Jason Todd (Future State)

So you want me to go undercover and infiltrate the Magistrate? Betray my family and everything they stand for? That's easy... I've been doing that my whole life.

— Jason Todd ^src

Jason Todd is the Red Hood, a former vigilante and ally of Batman who began hunting mask wearers in Gotham City at the behest of the Magistrate.^[2]

History

When Gotham got taken over by the Magistrate, Jason was approached by Bruce Wayne (actually the villain Hush in disguise).^[3] He asked Jason to infiltrate the Magistrate's ranks, pretending to betray the rest of Gotham's heroes.^[1] Jason agreed to the plan and enlisted himself as a Mask Hunter. This betrayal resulted in The Resistance banning Jason from traversing the rooftops. He became notorious for never killing his captures, unlike his fellow hunter Rose Wilson aka Ravager, with whom he began an intimate relationship.^[2]

Hunting the Red Hood Gang

While hunting down the new Red Hood Gang, Jason discovered its members were being controlled by nano-particles developed by the Mad Hatter. He teamed up with Ravager and the duo tracked Mad Hatter to an abandoned mini-golf course. Inside, they found nothing but the former villain's skeleton. They began to search the area, when suddenly the Magistrate placed a large bounty on Jason's head.^[2] Jason fled before Ravager had a chance to turn on him, but his escape was cut short by Magistrate drones. Hiding on the rooftops, he recovered one of the Red Hood Gang's mind-controlling helmets and followed it to the source. He discovered that White Rabbit was the one controlling it, but the helmet restricted Jason from attacking her. Ravager arrived to rescue Jason, but the two were forced to fight until she broke the helmet. Magistrate drones then located the gathering and opened fire on the building. White Rabbit was captured, and Ravager brought Jason in to receive the bounty on his head. While the bounty was dropped, and blamed on a glitch in the system, Jason and Rose talked about visiting her father's private island. But when Jason met up with "Bruce" to report on evidence linking White Rabbit's operation to the Magistrate, he told him that Jason would have to remain in Gotham for the time being, so Rose left the city alone.^[4]

Hunt the Batman

Future State Gotham Vol 1 5 Textless — Red Hood captures the Batman

When the villain Warmonger bombed a huge, bat-shaped crater into Gotham City the Magistrate gave Jason the probationary title of Peacekeeper Red, to capture the new Batman, who was said to be the perpetrator.^[1] Following a lead from "Bruce", Jason sought out Astrid Arkham, who was an inmate at Blackgate Penitentiary. Upon approaching her cell he was confronted by the new Batman, who was also looking for her.^[5] The three of them were captured by Warmonger, who had orchestrated a prison break-out. Jason and Batman awoke in a pit and due to Warmonger's stolen Hatter-Tech nanoparticles, they were suddenly compelled to fight each other.^[6] During the crater explosion, these same nanoparticles were released into the city. Jason managed to counteract the Hatter-Tech with a frequency emitter in his mask. He then freed Batman and Astrid. Astrid explained that Warmonger was a failed Magistrate super-cop experiment, and that she unintentionally freed while leading her mind-controlled villain-squad, the Arkham Knights. Warmonger was now looking for her Arkham Knight armor, which was currently stored in the Magistrate headquarters, as it held a broadcast device for the Hatter-Tech. To get to the armor before Warmonger, Jason pretended to apprehend Batman and brought him into the Magistrate's headquarters.^[7]

They arrived too late and discovered that Warmonger had already taken the headgear from the armor. Standing on the roof of the building, he commanded everyone in the city to fight each other. Jason gave his own mask to Batman, as he would be able to free Nightwing and the other vigilantes. Meanwhile, Jason begun to battle Warmonger.^[8] While he stood no chance against the giant man physically, he managed to plant a bomb on Warmonger's chest. The small explosion allowed Jason to snatch the headgear and stop the citywide chaos. Later he met up with Batman and declared a secret partnership in bringing justice to Gotham, lighting a new Bat-Signal above the city. Jason then tried to confront the man pretending to be Bruce Wayne, but the imposter had disappeared.^[3]

The Next Joker

Future State Gotham Vol 1 10 Textless — Red hood battles the Next Joker

After an incident where The Next Joker robbed the identity-broker Operator of her computer and killed Grifter, Jason was called in to investigate. At the scene Jason was approached by Jodi Edwards, a mask hunter calling herself "Hunter Panic". She asked Jason to become her mentor and he reluctantly agreed. Together they visited Punchline in prison to learn more about this new Joker. She told them about their shared history, as well as his next likely targets, Gotham's three crime lords: The Terrible Trio. Following this new lead they almost reached Dog's headquarter when a bomb was detonated inside. To cover both remaining locations Jason called in backup by lighting his Bat-Signal.^[9] They arrived at Owl's location, only to find him killed. Jason deduced that Joker must be headed towards the third location, so Jason and Hunter Panic quickly leave.

