Tim Drake

Timothy Jackson "Tim" Drake is one of the characters who takes the mantle of Batman's partner Robin and appears in different versions of Batman canon.
==Background==
===Robin (1989-2009)===
Tim Drake debuted in Batman: Year Three and Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying (1989). As a young child, Tim attended the last performance of the Flying Graysons at Haly's Circus, and later recognized the superhero Robin perform an acrobatic maneuver unique to Tim's idol, Dick Grayson—from there, Tim realized the civilian identities of Batman and Robin, and closely followed their exploits through news media. Tim noticed that Batman suddenly turned more violent and reckless after the Joker murdered his second Robin and adopted son, Jason Todd; thirteen-year-old Tim became convinced that Batman was in need of a Robin. Tim introduced himself to Dick Grayson and attempted to persuade him to return to the Robin mantle, but Dick insisted he was capable of supporting his father figure and mentor as Nightwing; thus Tim volunteered himself as the new Robin. Though Batman was initially resistant to taking on a new Robin, Tim continued the proud Robin tradition of refusing to obey Batman and persisted, ultimately winning over the Batfamily. Batman put Tim through a rigorous training regimen, sent him to various teachers around the world for a solid year, and upgraded the Robin uniform and equipment before allowing Tim to work beside him.
Robin III fulfilled the everyman archetype, an average teen boy who got to have adventures with Batman, though with the added power fantasy of belonging to a millionaire family in the same socioeconomic status as Bruce Wayne. Over the years, Robin worked not only as Batman's partner on the streets of Gotham City, but also worked with other teenage heroes. Though he started off as the leader of the team known as Young Justice, eventually he followed in the Dick Grayson's footsteps in helping found a new generation of Teen Titans.
Despite his comfortable upbringing and smooth superhero career, not all was sunshine and rainbows for Robin III. His mother, Janet Drake, was murdered and his father suffered serious injuries in one of Tim's early adventures (July 1990). Then the character later suffered much fridge-induced angst toward the end of his stint as Robin. During the events of War Games (2004) his then-girlfriend Stephanie Brown apparently died of wounds sustained from torture. Almost immediately after that, during the events of Identity Crisis (2004), Tim's father, Jack Drake, was murdered, leading to Tim's stepmother, Dana Winters-Drake, being institutionalized and written out of the story. In the following Infinite Crisis (2005-2006) storyline, Tim's best friend Kon-El (Conner Kent/Superboy) killed. Not long after, Bart Allen (Impulse/Kid Flash II) died in the line of duty (2007). Then his new adoptive father, Batman, apparently died during the Final Crisis (2008) event. Luckily, with the exception of his civilian parents, all these lost friends and loved ones were restored to life within a few short years of publication, in keeping with the Comic Book Death Rule.
===Red Robin (2009-2011)===
After an event known as Final Crisis (2008) seemingly led to the death of Batman at the hands of Darkseid, Tim was seemingly the only person who believed that Bruce Wayne might still be alive. After Dick Grayson took the mantle of Batman and allowed Damian Wayne to take on the role of Robin at Alfred Pennyworth's prompting, Tim left Gotham City. He donned Jason Todd's discarded Red Robin costume and began his search for Bruce, following a trail of clues around the world, and getting some unexpected assistance from Ra's Al Ghul and the League of Assassins along the way. 
===New 52 (2011)===
In the New 52 universe Tim's backstory was radically changed. Now "Tim" is a talented athlete and computer genius, whose family goes into witness protection after the trouble with the Penguin. "Tim Drake" is the name he receives from witness protection. His family entrusts his care to Bruce Wayne, and Tim adopts the Red Robin identity, leaving the Robin identity in retirement out of respect for his fallen predecessor.
===DC Rebirth (2016)===
===Infinite Frontier (2021)===
Tim returned to the Robin mantle, which he now shares with other characters operating under the same code name, notably Damian Wayne. In August 2021, Tim began dating his first male love interest in Urban Legends.
===DC Animated Universe===
The DCAU incarnation of "Tim Drake" shares his comic counterpart's name, bo staff, and his association with 90s computer tech, but is otherwise considered to be an adaptation of the source material's second Robin, Jason Todd, possessing a similar background and storyline overall.Batman: The Animated Series – Volume 2, Robin Rising Featurette. Commentary by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm.
