been stalking Batman. Shortly after the events of "War Games" and just before "War Crimes", Jason Todd reappears in Gotham City as the Red Hood. He hijacks a shipment of Kryptonite from Black Mask, and in the midst of a battle with Batman, Nightwing and Mr. Freeze, Red Hood gives them the Kryptonite back, and tells them he has gotten what he truly wanted: a "lay of the land". Shortly afterward, Red Hood finds the Joker (driven out of Gotham by Hush) and beats him with a crowbar just as Joker had beaten Jason. Despite the violence of the beating, Jason spares Joker, intending to use him later against Batman. Red Hood assumes control over several gangs in Gotham City and starts a one-man war against Black Mask's criminal empire, who himself had recently murdered a Robin (Stephanie Brown). Overall, he strives to take over Gotham's gangs, control their activities, and kill Joker in revenge for his death. In his new role as Gotham's most powerful crime lord, he repeatedly comes to blows with Batman and several of his allies. After several confrontations, Batman becomes obsessed with the possibility of resurrection from the dead, suspecting that it was Jason he fought, and seeks advice from allies such as Superman and Green Arrow, both of whom have died and returned to life. Around this time, Batman discovers that the empty coffin buried at Jason's gravesite is a replica of what he bought. After a series of tests confirmed that it is Jason, Batman remains to keep his Robin costume in its memorial display case in the Batcave regardless; when Alfred Pennyworth asks if he wants the costume removed, Batman sadly replies that the return of Todd "doesn't change anything at all" because of wanting to remember Jason as he was when they first met and in guilt over how violent he has become. Acting on his obsession with Tim Drake, Todd breaks into Titans Tower to confront the third Robin, thus revealing the truth of their encounter at the cemetery to his successor. Having learned that Tim defeated the Joker by himself in their first fights, Jason seeks to best him in combat. Wearing another version of his Robin costume, Todd quickly immobilizes the other Teen Titans and strikes Drake down in the Tower's Hall of Fallen Titans. Furious that no memorial statue was made for him (despite his short tenure