Dick Grayson

The Flying Graysons no more

Dick Grayson: The Boy Wonder

Born to a family of acrobats, Dick Grayson lived an exciting childhood while growing up in the circus. His parents were John and Mary Grayson, and as a family, formed "The Flying Grayson's," famed trapeze artists and acrobatics.

These happy times would soon take a turn for the worst, as the mafia had begun targeting the circus. At eight years old, Dick witnessed mob boss Anthony Zucco threaten the circus owner, demanding insurance for the safety of his performers. The owner vehemently refused the extortion and Dick went along his way. Unfortunately, Zucco decided to use the headlining act- which happened to be The Flying Graysons- as an example. Young Dick was helpless as he watched his parents die.

As the Graysons plummeted to earth, hundreds of spectators watched in horror. Among them was millionaire Bruce Wayne (also known as Batman). Feeling empathy towards the boy's loss, Bruce decided to take the boy in as his legal ward.

It was only a matter of time before Dick realized what his mentor was doing all those late nights, and eventually choose the same life as well. It was decided that with the boy's extensive training in acrobatics and his sense of justice, he had just what was needed to become the Batman's partner. After rigorous training from Bruce, Robin, the Boy Wonder, was christened.

The Early Years as Robin

Dick would come back to crime fighting much stronger and smarter than before. Dick would go to University but would drop out after one term due to his responsibilities as Robin.   

Teen Titans

Teen Titans

Once the Titans disbanded, Dick chose to attend Hudson University, studying law. However, he's soon kicked out of school and falls back into fighting crime after only one semester.

The End of the Dynamic Duo

A teen age Dick Grayson

Robin realized at that point that he had grown up: He no longer relied on Batman and, in fact, he found out he could indeed solve crimes and fight on his own, he and the Dark Knight disagreed on crime-fighting methodology.
 
Dick's new found independence and Titans' duties left less time for his former commitments in Gotham City.
 
 Dick rediscovered his self-worth among the Teen Titans. Batman, however, was less than pleased. He informed Dick that if he no longer wanted to be his partner, then Dick would have to retire as Robin. Furious, hurt, resigned, confused, eighteen year old Dick Grayson left Wayne Manor after this fallout. Helping him through this difficult time was his fellow Titans, including Starfire, a beautiful alien whom Dick had fallen in love with. Dick handed over leadership of the Titans to Wonder Girl.

From boy to man, Nightwing's first appearance

Nightwing: Pre-Crisis

In the original story in which is told how Dick left his role of Robin the teen wonder and became the hero known as Nightwing stepping out of his mentor's shadow. Dick realizes that he has grown up and that he doesn't need Batman anymore to help him. Now he is his own man and must discover who he is and his place in the world.

Dick decides to leave his Robin identity and the New Teen Titans to try to discover the answers for his questions. After retiring for a time from the hero business, he is attacked not as Robin, but as Dick Grayson by Deathstroke the Terminator, who was hunting the Titans and Dick was his last target. Dick manages to escape and meets the ex-wife of Deathstroke, Addeline Kane and also his son Joseph (Jericho). Dick takes the name of Nightwing and also a completely new costume. He chose the name to honor another hero by the same name after being told the story of the Kryptonian hero by Superman.

After saving his teammates and defeating Terra and Deathstroke (thanks in great part to Jericho) Nightwing once again becomes the leader of the New Teen Titans.

2nd Nightwing costume

Nightwing: Post-Crisis

In the redone origin, Dick decided to leave the cave and his role as Robin after a mission against Two-Face goes terribly wrong and Batman almost died.

After that Dick embarks on a journey to find himself, which leads him to Metropolis where he meets Superman. Asking for an outside opinion on what he should do next with his life, Superman relays the story of a hero from Krypton who had been cast out by his family only to become a great hero. This hero's name was Nightwing. After a short stint in a circus to clear his head, Dick takes on the name Nightwing and begins establishing a reputation for himself in Gotham. [Nightwing: Year One]

 

Dick and Bruce do manage to mend things. When Batman's back is broken by Bane, Jean-Paul Valley, Azrael, is given the mantle of the Bat. He proved to be unstable due to his training and mental conditioning from The Sacred Order of Saint Dumas. Dick later confronts Bruce as to why he didn't ask him to become the next Batman. Bruce simply tells him that he didn't think Dick would want to do it as he was his own person now. Nightwing argues that while he didn't want to be Batman, he would have done anything he was asked. In a defining moment of Nightwing's history, Bruce admits that these sort of arguments are what occurs between "fathers and sons". Bruce later asked Dick to fill in for him briefly as he recovers from his back injury.

Solo book

By the 1990s, Nightwing had become one of DC’s most popular characters. With Robin already having successful solo series, the powers-that-be decided to test the waters with Nightwing.

In 1995, DC launched a 4-issue Nightwing mini-series starring the former Boy Wonder. Written by Dennis O’Neil with art by Greg Land, the mini was a sales hit.

 

When DC awarded Nightwing an ongoing series in 1996, they enlisted writer Chuck Dixon and artist Scott McDaniel. Dixon immediately set Nightwing apart from his mentor by giving him his own city: the corrupt, decaying harbor town known as Bludhaven, which lay just north of Gotham. It allowed him to be close enough to Gotham and stay part of the Batman Family as well as have his own city and series of adventures. Visually, McDaniel’s kinetic art was a perfect vehicle to convey Dick Grayson’s acrobatic prowess.

Interview in Wizard #72 to Chuck Dixon the first writer of the book

Wizard-Nightwing? If the original Robin needed an upgrade to make him a '90s kinda guy, why not make him Robin, the Post-Adolescent Wonder? The Adult Wonder? Even the Geriatric Wonder? (He is 67, after all. He was 10 when Robin first debuted in 1940, so you do the math.) How did Grayson's 57-year journey through adolescence cake him from being Robin to Nightwing? And, more importantly, why give him his own book now?

Dixon-He was the most popular character in the DC Universe without his own series," says Chuck Dixon, Nightwing's writer. "We'd get letters, constantly saying, 'When is he going to get his own book?' I think we waited until the proper time, until he was back in the Bat-fold. He's got a great past and he comes to his own book with all that history."

Blüdhaven

A teeDick then continues fighting crime as Nightwing and moves to nearby city, Blüdhaven, to clean things up. Blüdhaven is what Gotham was before Batman arrived, brimming with corruption to the highest levels of power. He quickly finds that all the corruption in the city leads to the crime lord Blockbuster.

Dick joins the Blüdhaven Police Department in order to fight crime both day and night. He also becomes a bartender to find out about the criminal activities going on in the city. With the help of Oracle and other allies his efforts slowly become successful. He also trains the violent, but enthusiastic Nite-Wing. As this is happening he is buys the struggling circus his parents were a part of and that he was raised in, as well as purchase (unbeknown by the residents) the apartment building he lives in. Also, Dick and Barbara Gordon (Batgirl I/Oracle) begin to fall in love. Nightwing also makes a enemy in Dudley "Deadly" Soames A.K.A Torque.

A Teen Titan Again

During the miniseries "JLA/Titans: The Technis Imperative" the being called Cyberion (formerly Cyborg) started kidnapping all former members of the Teen Titans. During this events the Titans battled the members of the Justice League. Nightwing with the help of the other 4 founding members of the Teen Titans and Changeling (Beast Boy) managed to rescue Cyborg and Earth at the same time.

After this event the five founding members talked about reforming the team with the addition of another hero nominated by them.

Officer Dick Grayson

Nightwing decides to join Blüdhaven Police Department in an attempt to get rid of the corruption of the city.

No Man's Land

During the events of "No Man's Land", Nightwing is asked to secure the Blackgate Prison. However he is injured so he starts his recovery with Oracle (Barbara Gordon).

Justice League

In the storyline "JLA: The Obsidian Age", the Justice League disappears in an intent to find out what happened to Atlantis and Aquaman.

