Post by grayson on Oct 6, 2008 19:33:51 GMT -5
Basic Information:
Real name: Richard John Grayson
Current Alias: Nightwing (also known as Robin, Batman, Renegade)
Gender: Male
Age: 23
Occupation: Vigilante and Detective; Former acrobat, police officer, bartender
Marital Status: Single
Alignment: Good
Affiliation(s): The Bat-Family, JLA
Characteristics
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 175 LBS
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black
Character Type: Human
Description: Dick is in peak physical condition, well sculpted but not OVERLY muscular. Well endowed with good looks that have made quite a few ladies swoon as well as connected him with many a former girlfriend/relationship. More user friendly than his mentor , that isn't to say he's not ever bit as serious about his costumed activities as Bruce is. He is in fact more like Bruce in some ways than he'd ever admit.
Personality
Dick Grayson is a serious but easy going young man in his early to 20s. He's in a way the perfect big brother and the nicest, most popular guy in the group. He will approach everything with the confidence born of amazing talent and incredible training; yet manage to never seem pretentious in the slightest, always caring for others and being genuinely attentive.
At times, a casual observer might think his Motivation is Thrill of Adventure - he finds rooftop acrobatics or driving the Nightbird just plain *fun*, gets an obvious sense of satisfaction from bringing justice and happiness to the people, and has always some light banter ready for combat - although he's not a motor-mouth like Booster Gold, or even Roy Harper, he usually seems very relaxed when doing the vigilante thing. However, what actually makes him tick is a deep, burning desire to make the world a better, safer place where justice actually exists. Like the Batman, he wants no kid to ever suffer the losses he went through; unlike the Batman he does not see the world as a cruel and harsh place, but remembers the wonderful childhood he had. This profound difference in their memories of the time before the loss let Nightwing fight for a better, safer world for honest peoples around him while his former mentor fight to crush evil. While Batman follows his own obsessive rules, Nightwing is actually sane and a part of society. Like the Batman, he has a very strong "nobody dies on my watch" code.
Nightwing's courage is amazing - he has faced so much danger and monstrous opponents straight from a nightmare since his early teens that he seem to be fearless and take physical pain in strike without resenting it. To him it's a mere part of his job, and he can actually defy physical or mental torture with a smile. Even when badly hurt, he'll still act in a stalwart and generous way, saving innocents and bearing little grudge. Likewise, although his life has been a terrifying emotional grinder, he's outgoing, gentle and well-adjusted.
Nightwing cares a lot for Tim Drake - although he never treats him as a kid, he knows Tim is the closest thing to a little brother he will ever have. He enjoys teaming up with him, and will help to train him when he can, usually running Tim through old training routines the Batman devised for the first Robin. They have clear chemistry and respect between them.
His relationship with the Batman has changed over the years. It was initially rather complicated - Bruce Wayne simply did not have the tools to express how much he cared for the young man who is for all intend and purpose his son, and Nightwing always felt in the shadow of his formidable 'father'. They were awkwardly and silently defensive toward each other, with a lot of things left unsaid. However when Batman had bee missing, and Dick took over the mantle of the Batman, and Bruce returned, the relationship changed. Bruce allowed Nightwing to remain Batman, even joining the JLA. This showed Nightwing that he truly was considered an equal with Batman, and had finally left the shadow. The two work like clockwork together, and will fight along with each other in a heartbeat.
Despite being a huge hit with the ladies with his attractiveness, confidence and boy next door charm, his romantic life keeps turning into a minefield through little fault of his own. He keeps trying, though and has an easy, flattering, gently flirting manner.
Drive: The part of a man that motivates him and keeps him going usually defines his level of success. Dick has grown up with a heaping dose of motivation, and it usually takes true futility to make him quit. If they're dead, he'll accept that he can't bring them back to life. If they're driving away and he's on foot, he'll give up running after them...for now. Maybe. He is just not the kind of guy to take 'no' for an answer, instead mentally translating it as 'not yet'.
Nice: Unlike some other dark vigilantes of the night, Nightwing likes to smile and chitchat with people. He allows others to see when he cares, and is less likely to hold a grudge against someone for trying to knock his head off if he knows they believe their life depends on robbing that store or not getting locked up. He isn't prone to taking out his frustrations on people physically (though he might yell at them), and is definitely the kind of guy who'd give a dollar to someone who's down on their luck.
