Just as Batman is considered to be the leader of the Justice League, his sidekick Robin holds a very special place among the Teen Titans. Whether it be Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake or Damian Wayne, the next generation of superheroes always has a Robin in their midst. Each of them offers his or her own expertise, but they always bring something unique to the team. The acrobatics, the detective skills, the technological know-how, and the strategic planning have all be used to turn the Titans, New Titans, Teen Titans and Young Justice into formidable superhero teams.

However, just because these teams benefit from his inclusion, it doesn’t mean that Robin isn’t really the worst Teen Titan of all time. Each Robin has his or her own personality, which also gives them their own strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately, no matter who holds the mantle at any given time, Robin has proven to be untrustworthy, ineffective, unhelpful and dangerous over the years. Robin may be remembered as the ultimate sidekick, the best the new generation of heroes has to offer, and a trusted friend and role model, but the character also makes for a terrible Teen Titan. It’s just too bad it has taken this long for us to realize the truth.

15 ROBIN HAS NO SUPERPOWERS

There have been four main Robins over the years, but regardless of who wears the mask and dons the ‘R’, none of them have ever had superpowers. For the most part, Batman has made sure that this won’t hold them back, but it does become an issue when he’s put together with other members of the Teen Titans, who all have tremendous natural abilities of their own.

Dick Grayson seemed capable of holding his own out on the battlefield, but Jason Todd literally died because he didn’t have the abilities some of his teammates had.

Tim Drake and Damian Wayne have both proven to be as effective as Batman is at keeping up with super-powered teammates, but when you have people who can shoot fireballs, use magic, transform into animals, have super speed, and use super strength, a utility belt is only going to get you so far.

14 HE KEEPS TOO MANY SECRETS

Dick Grayson may have long since parted ways with his mentor, but when it comes to keeping secrets, the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. Just like Batman, Nightwing also has the uncanny ability to keep secrets from his teammates, and when the truth comes out, it usually means bad things for the future of the Titans.

He has secretly aligned himself with Deathstroke on several occasions, including the time Slade agreed to spare the Teen Titans if Dick trained Rose Wilson. The covenant was first seen in “The Lazarus Contract,” but the rest of the team was never informed. In Titans, Nightwing became the unwitting spy of H.I.V.E., but when he discovered the truth, Dick never shared the information with the rest of the class. As a result, the Titans have had a hard time trusting their leader.

13 HE KIDNAPPED HIS OWN TEAM

Following the end of the New 52, the Teen Titans were reorganized under the leadership of Damian Wayne. The only problem was that to take charge of the group, he actually had to kidnap his future teammates. That means he attacked and hurt the likes of Beast Boy, Raven, Starfire, and Kid Flash before any of them would work with him, which is not the best way to start things off.

From that point on, his teammates were afraid of him and resented him for what he did to them.

It also didn’t help that he treated them horribly, resulting in most of them hating him. It took a very long time for them to trust Damian, which could have all been avoided if he just reformed the Teen Titans like a normal person. Instead, his methodology created a flawed team from the start.

12 HE DID THE UNTHINKABLE IN SECRET

Superboy, Robin, Wonder Girl, and Kid Flash were the best of friends for a long time, but tragedy struck and tore everything apart. Superboy died during the events of Infinite Crisis, and Bart Allen lost his life filling in for Wally West as the Flash. This drove Tim Drake and Cassie Sandsmark to ruins, but Tim had a secret plan to make everything better.

Unknown to the rest of his teammates in the Teen Titans, Robin set out to try and re-clone Superboy. He had his own secret lab under Titans Tower, but the whole operation ended in failure. It was quite the disturbing sight for Cassie to discover, made even more disturbing by the fact that they then made out on top of the juices of a failed clone. This is what it looks like when superheroes don’t get the help they desperately need.

