JASON BEING 15 AT THE AGE OF DEATH IS RETCON FROM LONG AFTER HE ALREADY DIED IN COMICS
Jason was NEVER in his original run claimed to 15. At the CLOSEST there the panel from one of his teen titans teamups where he says something along the lines of "I can't wait until I'm 16", but I stand firm that that's just a sorta milestone age to him, not the upcoming.
So how old IS he? Really? What was his age at the time of death? Well,
He was 12 to 13 years old.
It was established several issues prior to aditf, in Annual 12, That Jason was in the 7th grade. And this comic is close enough to aditf that it's very safe to assume he's still in it, especially with how long some comic years can take.
Jason would've been 12 in seventh grade, unless you opt into the idea the he was held back a year due to dropping out of 5th and needing to catch up, then he would've been 13.
As far as canon material at the time goes, the only time his age at death is outright stated is in the DC Heroes RPG, now, this is an official product, but it's not necessarily canon. However, it's honestly about as canon as the famous death certificate is. And is closer to the time.
It says Jason is deceased, and that he was 13.
Now. I DO hear questions. First and foremost, wasn't Jason 12 when he BECAME Robin? Wouldn't saying he died at 12 give him absolutely no time at all for his run? Wasn't it sorta implied by Dick soon after Jason's death that Jason had at least been Robin for 2 years?
And you're right! So what's the deal?
Well, pre-crisis Jason was 12 when he was adopted. And that usually gets adapted for post, but we never actually get a direct in comic confirmation that he's 12 at the time of his new origin. What we do have is that he dropped out of 5th Grade to take care of his mom.
Taking a look at Batman #408+409. Catherine died in February of the year Batman found Jason. School generally starts in.. let's say August (though can vary depending on your school district and area). I think it makes alot of sense for Jason, age 10, to drop out of 5th grade to help Catherine due to her worsening health, and for her to die that February. I can also imagine her dying when Jason should've been in 6th grade instead as well, making him 11 and having spent more time caring for her. Ultimately that more goes down to how long you want his run to be or if you have extra information from tracking the timeline thoroughly.
You actually go younger if you take info from outside of the comic stories themselves. Like the little qna section at the end of comics. They imply Jason could've been 9 at time of adoption there. Wild stuff
But ultimately, his age around is death is what we have the clearest information on, due to Annual 12 stating the 7th grade. And the game starting 13. He really does rather crisply leave him at, canonically, something close to 12 or 13 at the time of death. Nowhere near 15, and certainly not 16, no matter how much DC tries to age him up or retcon it to be something different, I think it's very important we let him keep that original age he had.
ellievsbear
gracieabrams
origamiaround
gummygunk
germansingergirl
theartofmadeline