History
Born on the first day of spring, "little robin" Grayson (as his mother called him) led an adventurous and happy childhood. One-third of the famed aerialist act The Flying Graysons - along with his father John and his mother Mary - Dick was a natural acrobat. He took to the high wire and trapeze at a very young age, thrilling audiences with his death-defying acts. He traveled the globe with his parents and the rest of Haley's Circus, seeing more of the world in his first ten years than most people see in a lifetime. The boy wonder of aerial acrobatics was billed nationally and was an inspiration for kids everywhere - even a very young Tim Drake begged his father to take him to Haley's.
Then the Circus traveled to Gotham. The Flying Graysons were the top draw at Haly's Circus, the act that pulled in crowds of children and thrill-seekers. And so it was the Graysons whom gangster Tony Zucco targeted when Pop Haly refused to pay him protection money. If Haly wouldn't pay in money, he would pay another way. Zucco sabotaged the rigging for the trapeze. That night, before a stunned crowd of Gotham's leading citizens, John and Mary Grayson plummeted to their deaths. Dick heard the ropes snap watched his parents die - and then he understood the meaning of the veiled threats he had overheard being made, and how he should have warned his parents.
Among the businessmen and politicians and socialites in the crowd that night was billionaire Bruce Wayne. He, too, had lost his parents tragically young - to a mugging gone bad. Seeing in Dick the same lost, confused and frightened little boy he had once been, Bruce offered to take in Dick and become his legal guardian. While Dick reluctantly settled in at the cavernous, luxurious and lonely Wayne Manor, Batman devoted all of his energies to capturing Zucco.
Dick, however, was very uncomfortable in the manor, under the care of the ever-absent Bruce Wayne. He would have fled the tomb-like Wayne Estate numerous times hadn't it been for Alfred Pennyworth's care. He ultimately did, however, wanting to avenge his parents. Racing back to Haly's Circus, he found it under the thumb of Zucco's men. He charged blindly at them as they were threatening the carnies and was nearly killed - but the Batman swooped in, taking out Zucco's men and declaring the circus to be under his protection.
While the carnies appeared to be now safe, Dick remained traumatized by his parents' deaths. Wayne had a talk with the youth as the Batman, after seeing to Grayson's wounds at the hands of Zucco's men in the Batcave. Dick told him about his loneliness (as he was seeing more of a mysterious creature of the night like Batman than Bruce Wayne), his guilt, his desire for vengeance and redemption. The Batman then took the dual step of revealing his secret identity to him, and taking him as an pupil.
Dick started a grueling regimen of mental and physical training - criminal psychology, aikijutsu, cryptology, jujitsu, forensics, karate... - that would last a year. Three months into that training, the Batman finally located Zucco, and he and his ward attempted to apprehend them. Tony Zucco ran as far as he could in face of the onslaught, but Grayson caught up with him and tackled him. The chase had been too much for the man, whose had a heart attack; while an ambulance was called he died on his way to the ER after confessing.
That death only served to intensify Robin's training regimen, as he realized he was not after vengeance but more after appeasing his guilt about his parents' death - and justice. Wayne, however, was reluctant to have a sidekick - and Alfred told Dick that Bruce would never ask for help, and that if he wanted to have a place at his side he would have to take it.
At the anniversary of the beginning of his training, Dick asked the Batman to convince him he was worthy by undergoing a final test - a real-world test of his abilities. From sunrise to sundown, he had to elude the Dark Knight on the streets of Gotham, leaving Batman clues as to his location. He passed with flying colors. Not only did Dick succeed in evading Batman, but he also cracked an attempted murder case and brought down Joe Minette, one of Gotham's most powerful mob bosses.
And so Richard John Grayson became Robin the Boy Wonder. Modeling his crime fighting outfit after his old aerialist costume, and taking his mother's nickname for him as his nom de guerre, he became the Batman's partner, his protégé, his surrogate son, a laughing, joking bright light in the Dark Knight's otherwise grim existence. Together, they faced the deadly streets of Gotham, night after night, taking down murderers and rapists and arsonists and drug runners. Together, they faced Gotham's most dangerous criminals: the maniacal Joker and schizophrenic Two-Face, the Penguin and Poison Ivy, monstrous Killer Croc and larcenous Catwoman. Moments of glory included a successful solo mission against the Mad Hatter (despite the Batman forbidding him to do so), and saving Batman's life from Blockbuster when Robin encountered him for the first time.