However Batman had a contingency plan in case that the JLA died/disappeared. This plan was supposed to put together a team of heroes chosen by Batman to become the new Justice League.

This Justice League is conformed of Atom, Green Arrow, Hawkgirl, Etrigan, Firestorm, the former villain Major Disaster, the mysterious Faith and Nightwing who Batman choses as the leader.

At the end of the storyline the new Justice League finds and rescues the previous one. These two teams are combined, however Nightwing returns as the Titans leader and to the Justice League's reserve list.

Graduation Day

During the miniseries Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day the two teams are attacked by a mysterious robot girl from the future (indigo)

After an attack that injured members of both teams, they find a rogue Superman android, this android managed to kill both Omen (Lilith Clay) and Troia (Donna Troy)

This was one of the turning points in Nightwing's life, since he and Donna were extremely close.

During the funeral of Donna Troy, Nightwing decides that he doesn't want to see more friends die and disbands the Titans.

Outsiders

Some time after the tragedy, Arsenal (Roy Harper) creates a new team with an idea not similar to the titans.

He asks Nightwing to join and become the leader of the new team along with him, Jade, Shift, Thunder, Grace and Indigo.

Nightwing names the new team as the "Outsiders" to symbolize that not only are they separate from the hero community, but also that they are separate from each other. In hope that the team would not be a family like environment like the Teen Titans were.

Nightwing lead Outsiders

He commanded the Outsiders in a very different way than what he did with the incarnations of the Titans that he had led or the Justice League, he treated his teammates like soldiers, not caring what would happen to them.

Jade, in response of the poor leadership Nightwing was showing as leader of the Outsiders, decided to take the leadership role and add Starfire to their ranks.

The Insiders

During the storyline "Teen Titans/Outsiders: The Insiders" Brainiac and Lex Luthor make an alliance to destroy both groups. Their plan consists of using their own teammates to do it.

Lex Luthor takes control of Superboy and Braniac of Indigo, using the powerhouses of both teams, they attack them in an attempt to kill them all.

Starfire is able to stop the menace when Nightwing tells her not to hold back. In the end Indigo died and Nightwing realizing that things had become personal again left the team.

Blockbuster & Tarantula

The leader of the Blüdhaven mafia, Blockbuster blamed Nightwing for the death of his mother. In an attempt to get revenge he blew the apartment where Dick Grayson lived and made a promise to kill everyone close to Nightwing. The original Tarantula lived in Nightwing's apartment complex, so Tarantula II took the attack personally.

Some time after this the new Tarantula decided to shoot and kill Blockbuster.

Nightwing decided to not save Blockbuster by not throwing himself in front of the bullet when he had a chance to. This made him enter into a depression.

War games

When a failed plan by Spoiler results in a gang war in Gotham, Batman asks all his allies, including Nightwing to help him stop this war.

Nightwing and Tarantula travel from Blüdhaven to answer Batman's call. However, Nightwing still suffers from guilt and depression for not saving Blockbuster's life.

After Atkins, the new commissioner of the Gotham Police Department decreed that all vigilantes were criminal, Nightwing is shot in the knee while fighting Firefly. After the war Dick Grayson leaves the vigilante business for a time and leaves Robin and Batgirl to replace him as the new protectors of Blüdhaven

Year One

During Nightwing #101-#105

The origin of how Dick Grayson stopped being Robin the teen wonder and became Nightwing was retold.

In this version, Robin is fired after a confrontation against Clayface. Batman was annoyed that because Robin was attempting his business with the Titans he wasn't protecting Gotham as he did before.

YEAR ONE

After a long verbal fight, Batman fires Robin. Dick Grayson leaves the new Robin costume in the Batcave and leaves the Wayne Manor.

After this Superman takes Dick to the Fortress of Solitude and tells him a history of a Kryptonian hero called Nightwing (translated from Kryptonese) .

Dick Grayson goes back to his roots in the circus where he and his parents worked when he was a child.

There he met Deadman and created a prototype version of his costume.

After this he went back to Gotham and introduced his new identity to the Commissioner Gordon.

He and Batgirl go to "re-introduce" the new identity of Dick Grayson to the villains of Gotham city.

After that he meets the boy who replaced him as Robin, Jason Todd.

They work together and rescue Alfred from the new player in town, Killer Croc.

At the end of the series Jason gives Dick a new costume made by Alfred (This is the first costume that he used as Nightwing).

Renegade

In order to infiltrate Lex Luthor's Secret Society of Super-Villains, Dick Grayson takes the new suit and codename of Renegade and allies himself with his long time enemy Deathstroke.

During the period that he was Renegade, Dick managed to keep tabs on the Society's activities in both Gotham and Blüdhaven.

Deathstroke asks Nightwing to teach his daughter, Ravager, all the skills he knows. Nightwing take Ravager out on many missions, in which, Ravager accuses him of being a hero. Unknown to Nightwing, Deathstroke put Kryptonite in place of Ravager's missing eye. Superman meets up with Nightwing and Ravager, who attacks him. Nightwing tells Ravager that even though Superman's life is in danger, he is still thinking of others before him. Nightwing makes a deal with Deathstroke to leave Bludhaven alone and he will leave Rose alone. Deathstroke breaks the deal when Chemo is dropped on Bludhaven.

During this time he also trains and converts Ravager (Rose Wilson) into a hero.

Infinite crisis...

In the Infinite Crisis Blüdhaven, Nightwing's city was destroyed by the super-villain Chemo killing 100,000 people.

Nightwing tries to gather heroes at Titan's Tower to stop Alex Luthor. Only Superboy answers his call. Together, they go to infiltrate Alex's base and are accompanied by Wonder Girl.

In the battle for Metropolis Nightwing is almost killed by Alexander Luthor in an attempt to saving Batman's life.

Directly following these events, Dick, Tim Drake and Bruce Wayne all demoralized and disheartened from numerous tragedies travel abroad to train and rekindle their will for the fight for justice. Before he leaves he asks Barbara Gordon to marry him. However this marriage never happened.

52

Nightwing interrupts his journey with Batman and Robin, and returns to Gotham, to follow Intergang's trail. During this time he works with the new Batwoman and Renee Montoya to stop Intergang from destroying Gotham, shutting off dozens of fire spewing devices spread across the city.

One Year Later...

After the events of Infinite Crisis, the DC Universe skipped an entire year in continuity to make big changes to every book published by them.

One of this changes was that Dick Grayson moved back to New York where he previously fought along the New Teen Titans.

There he forms a sexual relationship with Cheyenne Freemont. He also discovers that there is another Nightwing in New York, however this one doesn't care to kill the criminals. Because of this impostor's acts Nightwing is seen as the most dangerous criminal in New York.

Dick decides to look for the other Nightwing and find out who he really is; however he is attacked by two meta-humans named the Pierce brothers.

Nightwing is caught by surprise and defeated by one of the brothers, however he is rescued by the other Nightwing who is revealed to be Jason Todd.

The two "Nightwings" battle and Jason is the winner after he injures Dick's hand.

The two of them battle once again when they both try to stop a crime that involved stealing a lot of electronics so that their bosses (the pierce brothers) can sell them.

That fight is recorded by a security cam that the Pierce Brothers are able to get, they ask their employee "Jakob" who was the real Nightwing.

He said that the real Nightwing is the one that prefers to choose prudence and restraint instead of the one that tends to recklessness and who lack forethought. He also revealed that the reason that Jason could defeat Dick is because Dick was holding back.

Dick later decides to pay a visit to his friend Clancy (who had also moved to New York) and ask her of the mental problems of Jason, she answers that the reason that Jason is using the same codename and costume as Dick is because imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and that probably Jason idolizes Dick as his hero.

Cheyenne Freemont later tries to talk to Dick and is revealed as a meta-human too, she discovers by accident that Dick Grayson is Nightwing and she follows him.

Jason is later captured by Jakob and Dick and Cheyenne (Now as also Nightwing) go to rescue him.

