WARNING: Contains Potential Spoilers for Batman and Robin #18!

Robins took up the mantle—and it hits harder than you might expect. This revelation is as gut-wrenching as Jason Todd’s infamous monologue in Judd Winick’s Batman: Under the Red Hood, so grab a box of tissues—you’re going to need it.

With Bruce and Damian at odds, Red Hood has stepped in as the Dark Knight’s temporary partner in Batman and Robin #18 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Miguel Mendonca, Javier Fernández, and Marcelo Maiolo. Throughout their team-up, Jason and Bruce share several deep conversations while battling their foes.

During one such moment, Red Hood pointedly asks if Damian might be quitting as Robin. Bruce’s response is firm: “He can’t... Gotham needs Robin.” This sets the stage for Jason to drop a bombshell about the real reason Damian—and every Robin before him—ever took up the mantle in the first place.

Red Hood Delivers Devastating Truth About Robin: “...We Thought It Would Make You Love Us.”

Comic Comes From Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s Batman and Robin #18 (2025) – Art by Miguel Mendonca, Javier Fernández, and Marcelo Maiolo

During a tense battle, Jason finds himself cornered and outnumbered, with Batman rushing to reach his side in time. Over their comms, Jason circles back to Bruce’s earlier statement that Gotham needs Robin. But instead of letting it go, he unloads on Bruce, revealing a brutal truth that the older man has never fully understood—one that applies not just to Damian, but to every Robin before him: “[Damian] doesn’t give a #%$& about Gotham. None of us ever did [Robin] for Gotham. We did it… because we thought it would make you love us.” This single ission is perhaps the most devastating thing ever said about the Robin mantle.

Beyond being an absolute gut-punch of a Bat-Family moment, Jason’s words reframe everything DC had previously established about the motivations behind being Robin. While each Robin—Dick, Jason, Tim, and Damian—had their own individual reasons for initially taking up the mantle, Jason’s revelation suggests that, deep down, they all stayed for the same reason. It wasn’t about protecting Gotham—it was about earning Bruce’s love. What makes this sentiment all the more tragic is that it also seems to suggest that said love was never given.

Red Hood Just Matched His Most Heartbreaking Moment in Comics

Jason may not be the most reliable narrator when it comes to speaking for the other Robins. However, even if his assumption about his brothers’ motivations is off, his statement about becoming Robin in an attempt to earn Bruce’s love undeniably applies to himself. This revelation cements the moment as one of the most heartbreaking in Red Hood’s comic history, rivaling even his infamous monologue in Batman: Under the Red Hood, where he tearfully declared, “I'm not talking about killing Cobblepot and Scarecrow or Clayface, not Riddler or Dent... I'm talking about him. Just him. And doing it because... because he took me away from you.”

Batman and Robin #18 is available now from DC Comics!