The status quo of Batman-and-Robin was dramatically changed by two events. The first was the appearance of Batgirl - Barbara Gordon. She was an uninvited guest, at least from Batman's point of view. She took his name and his symbol and began to fight crime, without his permission. The Boy Wonder, on the other hand, took to her immediately... though it was obvious part of his approval was an adolescent crush. It was Robin who finally convinced Batman to let the interloper join their close-knit family of crime fighters, and Batgirl was soon as well known in criminal circles as the Dark Knight and the Boy Wonder. When the Batman was busy elsewhere Robin and Batgirl would often team up, or enjoy something of a relationship.
The second event which proved so important was Robin's team-up with two other sidekicks, Kid Flash (later Flash) and Aqualad (later Tempest). On their own, the teen heroes joined forces to stop the villainous Mr. Twister. Shortly thereafter, the trio was joined by Speedy (later Arsenal) and Wonder Girl (later Troia) to rescue their mentors in the JLA from a mind-controlled thrall. The five young heroes discovered in each other an acceptance and friendship that their mentors could never truly offer ... and so they remained together. At Wonder Girl's suggestion, they took the name The Teen Titans and, under Robin's leadership, soon began having adventures of their own, far from the protection and oversight of their elders - who were busy saving the world without them as the Justice League of America, anyway. The Titans would know various incarnations and split several times. The Titans were another point of friction between Bruce and Dick, however, as the headstrong Robin had chose to reveal his identity to his teammate despite Batman's objections.
But Batman casts a long shadow, and the Boy Wonder would not remain a boy forever. In his late teens, Dick moved out of Wayne Manor to attend Hudson State University in the town of New Carthage. Though he never admitted it out loud, Bruce suffered a bad case of Empty Nest Syndrome. Once, he had resigned himself to being alone, to fighting His War alone. Then Robin appeared, a bright light, the son he had never imagined having. And now he was gone. To make matters more difficult, their relationship had become increasingly strained as Dick matured. While Bruce became even more intense, more dedicated, Dick began to crave that which he had lost long ago: a normal family. The final break came when Robin was shot in the shoulder by the Joker; though not fatal, the injury was an omen, a forewarning of what might happen - and it played on all the left over doubts in Batman after the Two-Face incident. Bruce decided that he would not ignore the obvious twice, and again forbade Robin to be a masked adventurer.
Furious, hurt, resigned, confused, Dick returned to Titan Tower and his friends in New York City. He dropped out of Hudson after only a semester - obviously he unconsciously hoped Bruce would react to this failure and demonstrate he cared somehow, but there was no reaction. Batman took away the Robin costume - Dick would no longer be Robin, could no longer be Robin. Then Batman made the young Jason Todd the new Robin - the replacement taking the very identity Grayson had created and defined for so many years. Wayne also legally adopted Todd as his son, which he never had done for Grayson. Utterly dejected, Dick left the Titans after making Wonder Girl the new leader. Kid Flash, who also had entered a point of personal crisis, left the Titans at the same time.
Uncertain what to do, he turned to someone he knew would understand: Superman. Very briefly, Dick had considered giving up the whole crime fighting gig ; but he couldn't imagine his life any other way ; he had even imagined that someday he would be Batman. He loved it. But if he couldn't be Robin, what would he be?
Superman had the answer. Long ago on Krypton, a man was cast out by his family - just as Dick had been. He dreamed of a world ruled by justice, and set out to protect the helpless of Krypton. His true identity was never revealed. He was known only as Nightwing. Dick adopted that name as his own.
Nightwing made his debut in the Colorado Rockies. His friends were in danger, betrayed by one of their own. Allied with the assassin/mercenary Deathstroke, the Titan Terra had turned on her teammates - and might very well have succeeded in killing them all had Nightwing not intervened like the proverbial cavalry. Deathstroke escaped, and the unstable Terra killed herself.
This time, Dick elected to remain. He made his home in New York, not far from Titan Tower. Having seemingly outgrown his adolescent crush on Batgirl, he had fallen in love with fellow Titan Starfire. An alien from the planet Tamaran, and a princess no less, Starfire a.k.a. Koriand'r a.k.a. Kory was a loyal if tempestuous lover. Where Dick now only had bitterness and aggression from Bruce, he had compassion and understanding from his teammates and love, honest love, with Koriand'r - and with his new life in new York seemed to escape the shadow of the Batman. Dick and Kory were together for close to three years - until Kory was recalled to Tamaran and ordered to marry a prince to seal a treaty and bring peace to her homeworld. Though he knew the marriage was politically-driven, Dick was still deeply hurt when Kory elected to remain on Tamaran and go through with the wedding.
