Robin the Boy Wonder for "Robin Hood" (1917) by Paul Creswick. The look inspired Jerry Robinson's design for Robin. 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 (who lived on "
Earth-One") 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 (sidekick of
Aquaman) and
Kid Flash (sidekick of the
Flash), to stop the menace of Mr. Twister. Later, the three sidekicks join forces with
Speedy (sidekick of
Green Arrow) 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 (Beast Boy), 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 (1995), 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 (September to December 1995, written by
Dennis O'Neil with
Greg Land as an artist), 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 (although Zucco killed the Graysons before the conspirators could do anything about it). 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 (written by
Chuck Dixon, with art by
Scott McDaniel), 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 (another ICoV member) 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.
Batman: Reborn Following the events of Batman's apparent death during the
Final Crisis, Nightwing closes down shop in New York City to return to Gotham, where – after the events of "
Battle for the Cowl" – he, initially reluctant, assumes the identity of Batman and finds a new Robin in
Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne's biological son. In the stories that followed tended to feature Grayson reckoning with themes of identity, family, loss, history and legacy, as he established himself as a different kind of Batman; more concerned with inspiring hope than fear. The new team of Batman and Robin is the focus of Grant Morrison and
Frank Quitely's
Batman and Robin series. Their dynamic reverses the classic dynamic of Bruce and Dick, by having a lighter and friendlier Batman paired with a more intense and dark Robin. During this period, Dick Grayson as Batman also features as the leader of the
Justice League, joined by former Titans and
Outsiders teammates
Donna Troy,
Jesse Quick and
Jade, in a run by the writer
James Robinson. After an intense confrontation with the Club of Villains and
Simon Hurt (who has established fake evidence that he is Bruce's father
Thomas Wayne), Hurt is defeated when Bruce returns to the present. However, Bruce leaves Dick to continue to act as Batman in Gotham with Damian as his partner while he sets up the new 'Batman Incorporated' program, Bruce publicly identifying himself as Batman's financial backer to justify a global Batman-themed operation where he funds multiple other vigilantes.
The New 52 (2011–2016) Dick Grayson is re-established as Nightwing following DC's
Flashpoint crossover event, after which the publisher relaunched all of its titles and made alterations to its continuity as part of an initiative called
The New 52. In the new status quo, Bruce Wayne is once again the only Batman, and Dick, like the other members of the adoptive family, is a few years younger. Dick, despite being 19 is drawn a bit shorter than in his pre-relaunch frame. This is likely due to adding believability to his acrobat past. His origin story remains the same (Bruce Wayne takes him in upon his parents' murder by Zucco) except that Dick prodigiously talented at reading body language, allowing him to deduce Batman's secret identity upon their first meeting. According to various interviews it is stated that Dick was adopted at 16 as opposed to as an adult due to the DCNU's timeline existing for only five years. Dick Grayson is shown in flashbacks as
Robin with a revamped version of the Robin costume in
Nightwing (vol. 3) #0 (November 2012) and
Batman and Robin (vol. 2) Annual #2 (March 2014). In his civilian identity, he is attacked by an assassin named Saiko who insists that he is the fiercest killer in Gotham. The series
Batman Incorporated relaunches with a second volume, continuing its story while taking into account the New 52's continuity changes; Dick is now depicted as Nightwing, and not as Batman, but the change is not addressed in the comic itself. In
Nightwing, Dick inherits the deed to the circus from a dying
Jack Haly and begins a relationship with his childhood friend acrobat Raya Vestri. Saiko tortures Haly for information on Nightwing's secret identity, and the old man dies in Dick's arms after telling him the circus holds a terrible secret. Investigating leads, he tracks down a supervillain named Feedback, who used to be a childhood friend but does not learn anything. Following Haly's clues, he finds a mysterious Book of Names in the circus that has his name on the last page. Later the circus announces they will be doing a memorial show on the anniversary of the night Dick's parents were murdered, and Saiko attacks by detonating a massive explosion. It is then revealed that the circus has been training assassins for years, and Saiko was a childhood friend using Raya as an accomplice. Grayson had been selected to become a new Talon for the Court of Owls, but when Batman adopted him, Saiko took his place. The killer plummets to his death and Raya turns herself in. Returning to the Batcave, Bruce reveals to Dick that the current Talon is his great-grandfather William Cobb. Following the event, Dick decided to keep Haly's Circus in Gotham and plans to invest in turning an abandoned amusement park into their new location without Bruce's money. He works with Sonia Branch, the daughter of Tony Zucco, the crime boss who murdered Dick's parents, into getting a loan for this plan by investing his entire trust fund despite being a high-risk due to Saiko's recent attack. The problems arise because of the guilt Sonia feels towards her father's actions The "
Death of the Family" crossover event across the
Batman-related comic books led to a major shift in Nightwing's status quo. During the storyline, one of Dick's friends Jimmy Clark, who worked as a circus clown, was murdered by the
Joker because Joker felt like Jimmy was a knockoff of him. Nightwing later discovers Joker broke Raya out of prison, infected her with his Joker venom, and forced her to fight him while wearing a makeshift Nightwing costume. The toxin eventually killed Raya, though Nightwing tried in vain with an anti-toxin to save her. Nightwing then discovered that Joker left a message on Raya's abdomen that he was targeting Haly's Circus next. However upon arriving there, Joker unveils his plan to burn the circus to the ground and then infects Nightwing with his gas which not only causes him to experience hallucinations of Jimmy and Raya but he is soon attacked by the other members of Haly's Circus that were also affected by the toxin allowing Joker to capture him. In an uncharacteristically heroic moment, Luthor injects Grayson's heart with adrenaline, which successfully revives Grayson.