Cheyenne kills Jakob in self-defense and they are confronted by the pierce brothers.

After a hard battle the team-up of the two "Nightwings" was able to defeat the pierce brothers and save Jason Todd.

In a strange twist however, Jason takes on properties previously displayed by Jakob and fights in a monstrous octopus form.

In the end of the story arc Jason leaves a note to Dick saying that he still considers him family, that he left the costume and that he is back to normal. Cheyenne also leaves the mantle of Nightwing leaving just one and truly Nightwing in New York city.

Raptor

After the events of one year later we're introduced with a new storyline named "Targets" in this storyline a human with an iron suit named Raptor has been seen doing crimes in New York.

At the same time we see a Nightwing that he wants to figure out who what's he going to do with his life and what is his place in the world.

The two of them battle in the air; Nightwing dislocated his shoulder, and Raptor crashes in an office of an abandoned building.

When Nightwing started falling he heard a voice in his mind saying to him that he is supposed to be dead.

Nightwing follows Raptor to the building and he discovers a burned body in front of Raptor, however Raptor denies to have killed "Rossi".

Dick Grayson, decides that he is giving too much priority to the crime fighting life and that he needs to find a job for Dick Grayson. He tries to be a Taxi driver, however things don't turn well and he leaves that job quickly.

He encounters again Ryan and Zen in a coffee shop. Ryan takes Dick against his will or knowledge to the place she works to help his back. During the massage Dick realizes that where Raptor crash wasn't a coincidence and goes to investigate. He discovers that the building where Raptor crashed was a Lex Corp laboratory and that Raptor apparently was looking for and killing the scientists that worked there.

Looking for the others scientists, Nightwing finds again Raptor and they once again battle, after the confrontation Raptor escapes and Nightwing is helped by the police. When they return to the department they see that the scientist was killed and that Raptor really wasn't responsible for the deaths.

When Dick returns to his apartment he decides to go to sleep. While he is sleeping a shadow (it was from a monitor) tells him again that he was supposed to die during the last crisis, but that somehow he survived and that it would need to be corrected.

Days later, Nightwing goes to a gym and finds a teenager trying to do acrobatics in a trapeze. After the kid fails, Dick decides to help him and give him some tips, when he was doing the presentation Ryan arrives and asks him how he did that, he replies that it was because he grew in a circus.

After a final confrontation with Nightwing, Raptor dies because of the radiation that his suit gave to him. Nightwing feeling a little bit responsible because he wasn't able to save him, goes to see the family of the Raptor in his family. At the end we see a mysterious figure accepting to kill Nightwing for 6 million dollars.

This mysterious figure attacks by surprise an injured Nightwing and beats him easily. After that he throws Nightwing into a coffin and buries him there alive. Nightwing is barely able to escape using the air that he had left and using his mind to make a distraction so that he wouldn't panic.

After he escapes he starts to have a close relationship with the Raptor's family and helps them with their family problems.

After that we see a new Raptor with an improved suit, he and Nightwing battle resulting in Nightwing's victory and the second death of radiation for someone using that suit

Still hurt after the battle with the mysterious figure, Dick Grayson starts to have a closer relationship with the Lorens family (Raptor's family). At the same time a mysterious, meta-human couple named Thomas and Violet starts seeking people with "a special aura" to kill and become young again.

In an unexpected twist, Thomas and Violet killed the Lorens family. Hurted because of their deaths Nightwing starts looking for information about the

assassin couple. Almost over the edge, just to cross the line and kill them. He makes a team formed by villain to take them down, however it didn't end well and almost all of his team was called. The couple ended trapped in a cave, it is unknown if they survived or not.

Nightwing leaves the Outsiders

After giving Batman the leader position, he makes auditions for the outsiders team with both old members and possible newcomers. In the first one he chooses a mission with Nightwing and Captain Boomerang Jr in a space station taken by Chemo. During the mission Nightwing and Captain Boomerang Jr have a confrontation that finishes with Captain Boomerang quitting the tam and throwing Nightwing in a shuttle heading for Earth. After wards Dick confronts Bruce about his actions of making the outsiders member auditions for a job they already had. Nightwing leaves the team which Batman feels is the best considering Dick is too good for what Batman intends to do with the outsiders.

The Lost Year

After confronting Bride and Groom, Nighthunter would get a visit of a girlfriend from the past known as Liu after she was kidnapped by a gang named the Tigers.

It was revealed that Dick Grayson (Nightwing) met Liu when he was seventeen a few months after the original Teen Titans had disbanded and a few days after a big fight with Batman.

It was with Liu that Dick Grayson lost his virginity, making him fall in love with her and almost entering in an obsession. During that "lost year" between the end of the original Teen Titans and the forming of the New Teen Titans he would also meet a man that was known as "Eddie Steel", Liu revealed to Dick Grayson that she was again with Eddie but this time in a way that was all business, while Nightwing was checking if that was true he discovered that there was a new Vigilante (his true identity hasn't been revealed) that wanted to eliminate "The Tigers" and kill Eddie Steel.

After a confrontation between Nightwing and the new Vigilante, Dick Grayson would ask to have a dinner with Liu and Eddie Steel, however he didn't know that the vigilante was watching them and that he was now interested in why Dick Grayson was now with that "bad crew". After Dick Grayson returned to his home finding Ryan being attacked by her angered boyfriend and a little after that he realized that the new Vigilante was waiting for him in his apartment to attack him, however his target was Dick Grayson, not Nightwing.

The Vigilante would torture Dick Grayson in an attempt to discover the true story of how Dick met Liu and Eddie Steel, what had happened there and why was he with them now.

Apparently Eddie Steel tried to use Liu to convince a young Dick Grayson to be their pass into Wayne's enterprises, however Dick discovered this and using the identity of Robin he captured them in the act, while also discovering the flaws in the security of Wayne enterprises, apparently it is because of this hard way to be used by his first love and the first woman with whom he had sex that makes him insecure of getting too close emotionally with women, which is what lead to his break-up with Oracle, Starfire, etc.

It was after this that Nightwing discovered that "The Tigers" worked for Eddie and that it was all a big set up so that Nightwing would get close to Liu and they could enter his life again.

Dick would later decide to have another dinner with Liu in an attempt to discover what she and Eddie wanted from him, which led to Liu making Dick a proposal to go to her appartment, something that Dick Grayson would decline because he knew that he couldn't trust her.

When he was on his way home he was attacked by the Tigers again, however these Tigers were different than the others, they were faster and more lethal than ever before. Just when they were about to kill him he was rescued by the Vigilante who killed them, he also revealed that he knew that Nightwing and Dick Grayson were the same person.

At the same time we see that Eddie and Liu used the blood of Dick Grayson along with his genetic markers to enter Wayne's medical and get a sample of the investigations that were there, this was an attempt to recreate and improve the serum that the H.I.V.E used in the original Ravager. The story ends with the escape of Liu and Eddie and also both Nightwing and the Vigilante go their own separate ways.

Return of Ra's Al Ghul

Ra's Al Ghul

I-Ching steps in and makes them see what they are doing to each other. Dick understands that it has to be Tim's decision. If he prevents him from getting a sample, that means he doesn't trust him to do the right thing. If Tim does take a sample, then he shouldn't have trusted him in the first place. Tim reaches down and scoops up three flasks full of liquid. He thinks about the people he'll be able to bring back like Spoiler, his dad, and Connor. He looks back at a disappointed Dick then the flask then he dumps it and apologizes to Dick as they embrace. Dick tells him there's no reason to. Meanwhile, Ra's possessed the body of a monk, but it is rapidly decaying like the last one. He offers Batman his friendship, as a symbol of his rebirth but it is refused. Nightwing along with Robin, Alfred and Talia travel to Nandra Parbat. There they battle Ra's ( who has taken over the body of the White Ghost ) and his forces as they prepare to die fighting their last battle the monks appear having invoked the power of their Goddess Rama Kushna. they use her power to sick Nandra Parbat and give Batman's group the chance to escape. Nightwing pilots the plane home while Batman thinks about Talia and Damian. Alfred reminds them that it is Christmas and they all have a toast to family.

