Richard John "Dick" Grayson is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Batman, the Teen Titans, and the Justice League. Created by writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane, he first appeared in Detective Comics #38 in April 1940. Dick is the original and most popular incarnation of Robin, the crime-fighting partner of Batman, with whom he forms the Dynamic Duo. The son of master acrobats dubbed the Flying Graysons, he is later adopted by Batman's alter ego Bruce Wayne.
Dick Grayson's character has evolved since he was introduced in 1940. In 1984, he graduated from the role of Robin to become the adult superhero Nightwing, protector of the city of Blüdhaven,Blüdhaven was introduced in the second volume of Nightwing. The character has also been associated with Gotham City, New York City, and Chicago in different runs. an economically troubled neighbor of Gotham City. As Bruce's eldest adoptive son, Dick has become an older-brother figure to his male successors as Robin: tearaway Jason Todd, teenage prodigy Tim Drake, and Batman's biological child, trained assassin Damian Wayne. In the Batman Family, his closest relationships are with Batman's loyal butler and father figure Alfred Pennyworth, and with one of his romantic interests Barbara Gordon, who served as Batgirl alongside Dick, and who later helps Nightwing as Oracle. Dick has also taken up the mantle of Batman on occasions when Bruce was missing, incapacitated, or believed dead.Grayson has taken on the identity of Batman several times. In the aftermath of Batman: Knightfall, he was not offered the role while Wayne was recovering from a broken back, because he felt Nightwing was a hero in his own right and not an understudy. But after the events of the Zero Hour: Crisis in Time! miniseries, Grayson fills-in as Batman, beginning in Robin (Vol. 2) #0 (1994) and extending through the Batman: Prodigal storyline in 1995. Grayson assumes the mantle following "Batman R.I.P." (2008) and Final Crisis (2008–2009), when Bruce is presumed dead and led the Justice League. Following Wayne's return, both simultaneously maintain the Batman identity until 2011.
Dick is well-connected to other characters across the fictional DC Universe, particularly since 1964, when he became a founding member of the Teen Titans superhero group with other sidekicks of the Justice League. Teen Titans establishes many of the character's most significant partnerships, including with his best friends Wally West (Kid Flash), Donna Troy (Wonder Girl), and Roy Harper (Speedy), and his most well-known romantic interest, the Tamaranean princess Starfire. Dick is widely recognised as one of the superhero community's greatest strategists, leading the adult Titans team, the Outsiders, and even the Justice League at various times. Dick also has connections to the Superman franchise, with Superman providing the original inspiration for him to become Nightwing and take on a different style of superheroism from Batman, with Nightwing later mentoring Superman's son Jon Kent.
Grayson has appeared as Robin in many Batman adaptations over the years. In live-action, the character appeared in the serial Batman played by Douglas Croft, the serial Batman and Robin played by Johnny Duncan, the television series Batman and its film played by Burt Ward, the film Batman Forever and its sequel Batman & Robin played by Chris O'Donnell, and the television series Titans played by Brenton Thwaites.
Publication history
Robin the Boy Wonder
The character was first introduced in Detective Comics #38 (1940) by Batman creators Bill Finger and Bob Kane. Robin's debut was an effort to get younger readers to enjoy Batman. The name "Robin, The Boy Wonder" and the medieval look of the original costume are inspired by the legendary hero Robin Hood. Finger had named Dick Grayson after both the half-brother of pulp fiction character Frank Merriwell, named Dick, and book editor Charles Grayson, Jr. The costume was designed by Jerry Robinson who drew it from memory based on Robin Hood illustrations by N. C. Wyeth.Groth, Gary (November 2005). "Jerry Robinson: Been There, Done That". The Comics Journal #271
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.