Dick Grayson
Richard John "Dick" Grayson is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Batman, the Teen Titans, and the Justice League. Created by writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane, he first appeared in Detective Comics #38 in April 1940. Dick is the original and most popular incarnation of Robin, the crime-fighting partner of Batman, with whom he forms the Dynamic Duo. The son of master acrobats dubbed the Flying Graysons, he is later adopted by Batman's alter ego Bruce Wayne.
Dick Grayson's character has evolved since he was introduced in 1940. In 1984, he graduated from the role of Robin to become the adult superhero Nightwing, protector of the city of Blüdhaven, an economically troubled neighbor of Gotham City. As Bruce's eldest son, Dick has become an older-brother figure to his male successors as Robin: tearaway Jason Todd, teenage prodigy Tim Drake, and Batman's biological child, trained assassin Damian Wayne. In the Batman Family, his closest relationships are with Batman's loyal butler and father figure Alfred Pennyworth, and with his romantic interest Barbara Gordon, who served as Batgirl alongside Dick as Robin, and who later helps Nightwing as Oracle. Dick has also taken up the mantle of Batman on occasions when Bruce was missing, incapacitated, or believed dead.
Dick is well-connected to other characters across the fictional DC Universe, particularly since 1964, when he became a founding member of the Teen Titans superhero group with other sidekicks of the Justice League. Teen Titans establishes many of the character's most significant partnerships, including with his best friends Wally West, Donna Troy, and Roy Harper, and his other longtime romantic interest, the alien princess Starfire. Dick is widely recognised as one of the superhero community's greatest strategists, leading the adult Titans team, the Outsiders, and even the Justice League at various times. Dick also has connections to the Superman franchise, with Superman providing the original inspiration for him to become Nightwing and take on a different style of superheroism from Batman, with Nightwing later mentoring Superman's son Jon Kent.
Grayson has appeared as Robin in many Batman adaptations over the years. In live-action, the character appeared in the serial Batman played by Douglas Croft, the serial Batman and Robin played by Johnny Duncan, the television series Batman and its film played by Burt Ward, the film Batman Forever and its sequel Batman & Robin played by Chris O'Donnell, and the television series Titans played by Brenton Thwaites.
Publication history
Robin the Boy Wonder
The character was first introduced in Detective Comics #38 by Batman creators Bill Finger and Bob Kane. Robin's debut was an effort to get younger readers to enjoy Batman. The name "Robin, The Boy Wonder" and the medieval look of the original costume are inspired by the legendary hero Robin Hood. Finger had named Dick Grayson after both the half-brother of pulp fiction character Frank Merriwell, named Dick, and book editor Charles Grayson, Jr. The costume was designed by Jerry Robinson who drew it from memory based on Robin Hood illustrations by N. C. Wyeth.In his first appearance, Dick Grayson is an 8 year-old circus acrobat, and, with his parents, one of the "Flying Graysons". Robin was born on the first day of spring, the son of John Grayson and Mary Grayson, a young aerialist couple. While preparing for a performance, Dick overhears two gangsters attempting to extort protection money from the circus owner. The owner refuses, so the gangsters sabotage the trapeze wires with acid. During the next performance, the trapeze from which Dick's parents are swinging snaps, sending them to their deaths. Before he can go to the police, Batman appears to him and warns him that the two gangsters work for Tony Zucco, a very powerful crime boss, and that revealing his knowledge could lead to his death. When Batman recounts the murder of his own parents, Dick asks to become his aide. After extensive training, Dick becomes Robin. They start by disrupting Zucco's gambling and extortion rackets. They then successfully bait the riled Zucco into visiting a construction site, where they capture him.
Robin's origin has a thematic connection to Batman's in that both see their parents killed by criminals, creating an urge to battle the criminal element. Bruce sees a chance to direct the anger and rage that Dick feels in a way that he cannot, thus creating a father/son bond and understanding between the two. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, DC Comics portrayed Batman and Robin as a team, deeming them the "Dynamic Duo", rarely publishing a Batman story without his sidekick; stories entirely devoted to Robin appeared in Star-Spangled Comics from 1947 through 1952.
The character history of the Earth-Two Robin accordingly adopts all of the earliest stories featuring the character from the 1940s and 1950s, while the adventures of the mainstream Robin begin later and with certain elements of his origin retold. However, during the Earth-Two stories, the age that Dick became Robin changed to 13 during the 1950s. Both were depicted as separate, though parallel, individuals living in their respective universes, with the "older" Earth-Two character eventually reaching death in Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Teen Titans
1964's The Brave and the Bold #54 introduces a junior version of the Justice League of America. This team is led by the modern-day Robin, residing on Earth-One, and was joined by two other teenage sidekicks, Aqualad and Kid Flash, to stop the menace of Mr. Twister. Later, the three sidekicks join forces with Speedy and Wonder Girl to free their mentors in the JLA from mind-controlled thrall. They decide to become a real team: the Teen Titans. By the tactical skills gleaned from Batman, Robin is swiftly recognized as a leader before the Titans disband some years later.In 1969, still in the Pre-Crisis continuity, writer Dennis O'Neil and artist Neal Adams return Batman to his darker roots. One part of this effort is writing Robin out of the series by sending Dick Grayson to Hudson University and into a separate strip in the back of Detective Comics. The by-now Teen Wonder appears only sporadically in Batman stories of the 1970s as well as in a short-lived revival of The Teen Titans.