===Arkhamverse===
Robin appears in the Arkham City (2011) as Batman's trusted sidekick and a similarly aged peer to Nightwing and Oracle. Like the DCAU, Tim Drake initially appears to be the second Robin and Dick Grayson's successor, but Arkham Knight (2015) ultimately reveals that he is the third to take up the Robin mantle. Tim is a high school chemistry teacher, and he marries Barbara Gordon in the secret ending of Arkham Knight.
===Young Justice (2010 animated series)===
==Fanon==
As with the rest of the Batfamily fandom, Tim Drake fanon is often conflated with canon due to the extremely high prevalence of second-degree fandom and kittyfic.
Tim's Red Robin phase has been somewhat controversial, with some Robin fans feeling that Red Robin was a major departure for the established character, penned by a non-DC writer, and the New 52 reboot was met with even more controversy.sorry to bother but do you think the new 52 continuity comics and red robin present a good characterization of tim? Nov 27, 2017 TumblrSo I just read Red Robin. How is this Tim is identical or differ from 80s and 90s Tim?, Nov 16, 2017 Tumblr
=== Popular Fanon ===
*Coffee-addicted insomniacis tim not sleeping/falling asleep random places fanon or canon? Sohotthateveryonedied, 21 Nov 2021, Tumblr: it is canon that Tim often falls asleep sitting up or in odd corners because of a lack of sleep, so fans expand upon this in their fanworks
*Delicate and sickly: Tim is canonically missing his spleen after being stabbed, fans like to expand upon this and explore how missing a spleen could effect Tim's health and issues that may arise from it.
*Unmatched super-genius detective: although there is some debate about how smart or good detective Tim is in canon, many fans like the concept and will include it in their fanworks
*Teenage CEOI always wondered if Tim actually has a huge role in Wayne Enterprises or is that just fanon? July 13, 2017 Tumblr post: for a time in the comics Tim was involved with Wayne Enterprises, although this was a short lived storyline, some fans liked the concept and have increased Tim's involvement in the company in fanworks 
*Depressed, underappreciated sadboyso I've seen a lot of posts lately where you headcanon Tim Drake as someone with depression and probably more mental illnesses? Sohotthateveryonedied, 1 Apr 2017, Tumblr: again something based in canon that is expanded by fans, these fanworks may have Tim exploring his mental state and getting professional help, or it might just be the basis for whump.
*Childhood neighbor to the Wayne householdSo a lot of people think that Tim grew up next door to Wayne Manor but that’s not actually what happened and appears to be a fanon invention Sept 14, 2017 Tumblr postHave you ever done a canon vs fanon post for the batfam? March 28, 2019 Tumblr post: Tim and his father actually do move close to the Wayne mansion in one of the comics after Tim is already Robin, although fans may take this in a different direction, and have Tim be a neighbor since he was small and have him growing up being friends/friendly Dick and Jason. 
=== Fannish Discussion About Tim's Fanon Characterization ===
====Further reading====
*meta on LiveJournal-era fanon Tim Drake by angel-gidget (25 Jul 2017)
*meta on Tim and the legacy of the second Robin by bat-lings (30 March 2019)
*Re: "Ooh could you debunk the myths regarding Tim’s childhood? I see a lot of Fanon claiming that he was home alone for years and didn’t have anyone to take care of him." (11 Feb 2021) by bitimdrake
*Like a good 75% of the time if Tim’s drinking coffee the fic is also going to containArchived from the original by titans-trash (11 Sep 2021)
*meta about "coffee Tim" and fanon Timarchived from the original by batfamcraze and fantastic-nonsense
*Re: "my contact with with batfam stuff is mostly through fandom and i've recently seen people complaining about the whole 'tim liking coffee' stereotype, but i can't really understand why it annoys people." by bitimdrake (8 Oct 2021)
*Re: "did tim actually stalk batman and robin" by junkoandthediamonds (30 Oct 2021)
* by aalghul
===Childhood abuse===
In fanon, Jack and Janet Drake are extremely abusive and neglectful, even worse than Stephanie Brown's parents are in canon. They range from completely ignoring Tim for his entire life, to outright beating him and spewing emotional abuse whenever they're in his presence.I know we know next to nothing about her but every post I see about Janet being a bad mom, October 20, 2021
====See also====
*Re: "Ooh could you debunk the myths regarding Tim’s childhood? I see a lot of Fanon claiming that he was home alone for years and didn’t have anyone to take care of him." (11 Feb 2021) by bitimdrake
* by melennui
*Jack Drake by bitimdrake (13 Jan 2021)
=== Other Common Tropes and Fanon in Fanworks ===
* Hurt/comfort and Whump: After losing his spleen in Red Robin, fanon Tim has a weak immune system that leaves him vulnerable to even mild illness. He's an insomniac with sickly pale skin. Everybody ignores his trauma and fails to recognize his sacrifices for the Batfamily. This is the popular basis of hurt/comfort and grovelfic.