FreeFall

Nightwing has currently set up a headquarters in New York that the Justice Society Of America are helping him with. He has a new job as a museum curator. He is currently investigating a rash of corpses being stolen from graves.

Is it time for Dick to become Batman?

Who is the fake Batman?

Dick Beats Jason to win the Cowl

Batman                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                                                            

Dick Grayson as the new Batman

Meanwhile Batman stops one of Professor pyg’s goons who has a bomb but when looks to disarm it he finds out it empty and realizes that their not carrying bombs their carrying germs and protects himself from the goon spitting germs at him. Back at where Damian is being held, Robin is fighting more goons, he finds a teenage girl with one of Professor pyg’s plastic faces on her asking for help and Damian says that he promises to get her out, in the same room is the girls father who also has a plastic face and is being dragged around by Professor pyg, the girl gets a Bunsen burner and burns him with it.

Professor Pyg escapes through a window and jumps onto a rollercoaster cart, Robin follows him but he leaves the girl he promised to get out, Doctor Pig is still on fire, the two begin to fight but come flying of the cart at the corner, before Damian can get up Professor Pyg hits him over the head with a burning piece of wood but before he could deliver the final blow to Robin, Batman speeds in on the bat-quod, Professor Pyg gets up and tries to escape but runs into a wall. Batman and Robin finish of the rest of the goons. Batman then realises that this must be the place where they are keeping the deadly germs and goes looking for the antidote in case anyone was infected and calls Commissioner Gordon. Robin remembers the girl he left behind but the room is empty so she must have got out.

Later on while talking to Commissioner Gordon Batman revels that Professor Pyg was Lazlo Valentin and he created a new generation of Narcotics [drugs] and was selling it to Russian gangsters to finance his strange opposition with making doll people [the goons with the plastic faces] and that the drug is extremely addictive [this is the same drug one of the doll people tried to spray Batman with] and he was going to hold Gotham city to ransom. Batman also finds another Domino.

Later they track down part of the Black Glove, the group that came close to killing Bruce and nearly lobotomized Dick.

That night in Gotham hospital the young girl that Robin left in Pyg’s room was going around the Hospital killing all the other Doll face people even her own father until she is caught by security but before anything can be don the security guards get their heads blown off by a mysterious man asking for her help to clean up Gotham, the mysterious man is revelled to be the new Red Hood.     
   

These events occur in Bataman: Streets of Gotham

Harly Quinn is back on the streets and on the straight and narrow, She is mistakenly accused of robbing money from a store by the owner and police are called but it oblivious that she did not commit crime but as she is walking away she is yanked of the streets by Batman.

Batman tells her to leave Gotham and start again, she attempts to attack Batman but he simply dodges her at she is taken down by Robin who asks if he can cut out her tongue for talking to much but Batman told him next time.

Later on that night on the many red light districts in Gotham where Pimps and Prostitutes operate, a pimp is selling one of his girls called Cady services to a man  for night, Cady is twelve years old but while her pimp and a client are talking about money a large man starts talking about money, the pimp does not like this a attacks the man, the man moves in front of Cady and starts a fight with the pimp, the man brakes the pimps wrist with one hand and then beats down the men in the limo and punches the man who wanted to buy the Cady for the night with knuckle dusters that leave the word “abuse” on the man’s forehead, before the mystery crime fighter drives off in the battered limo Cady tells him her real name is Katy.

Katy is still in shock in what she just saw doesn’t notice a man walk past her and graze her arm, the man is revelled to be Firefly who plans on setting Gotham on fire. Meanwhile in Batman and Robin’s new home Wayne tower they have holding cells where they keep the worst criminals until Arkam is rebuilt, Damian is playing chess with Tommy Elliot who has now completely changed his appearance to that of Bruce Wayne but before they can finish their game they see on the news that Firefly’s plan is now taking effect and it is revelled that Firefly had gone around placing small chips in people that make the person completely set on fire.

Batman and Robin start to contain the situation and Damian proves that he is growing into his new role of Robin and has started to respect Dick as Batman. They soon relies that the fire is just not contained to that small area but almost all of Gotham is on fire.
 
These events take place in the Batman title.
 
3 weeks from now Dick Grayson is in the old Bat-cave and he’s taking one hell of a beating but the mysterious figure is not revelled. Back in the present the Batman is making his presence felt in Gotham big time and even letting himself be caught on CCTV just to let everyone know that the Dark Knight lives on and no one is felling the effects of Batman’s return more that the two major crime bosses in Gotham Penguin and Two-Face.

To the confusion of his college Sergeant Pike Commissioner Gordon shines the Bat-signal every night but for only 5 minutes, he explains that its not to call Batman to him but to let Batman know he’s there if he needs him, meanwhile Dick is having trouble adjusting from his slim line and light body armour of his Nightwing suit to the heavy cape and limited vision mask of his new Batman suit he complains that the cap is still to heavy fill he’s fighting, Alfred points out that Dick has a more airborne fighting style to Bruce’s ground and pound style but Alfred sets to work on adjusting the weight of Dick’s Batman suit and will use a lighter and more durable form of Kevlar and he also tells Dick that Damian is waiting for their training session.

In the session Dick teaches Damian he has to anticipate his opponent’s moves not just lash out at them, Dick easily beats Damian. Elsewhere in the city Two-face has come to the conclusion that this Batman is not the same as the old one and has been looking through hours of CCTV footage of the new Batman to see if he recognizes the characteristics and the fighting style of Batman to see if he knows him.
 
later that night Dick then receives a tip about an illegal casino called the 522 Club which is being ruin by the Penguin, Batman shuts it down with ease stating Bruce could have had fun with this job if he let it. Elsewhere the Penguin is asking is asking the new Black Mask for help due to Batman shutting down all of his plans, Black Mask agree’s and lends Penguin his best henchmen called Lyle Blanco, an ex soldier who was massive in size and strength and had been a subject of illegal Government experiments and was only caught by the Police after he massacred 23 people because he could not stop laughing.

Meanwhile Two-Face continues to watch video tapes of the new Batman and notices that he is smiling, Dent’s right hand man says it a rare thing to see the Dark Knight smile and Dent agrees. Back at the Bat-bunker Dick revels to Alfred that he’s been getting a lot of tips lately on criminals of unknown sources and that he knows he’s being set up by someone and that he will be ready for them.

Batman is testing some new up grades in the Batmobile when he spots a building on fire he stops it using an non- toxic foam as the residents of the flats escape the Batmobile is suddenly under attack from massive rocks and Dick realizes that he’s been caught in a trap. The car continues to take a pounding but it does not really effect it seeing this the massive rocks begin to hit the building Batman had just saved and he tries to stop them using sonic pulses, the attackers then demand Batman get out of his car or they will destroy the building, the attackers are revelled as Penguin’s new muscle Lyle Blanco A.K.A The Solider and Clayface.   
 
Batman jumps out of the Batmobile and begins to fight back, Batman uses his smoke grenades so he can try and end the fight quickly, Dick uses a combination of his martial arts and gadgets to try and to the fight but he underestimates The Solider. Dick asks Alfred over the radio link to use the Batmobile to take out clayface so he can fight The Solider, Batman hits Solider with powerful martial arts techniques and tranqs but to no real effect but he eventually wins the fight but the two criminals where not alone and the third unseen member sets of an explosion so that The Solider and Clayface can escape.

Meanwhile Two-face is looking for a teleporter who can take him into a location where a certain item was made and he had three candidates and when he finds the one who can carry out this task he kills the other two and revels where he wants to go, the original Bat-Cave.