''New Teen Titans, New Titans, Tales of Teen Titans (1980-1996)''
In October 1980, a new roster of the Teen Titans was featured in DC Comics Presents #26 featuring Robin, Wonder Girl, and Kid Flash. Given a series of their starring writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez, later additions to the team would include Changeling, Raven, Cyborg, and Starfire. The New Teen Titans are run by Marv Wolfman, George Perez, and editor Len Wein. With Marvel outperforming DC Comics in sales, the then-new President of DC Comics Jenette Khan brought in the aforementioned team who would choose to use the Teen Titans characters in a bid to revitalize sales. During the comic's run, the series was among DC's best-selling books. outperforming much of the other titles featuring more popular characters. During Robin's leadership of the Titans, however, he had a falling out with Batman, leading to an estrangement that would last for years.Nightwing
In the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity, the maturing Dick Grayson grows weary of his role as Batman's young sidekick. He renames himself Nightwing, recalling his adventure in the Kryptonian city of Kandor, where he and Batman meet the local hero of the same name. In post-Crisis continuity, he is fired by Batman after being shot by the Joker and becomes Nightwing. He maintains this identity during his role in the Teen Titans and occasionally returns to assist Batman and his successors as Robin in the form of Jason Todd and Tim Drake, Tim, in particular, becoming a younger brother figure to him.When Bruce's back is broken by Bane during the Knightfall story arc, Bruce selects Jean-Paul Valley as his replacement as Batman as he does not want to burden Dick with the role and fears that Dick may go after Bane in revenge. When Valley proves to be too unstable to be Batman, however, Bruce undergoes a rigorous recovery and training program with the aid of Doctor Shondra Kinsolving and Lady Shiva to restore him to full health, defeating Valley with Dick and Tim's aid. Feeling that he needs to re-evaluate Batman and his mission after Valley's defeat, however, Bruce leaves Gotham once again, after appointing Dick as his successor during the "Prodigal" story arc. While acting as Batman, Dick is left with a clearer idea of the psychological stresses Bruce must endure in the role, as well as facing some of Bruce's newer enemies—such as Killer Croc, the Ventriloquist, and the Ratcatcher—while settling his long-standing issues with Two-Face.
Miniseries and afterward
In Nightwing: Alfred's Return #1, Dick Grayson travels to England to find Alfred Pennyworth who had resigned from Bruce Wayne's service following the events of the KnightSaga. Before returning to Gotham City together, they prevent an attempted coup d'état against the British government that involves destroying the Channel Tunnel under the English Channel.Later on, with the Nightwing miniseries, Dick briefly considers retiring from being Nightwing forever before family papers uncovered by Alfred reveals a possible link between the murder of the Flying Graysons and the Crown Prince of Kravis. Journeying to Kravis, Nightwing helps to topple the murderous Kravian leader and prevent ethnic cleansing, while learning his parents' true connection to the Prince; they witnessed the original Prince being killed and replaced with an impostor who became as bad as his predecessor. In the aftermath, Dick returns to his role as Nightwing, recognizing that, for all his problems with Bruce, Bruce never made him become Robin or join his crusade, accepting that he imitated Bruce's example because Bruce was worthy of imitation.
In 1996, following the success of the miniseries, DC Comics launched a monthly solo series featuring Nightwing, in which he patrols Gotham City's neighboring municipality of Blüdhaven, relocating there to investigate a series of murders and remaining as he recognized that the city needed protection. He remains the city's guardian for some time, facing foes such as Blockbuster and new villains such as Torque, and even becomes a police officer so that he can make an impact on the city's criminal activity in both parts of his life. Later, Grayson divides his duties between Blüdhaven and Gotham after a devastating earthquake and the subsequent decision to declare Gotham a No Man's Land, Grayson occasionally assisting his mentor and other members of Bat-Family in maintaining and restoring order in Gotham until it is fully rebuilt. When the Justice League vanished into the past fighting an ancient sorceress Gamemnae, Nightwing was selected as the leader of the reserve League created by an emergency program Batman had established in the event of his League being defeated; Batman described Nightwing as the only person he could have picked to lead the new team.
Eventually, the original League is restored, and Nightwing departs along with some of his League - although others remain as some of the original team take a leave of absence - though Batman notes that his leadership of the League proves that he is ready for more responsibilities. The death of Blockbuster, however, prompts Nightwing to leave Blüdhaven due to his crisis of conscience; Blockbuster was killed by a vigilante Tarantula, and Nightwing did not stop this even when he had the chance because he was in a depressive state after Blockbuster repeatedly attacked his loved ones. This caused him to have an anxiety attack that put him in a near catatonic state, which Tarantula took advantage of and sexually assaulted him. While Nightwing returns to Gotham to heal after assisting Batman in dealing with a series of gang wars, Blüdhaven is destroyed by the Secret Society of Super-Villains when they drop Chemo on it.
During the battle of Metropolis, Grayson suffers a near-fatal injury from Alexander Luthor Jr. when he shields Wayne from Luthor's attack. Originally, the editors at DC intended to have Grayson killed in Infinite Crisis as Newsarama revealed from the DC Panel at WizardWorld Philadelphia:
After spending some time away with Bruce and Tim to heal and rebuild after their harsh times before the Crisis, Dick relocates to New York but has trouble finding work as both Dick Grayson and Nightwing. During the Batman R.I.P. storyline, Nightwing is ambushed by the International Club of Villains. He is later seen being held in Arkham Asylum, where one of the surgeons, in reality also the civilian identity of ICoV member Le Bossu, arranged for Nightwing to be admitted under the name of Pierrot Lunaire and be kept both heavily drugged and regularly beaten by staff to subdue him. Scheduled for an experimental lobotomy by Le Bossu himself, he manages to free himself and come to Batman's aid for the finale of the story arc.