* Impact of Multiple Deaths in a Short Period of Time: While, over time, some of the people Tim lost came back to life (ie. Stephanie, Conner, Bart, and Bruce), perhaps their returns could not fully negate the impact their deaths made on him. The return of some of the people in his life also does not negate the scars left by losing both his mother and father to murder. A popular subject for fan fiction writers explores the emotional damage all these losses inflicted upon Tim. In canon, signs of superhero-typical depression were hinted at some points, notably in Red Robin, but never extensively pursued.
* Racebending: Tim is popularly racebent into being of East Asian descent, the headcanon stemming from a persistent rumor that a comic artist intentionally incorporated East Asian attributes into Tim's design during one of the Robin runs, and the half-Japanese actor Ryan Potter has been a popular live-action fancast. Asian!Tim fanon has been criticized for feminization, infantilization, and fetishization; racial stereotypes of weak, nerdy, submissive tech-support Asian men; and stealing the spotlight from Cassandra Cain and Damian Wayne as Bat family characters who canonically have Asian heritage.i just really hate the asian tim headcanon because there’s subtones of asian fetishisation, October 18, 2021 Tumblr postConfirmation of Tim Drake’s whiteness, from actual poc as well as the guy himself august 11, 2017To be fair to other anon, none of the N52 onwards panels say N52 Tim is white either, August 11, 2017 Tumblr post
* Catlad/Stray: The Stray AU involves Selina Kyle (Catwoman) adopting one of the poor parentless Batkids as her thieving apprentice, known as Catlad or Stray., Tumblr post by bitimdrake. Posted October 18, 2021. by forestlingincorporated. Posted 27 October 2021.Rich kid Tim is perhaps the most popular subject of this specific AU, for some reason. As Selina's de facto ward, Stray is free to romance the Batfamily men without incest. Stray is often flirty and sexually flamboyant compared to his canon counterpart.
==Relationships ==
====Gen relationships====
*Janet and Jack Drake & Tim Drake
*Dick Grayson & Tim Drake
*Bruce Wayne & Tim Drake
*Core Four (Young Justice)
*Tim Drake & Stephanie Brown
*Dana Winters & Tim Drake
*Tim Drake & Cassandra Cain
*Jason Todd & Tim Drake
====Pairings====
Because of his connections both with the Batfamily, Young Justice, and the Teen Titans, the potential pairings for Tim are numerous. Over the years, Tim has had several canon het romances with a number of different girls, both in and out of costume. In the 2021 Urban Legends series, Tim began dating his first male love interest, his civilian school friend Bernard Dowd. When the pairing of choice is between current/former Robins (his adoptive brothers, usually excepting Stephanie Brown), it is often referred to as "Robincest", a subtype of "Batcest".
*Ariana Dzerchenko - civilian (first girlfriend, daughter of Russian immigrants)
*Tim Drake/Stephanie Brown (TimSteph) - Spoiler, Robin IV, Batgirl III
*Zoanne Wilkins - civilian (classmate in high school)
*Cassie Sandsmark (WonderBird) - Wonder Girl II
*Tim Drake/Tam Fox (TimTam) - civilian (Lucius Fox's second daughter)
*Lynx II - known leader of the Golden Dragon gang/possible undercover cop
*Cassandra Cain - Batgirl II, Black Bat
*Prudence - Assassin working under Ra's Al Ghul
*Raven - Teen Titans teammate
*Cissie King-Jones - Arrowette
*Bruce Wayne - Batman I
*Dick Grayson - Robin I, Nightwing, Batman III
*Tim Drake/Jason Todd (JayTim) - Robin II, Red Hood
*Damian Wayne - Robin V
*Kon-El/Tim Drake (TimKon) - Conner Kent, Superboy
*Bart Allen (TimBart) - Impulse, Kid Flash
*Roy Harper (RoyTim) - Speedy, Arsenal, Red Arrow
*Ra's Al Ghul - leader of League of Assassins; Because of Ra's Al Ghul's interest in Tim Drake during the Red Robin series, he is often depicted as being interested in Tim as more than just a potential rival. 