Also going on at the same time Penguin is thanking Black Mask for his part in distracting Batman with The Solider and Clayface so he could pull a job but before Penguin can leave Black Mask has his men killed by the escaped Arkam asylum prisoners and tells Penguin that he now works for him.

Back at the Bat-bunker Alfred is a alerted by an alarm that indicates that someone has broken into the Bat-cave, Alfred quickly informs Dick, who goes to expect the Cave which has not been used since Dick became Batman, where he discovers that the giant penny coin has been uncovered and has scratches all over one side of it but before Batman can fully analyze the coin he is shot in the back with several high-powered darts [Dick then blames himself for thinning out his body armor to much so that he could move quicker] when he turns around he see’s his shooter is Two-face wearing his version of a Batman suit.  
 
Dent continues to beat Batman, when he stops Dick realizes that Two-face had pumped him full of the scarecrows toxins. Dent continues to rant on about how does not change and that Dick could not be the Batman. Dent revels that he’s been trying to teleport into the cave for years but had no success until today and that Batman would never leave himself open to attack.

Two-Face continues to rant at Dick when suddenly a shadowy figure appears and shoots three darts into Batman’s side, by the time Dent looks back to the floor only to see that Dick had disappeared. Two-Face was now locked in the Bat-Cave with the Batman.

Dent starts to panic and starts shooting shadows, Batman then starts to beat Dent, when the fight is over Two-Face, Dent is lying in a bloody mess and he finally believes that Dick is the same Batman as before he’s just changed.

The shadowy figure revels himself to be Alfred and that he shoot Dick with some adrenaline to help Batman’s body fight the toxins, Dick then tells Alfred that the cave is to dangerous to be left unattended and that they need to clear it out.

That night when being in a prisoner transport van being taken to Blackgate, Two-Face is broken out by the Black mask asking for Dent to come and work for him, Dent says he’ll pass and Black Mask tells him to leave Gotham.

Back at the Cave Dick and Alfred are staring to clear out the cave, Dick describes the cave as “a war room, a lab and an arsenal room but without it’s warrior” and that it need to left how Bruce found it, dark and empty. Later on Dick comes to Jason’s Robin tunic and Bruce’s Cowl, he tells Alfred that Jason’s tunic goes into storage because it was Bruce’s cross to bear not his but says that they will take Bruce’s cowl with them, while removing the case around Jason’s Robin suit, Dick finds a memory stick in the hollow base of the casing. Dick uses a computer in one of the bat-mobiles to view what was on it, the content of the memory shocked Dick, it was a file on Dick’s parents murder. 

These events take place in Batman: Blackest Night
 
Dick and Damian go to Wayne Manor cemetery to clean up the mess Black Hand had left, when they arrive they discover that Black Hand had dug up Bruce Wayne’s body and had taken his skull, also he had dug up Thomas and Martha Wayne’s bodies but had not taken but Dick was extremely annoyed and decides that their bones will be moved to the Bat bunker and begins to move them but Damian gets spooked and Dick tells him to go to the Batmobile and wait for him.

While this was happening 25’000 feet above Gotham the FBI have been informed of the dead villains and hero’s being brought back to live and are flying the remains of some villains to the JLA head quarters so that they would be save but the Black Rings come and claimed the dead bodies and turns them into Black Lantern’s, amongst the new Black Lantern’s are Blockbuster and the Ventriloquist.

Batman and Robin are on their way back to a cemetery to check on some graves and are disusing whether or not they are scared of death when suddenly Dick is possessed by the Deadman, who does not know that Dick is Batman and Damian is Robin so is shocked when he enters Batman’s body as instantly starts shouting, Damian recognises that something is wrong with Dick and starts punching Dick in hopes getting the Deadman out of him the combination of driving at 80 mile an hour and getting punched in the face make Deadman serve of the road.

Deadman then swaps bodies with Damian so he can talk to Batman, it is revelled that Deadman’s body had also been taken by the Black Lantern’s and he could also hear them whispering which was hurting him. They set off to the nearest cemetery, on the way Deadman tells Dick that Damian has some bad issue’s.

They arrive at the cemetery where Deadman starts to sense the Black Rings and leaves Damian’s body, it is revelled that the cemetery they are in is the final resting place of Jack and Janet Drake and their bodies have become Black Lantern’s, Dick calls Tim, who is in Paris dangling a man of the Eiffel Tower who he has beaten up and after Dick tells him what’s happened Tim starts to way back to Gotham. Dick’s parents have also been brought back as Black Lantern’s. Damian draws Batman attention to the Bat-signal in the sky which had been cracked and there are bodies lying on top of it.
 

THE DEATH OF DICK GRAYSON 
In the Frank Miller story, The Dark Knight Strikes again, Grayson has sold out to the corrupt government, trading in his good name in a selfish gesture for money and respect. They inject him with a serum that drives him insane, gives him a healing factor, as well as giving him the  visage of Batman's now deceased nemesis The Joker. Ordered by Lex Luthor and his cohorts to assasinate superheros, he kills Guardian, Martian Manhunter  and Creeper and nearly kills The Question before he is temporarily stopped by Green Arrow.  He targets Green Arrow as his next target and nearly kills him too before catgirl "kills" him.

After his bosses are murdered by the last of the JLA, He returns and pursues Catgirl. He beats her within an inch of her life and it is implied that he is about to rape her, before Bruce Wayne confronts him (The Bruce Wayne in this universe is colder and considers Catgirl a daughter to him)  Bruce Wayne briefly fights him then pushes him into volcanic caverns of the Batcave. This is the end of Dick Grayson in this particular universe.

Dick's sensitive nature and good looks always made him attractive to the opposite sex in fact, it became some thing of a running joke that every female in the meta-human universe is attracted to him. 
Her first romantic relationship began with Flamebird (Bette Kane), however Dick never felt the same for Bette.

Dick has always had a extremely close relationship with Donna Troy, however their love to each other is like one from brother and sister.

When he was a student at Hudson University, he had a relationship with fellow undergraduate Lori Elton.

Nightwing was also romantically involved with Starfire while in the Titans

He also dated Bridget Clancy, his landlady in Blüdhaven.

He had a one night stand, with the Huntress (Helena Bertinelli).

After Blockbuster was shot and killed by tarantula, she raped the disturbed Nightwing.

Probably the longest romantic relationship Dick ever had is is with Starfire. This relation went so far to even been engaged to marry, however the wedding was canceled because of the entrance Raven's evil transformation. During the "Titans Tomorrow" storyline, Batwoman (Bette Kane) tells Starfire that she would have a wonderful future with Nightwing. She also found out they would also have a child

Dick has always had strong romantic feelings for Barbara Gordon. After some years of knowing each other, they started dating, however the relationship was dissolved. Before infinite crisis Dick and Barbara engage, however the engage is broken off by Barbara because she feels that they aren't ready to get married.

After the one year later events Dick has some sex with Cheyenne Freemont.

Also during a lost year of Dick Grayson's life (Marv Wolfman run) is revealed that Liu had a lover before he became a New teen titan & Abilities

Although Nightwing doesn't have any superpowers he has peak athletic strength and endurance of a man who regularly engages in intensive physical exercise.

Dick uses his fighting skils with his acrobatic skills to make his own fighting style

Equipment

*Nightwing's costume has an excellent protection against damage, made Nomex fire-proof,triple-weaved material that has been lined with kevlar and is also insulated against electricity. His suit is made for his fighting style of "move more get hit less" and has less armor in his so he can do so, but can add armor when facing fast and strong foes.

*The suit is light sensitive, darkening when there is more light in the area.

*His mask includes a built-in radio transmitter/receiver and Starlite night-vision lenses.

*Each one of his gauntlets and boots contain eight compartments in which he can store items. They have built into them a self-destruct feature such as the ones in Batman's utility belt.

*Each gauntlet's sections contain a lot of equipment, such as sonic or smoke pellets, modified batarangs (Wing-Dings), knockout gas capsules, and throw-able tracers. The right gauntlet also counts with a 100,000-volt stun gun.

