Red Hood Shows Why Movies Almost Always Change Hero Origins

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The origins of DC Comics' Red Hood show why movies often alter the comic source material when it comes to superhero origin stories. Jason Todd was introduced with an origin incredibly similar to that of previous Robin Dick Grayson, but this was later retconned to make him more unique. While Jason's second and current origin is par for the course for superheroes, his first is far similar to how movies treat them, showing the key differences in each medium.

Jason was originally depicted as the son of circus acrobats who were brutally murdered by mob boss Killer Croc after Dick Grayson enlists their help to bring the criminal down. The story is an intense origin that sees Jason lose his parents in a dark and traumatic way, instilling in him the desire to fight crime as Robin. However, what makes this origin so similar to cinematic depictions is that Jason's foundational trauma comes at the hands of a supervillain. This is normal in cinema — films like Daredevil, 1989'sBatman, Spider-Man 3, and Guardians of the Galaxy 2 often link a hero's nemesis to their origin — but it's less common in the original comics.

Related: Red Hood Confirms The One Bat-Family Hero Who Is Truly Jason's Friend

There are many reasons for this, including the fact that a hero feels much more like the story's focal point if they were crime-fighting in costume before any true supervillains turned up to challenge them. It also helps to underscore the meaning of their heroism — in losing their loved ones to more generalized organized crime, heroes like Spider-Man, Batman and Nightwing are prompted to stop the same happening to anyone else, not to seek specific revenge on a single person. However, in a long-form medium like comics — where Spider-Man is