Heart-broken, Nightwing returned to Earth and resigned once again as leader of the Titans. He set out on his own. For a time, he was even involved with the cult known as the Church of Brother Blood. He returned occasionally to Gotham, where he met his replacement. During this period, the Joker struck two devastating blows - a gunshot shattered Barbara Gordon's spine, permanently crippling her and meaning the death of Batgirl ; and a devious plan resulted in the death of Jason Todd at the ends of the sinister clown prince of crime.
Jason's death weighted on Dick's conscience, sent Batman on something akin to suicidal rampage ; he took irrational risks, facing opponents he was ill-prepared to meet, and nearly died several times. Alarmed by Batman's actions, thirteen year-old Tim Drake (who had long ago uncovered the identities of the Dynamic Duo) tried to convince Dick to return to Batman's side as Robin. Dick refused. He could never go back to being Robin again - but there was no reason that the brilliant Tim could not be Robin. Initially, Batman refused to even consider taking on a third protégé ; he would not risk the life of another child. Won over when Tim helped them take down Two-Face, Batman finally agreed to train the Drake kid, a decision he has never regretted. Nightwing, meanwhile, had bonded with his successor, becoming a surrogate big brother. Perhaps regretting that he did not know Jason better, he spends as much time as possible with Tim.
Starfire's Tamaranian husband eventually died, and she returned to Earth and to Dick. Though they moved back in together, things were never the same again between them. Tragic events followed - during the so-called Titans Hunt in which many Titans were severely injured or some even killed, all under the betrayal of Jericho (who later died) and the directorship of the apparent Wilderbeast Society. Struggling to keep everyone together as best he could and out of a fear of loss, Dick proposed to Kory, to which she agreed. Yet, the ceremony would be cut short with the appearance of a former Titan, Raven, who with an empathic attack managed to drive a wedge between the couple before the vows could be taken. Dejected, hurt and once more bewildered, Dick quit the Titans once more as it came under government sponsorship, as he left it in the care of Roy's leadership. With the aborted ceremony, Dick and Kory decided to end their relationship.
Though the break up was mutual, Dick remained hurt for a very long time. That hurt was only compounded when Bruce chose someone else to succeed him as Batman. His back broken by the redoubtable villain Bane, Bruce needed someone to carry on in his place. Too proud, too uncertain of his former ward's feelings, Bruce chose Jean-Paul Valley a.k.a. Azrael II, a man he barely knew. His choice had disastrous consequences after only a short time.
Valley, who had a complex history of mental and genetic manipulation, went mad. While Bruce suffered through intense physical therapy and retraining, Valley went on a rampage in Gotham. Far more ruthless, far more bloody, then the real Batman, "Az-Bats" left a trail of terrified and maimed criminals in his wake. Only when Bruce was fully recovered, only when he was sure again of his own abilities, did he dare take on Valley. And even than, he needed the help of Nightwing and Robin.
Nightwing returned to Gotham and helped his mentor/father stop Valley. He was glad to do so. But Bruce had one more favor, another favor, to ask. He was not yet ready to return as Batman. Would Dick remain in his place? Would Dick agree to wear the mantle of the Bat?
Reluctantly, he did so. He faced Killer Croc and the Ventriloquist, the Ratcatcher and a riot at Blackgate Prison. He even came face-to-face with his worst nightmare: Two-Face, holding Robin hostage in a morbid echo of past events. This time, though, he didn't play by Two-Face's rules, and he won. This time, no one died. Dick had finally conquered his long-time fear of the insane, disfigured maniac.
While his skills as a detective and scientist and martial artist proved more than up to the task, Dick found the costume an ill-fit. Dick discovered that while he could play the part of Batman, he could not fill the role. He was Nightwing, not Batman. He was and is Dick Grayson - a friendly, well adjusted young man fighting for justice - not Bruce Wayne - a brooding dark god relentlessly hunting injustice.
When Bruce finally returned, for good, it all came out. They finally talked, as they should have done years ago. Dick finally realized how much Bruce actually cared, and came to understand why Bruce did not immediately ask him to step in as Batman: Bruce was proud of Dick, of the life and name he had made for himself ; he did not want to take that away from him. Bruce, for his part, came to realize how much his seeming rejection had hurt Dick and how badly he had handled Dick's departure all those years ago.
