- "I won't let you down, Bruce. I'll keep fighting. Always."
- —Robin[src]
Tim Drake was in the audience when the Flying Graysons were murdered, and where he witnessed Batman leap to the scene. Inspired by Batman's heroics, Tim closely followed the chronicles of Batman and Robin.
Eventually deducing their secret identities by using self-taught detective skills, Tim convinced Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson - as Nightwing - that a new Robin was needed in the never-ending battle for justice.
Tested by the Dark Knight himself with a grueling training regimen, Tim earned the right to become Robin, and lived up to the name.
Incident Reports
Before Arkham Asylum Incident
The eldest son of Gotham’s prominent Drake family, Tim Drake was in the audience the night that the Flying Graysons were murdered, where he witnessed Batman leap to the scene. Inspired by Batman's heroics, Tim closely followed the chronicles of Batman and Robin. About six months after Jason Todd's "death" and exile from his family, Tim Drake revealed to Batman he had deduced his secret identity as Bruce Wayne and instead of wanting to reveal his secret, he wished to fight alongside him, though Batman was initially reluctant to take on a new sidekick, following the ostensible death of Jason Todd. After some time of intense training in the martial arts and stealth, Tim proved himself more than worthy of the role as Robin, having shown impressive performance in the gruelling exercises which took place. In order to keep himself at top notch to aid Batman in confronting the criminal element in Gotham City, Tim also underwent cage fighting in his spare time.[1]
A Matter of Family Incident
Robin assisted Batgirl in rescuing her father from the Joker and Harley Quinn at the Seagate Amusement Park. Batgirl handled the bombs and hostages, while Robin went around looking for the Joker and more bombs, and called her when he found them. Eventually, Robin tracked Joker and Harley down to the main tent and assisted Batgirl in stopping them. Joker attempted to shoot Robin before he fled, but he was pushed aside by Batgirl at the last moment, which saved his life. That was presumed to be one of, if not Tim's first outing as Robin without Batman as in addition to being noticeably cockier, more hotheaded, and more quick to jump into fights without observing first compared to his appearance during Arkham Knight. Robin also seemed to be lacking confidence in his own skills, suggested calling in Batman at the start of the incident, was unable to disarm bombs, had to call in Batgirl to do it for him, and was unable to act on his own without orders from Batgirl. Further proving that to be one of his 1st outings as Robin, Tim took Joker's general mocking personally and had to be calmed by Batgirl several times and was almost killed by him at the end, but was pushed out of the line of fire by Batgirl at the last moment.
Between Arkham Asylum and Arkham City Incident
After his mentor's horrific night at Arkham Asylum, Robin alongside Alfred continued to help with uncovering dirt on Hugo Strange, although Batman said that it was too late and knew that Strange probably had a back-up plan. Tim also entered Arkham City himself a couple of times.
The first time Robin entered Arkham City, he ended up jumping into a fight with Harley Quinn and Joker's Henchmen after he saw them jump some inmates for their medicine. After he easily defeated Joker's henchmen, Robin faced off against Harley, easily defeated her, then quickly rushed back to the Batcave, and thought that no one noticed.
After Robin surfaced to Wayne Manor, Bruce asked him about his patrol to which Tim nodded and said that everything was good, only for Bruce to throw his Shuriken onto the table and he told him to be more careful where he left them. Not wanting Strange's men to bust down their door, Bruce implied that Tim should keep going.
Later, while Batman was on a stake-out mission in Arkham City, Robin posed as a street crook to investigate a new fight club in the prison. After he saw how all the other criminals had set up their base of operations, Robin was quickly approached and attacked by some crooks who he defeated and interrogated and pointed to The Cyrus Pinkney Institute for Natural History. After he entered and explored the museum's attractions, Robin was knocked out by Sickle.
Later, after Robin awoke, Penguin revealed himself and claimed that they were in a fight to the death and whoever won would join his gang. The battle started and Robin noticed that most of the inmates were brawlers with no previous experience. As the fight continued, Penguin decided to speed things up by adding a Titan Henchman. After he slaughtered the remaining contestants, the Titan Henchman turned his eye on Robin, who he brutally beat and nearly choked to death, and was only saved by Bane who came to get the Penguin's Titan Container.
Tim then quickly escaped back to Wayne Manor while Alfred tended to his wounds. Alfred warned Tim to keep his exploits to a minimum.
