Half of justice league and world most dangerous villains already know he is alive so why Alfred,Barbara and Tim cannot know he is alive???!!!!!!!!!

Because DC editorial doesn't always think things through.

truth

I think it's because Batman doesn't believe in the rest of the family enough to keep a secret like this, and to show it properly. Alfred's school of acting didn't teach them all enough to do this I guess.

Everyone in the family thinks he is dead, and if they knew he is alive, it would make it all the harder for Dick to do his mission. The more people who think he is dead, and actually show genuine feelings of his "death" the better. It helps cement his position of dead. If they were to know he was alive, the feelings wouldn't be as true, and a master organization like Spyral, who has been able to hide from the likes of Batman himself, could and would be able to recognize this.

Think of it being part of the under cover mission. It just helps him out with the whole mission deal. Eventually, the family will know he's alive. It's unavoidable really. Just gotta wait till that whole thing plays out

Because Bruce said so.

No idea. I guess because batman said so? Everyone in forever evil knows so I see no harm in the bat family knowing as long as they don't tell anyone. They can keep a secret. But we know batman likes to be a jerk sometimes

Because Batman was being an asshole

This is a better explanation than anything I can think of.

So there is no specific reason 4 him 2 fake his death

He is doing it to protect them and their identities

Because all these people he knows and has worked with for years are incompetent, completely incapable of taking care of themselves lol

Here's the actual answer:

First off, not half of the world's villains or the JL knows he's alive. An exaggeration of what actually happeneds. If you read Forever Evil and payed close attention, you'd know the only people that know he's alive is actually Lex Luthor, Catwoman, Batman, Owlman, and Cyborg. He disappeared sometime before the JL was freed & that's about it. Only a select few know. The first 4 were commented to be confirmed from Tim Seeley & the last 2 were from Forever Evil. Only 5 people actually know he's alive. Batman could of lied and say Grayson died. Plus in issue 2 of Grayson, they had a funeral for him. Im quite sure we'll know tomorrow on who truly knows. Or hints to anyway. My point is only a select few know. And aren't mouthy and will tell everyone.

Second, it has nothing to do with the him or Bruce thinking anyone is incompetent or anything. People have to stop thinking the reason is because Bruce is a jerk. This is a undercover mission against an espionage agency and according to Tim Seeley, they think of themselves as the best Spy organization. They have vast resources. Anyone readin Batman Inc. would know that. If people knew he was alive, Spyral would be suspicious of him joining them. They do keep an eye on everyone and now are trying to look at secret identities. If those heroes beleive he's dead, Spyral can't have any reason to suspect him.

Thirdly, Part of the reason he's an Agent is because people think he's dead. If you haven't noticed it yet, Helena is an agent too and is thought dead. Kathy is thought dead and she's an agent. He's thought dead and he's an agent. I'm guessing this is how they choose some of their agents. I also think it may be because he was a superhero and an agent who was formerly an ally can be useful If used correctly. My point is that his status as a former hero presumed dead was too much of a good opportunity for Spyral to not take up. Faking his death helped attract Spyral's attention.

Another thing too If he is known to be alive, it would cause more problems. The Batfamily will not sit around and let Dick go on a dangerous mission If they knew about it. They would get involve and help. Just because they can handle themselves doesn't mean they can tackle every problem & win. Spyral is dangerous and will make sure to wipe them away or at the very least do major damage. Neither Bruce or Dick want that and they have a plan that causes less problems If done right and probably has a higher chance of success. They can keep a secret. But they also can't sit around and do nothing while someone they know and love is out there alone in such a way.

Lastly, this is a mission only Dick can actually do. Spyral took interest in him and him only for various reasons. He's a thought dead hero who's skilled & was a superhero too. Only Red Hood closely fits that label but is also known for being in a League of Assassins too & is not the average superhero like Nightwing is. This isn't the first time we've seen Batman assign a mission he feels only a member of the Batfamily can do because of their unique position. In Batman Inc., the reason Jason took control after Batman was injured was because he knew Talia & was best the next person to deal with her.

To be honest, it's not too hard to see the reason why storywise If you pay close attention. Not everyone actually knows like some of you say. Grayson 2 preview(the thing will be released tomorrow and I might be wrong) does hint that not as many people know as some of you think. None of the reasons have anything to do with calling any of their abilities into question nor Bruce being a jerk or Dick questioning others.