*Tim Drake/Barbara Gordon (Arkhamverse)
*Tim Drake/Bernard Dowd (TimBern) - Tim's schoolmate and as of 2021 Batman: Urban Legends issues, love interest
*Tim Drake/Bernard Dowd/Kon-El (Timberkon) - Kon-El, Conner Kent, Superboy and Bernard Dowd
Both Batfamily and YJ also go in for various threesomes and moresomes, either all slash or mixing slash and canon het (Tim/Kon/Bart, Tim/Kon/Cassie, Tim/Dick/Jason/Steph, etc).
==Fan works==
===Meta===
*Workshop: "Writing Tim Drake (Robin III)" by Darkdanc3r in Superhero Muses (2007)
*Why Tim Drake's popularity has fallen significantly over the past decade, speculation by 4chan anon (30 Sep 2015)
*meta on LiveJournal-era fanon Tim Drake by angel-gidget (25 Jul 2017)
*Re: "As a batfam enthusiast what would be your tips in portraying Tim Drake?" (19 Oct 2019), Re: "Hey, you mentioned in an earlier ask [...] that Tim was also low-key sexist and tbh I'd love examples cause I feel like this has never been brought up and it's interesting???" (2 February 2019), meta on Tim and the legacy of the second Robin (30 March 2019) by bat-lings
*Like a good 75% of the time if Tim’s drinking coffee the fic is also going to containArchived from the original by titans-trash (11 Sep 2021)
*meta about "coffee Tim" and fanon TimArchived from the original by batfamcraze and fantastic-nonsense
*3 Common Misconceptions About Tim Drake (Robin, Mr. Sarcastic & Red Robin by Xel Writer
*The claim that Tim’s type is blondes or that he predominantly likes blondes over other hair colors is highly debatable and presented on dubious evidence.
===Fan art===
*happy birthday tim :)Archived from the original by teatime00
*I’m sorry, happy new year by cynthacizercreates (13 Jan 2021)
*let it be known that I love arkhamverse Tim by samfishers
*vague details i’ve gained from other people’s posts and brief appearances in batgirl 2000 have consolidated him into this single very specific concept
*Wonder Girl and Robin By Colours07 by cerebus873
*im Drake in Arkham City by Cris-Art
*Robin by phil-cho
===Fanfiction===
*Titans 14: Interlude at the Drake's by Bumpkin
*A Friend In Need by HuneyThirst
*Head Games by galaxysoup
*Drawing Comparisons by Eliyes
*A Night on the Town by Mara
*In Which Bart Fails to Understand the Rules of Secret Santa by sister_wolf
*Hot by angel_gidget
*Living the CrashArchived by Lysical
*Confidence Lost - a Batman/White Collar crossover by C.R. Scott which features Tim Drake prominently
*Kodokuna Shojo: A Lonely Girl - A Batman horror/suspense story by C.R. Scott that focuses on the interaction of Tim Drake and Damian Wayne in an Asian style horror setting.
*red chrome" - a short Batfam fic by envysparkler. Tim had a ringing headache, squeaked past hour forty of no sleep, and was now hallucinating vaguely menacing shadows with red helmets.
*Exiled Robins by Cdelphiki
==Archives & Fannish Links==
* Tim Drake works at AO3
* Tim Drake works at FFN (Batman category)
* Tim Drake works at FFN (TT category)
* Tim Drake works at FFN (YJ category)
===LiveJournal Communities===
* mrsarcastic_tim
*timfinity (AUs)
*timcomesout
* tim_bernard (Tim/Bernard)
* timxtam (Tim/Tam)
* royxtim (Tim/Roy)
* tim_cissie (Tim/Cissie)
*dick_tim (Dick/Tim
*timkon (Tim/Kon)
*red_robins (Tim/Jason)
*dick_roy_tim (Dick/Roy/Tim)
*timxcassie (Tim/Cassie)
=== Mailing Lists ===
* RobinFanFics (defunct, Yahoo Group)
==Resources==
*Tim Drake on the Batman wiki at wikia
*Tim Drake on Wikipedia
*Tim Drake on DC Wikia
==Notes==
==References==
Category:DC Comics Characters
Category:Batman Characters
Category:Teen Titans Characters
Category:Young Justice Characters