Arkham City Incident
As Batman was looking for Ra's al Ghul by following one of his assassin's blood trails, he was ambushed by three assassins. Just as things were looking dire for Batman, Robin whistled, caught the assassins off-guard, and floored them with a few quick swipes of his Bo Staff. The lead assassin, who had a sword to Batman's throat, told him to get Robin to stand down, even though Robin said that he could take her. As the assassins vanished, Batman chastised Robin for getting involved, and insisted that he had it under control. Batman then asked why Alfred had sent him, to which Robin explained that he was worried about him. Robin was then given a vial of Batman's Titan-infected blood and was ordered to analyze it and to start searching the hospitals and emergency rooms in Gotham, as Joker's infected blood had been planted there. Robin stated his intention to do that and come back to Arkham City to help Batman. However, Batman insisted that he could handle Arkham City alone and reminded Robin that Gotham was his priority. Robin then expressed concern regarding Strange knowing his secret identity and may potentially expose him, but his mentor assured him that he would find a way should it come to that. Robin then handed Batman the Line Launcher before he reminded him that he'd be on call if he needed him.
Later in Wonder City, Robin was heard via the comm network. He said that the Titan-blood could be in at least 2,000 people by the morning, with the first fatalities expected to be soon after.
After Protocol 10 was stopped, Robin went back into Arkham City to look into Black Mask's activities. Robin then found out that Black Mask was trying escape again, so he stopped his thugs and Mr. Hammer in his factory and freight train, destroyed the control box that was controlling the train, and stopped him and his plans.
Harley Quinn's Revenge Incident
Two weeks after the events of Arkham City, Robin was told by Oracle that Batman went missing two days earlier in Arkham City in an attempt to foil a revenge plot from Harley Quinn. After infiltrating Batman's last known location, Robin quickly encountered Harley's Thugs. After he dispatched them, Robin discovered Batman's Utility Belt. Continuing his search, Robin encountered a gigantic Joker Statue, which was made out of scrap metal with a glass holding bubble that had Batman meditating inside of it. After he examined the device, Robin learned that the bubble was quickly running out of oxygen and learned that Harley had the only override to release the ball. Robin encountered Harley and several more of her thugs in a dry dock not far away, along with three other cops that she had taken hostage.
After he dispatched the thugs and Harley and saved the cops, Robin returned to Batman's prison and was attacked by several waves of thugs, which included one Titan Henchman. After beating all of the thugs into submission, and even the Titan Henchman, Robin freed Batman and returned his utility belt to him. Harley then revealed on the speakers that she had planted bombs in the building. Batman ordered Robin to get the cops to safety and that he would deal with the bombs. After he had successfully defused the bombs, Batman encountered Harley and several Mechanical Guardians of Wonder City that were painted to look like Joker. After Batman had destroyed the robots, Harley revealed the Giant Joker Statue had housed a large bomb and was going to go off any second.
After he escaped with Harley, Batman couldn't find Robin and frantically asked Commissioner Gordon, who was outside Harley's hideout, if he seen him, to which Gordon said that he thought that he was with him. Fearing that Robin was killed in the blast, Batman let his guard down and began to mourn. Harley pulled a knife and prepared to kill Batman, however, she was stopped by Robin, who had not only survived the blast, but managed to rescue all of the cops. After he realized that Robin was safe (and secretly hiding his relief that his adopted son was okay), Batman told Robin that he was done there and left the area. Gordon then asked Robin if Batman was okay, and he told him that he would be fine, but in reality, knew that he was not fine as a worried expression appeared on his face.
Before Arkham Knight Incident
Tim continued his training in the Batcave, however, he found that difficult because Bruce kept pointing out his mistakes. At that time, the two along with Alfred, discussed fixing up the Batmobile. After they realized that the damage was too extensive, it was decided that they would recruit Zimmer to build a new one. Tim relished the chance for more training without Bruce's criticism while he was over in Germany.
After Bruce got back, he brought Tim in to help discuss the Mayoral campaign of Commissioner Gordon, but more likely, he was simply trying to get Tim to pursue his burgeoning relationship with Barbara.
Tim was also working as a teacher at his former school, Robinson Academy. Tim once used his position as Bruce's ward to gain his class entry to Wayne Laboratories where they would study some of the last remaining samples of Titan. That field trip happened to coincide with a raid by some henchmen of Batman's enemies who were trying to steal the samples to get out from under their boss' influence. Tim pretended to have been knocked out so he could change into Robin, defeated the henchmen, and rescued his class.
