Old Discussion, is Robin named after the bird ?

[Mikey]

Old topic we talked about YEARS ago, but I don't think we ever came up with a definitive answer ...
Since we got a lot of new guys since then maybe we'll get some more opinions.

Is Robin (of Batman and Robin) named after the bird, or Robin Hood ?

Apparently even movie makers arent quite sure.

Which is it ?

[The Toyroom]

More often than not the consensus is he was named after Robin Hood and also one of his co-creators Jerry Robinson....

The early origins of Batman, Robin and the Joker are so convoluted you don't know who to believe (Bob Kane, Bill Finger or Jerry Robinson).

Robin Hood seems to fit though because of the medieval style cotume (complete with elfin shoes) as well as the stylized font the original "Robin" logo was drawn in.

The thing about being named after a bird (a flying creature) was added later on I think as an actual part of the origin. One origin gives the account that young Bruce Wayne was the first person to wear the Robin costume while training under (no pun intended) detective Harvey Harris. The dialogue goes something like he looked as "brilliant as a robin red-breast" in the tunic, so the name stuck. This origin was canon at one point, particularly in Untold Legend of the Batman (pre-Crisis) but I'm sure it's been tossed out by now.

[Mego Milk]

yep, toyroom got it right.

[boynightwing]

I think that sounds right and I think I read someplace he was inspired by Robin Hood.

Though I think the current theme of Robin as a bird fits better. It goes with the Bat motif as a winged creature.

[Riffster]

About a year after Batman's debut, Batman creators Bob Kane and Bill Finger introduced Robin the Boy Wonder in Detective Comics #38 (1940). The name "Robin the Boy Wonder" and the medieval look of the original costume were inspired by The Adventures of Robin Hood. Robinson noted he "came up with Robin because The Adventures of Robin Hood were boyhood favorites of mine. I had been given a Robin Hood book illustrated by N. C. Wyeth... and that's what I quickly sketched out when I suggested the name Robin, which they seemed to like, and then showed them the costume. And if you look at it, it's Wyeth's costume, from my memory, because I didn't have the book to look at."[2] (Later re-tellings of Robin's origin have instead often said the name comes from the American robin bird, not Robin Hood,[3] Frank Miller's All Star Batman and Robin being a notable exception; sometimes both sources are credited, as in Len Wein's The Untold Legend of the Batman.) Although Robin is best known as Batman's sidekick, the Robins have also been members of the superhero group the Teen Titans with the original Robin, Dick Grayson, being a founding member and the group's leader and with Tim Drake being the current team leader.

In Batman stories the character of Robin was intended to be the Batman's Watson as Bill Finger, writer for many early Batman adventures, once wrote: “Robin was an outgrowth of a conversation I had with Bob. As I said, Batman was a combination of Douglas and Sherlock Holmes. Holmes had his Watson. The thing that bothered me was that Batman didn't have anyone to talk to, and it got a little tiresome always having him thinking. I found that as I went along Batman needed a Watson to talk to. That's how Robin came to be. Bob called me over and said he was going to put a boy in the strip to identify with Batman. I thought it was a great idea.” However, in later stories, the character Alfred Pennyworth fills the role better, being the Dark Knight's doctor, friend and confidant. He also has a British military background where he practiced medicine on the battlefield.

[Captain]

I think this says it all!



Robin Hood it is!

[Earth 2 Chris]

Yep, it's Robin Hood. I don't think the bird ever even entered the original equation. As interpretations of Robin's costume became streamlined, and his original logo was dropped, the Robin Hood connection was somewhat lost. Then folks began to make the connection of two flying animals, a bat and a bird (a robin) and that's where that started.

Chris