11 HE TREATED WOMEN POORLY

Nightwing and Starfire

Dick Grayson has always been considered to be something of a lady’s man, but when you think about it, he actually has a pretty poor way of treating the women in his life. His relationship with Starfire became problematic in several ways, including the fact that he was incredibly judgemental about her life choices and basically became a nut when she was forced to marry someone else.

Meanwhile, Dick cheated on Kory multiple times.

In a crossover with the Team Titans, it was revealed that he had slept with Mirage thinking it was Kory, but instead of being outraged, he told his girlfriend to stop being so dramatic. He also hooked up with Barbara Gordon just before his wedding to Starfire. This is proof that Dick can’t be trusted to mix business with pleasure and have it not become a huge issue.

10 HE TURNED EVIL IN THE FUTURE

We have learned that Tim Drake is seemingly destined to turn evil in the future, and with that looming over him, it’s hard to see how he can be an effective leader of the Teen Titans. The team seemingly goes bad in the future, as seen in the “Titans Tomorrow” storyline, where the current group is sent into the future to fight their future incarnations.

In the Rebirth era of DC Comics, the Batman of the future returns to the present day, and he’s far more unhinged than his other teammates. Future Tim goes through the timeline trying to prevent his future from coming true. This experience causes the present Tim to become even more unstable than he already was. It feels like no matter what team he’s on, Tim Drake is destined to cause problems.

9 HE IS A BAD FRIEND

Nightwing and Roy Harper have a rocky relationship

Along with being a bad boyfriend, Dick Grayson is just a straight up bad friend. This is mostly seen in his treatment of Roy Harper, a longtime friend and teammate. Roy has a history of drug abuse, and even though he has been able to get a handle on it, Dick has never been good at helping. During their stint as leaders of the Outsiders, Nightwing openly taunted Arsenal into fighting by referencing his drug addiction.

When Roy’s daughter was killed, Dick did basically the bare minimum to help his friend overcome the tragedy.

Unsurprisingly, Arsenal relapsed and fell into a life of crime and mental anguish. Even when drugs weren’t a problem Dick assumed they were. When Roy went to the Titans for help in solving a case, Nightwing wouldn’t believe him, thinking he was high again, and the two fought. Basically, don’t go to him with your problems.

8 HE ABANDONED THE TEAM

No one had more to work out after the events of Infinite Crisis than the Batman Family. Seeing a need to step back and get himself in order again, Batman took Dick Grayson and Tim Drake on a trip of rediscovery. Robin had recently lost his father, girlfriend, and best friend, so it made some sense that he needed to get himself in order before returning to a life of superheroics.

The only problem was that he effectively abandoned the team for an entire year, leaving them with no sense of direction or leadership. Beast Boy attempted to keep the group together, but a long string of ineffective superheroes essentially crippled the group. Just as it seemed the Teen Titans were no more, Robin returned and brought them back to prominence. Still, it was never the same, and things could have been handled better.

7 HE COULDN’T LIVE UP TO EXPECTATIONS

After Dick Grayson left Batman to become Nightwing, Jason Todd was recruited to be the new Robin. The only problem was that Todd could never actually live up to the legacy that Dick Grayson had left behind. No matter how much Batman dressed him up to look just like the original Robin, it was clear that Jason Todd never had the natural gifts that made Dick such a good hero.

This was put on display when Todd joined the Teen Titans in the 1980s. Despite looking just like Dick Grayson, he was far younger and more experienced. Even the heroes around him forgot that Jason wasn’t Dick, and instead of being the gifted leader Robin used to be, he was now an inexperienced kid who couldn’t bring the same level of abilities to the team. It was a sad but true realization for everyone to learn.

6 HE IS PRONE TO VIOLENT OUTBURSTS

Dick Grayson may not be as dark as Batman is, but that doesn’t mean he’s not prone to violent outbursts at times. During the events of "Joker: Last Laugh," Nightwing confronts the Joker in the climactic finale but ends up going too far.

Believing that Robin had recently lost his life, Nightwing brutally beat the Joker without even thinking, right up until his heart stopped.