As soon as the day was over, Tim went right back to training, and performed markedly better than seen earlier, as he was determined to be a better Robin than either Dick Grayson or Jason Todd.
Arkham Knight Incident
Batman had Robin working on a cure for the "Joker Disease" and monitored the ones who had symptoms. After the evacuation, Robin contacted Batman that he could help him defend the city, but Batman wanted him keep working on the cure so he could handle it on his own. After he arrived at Panessa Studios, Batman didn't tell Robin about Barbara's death. Robin asked Batman that he hadn't heard from Oracle which Batman kept her death a secret. During the night, Harley Quinn attacked the quarantine zone to free the new Jokers, while Robin successfully held them off until Batman arrived and together, they cleared the area. Together, Batman and Robin took down the Joker clones and their last challenge was to take out Harley. While Batman remained under the floor grate, Robin confronted Harley and her men behind the gate and Harley pointed her assault rifle at Robin before Batman jumped out of the grate and the duo took down Harley and her men. However, before any of them could be locked back up, Henry Adams, the one Joker victim who was believed to be immune to the disease, began to show the symptoms and murdered the other three before he killed himself. Robin locked Harley in one of the quarantine cells, realized that Batman was the final Joker, appeared to throw Batman into one of the cells, and appeared to take over the fight for him. However, Joker appeared in Batman's head and made him watch Jason Todd's "death". When Batman snapped back to reality, he was standing in front of the chamber with Robin still present asking him to get in. Instead, Batman realized what he needed to do. He threw Tim inside, told him that he was safe in there, that he didn't want to lose anyone else, and informed him of Oracle's supposed death, which devastated him, who then rejected him and screamed at him to stay away from him. Scarecrow took the opportunity to capture Robin after Batman left, and kept him and Commissioner Gordon hostage in the Arkham Mansion at Arkham Asylum. Upon learning Tim was taken, Batman decided to surrender to Scarecrow in order to save him and Gordon.
After he captured Batman, Scarecrow ordered Gordon to unmask him for the whole world to see. When Gordon refused, Scarecrow shot Robin in the abdomen and threatened to shoot to kill if Gordon did not comply. Bruce was unmasked and humiliated, but, just as Scarecrow prepared to kill him, Jason Todd arrived as the Red Hood, and rescued his mentor, which allowed him to defeat Scarecrow once and for all. Bruce and Gordon tended to Robin, and the latter said that he would be fine. Bruce asked Gordon to take care of Tim and the others when he's gone.
After Arkham Knight Incident
Three months after The Knightfall Protocol, Tim had married Barbara. Tim continued to fight crime as Batman's legacy.
GCPD Lockdown Incident
Tim was out of town on his honeymoon and he sent a postcard to Lucius Fox. When hearing the news, Nightwing, who was in town to stop the Penguin's escape, gave a passing remark of them: "Aww, my heart melts".
A Flip of the Coin Incident
Robin returned to crime fighting, and flew solo as attempted to take on Two-Face without the aid of Batman. Being forced to cut his honeymoon short, Tim returned to Gotham to take Two-Face back into custody without Batman's aid. Robin arrived at the Hell's Gate Disposal Services blast furnace and shut down Two-Face's money laundering operation, with Oracle commenting that Tim was starting to move like Batman. However, she expressed doubt about him being scary enough to intimidate a Thug. The first attempt was unsuccessful, so Tim held him over the edge of the blast furnace, and the thug told him that Two-Face was at the main office. Oracle sarcastically told Robin so scary, and still did not believe that Tim would ever be able to scare someone like Batman. Robin arrived at the Hell's Gate Courthouse where Two-Face set up his operation, and had already burnt half of it as per his M.O. Two-Face mocked Robin's attempt to stop him, and called him a little punk for trying to play the hero. Tim, throughout the ordeal, doubted himself, had a hard time adjusting to fighting crime without Batman, and was told several times by Oracle that he wasn't Batman, but he could be something greater. Tim eventually fought his way through all of Two-Face's Gang and confronted Two-Face himself where Two-Face attacked him. Tim blocked the first shot with his shield, however, Two-Face shot him in the foot, and dropped him to the floor. Two-Face approached, commented that the boy became a man, but it was short lived, flipped his coin, and prepared to execute Robin. However, Robin took the opportunity of his distraction and took him down. Robin and Oracle then decided to cancel their honeymoon and return to Gotham in order to keep fighting crime.