Dick then flew to England to find Alfred Pennyworth, who had left Bruce's employ after Bane's assault. Dick found and rescued his old friend Alfred, and went on to thwart British terrorists plotting to blow up the Chunnel. For a short time, Dick considered retirement but Alfred produced some documentation showing that the Flying Graysons may have had a connection to the country of Kravia. While following this wild goose chase that ended triggering the collapse of the Kravian nobility, Dick learning little new about his parents, but became romantically entangled with a young woman he saved from kidnappers. However, it turns out that Maggie Sawyer had arranged the kidnapping to seek attention from her abusive father, that she ended up killing herself while Nightwing was busy battling the racist prince of Kravia who was planning ethic cleansing.
From here Dick took some time to follow up some other cases, his next bringing him into a courtship with Emily Washburn as he faked a marriage to her to attempt to uncover a black widow murderess... which turns out to be Emily's friend, Annelise. Having fallen in love with Emily along the way, the relationship does not last as Emily leaves betrayed.
When Gotham was ravaged by The Clench, a deadly ebola-like plague, Nightwing - the rifts between him and the Batman mostly healed - crossed armed quarantine lines to help. Some time later, when the city was leveled by an earthquake, Nightwing joined Batman and Robin and other heroes as they tried to free people trapped in the rubble, distribute much-needed supplies, and keep the city calm.
Meanwhile, when the bodies of dead made men begin to float upriver from Blüdhaven, Batman sends Nightwing to investigate. As bad as Gotham is, Blüdhaven is worse. A former whaling town turned industrial center, Blüdhaven is hopelessly mired in drugs and corruption ; everyone is on the take, especially the police. And at the top once sit Angel Marin - but the corpses of his wise guys were one of the few visible signs that Roland 'Blockbuster' Desmond, a gargantuan sociopath, was quietly taking his place. He placed a hefty bounty on the investigating Nightwing's head, which any number of assassins (such as the Scarecrow, Lady Vic, Stallion or Brutale) have attempted to collect on. All have failed.
While in Gotham covering for Batman who was elsewhere on other missions, Nightwing encountered the Huntress as the two were both investigating mobster who was falsely accused of killing a prostitute. Working together, they made the mistake of becoming lovers - which was obviously doomed from the start. Solving the case, they parted ways both unsure what to make of the situation, and each other. Although they keep an obvious physical attraction (especially on the more aggressive Huntress' side), they are aware their personalities and philosophies are incompatible.
Hoping to be for the 'Haven what Batman is for Gotham, Dick settled down in a low-rent apartment and quickly landed a job as a bartender in a police bar. His work as a vigilante was much tougher - he was basically alone, not wanting to rely on the Batman and having very few honest cops with whom to ally - least of whom police chief Redhorn, an ally of Blockbuster. He had to create his own networks of information and grip over the city, with help from Barbara Gordon (now known as Oracle) - and for a short while had to rely on information from "Deadly" Dudley Soames, a crooked cop playing a formidably dangerous game between law enforcement and playing off criminal factions.
While maneuvering to keep the very dangerous Blockbuster in check, Grayson had to keep juggling with various problems, such as a tentative romance with his superintendent, Bridget Clancy, the spectacular thefts of the acrobatic sister act called the Double Dare, or the actions of a young bull-headed vigilante who had coincidentally called himself Nite-Wing. The end result of eighteen years in Blüdhaven's foster care system, Nite-Wing is a sociopath who believes himself to be a hero. Armed with a steel baton and garbed in a hockey jersey, Nite-Wing spent his nights cracking skulls and stealing money from criminals. The real Nightwing has had to rescue Nite-Wing on more than one occasion, and has often been blamed for the latter's brutalities. Unaware that Ryerstad was an homicidal brute, Dick even took him under his wing for a short time - but had him arrested when Ryerstad tragically murdered an undercover FBI agent, Cisco Blaine.
During this time, Dick also found himself fighting alongside Oracle in post-quake Gotham, when the city had been declared a no man's land by the federal government. There had been romantic tension between them for some time, but Barbara just didn't admit Dick could love a cripple. He eventually won her over.
