Batman’s trusty sidekick, Robin, has had his ups and downs when it comes to his usefulness. After all, this is a character who has been mockingly nicknamed “The Boy Hostage.” Thankfully, Batman: The Animated Series averts this more often than not. Aging him up a little so that Robin is a college student also gave the show a good excuse when they didn’t want to use him since they could claim Dick Grayson was “busy at college.” When the Boy Wonder did show up in Batman: The Animated Series, he provided the occasional comic relief, but also got a few outstanding moments of his own. Today, we’re going to look at Robin’s best moments on the show. We’ll only be looking at Dick Grayson’s tenure as Batman’s sidekick for this list. Tim Drake would take up the role in The New Batman Adventures. Here are the Dick Grayson version of Robin’s best moments in Batman: The Animated Series.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

6 Disguising Himself as Bruce Wayne

     Distributed by Warner Bros. Television Distribution

“The Strange Secret Of Bruce Wayne” sees the only appearance in the show of the sinister Dr. Hugo Strange. There were plans to bring him back in another episode where he’d make Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson forget they were Batman and Robin. You may be wondering, how did Strange learn Bruce Wayne was Batman? Well, the events of his only appearance explain that: He built a machine that could read people’s minds and used it on Bruce.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

Strange plans to auction the knowledge to The Joker, The Penguin, and Two-Face, but our dear old Dark Knight switches the tape with the secret on it for another one, causing Strange to flee as the angry supervillains chase him down. All the bad guys are arrested, but Strange tells Batman to his face he knows his secret… up until Bruce Wayne appears behind him. As it turns out, it was Dick Grayson in disguise. It’s a small moment, but it’s a fun one.

5 Investigating Gil Mason

One of Batman’s many nicknames is “The World’s Greatest Detective,” and the show definitely has episodes that show that off. There aren’t too many where Robin gets to show off his detective skills, so seeing him investigate corrupt Deputy Police Commissioner Gil Mason in “Shadow of the Bat” is a real treat. Bruce Wayne has gone undercover to infiltrate a new gang, which, it turns out, is led by Two-Face. Dick Grayson and Alfred watch footage of a rally for Commissioner Gordon (currently in prison on trumped-up bribery charges, all part of Two-Face’s plan) and it’s here where Dick and Alfred notice something odd:

Gil Mason ducked before he saw the guns used in a drive-by shooting at the rally, causing the Boy Wonder to suspect Mason of being in on it. Spoiler alert: He was. Dick, now dressed as Robin, also observes Mason in his apartment getting a call. Robin gets the address, which leads him right to Bruce and Two-Face. It’s a great series of events that show Robin ain’t too bad at the detective side of this whole crime fighting thing.

4 Robin’s Fights With Kyodai Ken

“Night of the Ninja” sees a ninja with a personal vendetta show up in Gotham and rob Wayne Industries’ subsidiaries. As it turns out, the ninja, named Kyodai Ken, and Bruce Wayne studied martial arts together. Kyodai was the only student who could consistently defeat Bruce, which seems to be the case when Bruce meets him as Batman. There’s a fun little rock-paper-scissors-type conflict going on in this episode. Kyodai beats Bruce in their sparring matches, Bruce beats Dick Grayson in their sparring match, and Robin forces Kyodai to retreat the two times they fight, though he does drop a water tower on The Boy Wonder the second time.

Robin gets a pretty funny moment after his first duel with Kyodai where he imitates Batman’s voice, pretending The Dark Knight is thanking him for driving Kyodai off. Still, when all is said and done, Robin took on a ninja that constantly thrashed Batman and put up a better fight than Batman did. Though Bruce Wayne does defeat the ninja in a one-on-one fight at the climax of the episode.

3 Inspiring Batman to Go After The Jazzman

In terms of acting, no episode of Batman: The Animated Series is better than “I Am The Night.” All the principal players get some truly outstanding moments, including Dick Grayson. The episode sees Batman assisting with a sting operation to capture a villain known as The Jazzman on the anniversary of his parents’ death. However, Batman is delayed, and Commissioner Gordon is hospitalized after sustaining an injury during the sting. Batman, who was already having a bit of a midlife crisis at the beginning of the episode, decides to quit being a superhero for good.

The timing couldn’t be worse as The Jazzman escapes prison and vows to finish Gordon off for good. Luckily for Batman, he has Dick Grayson around to remind him how much good he’s done for the city and to never give up the fight. Dick even says he’ll go after The Jazzman if Batman won’t, and just it when it seems Robin has to be the one to take him down, Batman appears and says he’ll take on The Jazzman.

2 Saving A Stadium Full of Football Fans From The Scarecrow

The episode, “Fear of Victory,” sees Scarecrow infect several of Gotham City’s greatest athletes with his fear toxin, then bet against them and their teams in order to make money. One such athlete is Dick Grayson’s college roommate, the starting quarterback for the college’s team who is getting hype as a first round NFL draft pick. Unfortunately, Robin also gets infected with the toxin (they’re delivered via telegrams laced with the stuff), which soon starts to cause major problems when he’s out on patrol with Batman. Scarecrow later tries to drug a starting quarterback from Gotham’s professional football team, and it’s here where Robin gets his big hero moment.

The Boy Wonder spots Scarecrow holding Batman at bay by threatening to drop a vial of the fear toxin on the crowd. Scarecrow does so, causing Robin to get over his fears and swing across to intercept the vial, all while the football game’s announcer provides play-by-play that works perfectly for what’s happening both on the field and above it. Robin even manages to find the quarterback’s fear-infected helmet and replace it with a normal one. It’s a great fist-pumping moment for The Boy Wonder.

1 Apprehending Tony Zucco

“Robin’s Reckoning” is one of the strongest episodes of the whole show. It’s basically an origin story for The Boy Wonder. Tony Zucco, the gangster who murdered Dick Grayson’s parents, is back in Gotham after a nine-year absence. Batman refuses to let Robin go after Zucco, which Robin interprets as Batman thinking he can’t handle it. As a result, Batman and Robin conduct their own, separate investigations into Zucco. Both lead to the same place: an abandoned amusement park on the waterfront Zucco is using as his hideout. Batman gets there first, but twists his ankle, causing him to limp around the park and take down Zucco’s men more stealthily.

Zucco has Batman pinned on a merry-go-round with a Tommy gun aimed at him when Robin comes crashing through on a motorcycle, dragging Zucco along the pier and making an entrance straight out of Akira in the process. Robin proceeds to toss Zucco around like a ragdoll before Batman stops him from going too far. Not only is it so cathartic to see Robin being the one to take down his parent’s killer, but it shows that Robin can be just as intimidating as Batman himself. After all, Zucco legitimately cowers before The Boy Wonder before he’s arrested.