Robin (Caroline Keene “Carrie” Kelley)

The second Robin seen on the Batcomputer in Titans episode Barbara Gordon is much more famous and relevant than the first. As Dick Grayson observes the candidates selected by Batman to be his new sidekick, he finds the first girl in the list, Carrie Kelley, a very well-known name for the fans of the Bat. Originally appeared in Frank Miller‘s acclaimed The Dark Knight Returns, Carrie is the first female Robin ever, albeit appearing only in this non-canonical story, before more recently making her way to Prime Earth as a friend of Damian Wayne. This will not be the first time we see somebody exclusive to another reality, so let’s take a good look at Carrie Kelley, the third Robin of her world.

Carrie Kelley was born in Gotham City, but the one on Earth-31, an alternative future in which the government had banned (almost) all superhero activity, turning the few remaining heroes into government agents. She was the daughter of two old hippies, who had been activists in the 1960s but who, disillusioned by the government’s new authoritative turn, had become helpless and apathetic stoners, who barely remembered to have a child at all: because of this, Carrie learnt to take care of herself since she was very little, and by the age of thirteen, she was perfectly independent. One night, as she was coming back home alone, she was attacked by the new gang ruling the city, the Mutants: panicking, she was ready to die, but Batman, the fabled hero who had disappeared decades before, appeared out of nowhere, and saved her. That moment was the one that completely changed her: used to live without hope for her entire life, in a city abandoned to itself, she now had a different perspective… and knew exactly what to do. The very next day, Carrie used her lunch money to buy a Robin costume from a shop, and decided she would have taken place of the former Robin, the one whose death had brought Batman to retirement in the first place… so she knew it wouldn’t have been an easy job to get the Dark Knight to accept her, but she had trust in her own skills. Armed with nothing but a slingshot and firecrackers, she followed Batman to the City Dump, the lair of the Mutants, and observed his fight with the Mutant Leader: unfortunately, the old Caped Crusader was no match for the brutal gang leader, and got almost killed… but the self-proclaimed Robin jumped into action, and using her “weaponry” she blinded the Mutant Leader for enough time to drag the bloody and bruised Batman to his Batmobile. Using part of her cape and a piece of pipe, she even made a sling for his broken arm, thus impressing him enough to allow her to stay… for a while, at least.

Batman was a wanted man already, and the presence of the new Robin brought Commissioner Ellen Yindel to add child endangerment to the Dark Knight’s long list of felonies, but this was the minor of problems. First, Carrie aided Batman in settling the score with the Mutant Leader, to humiliate him in front of his gang and thus to establish himself as the new leader of the Mutants, who from there on started to call themselves the Sons of Batman. More importantly, when the Joker escaped from Arkham Asylum and killed dozens of children, Robin was there to help Batman deal with the maniac one last time: while the Dark Knight and the Clown Prince of Crime faced each other in one last battle, that culminated in the Joker breaking his own neck to mock his greatest adversary, Robin defused the bomb he had put on a roller-coaster… but the Joker’s henchman Fat Abner was there for her. The two fought, but then Abner fell, and got decapitated by a hanging section of the track, a vision that deeply shocked Carrie, and that left her traumatized for a while. She had no time to mourn over her lost innocence, however, as the government had decided to take the problem of Batman into their own hands, and had sent their greatest agent to Gotham: Superman. Of course, Batman had a plan for him as well, but he needed time, and time was what Robin gave him, as she used the Batmobile to distract the Man of Steel, even if for a bunch of seconds: Superman didn’t even tried to apprehend her, and only reminded her that it was a school night, and she should be in bed. The battle between Batman and Superman saw the first victorious thanks to his wits and an arsenal of Kryptonite weapons, but since the victory could only be temporary, Batman chose to fake his own death. At the funeral, Carrie pretended to be a relative of Bruce Wayne, and claimed the body. Superman heard Bruce’s heartbeat from the coffin, but only winked at Carrie before leaving. Finally free of the government, Batman, Robin and Green Arrow took shelter in the Batcave, where they would have started training a new generation of heroes for a world devoid of hope.

Carrie Kelly may have more enthusiasm than training, but she’s a brilliant kid with a lot of talents, truly committed to crime fighting for the sake of returning hope to a world that has long lost it. As Robin, she’s a highly skilled gymnast, and what she lacks in combat training she compensates with her remarkable versatility and improvisational skills; her only weapon is a slingshot with firecrackers as projectiles, but with her wits she makes the best of it even against impossible odds. The face of a new generation of heroes, the third Robin aims to convince the world that heroes can still exist… and after convincing Batman to take her in as a new sidekick, that will be a piece of cake.