Gotham City is home to quite a number of colorfully costumed characters, and quite a few of them have some relation to Batman and his family of vigilantes. Red Hood is one of these members of the Bat-Family, though Jason Todd hasn't always fit into the role perfectly.
In fact, Todd hadn't found his role for years until he took on the identity of Red Hood and became one of DC's most popular anti-heroes. So today we are going to take a look at a few of our favorite and most hated costumes worn by Jason Todd/Red Hood, with a few outliers due to using shared identities with other characters.
10 LOVE: RED ROBIN
While technically not a Red Hood costume, he did adopt the identity of Red Robin from an alternate reality's Batman during his time as the Red Hood, so we are going to count it. Todd first donned the Red Robin costume during the Countdown weekly event after bonding with the alternate Batman who had lost his version of Todd.
While the Red Robin costume had first appeared in Kingdom Come as a future identity of Dick Grayson/Nightwing, the costume would move to the mainstream universe thanks to Todd, who would quickly abandon the costume and identity for Tim Drake/Robin III to take on after.
9 HATE: BATTLE FOR THE COWL
Following the "death" of Bruce Wayne in Final Crisis, Gotham City was left without a protector, and a number of characters moved in to fill the vacuum left behind by the Dark Knight. One of those characters was Jason Todd, who had created his own Bat costume and began taking out criminals with extreme methods and even guns, which is a big no for Batman.
Todd would almost kill the others seeking out the Mantle of the Bat before he was defeated by Dick Grayson, who took over as Batman until Bruce returned. While Todd's Batman costume was interesting, it didn't really capture either of Todd's identities that he was trying to project, so it failed as both a Red Hood and a Batman costume.
8 LOVE: EVIL RED HOOD
After Grayson defeated Todd and took over the role of Batman alongside Damian Wayne as his new Robin, a struggling Todd then decided he was going to be Batman's new arch-villain. He resumed the villainous identity of Red Hood alongside a new partner, the former Dollotron known as Scarlet.
Todd's evil Red Hood costume was interestingly enough the most comic book-y costume he's ever worn, complete with a cape and chest insignia. This look was improved further when Todd added his signature leather jacket instead of the cape, which signaled Todd's turn back towards heroism.
7 HATE: HUSH
Before Jason Todd had officially returned from the dead, he was used by the villain known as Hush to throw Batman off his game using Clayface to impersonate Jason Todd. This version of Todd was wearing the same black body armor and overcoat worn by Hush, though featured a red domino mask to reference his time as Robin.
The appearance of "Todd" in that storyline led to his actual rebirth in the comics, where it was retconned that it was actually Todd in the modified Hush outfit. It was revealed Todd switched places with Clayface after toying with Batman. It was a very specific costume for storyline purposes but we still aren't fond of Todd in the modified Hush/Robin hybrid.
6 LOVE: ORIGINAL RED HOOD
Jason Todd was not the first character to use the Red Hood identity, and in fact, a number of criminals have used the identity prior to Todd. However, the most iconic is without a doubt the person who wore it before Jason Todd, the Joker.
Originally, the man who would be Joker wore the Red Hood cape and helmet along with a tuxedo on a heist at ACE chemicals, where he would be transformed into the Clown Prince of Crime. The Joker is the one who would kill Jason Todd/Robin, so his adoption of the Red Hood identity was definitely an interesting decision.
5 HATE: RED HOOD GANG
When Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo retold Batman's origins after the New 52 reboot, they introduced a few twists on established continuity with Zero Year. The Joker was still a former wearer of the Red Hood helmet, however, there was now a whole gang that called themselves the Red Hood Gang.
The gang was still led by a central Red hood who wore a version of the original costume, though we still hate this version with the half-helmet that shows off his chin. The rest of the Red Hood Gang members were pretty forgettable so we're glad the team didn't last past Zero Year.
4 LOVE: TODD'S DEBUT
After the tease of Todd's return in Hush, Judd Winick and Doug Mahnke brought the character back officially in the Under the Hood" storyline, however, his identity was still a secret for his first few appearances as the Red Hood attempted to take over Gotham's gangs.
This was the first modern redesign of the Red Hood identity and is still one of the best due to its simplicity. Aside from the Red Hood helmet and domino mask that Todd wore underneath, the rest of his outfit was tactical/casual and would influence his look for the next decade.
3 HATE: RED HOODIE
Unfortunately, after that decade was up Jason decided he needed a new look that screamed harsh anti-hero and outlaw while removing any semblance of heroism from the character. His new costume featured cargo pants, a black t-shirt with an emblem of Red Hood's new mask/rebreather (?) and a red vest with a hood.
To make matters worse, he stole some of his costume Terminator-style from a biker and then adorned it with a crowbar, which was the very weapon Joker used to beat him within an inch of his life before blowing him up. We get that he's taking power over his murderer by usurping his former identity, but now he's figuratively beating us over the head with the premise.
2 LOVE: ARKHAM KNIGHT
We're going to briefly step outside of the comics to another version of Jason Todd that appeared in the Batman: Arkham Knight video game, which revolved around the secret identity of a new character known as the Arkham Knight.
Jason wore a high-tech version of the Batsuit that recently made its way to the comics as well, and was used very effectively in the promotion of the game. Jason would eventually become Red Hood in the game world as well, though his costume would seemingly combine the weakest traits of his comic costumes, so we definitely prefer his Arkham Knight look.
1 HATE: NEW 52
Prior to DC's reality-altering Flashpoint event that ushered in the New 52 universe, Jason Todd's look as Red Hood fluctuated as he struggled to regain the trust of the Bat-Family. The New 52 brought him back into the group and even added a Bat symbol to his new costume, which was based on his debut look with the tactical bodysuit and leather jacket.
We've already revealed how much we like this look, however, it was Red Hood's new helmet that gets an immediate pass, as it would often creepily show his facial features behind the mask. The odd new expressive helmet coupled with the confused origins about his costume (was it Nightwing's old suit? If so when did he wear it?) make this one of Red Hood's worst costumes.