*His boot compartments carry important equipment such as flares, a rebreather , a mini-computer equipped with fax, modem, GPS and a mini-disk rewritable drive. Also items like lock picks, a first-aid kit, a mini-cellphone, flexi-cuffs, antitoxin assortment, signal flares, wireless listening devices and a small halogen flashlight.

*Nightwing carries in the back of his costume a pair of Escrima sticks.

*Richard also has a specialized muscle car called the "Nightbird" which is built with many parts like those on the Batmobile, such as bulletproof armor and wireless network connections.

*Nightwing's parents also left him a trust fund which was turned into a small fortune Lucius Fox. Nightwing has used it for "maintaining his Nightwing equipment; for purchasing the rights to Haly's Circus, saving Dick's former home from financial troubles; and for secretly buying the apartment building at 1013 Parkthorne Avenue at Blüdhaven which was the home of the first Tarantula.

Characteristics

Gender: Male 

Height: 5'10"

Weight: 175 lbs

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Black  

 
Age:

Relatives 

Other characters as Nightwing

Superman was the first person to use the Nightwing persona, he used it to battle menaces along with Flamebird (Jimmy Olsen). However the nightwing name was explained to come from a hero of Krypton.

Ak-Var (a young thief in the Phantom Zone was freed by Superman when his sentence was up, he wanted to live in Kandor and married Van-Zee's niece Thara. He also went to work as Van-Zee's lab assistant. The duo assumed the Nightwing and Flamebird identities and began battling crime.

During the one year later storyline of the Nightwing book, Jason makes kills multiple criminals with the nightwing costume.

During this story a new metahuman character metahuman fashion designer named Cheyenne Freemont (Nightwing's temporal affair) takes the mantle of Nightwing to help Dick Grayson.

Powergirl took the name of Nightwing when she and supergirl were in a story set in Kandor.

The name Nightwing is now used by Christopher Kent.

Elseworlds Dick Grayson

Earth 2-This Dick Grayson continued to be Robin even as adult, having no successors, and even after Batman's death. He was a member of the All-Star Squadron and later took the place that Batman had left in the JSA.

This version of Dick Grayson became a lawyer and the ambassador to South Africa.

During the comic event "Crisis on infinite earths" he was erased from history and died.

Kingdome Come- On the Kingdome Come story, Dick Grayson returned to hero business with the identity of "Red Robin" in this reality he married Starfire and had a daughter with her (Nightstar).

Red Rain- On earth-43 Dick Grayson becomes a vampire hunter to avenge his parents that apparently were taken away of him because of a vampire Batman. This ends with Batman turning Grayson into a vampire himself

Thrillkiller-On this story Barbara Gordon meets the circus daredevil Dick Grayson, and sparks fly right from the start, leading to a scandalous romance and the reckless decision to become costumed adventurers Batgirl and Robin on the rooftops of Gotham City! But mere mischief becomes serious business when Dick's family is murdered, and Batgirl and Robin set out to mete justice on the Graysons' killers.

The pair continues to battle the corrupt criminal system in Gotham City. Unfortunately, their seemingly carefree adventures come to an abrupt halt when The Joker pieces together the clues to their true identities. Laying her trap, The Joker draws an injured Dick Grayson out of hiding using his family as bait.

Batman vs Lobo- In this world Nightwing is a big muscular version of this world. He attempts to save a injured Batman only to be caught by Lobo tieing both he and Robin together. Lobo then pulls both boys off a water tower and they fall until the rope ends breaking both their backs killing them instantly.

On the Amalgam universe, Nightwing and Moonknight are fused to create " Moonwing"

Dick Grayson in other media

Robin first appeared on the big screen in 1943 in the serial movie Batman, Robin was played by Douglas Croft and was directed by Lambert Hillyer. The movie was the Dynamic Duo’s first appearance out side of Comics.

Burt Ward as Robin

Robin’s next t.v appearance would be in the 1960’s television series “Batman” in which Robin would have a staring role appearing in every single episode. Burt Ward played Dick Grayson, the show was known for it’s campy atmosphere [something that Batman and Robin are not], the show lasted 3 seasons but even though it had a short run it had 120 episodes under it’s belt thanks to two news episodes being shown a week. Robin was given the catch phrase “Holly……. Batman!” witch he said near enough every episode.

 Robin did not appear in Tim Burton’s two Batman films. This was an unusual move as the two 1940s serials as well as the 1966 movie and attendant TV show had presented the 'Dynamic Duo' as an inseparable pair, with the general public unaware that the comic-book incarnation of Batman often worked alone. The special edition version of the DVD features an animated storyboard sequence of when his parents are killed by the Joker. Jason Hillhouse provides the voice of Dick Grayson, while Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill reprise their respective roles from the DC animated universe as Batman and the Joker in the storyboard sequence. Burton planned to cast actor Ricky Addison Reed as Robin, but later felt it was unimportant to the story and cut Robin out altogether.

Chris O'Donnell as Robin

In an earlier script of Batman Returns, he was portrayed as a technologically savvy street kid who would help Batman following his narrow escape when The Penguin tried to kill him. He would later play a crucial role in Batman's final confrontation with The Penguin. In that script, he was simply called Robin, has no known real name, and was to be played by Marlon Wayans.

After the 1980s, Robin appeared in Joel Schumacher's two Batman films, but not in Dick Grayson's classic costume. In Batman Forever, Robin was played by Chris O'Donnell. Grayson's parents were murdered by Two-Face during a hostage situation at the annual Gotham Circus. Robin meets Batman and becomes a costumed hero in his late teens. O'Donnell reprised the role again in the film Batman & Robin. The film features tension between Batman and Robin, which some say is greater than in other adaptations. In Batman Forever, his costume closely resembles the Robin uniform worn by Tim Drake. In the latter film, Robin's costume resembles Dick Grayson's third Nightwing costume, but with rubber nipples, a cape and red/crimson coloring instead of blue. The film was heavily slatted by critics and was dubbed one of the worst comic book films movies ever. Robin has never appeared in Chris Nolan’s movies for fears of destroying of the new dark and gritty image of Batman.

DCU animated 

Dick as Robin in Batman the Amimated Series

Dick Grayson only made occasional appearances during the first season of Batman: The Animated Series. He was voiced by Loren Lester and only made occasional appearances due to Bruce Timm's insistence that Batman worked best as a solo hero as already proven in the first two Burton films. The second season of The Animated Series was known as The Adventures of Batman and Robin, due to the more frequent appearances Robin made throughout the season.

In The New Batman Adventures Grayson becomes Nightwing, and his place as Robin was taken by Tim Drake, voiced by Mathew Valencia. The animated series continuity does not include Jason Todd by name, but the cartoons describe Drake as a combination of all three Robins. Between his origin and appearance in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, he mostly resembles Todd in storyline while bearing little resemblance to the comic book's Tim Drake. After the 2006 comic book story arc “One Year Later” Tim adopted a new Robin Suit very similar to the animated Drake's red and black outfit. A version of the Carrie Kelly Robin also makes a short appearance in The New Batman Adventures, in a dream sequence from the episode "Legends of the Dark Knight."

Dick as Nightwing in The New Batman Adventures

The Cartoon Network series Teen Titans appears to be an adaptation of the New Teen Titans comic book series. One similarity is that both series have the character Robin, who also acts as the team's leader. Robin joins Beast Boy, Cyborg and Raven when Jump City is threatened first by Starfire and then by the aliens who had captured her .Robin is respected by the others as the team's best leader, but on the inside he is driven by and an unhealthy obsession to win, which sometimes alienates him from his teammates. The Titan’s battle cry was also changed from “Titan’s Together” to “Titan’s Go”.