Cyborg enters, having defeated Grid, and Grayson joins Batman, Cyborg, and Catwoman in freeing the Justice League from the
Firestorm Matrix. After the defeat of the Syndicate, Grayson is seen with Batman in the
Batcave. Batman tells him that he has to send him on the most dangerous mission he could undertake, requiring that Grayson fakes his death. Upon the latter's refusal (saying he cannot do that to his family), the two have an all-out brawl during which Batman tells him
Spyral is in possession of multiple secret identities and could kill his friends and family. As Bruce monologues about knowing the magnitude of what he's asking, Dick reiterates his refusal to keep his survival from his family. He finally gains the upper hand, winning the fight. However, Dick's pyrrhic victory brings him no satisfaction as he feels compelled to take on the mission, even as he tells Bruce, "if you make me do this, things can never be the same with us again."
Grayson The
Nightwing title concluded in April 2014 at issue #30, and was replaced with a new title,
Grayson, which depicts Dick having given up his life as Nightwing at age 22 and going undercover as an agent of the Spyral organization where the former
Batwoman Kathy Kane works. Written by
Tim Seeley and former
CIA counter-terrorism officer
Tom King, the career change for Dick Grayson comes from the urging of Batman himself, who convinces him to remain dead to the world. Seeley stated that the series will be "leaning into" Grayson's sex symbol status. The character's look also is redesigned with no mask, but a blue-and-black outfit calling back to his pre-New 52 Nightwing counterpart with an addition of a "G" on his chest, said to be reminiscent of the Robin "R". In the "Agent of Spyral" storyline, Dick (known as Agent 37) is enlisted by Mister Minos, the director of Spyral, after having been chosen by
Helena Bertinelli to serve as a new candidate. However, Dick serves as a
mole under Batman due to their agenda of unmasking heroes by collecting the Paragon organs, organs which contain the
DNA of the Justice League and bestows meta-bioweapons the ability to use their powers. He assists Spyral's agenda to know more about Minos and his endgame, resulting in Spyral attaining most of the scattered organs. In a later story arc, Minos betrays Spyral and attempts to leak its secrets. To his surprise, he finds the new
Agent Zero, who reveals that she, along with the upper echelon of Spyral, had used Minos to attract Dick into Spyral and kills Minos as he has outlived his life full of humor. During
Batman and Robin Eternal, Grayson finds himself working with various other members of the Bat-Family when Bruce Wayne is amnesiac after his resurrection against the ruthless villain known only as "Mother", who, it is revealed, briefly met with Batman early in Grayson's career as Robin, believing that he shared her views on using trauma to make people stronger. Mother intends to trigger a global collapse with the reasoning that the survivors will rebuild a stronger world after being broken by tragedy and without the hindrance of parents to force their ideals on them, but Grayson and the rest of the Family can defeat her, Dick affirming that Batman helps the Robins become their people who can avoid the mistakes he made in dealing with his trauma rather than Mother's belief that she and Batman each teach people to use their trauma to define themselves. After the storyline, Dick meets with the restored Batman, assuring Bruce that, unlike Mother, he never forced his ideas on them, but simply gave them all an example that they chose to emulate while avoiding following it so exactly that they became like him. When the
Court of Owls plant a bomb inside Damian Wayne, they can blackmail Dick into officially joining their organization, although all sides are aware that Grayson intends to try and use his new position against them. The
Grayson series ended in issue #20, wherein the final issue, it was revealed that all knowledge of Dick's identity was erased from most of the world with one of Spyral's satellites, allowing Dick to resume his superhero activities as Nightwing once again. Nightwing is prominently featured in two Rebirth books: the fourth volume of
Nightwing, his solo book, and
Titans, where Dick teams up with the other original
Teen Titans after
Wally West returns to the universe; through Wally, Dick remembers events of his life before
Flashpoint and
The New 52. After the Titans are forcibly disbanded by the Justice League, Dick creates a new Titans team after the rupture of the Source Wall consisting of Donna Troy, Raven,