Kill the Justice League Incident
- "If you're seeing this, Robin... it means I've been compromised. I wanted to say goodbye, Tim. [...] The team you lead. The family you choose. Together, you'll be formidable. That's something you taught me, son."
- —Batman's message to Tim
After joining the Justice League and revealing his survival to the world at large, Batman secretly recorded a series of BABEL Protocols for Tim in the Metropolis Batcave should he, or the entire Justice League, be compromised. In his holographic message, he acknowledged Tim as his son and requested he gather the Bat Family to take him down if he was compromised. During the Metropolis Invasion, Bruce and the Justice League, with the exception of Wonder Woman, would be brainwashed by Brainiac, causing Tim to venture into the Batcave, where he encountered the corrupted Batman. He was defeated by his brainwashed father, who left Tim's bloodied mask on the floor. Upon King Shark discovering the mask when he and the Suicide Squad entered the facility, Harley Quinn assumed he had been killed.
Personality
Following the "death" of Jason Todd, the second Robin, Tim Drake used his detective abilities to discover the identity of Batman, hone his skills through gruelling training and take the mantle of the third Robin to help defend Gotham. He is commonly underestimated by most people, who view him as Batman's sidekick, subordinate or lackey rather then equal partner. Stray comments in Arkham City reveal that multiple inmates believed they could handle Robin by themselves and Oracle says that regarding the duo, he was always the "good cop".
Despite having been a great admirer and faithful ally of Batman, their relationship had several gaps, how when he learned that Barbara died at the hands of the Scarecrow, he wanted to leave the cell, but Batman refused due to the risk of that Tim will take a supposed path of revenge, that Robin insulted Bruce and asked him to leave him alone. However, unlike Gordon who blamed Batman for Barbara's disappearance, it seemed that the target of his wrath was not Batman but Scarecrow himself.
Despite this, Robin could be brutal towards his enemies and severely injures them with his bo staff. He also cage fights for additional practice. He, unlike Batman could develop a lighter sense of humor and banters with his enemies and allies alike. In spite of what others may think, Robin is in no way dependent on Batman and was even able to launch a one-man attack on Harley Quinn to save his mentor.
Following Arkham Knight and the Knightfall Protocol respectively, Robin reveals a great amount of frustration over being treated as a sidekick instead of a hero by Batman. This is further reinforced by during the Knight's siege over Gotham he allows him only to work on a cure for the Joker-Virus instead of helping fight the Knight's forces. Dialogue regarding the Panessa Movies Studios reveals their relationship to be cold and awkward at times. After Batman's supposed suicide, Robin doubted his own abilities, part of this stem from his own insecurities regarding his abilities, believing he could not live up to the mantle of Batman. Oracle disregards this, claiming that though he is not Batman, he can be better and was able to solely defeat Two-Face's criminal empire.
Gameplay
Gliding
- Like Batman, Robin had a gliding cape and Glide Kick (but could not Dive Bomb). In the PC version, you could modify the game to make him playable in Gotham and he did in fact have the Grapnel Boost Mk. 1.
Combat
- Robin had his own set of fighting skills, with him incorporating his Bo Staff to his combat. He also knew how to use his enemies weight against them, as he could grab and throw any normal-sized thug who opposed him. By the time of Arkham Knight, his combat skills had improved greatly, and his attacks were much faster and stronger. In A Matter of Family, Robin's combat skills were once again slower and weaker to show his lack of experience and training. Like several other characters in Knight, he knew how to effectively use his enemies (melee) weapons against them.
Predator
- Robin had similar predator skills to Batman, but could not perform Inverted Takedowns, mainly because of his young age. Robin also was capable of performing the Multi Fear Takedown like Batman and Nightwing, but it did take him longer to terrify henchmen when compared to Batman and Nightwing.
Gadgets
- Grapple Hook/Gun - Used in the same way that Batman used it, only to grapple to Vantage Points and ledges.
- Zip-Kick - Similar to the Batclaw, but Robin used to hook onto enemies and it propelled him over to the enemy.
- Bo Staff - Used for offensive and defensive purposes, easily knocked out an average Thug and could transform into a ballistic shield.
- Shuriken - Was a boomerang-shaped throwing weapon that was a non-lethal ranged attack alternative to firearms. A remote-controlled variant appeared in Arkham City, but not in Arkham Knight.
- Explosive Gel - Used to break down structures and could take down armed and unarmed thugs when used in collaboration with a structurally unsound wall.
