Red X

Written by Grant LaFleche
Picture by Ramon Villalobos

Red X

Secret Identity: Jason William Todd

Aliases: Redwing

First DC2 Appearance: Batman - City of Crime #4

Base of Operations: Gotham City

HT: 6' 1

WT: 215 lbs.

Eyes: Blue

Hair: black with white streak

Powers and abilities: Trained by Batman, Red X is a highly skilled hand to hand fighter on at least the same level as Nightwing. He is also an expert in explosives, is a deadly marksman, a skilled detective with talents in forensics and computer science.

History:

Before Dick Grayson, before Barbara Gordon, there was Jason Todd.

His parents murdered by criminals during a home invasion when he was but 10 years old, Jason Todd's formative years were spent first bouncing from one foster home to another, and then on the streets of Gotham. Willfull and headstrong, foster parents could not control him. Eventually, he ended up in the hands of Chaos Monks - a street gang run by a criminal calling himself Brother Chaos.

Chaos used children and teens as a front line criminal army. For Jason, the gang provided a home and food and an outlet for his anti-social behavior. But deep down, Jason wanted more. Although a skilled and fearless thief, he wanted to do more with his life.

His change finally came when Brother Chaos drew the attention of Gotham's new hero - The Batman. When Chaos had Batman trapped and primed for the kill, it was Jason who leaped to the crime fighter's rescue, betraying Chaos and his fellow gang members.

Batman, seeing something of himself in the troubled boy, took Jason in and revealed his secrets to him. Jason immediately jumped at the chance to be Batman's partner and helping prevent anyone from suffering the kind of loss that had shaped his, and Bruce Wayne's, life.

For severals years, Jason operated as Redwing, The Batman's partner - a sarcastic splash of colour and youth beside Batman's brooding darkness. As Redwing, he helped Batman bring down some of Gotham's most notorious criminals, including the Joker and the Wrath.

But as time went on, Jason's anger rose again to the surface, this time powered by the skills given to him by Batman. He became increasingly rebellious, to the point where Batman was beginning to consider if Jason - now his adopted son - needed time away from crime fighting to deal with his emotional issues.

Jason would never get the chance. On his last case with Batman, the duo hunted down the Wrath, who had returned to Gotham to start another killing spree. The Wrath captured Redwing, and in front of Batman's eyes, burned him to death.

Or so Batman thought. In truth it was a ruse, and the Wrath keep Jason a prison for four years, routinely torturing the boy. Over that time, Jason's anger boiled over. His father had not arrived to save him and he would never forgive that failure.

He escaped the clutches of the Wrath, and came to believe everything he and Batman had done was hopelessly naive. A criminal like the Wrath needed to be killed so that he could no longer pose to threat to anyone.

Determined to clean up Gotham his way, to take revenge on the Wrath and on Batman, Jason traveled the world, learning first hand from many of Batman's teachers.

In time, Jason returned to Gotham as a skilled and lethal assassin. He had left his past identity of Redwing behind him, and even came to believe that Jason Todd had died at the hands of the Wrath. He instead simply called himself X, and wore the letter in a crimson mark over his heart.

In an attempt to force a confrontation with Batman, Red X murdered several low level criminals. When the confrontation finally came, it was cut short by the arrival of Nightwing and the mechanizations of the Wrath.

Red X remains at large in Gotham City and his issues with Batman remain an open wound.