Looking for an angle to have a long term effects on the crime and corruption in Blüdhaven, Grayson enrolled in and graduated from the local police academy. Once within the system, he managed to find a few good cops, such as his partner Sergeant Amy Rohrbach or detective Addad, who want to clean up their city just as badly as Dick - and was made a member of a secret cop organization struggling to build a file on corruption within the department. However, juggling with a day job as a cop and a night life as Nightwing proved exhausting, and Dick started doing a fair amount of mistakes. At one point, during a fight with Sylph, he was thrown on a highway ; although he survived the harrowing experience, the resulting pileup led to the death of Blockcbuster's mother, who had a cardiac condition - an event which would have dire consequences. He also was nearly killed by Shrike II, looking for revenge after an early case Dick had solved as Robin.
The issues with vast corruption were eventually solved, though, after Nightwing secured the journal of Mary Redhorn, the chief of police's estranged wife. There were enough names and dates in it to, along with the documents amassed by he secret anti-corruption club, to trigger a Federal investigation and sweeping arrests and retirements within the force. Due to severe personnel shortages, many remaining cops were suddenly promoted. Dick's ex-partner, Sgt Rohrbach, became a Captain while Detective Added came to head the department.
Due to fatigue, Dick became less careful about his secret identity (and, thus, Batman's secret identity). Amy Rohrbach understood who he was when Nightwing intervened to save her from a home invasion lad by a small force of corrupt cops. Feeling betrayed that a masked vigilante had infiltrated the force, she fired Dick shortly after. Blockbuster also came to learn that Nightwing was Dick Grayson. Which was very, very bad news - as he was now recovered from his heart transplant, and considered Nightwing to be directly responsible for the death of his mom.
Blockbuster launched a ruthless campaign to destroy Nightwing's life. Most notably, he had the Firefly attack the Haly Circus by setting the big top on fire, resulting in many deaths and wounded carnies and customers ; Nightwing nearly killed himself attempting to save everyone, and was morally devastated by the blow. A short time later, Blockbuster had Dick Grayson's building bombed. The firebombing killed many friends of Nightwing as well as John Law, a novelist best known for having been the Golden Age hero called the Tarantula II.
An attack by an agent of Blockbuster, Tarantula III, was also the catalyst for a breakup between Dick and Barbara, which had been brewing for some time. Barbara still had strong issues with her crippled legs and self-image, and couldn't stand Dick's habit of living in the past and always remembering about the good old days with the first Batgirl - his time as a cop, risking his life day and night like her father did, and Nightwing slowly becoming more like the Batman, also helped considerably in wrecking their relationship.
Still in a crisis of conscience, Dick adopts the new villainous persona of Renegade in order to infiltrate Lex Luthor's Secret Society of Super-Villains. He allies himself with his long-time enemy Deathstroke in order to keep the Society's hands away from Blüdhaven. He also begins training (and converting) Deathstroke's daughter Ravager.
Deathstroke betrays Nightwing when Blüdhaven is destroyed by the Society. The Society drops the supervillain Chemo on the city, killing 100,000 people. Dick tries to rescue survivors but is overcome by radiation poisoning, only to be rescued himself by Batman. Nightwing confides that he let Blockbuster die and asks Batman to forgive him. Batman tells him that his forgiveness doesn't matter; Dick has to move beyond Blockbuster's death. Inspired by his mentor, he proposes to Barbara Gordon, who tearfully accepts his proposal with a kiss.
Gotham has gone to hell and Robin and Nightwing are trying their hardest to set it right, they have developed the Network, made up of their best allies to help. Robin and Squire were tracking some robbers but before they could take them down some else does, Robin and Squire don't see the person but he leaves them a note saying "I'M THE REAL BATMAN" but before anything can be said Nightwing call's Robin for back up with a gang, they take the gang down. Meanwhile a coach full of Gotham's most dangerous criminal's on their way to Arkham but the coach is stopped by a small army of goons lead by the Black Mask. After the criminals are off the coach, Arkham is blown up [by the Joker] also they've caught on that Batman is no longer around. Back in the Bat-cave Nightwing is looking at all of Batman's different suits when Tim walks in saying that one of them [Tim or Dick] needs to become the new Batman. Nightwing shrugs this off so Tim tells Dick about a man running around in a custom made Batman suit fighting crime [possibly Jason Todd] but this was no beginner he was experienced and knew what he was doing.