- Smoke Pellet - Used to escape from armed henchmen when under fire or to distract enemies and beat them up or take them down. (Arkham City only)
- Snap-Flash - Non-lethal explosives that could be placed on enemies and detonated on command to knock down an enemy. It also counted toward your combo in combat. In Arkham Knight, they instantly took out their target upon detonating in predator mode.
- Remote Hacking Device - Used for activating traps on the environment. Inherited from Batman after The Knightfall Protocol. (Arkham Knight Challenge Mode only)
Physical Appearance
Tim was a stocky young man with a muscular form, but his face can be said to be something of an innocent looking 'baby face,' taunted by thugs in the game. He had green eyes and black hair, though he consistently kept his hair shaved to a very short buzz cut, making it difficult to determine the exact color.
Arkham Origins
In Arkham Origins Multiplayer, Dick Grayson held the moniker of Robin. His suit was more armored compared to Tim Drake's and Jason Todd's.
Arkham City Lockdown
The Lockdown Robinsuit was the exact same as Arkham City Robin.
Arkham City
Robin's Suit had bare forearms, a small cape, and a hood which he wore over his head. It didn't appear to offer much protection as it seemed to be homemade.
Arkham Knight
The design of Robin's suit was very similar to that of Arkham City. However, major changes were made to the suit. The previously fingerless gloves now covered his fingers, the sleeves of the suit no longer showed skin, and instead of wearing the hood attached to his cape, the hood was laying down, unlike in Arkham City where he wore it up. The chest piece of Robin's suit also changed and gave him more protection in hand-to-hand combat. However, it appeared to still be quite a bit lighter than Batman's as Tim's suit had noticeable damage after they caught Harley. The design overall was made to give him a more mature look. The design also gave the benefits of better protection and flexibility.
Psychological Profile
Robin
Real Name: Tim Drake
Dr. Hugo Strange
Robin a.k.a Tim Drake
Bat Family
- Batman
- Nightwing
- Batgirl/Oracle
- Alfred
- Lucius Fox
- Red Hood (Jason Todd)
Attributes
- Expert Detective Skills
- Master Martial Artist
- Master Escape Artist
- Arsenal of Gadgets and Advanced Technology
- Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant
- Weapon Master
- Marksmanship
- Master Acrobat
- Genius Level Intellect
- Tactical Analysis
- Charisma
Quotes
Gallery
Batman: Arkham City
Batman: Arkham Knight
Trivia
- Tim Drake appeared older than his teenage comic counterpart. That may have been because of the game's timeline or he may have been Robin for longer. Currently, Tim had been Robin for several months prior to Arkham Asylum.
- Robin's DLC Pack came with two extra Challenge Maps: "Black Mask Predator Challenge Map" and "Freight Train Combat Challenge Map". It also came with two alternate suits; Batman: The Animated Series Robin and the Red Robin Suit.
- Interestingly, the Batman: The Animated Series Robin skin was the Dick Grayson Robin, not the Tim Drake Robin. That was likely due to the fact that Tim Drake in the Animated Series was literally half the size of Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne. Furthermore, Dick Grayson's Animated Series Robin design, was greatly influenced by the Robin costume that Tim Drake had been wearing during and prior to the Animated Series going into production. It was mostly due to the fact as Dick's actual original Robinsuit was too ridiculous for the more modern TV at the time.
- As Robin was Batman's partner, many thugs considered him as "some kind of joke" and they thought that taking him down would be easy.
- Unlike Batman, when Robin sprayed his Explosive Gel, it was in the shape of an R, the symbol that was on his suit.
- While aware of who Jason Todd was due to Batman accidentally calling him Jason at times, it was unknown if Tim knew that Jason was alive or if he ever met him since Jason was "killed" by the Joker.
- According to Kan Muftic, their design of Tim Drake for Arkham City, particularly his shaved head, was derived from cage-fighters due to their envisioning him as being one on his spare time.[1]
- When lying to Tim, Alfred warned that if Robin found out, he would lose him. That referred to the episode "Old Wounds" in The New Batman Adventures, where in a flashback scene, the first Robin was dating Barbara, but neither was aware of their identity. The subsequent revelations and the fact that Batman had kept this secret resulted in Dick hanging up the mask of Robin and not forgiving his mentor for years.
- In Arkham Knight, If Batman returned to Panessa Studios after he saved Oracle, he could tell Robin that she was safe. Robin wouldn't say anything, but would fall to his knees in relief.
- Robin, Alfred, and Jason were the only members of the Bat Family to have a game over screen for Batman.