In the early days of the New 52, Nightwing is seen to have a bit of a mean streak. He brutally beats a criminal and uses his blood to paint the Nightwing symbol on the man’s chest as a warning. He’s also led a team of Outsiders in defiance of Batman and turned them into a strike team of brutal enforcers. It’s hard to see how the Titans would want Dick even involved in their operation when he acts like this.

5 HE IS A BAD TEAMMATE

Damian Wayne is a very gifted crimefighter for someone so young, but he’s probably the worst teammate ever. In just about every way, Robin has shown himself to be a jerk to the people around him. During his first stint on the Teen Titans, Dick Grayson brings him to Titans Tower in order to meet his teammates, and he immediately acts like he owns the place. He even makes fun of Beast Boy and suggests kicking him out.

In the Teen Titans Rebirth title, Damian takes control of the team, but instead of treating it like a group of friends, he treats them like operatives. We know that the Titans should be friends first, but Robin doesn’t seem to value that. He cruelly fires Kid Flash off the team, despite everyone else telling him that he can’t do that. It took him far too long to learn the value of a team.

4 HE’S QUICK TO QUIT ON HIS TEAM

Perhaps more than anyone else, Dick Grayson has come to be synonymous with being a member of the Teen Titans. That’s why it’s so weird that he’s always been the one to break up the team the moment things don’t go their way.

It’s like any time he has to deal with failure, Dick breaks up the team and makes them all go their separate ways.

He did it after the Graduation Day crossover, when Donna Troy and Lilith were killed by a deranged Superman Robot. Instead of bringing everyone together during that hard time, he immediately cut ties with everyone. Then again, during the “Titans Apart” storyline in Titans, the Justice League orders them to stand down pending a review. Despite everyone’s willingness to go against this order, Nightwing gives in and shuts it all down. It’s like he’s incapable of standing on his own.

3 HE DOESN’T CARE ABOUT ANYONE ELSE

Though Damian Wayne has done his fair share of growing throughout his career as Robin, he still has a tendency to be self-centered. That has not been more clear that during Benjamin Percy’s run on Teen Titans. He rules over the team with an iron fist, but still refuses to let his best friend Superboy in all because of his age. He seems determined to hold his status as leader over his head.

He also has little concern for those around him, especially the superheroes who are supposed to be his friends and allies. During the “Lazarus Contract” crossover, the Teen Titans go back in time to when the original Titans team was young. In a skirmish with these heroes, Damian actually permanently damaged Wally West’s heart, and he never seemed to care much about it.

2 HE IS KIND OF A FASCIST

Tim Drake was put through the ringer during the Rebirth era at DC Comics. He nearly died, was kidnapped and placed in an interdimensional prison, and came face to face with a murderous future version of himself. When he returned to Gotham City, he set out to change the future by making his Gotham Knights protocol even more efficient and effective than he left it.

Unfortunately, no matter what he did, he couldn’t avoid a future that saw him become a fascist Batman.

As it turns out, even Batman felt uncomfortable about a Bat-themed super team that monitored and controlled the entire city. There seems to be a fine line between vigilantism and developing a fascist state, and Tim crossed it. Hopefully he never brings these tactics to the Teen Titans.

1 HE MAKES THEM A TARGET

Given Damian Wayne’s status as the heir to the Demon, Robin puts his friends and teammates in danger just by being a member of the al Ghul family. During Damian’s stint as the leader of the Teen Titans, the group was attacked by the League of Assassins. For years Ra’s al Ghul has been determined to bring his grandson back into the fold, and he will go through any means to do it.

The only person who has been a bigger threat to him and his friends is his mother, Talia al Ghul. She has gone for the throat on several occasions. She created Leviathan just to go after Batman and their son during Batman Incorporated. More recently, she has shown up in Super Sons to attack both Robin and his friend Superboy. No matter what, Damian cannot seem to escape his family, and that hurts the Titans.