Titans might have had something of a mixed reception among viewers and critics, but after a shaky start it established itself as something reminiscent of the comics on which it’s based. Jason Todd was introduced midway through the first season, and now the actor who plays him, Curran Walters, has expressed interest in a Red Hood spinoff series.
When asked about the prospect of it when speaking to ComicBook.com’s interview series Talking Shop, he had this to say:
“That would be pretty cool. I mean, it all depends on what the team thinks and where the Titans writers decide to go so. It’d be cool if we even got to the storyline on Titans someday. We’ll definitely see.”
The Red Hood was introduced as a new villain in a 2004 comic arc called Under the Hood, who wages a one-man war against crime in Gotham, engaging in the kind of brutal tactics and violence that Batman would never have condoned. It transpires that he’s really Jason, who in 1988’s A Death in the Family was murdered by the Joker, and until then had been one of the few times a comic book character’s death remained permanent. He was returned to life by Superboy-Prime accidentally warping reality and restored to health by Talia al Ghul pushing him into her father’s Lazarus Pit.
The Pit’s powers have a side effect of inducing insanity in whoever it brings back though, turning Jason into a psychopath determined to exterminate all crime in Gotham by the most violent means possible, first taking control of the gangs and then waging war on the streets against Black Mask and the criminal underworld he controls, while also resenting Batman for refusing to take vengeance against the Joker for his death.
Under the Hood was a popular comic arc and served to bring back an unpopular character in a far more interesting guise. Similarly, Jason on Titans is kind of irritating, his obnoxious arrogance not doing much to endear him to people, so adapting another version of the comic could serve well in giving him some purpose other than being annoying.