The pair found the Joker battling Batman in the sky, as the two of them hung onto the aircraft of Whale. Using Hunter Panic's sky-cycle, Jason and his mentee swooped in and caught Batman as he fell. Jason disarmed Joker and they rammed the sky-cycle into the aircraft, bringing both vehicles crashing down. As Jason arrested the Whale, Joker emerged from the rubble. Knowing that the Whale had information about Joker that they needed, Jason ordered Hunter Panic and Batman to retreat with him. Magistrate robots arrived to contain the situation, but through physical contact the Joker corrupted the entire Magistrate system, bringing the robots under his control.^[10]

Meeting up with Harley Quinn, Jason ordered her and Hunter Panic to escort the Whale across town, while Batman and he battle the Joker. They made a visit to one of Bruce Wayne's old satellite Batcaves, a network that Jason had been working to slowly bring back online, and grabbed equipment. They found Joker approaching the other group and rode into battle on bikes that transform into prototype combat exo-suits.^[11] Though he was at first overpowered, Jason managed to defeat Joker with a powerful E.M.P. blast. As Batman left, Jason delivered Joker to the Magistrate, and he is given all the credit for the capture. Afterwards, Jason visited Jodi in the hospital, as she was wounded fighting Harley Quinn and Hush. As the two of them discussed Hush's plan for Gotham, a Magistrate officer informed them that Joker had escaped his prison transport.^[12]

Batmen at War

Future State Gotham Vol 1 14 Textless — Red hood battles an impostor Batman

When reports of multiple Batman impostors began appearing throughout Gotham, Jason once again allied himself with Hunter Panic and the current Batman, Jace Fox. The group split-up to cover more ground, with Jason and Jodi on the streets and Jace on the rooftops.^[13] Jason was alerted to an intrusion at one of the satellite Batcaves. Inside, he encountered Talia al Gul and one of the impostor Batmen. Jason believed that this Batman was once again Hush in disguise, but the man insisted that he was the real Bruce Wayne. Not wanting to waste time talking, Talia stabbed Jason and left with Batman. Hunter Panic regrouped with Jason and patched up the stab wound. Jason was contacted by Jace Fox, who said that Nightwing attacked him and was now calling himself Batman as well.^[14]

Jason and Jodi raced to Jace's aid, where they found him under attack from two different Batman imposters: Hush and Damian Wayne. Hush exploited Jason's wound to gain the upper hand, but before he could deliver the killing blow the battle was halted by the arrival of Bruce and Talia. Not knowing whether Bruce or Hush was his real father, Damian resolved to kill both. Dick Grayson then appeared and declared himself the one and only Batman of Gotham.^[15] While the Batmen fought, Barbara Gordan arrived, hot on Dick's trail, and revealed to Jason that the Batman with Talia was the real Bruce Wayne. With Hush and Damian suddenly opposed by the combined force of Jason, Jodi, Bruce, Barbara, and Talia, they fled the battle. Dick left afterwards as well, once again stating that he was the only person who could save Gotham.

Future State Gotham Vol 1 18 Textless — The New Dynamic Trio of Gotham City

Using the Magistrate's drones, Jason tracked Hush and Damian to the bat-shaped crater in the center of Gotham. Putting the final step of his plan into motion, Hush revealed that not only did he have control over the Talons of the Court of the Owls, but Damian was possessed by the soul of Joe Chill.^[16] Bruce was soon after shot by Hush, with the intention of letting Chill finish him off. Before he could shoot, Talia destroyed Chill's gun and Jason's allies entered combat with the Talons. Still healing from his own stab wound, Jason left the battlefield to help Bruce recover. Eventually, Dick sacrificed himself to defeat Chill, while Talia, Jodi, and Jace managed to defeat the Talons. Jason then caught and arrested Hush before he could escape.

In the aftermath, Jason, still serving at the Magistrate as Peacekeeper-Red, was given the credit for the arrest of Hush. This would boost Jason's approval ratings and mark him as a candidate to lead the Magistrate. With Bruce going into hiding, to take care of Damian, and Barbara continuing to lead the Resistance, Jason, Jodi, and Jace became the three main protectors of Gotham. A new Dynamic Trio.^[17]

Powers and Abilities

Abilities

Acrobatics
Firearms
Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced)
Stealth: He is able to quietly exit a room unnoticed within a matter of seconds.^[4]
Weaponry

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Peacekeeper Armor: Extremely advanced armor with built-in gadgets, like a counterfrequency emitter in the mask.^[7]

Transportation

Motor Cycle^[2]

Weapons

Kusarigama: Jason uses two Kusarigama, sickles that are chain-linked to metal weights, to fight and grapple.

Trivia

Jason was in a relationship with Rose Wilson.^[2]
Once Rose stopped helping him color his hair,^[2] he got a white streak on his forehead.^[1]
Jason and Rose were considered to be the two best mask hunters in the Magistrate.^[9]