No. We knew that Lex, Vic and Selina know that he is alive. Then he was dragged into the room with Firestorm where the JL and the JLA were busted out of the matrix. So, you have a room full of people with super senses and no one notices Nightwing?

Also Superman could totally tell if that was Dick's body or not.

@jayaaerow: Nice answer, but I have to re read Forever evil to know 4 sure or anybody have scans?

I re-read forever evil and looking at each panel, I can't see Dick interacting with anyone other than Lex Luthor, Catwoman, Batman, Owlman, and Cyborg. Oh and Bizzaro, but since he was dead by the end that doesn't matter. But the Firestorm scene was a bit confusing.

I guess it doesn't count, but in the scrapped Nightwing 30 most of the JLA were at the funeral so I assume they considered him dead.

Doesn't Spyral know he was Nightwing though?

To infiltrate Spyral and send information to Batman about what they're doing and what the organisation is planning.

From the reality point of view, that's the answer. (his brother haven't even mourn him... yet?)

From the story point of view: Batman's orders.

I hope I can tell you to deal with it, but I'm still sore about that, too. ^^;

Because Johns needed shock value for his crossover, and he isn't a good editor.

@lumutness said:

I'm quite sure it's Dc's response to us fans that complained to stop utilizing him so much in Batman's events to the point it derails the current story and changes things up because Batman's story is more important then Nightwing's in his own book.

This decision is actually one of their actual good ones that stems from actual reason. And I wonder what took so long. RHATO, whatever negative opinions people has, is somewhat isolated from all the big DC comics events most of the time and not dragged down from it. And Lobdell, as questionable as his writing is, personally said he wants it that way. And I'm sort of glad. Now If he can start writing Kori and Roy to be something other then Red Hood's sidekicks.......but that's another story. Point is, they done it repeatedly in the past too. I don't know why Higgins didn't get that treatment. If you seen the interviews, he noted he had to make changes to his story.

I don't even think he planned that far in regards for Nightwing. XD He said so many good things about Nightwing.....but then did squat on it. He didn't even enact that Owlman/Nightwing teamup subplot he was setting up initially. It got pushed aside for that Murder Machine.

I never saw this rely so pardon the lateness.

Pre-52, Dick has fooled superhumans on more then one occasion with just his skills. He's even evaded Superman's detection without him knowing. He's just as capable in stealth as Batman is, or very close. He's even kept hidden from a speedster, even when she used her Super speed to search for her, only to be behind her and surprise her. If he really wanted to not be spotted or seen, he's capable. Batman does it all the time.

And why would Superman be looking into Dick's body? He has no reason to suspect he's faking his death. I mean, really. Considering the Syndicate tortured him and unmasked him to the public and Superman would later be up to speed on that, he'd probably think he's really dead. He probably took it to face value like everyone else.

After reading Grayson #8, it actually all makes sense as to the whole 'Agent of Spyral' thing and why Dick Grayson faked his death to join Spyral so I applaud Tim and Tom for making it all work in the end (no thanks to Geoff Johns).

what do you mean 1/2 of them know he is alive? Who knows he is alive besides Batman, huntress, Midnighter and Lex Luthor?

@youknowwhattodo said:

After reading Grayson #8, it actually all makes sense as to the whole 'Agent of Spyral' thing and why Dick Grayson faked his death to join Spyral so I applaud Tim and Tom for making it all work in the end (no thanks to Geoff Johns).

Yup! It seems Kathy pulled another one over Bruce. Enlisting Grayson into Spyral. Now they have their own version of Batman to utilize to their wishes apparently. I wonder what's going to happen when Dick finds her again. Pre-52, he didn't really like her in the first place. Not sure about New 52 though but he does know her.

Huntress in New 52 is Helena Wayne so it's more appropriate to go "Matron Bertinelli" (she's gonna be Spyral's Director doe), Catwoman does because she help save him, Cyborg should because he saw him alive with Batman and help him too before he pulled his grand disappearance act. The people you just named plus Spyral are the only ones that know. "Half of the Justice League" and "World Most Dangerous Villains" do not know. Only 3 members know so far.

EDIT: Oh! And Owlman too from the Crime Syndicate.

@jayaaerow: Matron is her title, not name

But yeah, you're right. Lex Luthor, Cyborg, Catwoman, Batman, Bizzaro (who died), Earth-3 Owlman, and obviously Kathy Kane (and by extension Spyral) are the only people who know