- Poor Robin. When things are at their best, he's stuck playing second fiddle. When things are at their worst, he's getting kidnapped, tortured, and, in the most severe instances, even killed. That's what appears to have happened to the second Robin, Jason Todd, at the beginning of Batman: Under the Red Hood. Captured by the psychopathic Joker (John Di Maggio), Todd is beaten within an inch of his life and left to die in a warehouse explosion. For once in his life, Batman (Bruce Greenwood) is just a few minutes too late, and he lifts a body out of the rubble. It must be Todd, right? It certainly looks like him.
- A few years later, a new masked figure calling himself the Red Hood (Jensen Ackles) appears in Gotham City. Sure, Red Hood was a former alias of the Joker's, but that clown's been cooling off in Arkham ever since the Robin incident. Whoever he is, the new Red Hood seems to have it in for the reigning gangster kingpin, the amusingly manic Black Mask (Wade Williams). More alarmingly, this Red Hood possesses all of Batman's skills and none of his reticence to use deadly force. Both Batman and Nightwing (Neil Patrick Harris) agree that Red Hood has received some serious combat training, but all the Batmen and Robins seem to be accounted for. Could the involvement of the ever-mysterious Ra's Al Ghul (Jason Isaacs) have anything to do with this?
- While the animation, particularly including the flashback and action sequences, in Under the Red Hood are decent enough, this is a decidedly average direct-to-video contribution to the DC Animated Universe. My primary complaint is with the characterization of the Joker, who absolutely pales in comparison to the versions featured in, for example, The Dark Knight or Batman: The Animated Series, the latter of which is the unquestionable pinnacle of American animated drama. This film's Joker has all of Heath Ledger's brutality without any of his psychological complexity and, quite frankly, none of Mark Hamill's humor. To choose just one example, consider the method by which the Joker kills Jason Todd. For starters, a crowbar seems so...Killer Croc. Much too prosaic for the Clown Prince of Crime. And an exploding building? Wouldn't an exploding pie be that much funnier? I can't help but recall what a different version of the Joker did to Tim Drake's Robin in Batman Beyond: Now that was inspired! Oh well, I suppose some people just can't tell a joke.
- The android AMAZO, The Riddler, and Talia Al Ghul all get some screen time.
- This was an adaptation of the famous comic in which Jason Todd was killed after readers voted on the outcome. Sheesh, no wonder he's so bitter.