In the spin off comic book series, Dick Grayson is Robin. In the animated series, the style of his costume is still closely modeled on Tim Drake's, as in the 1990s; however, the colors are those of Dick Grayson and Jason Todd. Robin, voiced by Scott Menville, has not been directly referred to by any full name. This non-identity is intentional, according to both Sam Register and Glen Murakami. However, several clues (and confirmation of his identity in Teen Titans Go #47 have indicated that this Robin is Dick Grayson. 

Robin as he appears in the Teen Titans and as he appears as Nightwing

A time-travel themed episode of the animated series showed a future where Robin has taken on the mantle of Nightwing. In a later episode, an alternate universe Robin with the exact same DNA shows up named Nosyarg Kcid", which is "Dick Grayson" spelled backwards.

In many instances, Robin's relationship to Batman is heavily referenced. In the Season 5 episode "Go", just before Robin attacks a thief, bats fly at him. After a while the thief says, "Aren't you supposed to be with..." only to be interrupted by Robin who says, "Just moved here. I work alone now", and throughout the episode, he says he doesn't want to be in a team again so soon. In another episode, "Haunted", Raven uses her powers to enter Robin's mind; one of the images she sees is Robin's shadow in a cave area swearing an oath to someone, and part of a circus ring. When Robin rejects Slade he mentions "I already have a father", and then the screen shows a shot of a dark sky with bats flying through it, also referring to Batman. In that same episode, a battle ensues on top of a Wayne Enterprises. This would indicates that this version of Robin is coming to the end of his spell as Robin and may take on the Nightwing mantle soon.

In The Batman, Robin is voiced by Evan Sabara. Dick Grayson was an energetic, gifted acrobat and one of the main attractions of Hayley's Circus, along with his Mother and Father as part of the amazing Flying Grayson's act. His life was changed forever when Tony Zucco and his brothers tried to threaten circus manager John into taking a protection" policy. When John Grayson refused, an altercation resulted in the police and the Batman being called. The Zuccos were easily defeated for the moment one of Tony's brothers was even captured.

'The Batman' with Batgirl and Robin

An angered Zucco altered the rigs on the Flying Graysons trapeze act, causing John and Mary to fall to their deaths right in front of Dick during a performance. Young Grayson, with no surviving family members was taken in by Bruce Wayne, who saw shades of himself in Dick after his own parent's murder. After Dick discovered that Wayne was Batman, the two worked together to capture Tony Zucco. Dick chose the codename "Robin" because that is what his mother had called him.

Grayson sports a costume much like comic book's Tim Drake first wore, although an early promotional photo showed a suit with a bit more originality. His costume and equipment are also influenced heavily by his "Teen Titans" counterpart, however, their personalities differ massively; whereas the "Teen Titans" Robin is a serious, focused and occasionally obsessive leader, this version of Robin is far less serious and genuinely enjoys his work as a vigilante, constantly spouting one-liners and generally acting in the mould of a typical teenager and his Golden Age comic counterpart. Some tension arose when Robin and the character of Batgirl met. Batgirl, having been active as a vigilante and wanna-be partner of the Batman some time before Robin appeared, was quite jealous of Batman's new "official partner". This was changed when Batman took the liberty of revealing his and Robin's identities to her and fully accepted her into the fold. Afterward, Robin and Batgirl developed a more friendly, almost sibling-like working relationship.

Batman and Robin in 'The Brave and the Bold'

As depicted in a possible future during the episode "Artifacts," Dick Grayson gives up the "Robin" name and costume to become Nightwing. Barbara and Batman still persist in calling him by his original codename. Interestingly, the Police department who discover the Batcave in the beginning of the episode call Robin "The Red Robin", a reference to kingdom come and they theorize that Bruce Wayne was the Red Robin.



What people think of Dick Grayson

George Pérez says:

"Robin/Nightwing, I like him a lot because of his history, he's been around so long, and there's a certain sleek sexuality about the character. He's got a certain sense of everyman, a young swashbuckler type., he's probably the only character to have developed a rabid following. That I find incredible, particularly because he came out as a sidekick - that he's got the strongest following of any character really makes me feel good about Nightwing. He's the only Titan who made the CBG poll, and it was great, you know. The fact that he's still fresh after all these years."

"And the one that was the biggest challenge, by not putting any highlights on, was to differentiate Robin from Kid Flash. Before, they tended to have the same exact face-I was guilty of it, when I started. I made a point of suddenly drawing in Kid Flash's cheeks-making him angular. If you look at a lot of pictures of Mikhail Barishnykov, to give him that very slender look. And, of course, very, very strong legs. The fact is that I'm trying to draw his arms less bulky but keep his legs very muscular. That man must have calves like iron. And Robin's face is more round; Dick Giordano set the standard for what Robin should look like, because he corrects all the artwork (Howell laughs), so-Burt Ward had the perfect face, even though he was a mite on the old side. That roundish face, with that hairstyle."

Marv Wolfman:

"The only two that I have trouble separating are Wonder Girl and Robin. The only way to make them sound different is what they say, as opposed to how they say it. I see them as very similar people. Very much Donny and Marie. All the others I hear in my head what their speech patterns are. I don't know how it comes across on paper since I'm so intimate with the characters, but the only two I feel are hard to separate are Robin and Wonder Girl. Fortunately, the type of dialogue they are given, for the most part, is clear enough apart. Wonder Girl will talk in much more romantic terms when she has to. She's not as uptight as Robin is. Robin, having been raised by the Batman, would be very uptight about everything. He's Just learning to break free from that. Wonder Girl's never had any of those problems whatsoever. When they're dealing with superior stuff, I haven't figured out how to tell them apart."

"One of the comments made in issue 25 by Robin is that while the Batman was created by a very emotional event, the Batman today has taught Robin to think with his head and not his heart. Yet, the Batman's whole reason for being was because of his heart, not his head. We're hoping to get more control over the characters as we learn to use them. Issue eight was the first issue where we thought we understood them."

Chuck Dixon:

"He's reached a point in his career where he's proven himself," says Nightwing writer Chuck Dixon, "He's been Batman, he's been the Teen Titans' leader. He knows how good he is, and is more at ease with himself. Now he's trying to find a place for Dick Grayson, to carve out a life for himself, not just as Batman's ex-partner. That's why he's adopted Bludhaven."

And, unlike some children who grow up to repeat their parents' mistakes, Dixon adds that Dick's hardly a carbon copy of his mentor. "Nightwing's not so grim, and is capable of having a life as Dick Grayson," he says. "Nightwing became the happy-go-lucky Robin almost in contrast to Batman. It was his way of saying, 'I don't want to be like this guy."

Devin Grayson:

"Dick's dealing with an ever-increasing roster of responsibilities. Where as there was a time in his life where a lot of his motivation stemmed from trying to prove that he was as good as Bruce, now a lot of it really has more to do with exploring the ways in which he's completely different from Bruce. So he's starting to examine all of these different elements law, relationships, and especially the concept of teamwork and family, which is where the Titans come in for him."

Jay Faerber:

"Unable to go into full details of his solo gig on Titans, Faerber was more than willing to give some insight into the characters, beginning with his personal favorite. "I guess I 'd have to say Nightwing but if you ask me the same question tomorrow, my answer would probably be different. I just like the fact that Dick has absolutely no superpowers, and yet he's the one these super-powered people look for guidance and respect more than anyone."

"Dick is the unquestioned leader. The Titans may bicker now and then, but when it comes down to it, they know Dick calls the shots, and we'll be seeing demonstrations of that in upcoming issues. Dick's closest to Donna and Roy, has a lot in common with Jesse (since they're both workaholics), and doesn't know Toni very well. He's never been super-close to Garth, but he's certainly one of Dick's better friends. 
 

George Pérez Interview -Amazing Heroes #50, 1984 

"Dick Grayson had no identity other than being the other part of Robin, and Robin was nothing but the bottom half of Batman, The biggest problem, as far as the Titans were concerned, was taking Dick Grayson, because much of what we wanted to do with the Titans couldn't be done since Robin couldn't be altered. So we were playing with Dick Grayson. Since he was never defined, it didn't matter what we did with him. We couldn't do the same thing with his alter-ego, because Robin had to appear with Batman.

