinnis arrived to this era where he wanted to stop a future where Brother Eye had controlled the world. He was pursued by a cyborg assassin sent by Brother Eye to protect its past self and during this engagement he was killed. The Batsuit was then passed to Tim Drake where he used it to stop Brother Eye by going back in time even further to prevent the war. After completing the task, Tim was sent into another alternate timeline where Brother Eye was in control of Earth. In Batman Beyond v5 (2015), he remained trapped in an alternate version of Batman Beyond where he operated as Batman in a world that had been ravaged by Brother Eye.
- In Nightwing: The New Order v1 (2017), an alternate version of Tim Drake was shown in this world. In this future, Metahumans were illegal and arrested by the Crusaders that were formed by Dick Grayson who by 2028 managed to neutralise 90% of the worlds super-powered population. Grayson approached him after the Crusaders took his son Jake Grayson when the boy was discovered to be a Metahuman with Tim tracking the location of the prison facility.
- In Young Justice v3 #8 (2019), an alternate version of Robin was shown to exist in the Multiverse on Earth-3. On that world, the blonde haired villain originally operated as Robin before taking the name of Drake. He came to work for Amaxon Thunder where he and his rival Luthor-El were in love with her. This saw them working to fulfil her wishes as their gang operated on Earth-3 after the disappearance of the Crime Syndicate of America.
In other media
Television
- In the DC Animated Universe, Tim Drake made a number of appearances in the shared continuity setting.
- In The New Batman Adventure, Tim Drake featured as a main cast member in the animated series were he was voiced by actor Mathew Valencia.
- In Superman: The Animated Series, Tim Drake had a guest appearance in the animated series where he was once again voiced by actor Mathew Valencia.
- In Static Shock, Tim Drake made a guest appearance in the animated series where he was voiced by actors Eli Marienthal and Shane Sweet.
- In Young Justice, Tim Drake appeared in the second season of the animated series of Young Justice: Invasion where he was voiced by actor Cameron Bowen. He was introduced in "Happy New Year" as the third version of Robin after it was shown that Jason Todd as Robin had died.
Films
- In Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, the character featured heavily in the future set in the DC Animated Universe where he was portrayed by actor Dean Stockwell. Actor Drake Mathew Valencia played the younger Tim Drake when he was Robin and Andrea Romano portrayed the character briefly as as Joker, Jr. (laughing boy). It was shown that during his career as Robin that he was captured by Harley Quinn under the direction of the Joker who proceeded with torturing and brainwashing him. In the process, Tim was mentally broken and he revealed Batman's secret identity to the Joker in the process whilst being dressed as the supervillain's sidekick. During the fight, the Joker attempted to get Drake to kill Batman but Tim shot the villain instead leading to his mental breakdown. Thirty five years later, it was shown that he had abandoned his life of a vigilante and became an IT technician who showed a resentment towards Bruce. Unknown to anyone, during his time with the Joker - the supervillain had placed a microchip that had his mental patterns onto Tim allowing him to be reborn in the future. The chip was destroyed in a fight with Batman Terry McGinnins allowing Tim Drake to turn back to normal.
Video games
- In Young Justice: Legacy, Tim Drake as the new Robin appeared in the video game tie-in to the animated series where he was voiced again by actor Cameron Bowen.
- In Infinite Crisis, the character made an appearance as a playable Protector with him from the main Earth and was voiced by actor Cameron Bowen.
- In the Arkhamverse, Tim Drake made a number of appearances in the shared continuity setting.
- In Batman: Arkham City, Tim Drake as Robin made his first appearance in the video game series where he was voiced by actor Troy Baker.
- In Batman: Arkham Knight, Tim Drake as Robin appeared in the video game sequel where he was voiced by actor Matthew Mercer.
- In Batman: Arkham VR, Tim Drake appeared in the video game where he was voiced by actor Tom Austen.
Appearances
- Batman v1: (1989)
- Young Justice v1:
- Teen Titans v3:
- Red Robin v1:
- Teen Titans:
- Batman Beyond:
- Detective Comics v1:
- Young Justice v3:
External Links
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