Steel (Natasha Irons), Beast Boy, and
Miss Martian. In his solo book, Dick is paired with a vigilante named Raptor and the two plan to bring down the Court of Owls from the inside. Barbara criticizes Dick's willingness to trust him and does not agree with his methods. Though Raptor seemed willing to play by Dick's rules of not killing, he tricks Dick into agreeing to a plan that results in the deaths of all of the Parliament of Owls in Sydney. After knocking Dick out, Raptor goes to Gotham and kidnaps Bruce during a conference. Nightwing confronts him alone in the ruins of a circus in Paris. Raptor reveals that he grew up in the circus as a child and fell in love with Dick's mother, Mary, as they stole from the rich and powerful in Paris. Raptor watched over Dick in the shadows as he grew up, and developed a hatred for Bruce Wayne as he represented everything he and Mary were against and felt it was dishonoring her memory to have Dick raised by him. Dick defeats Raptor and rescues Bruce in time. Shawn is kidnapped by Professor Pyg after Dick discovers she might be pregnant with his child, and he teams up with Damian to track Pyg down and rescue her. After Shawn is revealed not to be pregnant, she ultimately breaks up with Dick, who focuses his efforts on taking down criminals such as Blockbuster, the returning Raptor, the Judge, and Wyrm. During one of his nightly patrols with Batman, Nightwing is shot by KGBeast and nearly killed. As a result, he suffered from severe memory loss and attempted to build a new life in Blüdhaven. He changed his name to Ric, gave up being Nightwing, and became a taxi driver that frequently went to bars. With Blüdhaven suffering from an increase in crime from the vigilante's absence, a detective named Sapienza comes across Dick's abandoned hideout in the subway and decides to become the new Nightwing. Sapienza recruits a team of his friends in law enforcement to help him, and together they make a team of Nightwings using Dick Grayson's old uniforms. In addition to Sapienza, the team consists of Malcolm Hutch, the deputy chief in the Blüdhaven fire department, Zak Edwards, the vice of the 10th precinct, and Colleen Edwards, detective of the 14th precinct. During
Year of the Villain, Ric is captured by William Cobb, his grandfather who is a
Talon. A brain surgeon that Bruce hired to take care of Dick after he was shot named Dr. Haas was secretly a member of the Court, who was using a mystical memory crystal to alter Dick's memories and eventually shape him into becoming a Talon himself. William Cobb forces Ric to wear goggles and puts Dick under his spell. As a Talon, Grayson fights off other Nightwing heroes. A Nightwing hero name Connor Red shoots at Grayson's mask, making his eye visible. Connor Red pleads for mercy saying he has a family, and as the sun comes up Dick Grayson suddenly breaks out of his grandfather's control. Dick Grayson starts to remember his adventures as Nightwing. Ric defeats Talon, and saves his girlfriend Bea. Afterwards, he journeys to Switzerland to learn more answers about his past from Dr. Haas, who attempts to use the crystal to alter his memories once more. However, an explosion seemingly sends her down a river to her death while Ric can retrieve the memory crystal she used on him. During the "Joker War" storyline, the Joker steals the memory crystal and uses it to brainwash Grayson into believing he is the Joker's adopted son, "Dicky Boy" and turns him against the Bat Family in his latest war against Batman. After Barbara gets the crystal back, Bea uses it to allow him to fully regain his memories as Dick Grayson.
Infinite Frontier Returning to his role as Blüdhaven's protector, Grayson is informed by Barbara Gordon that he has been bequeathed a fortune by Alfred Pennyworth, accumulated during his years of service to the Wayne family. He decides to use this newfound wealth to establish a philanthropic foundation to revitalize Blüdhaven, while continuing to fight corruption and crime as Nightwing. In both efforts, he is opposed by Blockbuster as well as a new villain, Heartless, who steals peoples' hearts to sustain his own life. He is supported by Barbara, who reclaims her mantle as Batgirl; Tim Drake, once again operating as Robin; the Titans;
Jon Kent, who is publicly operating as Superman in his father's absence; and two unexpected new allies: the new mayor of Blüdhaven, who is his previously unknown half-sister, and a three-legged pit bull puppy whom Grayson adopts, naming her "Haley" (although Drake immediately dubs her "Bitewing"). == Character overview ==