WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Batman Superman World’s Finest #1, on sale now from DC Comics.
Many people point to the original Robin costume as ridiculous, especially as the character got older. The tiny trunks and pixie boots made sense when he was an eight-year-old who had just come from a life as a circus acrobat. However, it made a lot less sense when he was in college. Why did he wear the same costume without changing it all the way into adulthood? Some reboots delivered alternatives but they always erased the original iconic costume in the process. With Infinite Frontier resetting the DC Universe, the original outfit is back and it finally has a much-needed update for a more mature Dick Grayson.
Batman and Robin teamed up with Superman in a story that takes place in the early years of the characters, thanks to Batman/Superman World’s Finest #1 (by Mark Waid, Dan Mora, Tamra Bonvillain, and Aditya Bidikar). When the Dynamic Duo swooped in to stop Poison Ivy’s hostile takeover of the Daily Planet building, their entrance was underscored by something noticeably different about their old 1970s costumes.
The Dark Knight was back in the classic blue costume with the yellow oval symbol. Meanwhile, the Teen Wonder was in his original costume with the addition of new dark green leggings. Gone were the ridiculously small trunks — and in its place was far more practical legwear.
Besides this change, the costume is relatively unchanged in every other way. The close-up shots show influences from the ’66 Batman series, particularly in the black and gold belt. The tunic too retains the original simple iconic design. There’s no complicated armor or padding like that of the more modern Robin costumes. The cape remains all yellow, not black on one side like the Tim and Damian suits, and the pixie boots are still present too, keeping all the other classic elements of Dick Grayson’s costume alive.
This change may seem odd, considering how the rest of the costume has stayed faithful to the original design. However, it makes much more sense for the teenage Dick Grayson to make this one simple but noticeable alteration. As he grew older, Dick wanted to move out of Batman’s shadow and become his own hero. He started making his own choices and began spending more time with the Titans than he did in Gotham. With that maturity, there would surely come a desire to change his costume. He’s not the Boy Wonder in this issue, he’s the Teen Wonder, and soon he’ll go it alone and become Nightwing.
Over the years, there have been a number of attempts to retroactively update Robin’s costume. Both Dick Grayson and Jason Todd wore the same costume back when they were first Robin. Then, they both got updated costumes during the New 52 and never wore the original. These complete overhauls emphasized armor more and were complete departures from what came before. Both also noticeably added pants to the costume. World’s Finest‘s costume does the same but keeps the legacy of the original intact. This is shown in another flashback sequence, where an even younger Dick Grayson is wearing the original unaltered costume.
It always seemed strange that, in all the years that Dick Grayson was Robin, he never once changed his costume. The attempts to rectify this by simply replacing the old costume with something newer was never a good solution either. This new update finally does what DC has been trying and failing to do for a number of years now. Dick Grayson’s Robin costume finally has the update it needed, one that reflects how the character changed and grew in the role. All whilst keeping the iconic costume of the character’s history too.
About The Author