"Gerry Conway, who was handling the Batman series at the time, had priority over Robin. Since he was the leader of the Teen Titans, it put us in a compromising position. Marv was being complimented on his characterization, I was being complimented on making Robin look like an adult at last. Yet we couldn't do anything more than just maintain a certain facade; we'd just make a very virile Robin. but couldn't do anything with his personality or his basic character. That was all the responsibility of whoever was writing Batman.

"It wasn't until Gerry Conway said that he had no intentions of using Robin that we were given carte blanche. Then, there was talk that they wanted to give Batman a new kid sidekick, in order to bring back the father image of the character. I was called into a meeting, Doug Moench, Marv Wolfman, Len Web, myself, and Dick Giordano all sat down and talked about the new sidekick.

The one thing we suggested, but never thought we'd get, was to simply make Jason Todd become Robin. Give him the costume, make him the new Robin and just let Dick Grayson become someone else. We didn't think they would really accept that; [laughs] at least, not readily, because Dick Grayson had been Robin for almost 43 years! Dick Giordano said 'Let's go with it!' Since Dick Grayson has been established as being 19, and Batman has been established as 29 (the way Superman and all the other male characters are). suddenly the man-boy relationships between men 29 and 19 did not work; they were two men. Batman’s age was later changed and was around 28 when he took on a 12 year old Dick Grayson as Robin in Batman: Year 3 thus making him 35 when Dick was 19.

"They wanted to bring back the old formula. Doug was anxious to try the idea of the original Batman and Robin team again. The only suggestion I had was to establish Jason Todd as a blonde or a redhead; obviously, they've written their way around that [laughs]! But they gave up, they said okay.

"Dick Grayson, since he had no real identity before we got to him, now belongs to us. We're even listed now as the creators of the character. Now he's become Nightwing, a name that's been used before, but not in the same character at all. I want to make him a swashbuckler, an acrobat, an incredibly good fighter. In many ways, he's the Titans' answer to Captain America.
"I want to make him happy-go-lucky, bring back the enjoyment of adventure that he had. One thing I liked that Marv did in issue #39 was how openly Dick speaks his affection to Koriand'r now, calling her 'm'Iove' and everything, making passes at her right in front of everybody with absolutely no worries anymore. The hang-ups are disappearing. He's not going to be that morose character he had been in trying to find his identity. Now he's found it. Now we're going to use Dick Grayson the way we want to use him, utilizing both his detective and acrobatic skills."

A seminal turning point in the Grayson affair was captured by Wolfman and Mike W. Barr in the Titans' crossover with Batman and the Outsiders last year. ''It established that Dick is a very good leader. Batman is not a born leader; he's never had to lead men. But Dick Grayson is a born leader. He has full control over the Titans, which Batman does not have over the Outsiders. That was a very good point which they'd brought out, what makes Dick Grayson different. As Nightwing, we're going to have fun with Dick now. He's definitely become a character independent and mature.”     
 

Bat-Son

 
The relationship the Batman and Dick Grayson share is closer then another Boy Wonder or sidekick. “The Bat-Family” as some may call it is filled with characters ranging from Alfred the faithful butler to Batgirl the poor girl who went through hell because she was the daughter of a commissioner, but non of them seem to mean as much to Bruce as Dick. Richard and Bruce were together from the very beginning without the Batman taking him under his nocturnal wings where would little Dicky be today? He would have never brought justice to those who have done him wrong and he wouldn’t have become the strong man he is today. Sometimes Batman is caught calling the other Boy Wonders Dick, that’s how much those good old days mean to him. The Batman seems to consider Nightwing to be his son. If anyone should ever replace the Bat fans would certainly chose Grayson to fill in those grey tights.

DICK AND TIM

Tim Drake as Robin

Dick is very protective over him, when the Joker pretended to kill Tim, Nightwing went out on a personal vendetta to catch the Joker, when Nightwing takes down Joker’s criminal army he is faced with the joker and in a fit of rage beats Joker to death with his bare hands and only stops when a very much alive Tim, the Joker is resuscitated [brought back to live] by huntress [the joker is still alive]. In the Resurrection of Ra’s al ghul story arc, Tim wanted to use the lazeras pit to bring back his father, Spoiler and Superboy. The two fight to a stand still, Dick give Tim the option of taking samples from the of the pit but at the last second decides against it and the collapses to the floor but Dick catch’s him and cradle’s him. The two are still extremely close and whenever Tim is in trouble or has problems with Bruce he always seems to go to Dick, The two are now officially brother after Bruce adopted them both after Tim’s father died.



The death that almost happend


Originally the DC editors had decided that Dick Grayson would be killed in Infinite Crisis, while this decision was reversed they decided that if Dick was kept alive he would have to be changed
An interview in a DC Nation panel at Wizard World Philadelphia 2006
DC: The ending of this issue really hit a lot of people hard, with the death of Superboy.
GEOFF: We originally talked about killing Nightwing. That was always Dan's plan.
EDDIE: But we didn't want [Nightwing] to die.
GEOFF: We wanted to have issue #6 be about bringing the Trinity back. Dan focused on offing Nightwing, but we all felt it was just the wrong character.
PHIL: Though I can't think of a character who would have a greater impact than Nightwing dying.
GEOFF: True, but it's Dick Grayson. My mom knows who he is. Nightwing would've been a mistake. Superboy was the best choice.
PHIL: Just in terms of links to other characters, though. Dick has so many connections to other characters. In many ways, even more than Superman or Batman, Nightwing is the soul, the linchpin, of the DCU. He's well respected by everyone, known to the JLA, the Titans, the Outsiders, Birds of Prey - everyone looks to him for advice, for friendship, for his skills. He's the natural leader of the DCU. His loss would devastate everyone and create ripples through the DCU. If it wasn't him, it had to be a hero that really impacted so many.
GEOFF: Well, what other character? Not Wonder Girl. Enough women have died in the DCU. Superboy was my favorite Titan. And I literally had to offer him as a sacrificial lamb.
DC: You killed your favorite Titan? That must have been hard to write.
JEANINE: I literally had tears in my eyes when the pages came in.
GEOFF: I really fought to have Conner in TEEN TITANS. He gave the title a dynamic the book never had before.
JEANINE: It's one of the reasons [his death] worked so well and became such a powerful scene. I remember talking to Geoff when the decision was made, and he was, correctly, really adamant that it matter.
GEOFF: And Phil did such a great job with facial expressions there, depicting everyone's sorrow.
EDDIE: We were hoping to save both Nightwing AND Superboy. But at the end of the day, if we were going to do something really impactful, we really had to go all the way. It just worked for the whole story.
JEANINE- "Deaths are meaningless." But you couldn't not care about this.
Newsarama made a second interview about why DC didn't kill Nightwing
Q: Why didn’t you kill Nightwing in Infinite Crisis?
Waid: Because Geoff Johns and I took turns holding a big club over Dan once we learned he wanted too.
Perez: And speaking for guys who actually earn residuals off of Nightwing, we like him too.
Q: Why was it even considered?
Waid: Yeah Dan, why?
Wayne: And don’t say again, “Because Bob said it would sell.”
Busiek: Have you ever drunk a lot of Scotch? Dan has.
Waid: Yeah, what has he ever done to you?
Didio: We were looking for the big death in Infinite Crisis – the big moment. We were looking for something that would have equal import and merit and weight in this story. One of the things I’ve been proven wrong about is that I had felt that Dick Grayson was a redundant character – Tim Drake had filled his role as Robin, he would never be Batman, so where could he go?
My big fear was that Nightwing would get older than Batman. The thought was that if we removed Dick form the equation that would allow Bruce Wayne to stand alone as Batman, and to firmly establish Tim Drake as Robin. So now – Marv is showing us why we like him, his place in the DC Universe, and more importantly, his potential in the DC Universe.