Tim uses his brilliant detective skills to work out where the imposter Batman's hideout is, but Tim decides not to confront the fake Batman as Robin but as Batman, he uses the silver age Batman suit. Mean while Damian is joy riding in a Batmobile with a friend when Oracle calls him to do a sweep of the docks, Damian's friend starts talking, Oracle takes control of the car and presses the eject button on Damian's friends seat, and she goes flying into a small stream where Killer Croc and Poison Ivy are trying track the Batmobile, Croc eats the girl, then knocks the car of the road into the stream, Damian is terrified and tries to talk his way out of it, Croc was about to eat Damian but Nightwing flies in on a hand glider and saves Damian; but while their flying they are shot out of the air, on the ground they are quickly surrounded by goons, suddenly the phony Batman comes in shooting the goons.
Dick begins to fight the phony Batman, while their fighting Dick revels he knows the phony Batman is Jason Todd, Jason shoots Damian in the chest then flees the fight. Back at Black Masks hide out and is planning to blow up Gotham police headquarters with Firefly and Adam Bomb meanwhile Tim [dressed in the Silver Age Batman suit] has found Jason's Batcave but he is not alone, Catwoman has followed Tim thinking he was the one killing people. At the same time Dick discovers that Tim had taken the Bat suit.
As Nightwing pursues the Black Mask while also attempting to prevent the authorities from destroying Gotham, Nightwing sends Damian to retrieve Tim unaware of Jason's attempted murder of Tim wearing the Batman costume. Damian saves Tim while Dick confronts the murderous Jason in his makeshift Batman outfit. The battle between Dick and Jason ends with Jason saying he will meet Dick again when Dick defeats Jason knocking him into the river. Fearing Jason will destroy the Batman identity Dick reluctantly returns to wearing the Batman costume with Damian as his Robin rather than Tim. Dick chose Damian instead of Tim because he sees Tim as an equal, not a sidekick: he chose Damian to be Robin so Damian can be guided down the right path of bringing criminals to justice or he could kill someone once again.
Quickly after Dick's becoming of the Dark Knight, he had made his first debut as Batman when he had to take down Scarecrow who was terrorizing people in the road. Other adventures Dick had when he became Batman would be against Two-Face, a new villain named Pyg and Pyg's henchmen/doll people, Jason who became Red Hood again, and Black Mask! Also, around this time Mario Falcone would reemerge as the head of the Falcone Crime Family.
Firefly attempts to burn Gotham City which allows Hush to escape and a new character named Abuse tries to help Gotham. Eventually Firefly nearly kills Black Mask but Zsasz stops him. Batman beats Firefly but learns of Hush posing as Bruce. The JLA and Outsiders then give Hush rules to play by while Black Mask gives Zsasz unlimited money to kill. Zsasz buys new clothes and the Broker sells him an apartment to kill people in. The Broker gives Batman Zsasz's location after getting beat up by the bat.
A priest named Father Mark goes crazy and attempts to kill Helena and Man-Bat who are saved by Batman. However, it is Father Mark who takes out the criminal hired by Black Mask.
Black Mask has been cornered in the Devil's Square area of Gotham City by the National Guard. Black Mask's army of Arkham Asylum escapees are deteriorating without their proper medication, so he begins brainwashing innocent citizens to join his False Face Society. Batman and Commissioner Gordon are attempting to negotiate the release of the Devil's Square citizens that Black Mask is holding for ransom. Dick approaches Selina Kyle, requesting her to get specific information on Black Mask's hideout. Meanwhile, the villains Fright, Dr. Death and Professor Hugo Strange have been inducted into Black Mask's Ministry of Science, with the job of brainwashing the False Faces. Selina Kyle (Catwoman) isn't able to get information on the hideout, but points Dick to the re-emergence of Mario Falcone and the Falcone Crime Empire in Gotham. Mario was behind the killings of members of the False Face Society. To counter Falcone's attacks, Black Mask resurrects an old Batman foe named the Reaper. The Reaper, aided by Strange and Fright, goes on a killing spree, evening out the escalating gang war.
Batman and Robin stop some False Faces from stealing a shipment of pills from a hospital, many miles from Devil's Square. Dick then goes to attend Arkham Asylum's reopening gala to keep an eye on Tommy Elliott posing as Bruce Wayne, aided by the Huntress and Oracle. Also at the party are Dr. Arkham, Mario Falcone and Dr. Singh from Gene-Core, a company going into partnership with the Asylum. Oracle, angry at Huntress for kissing Dick, makes her go after a suspicious girl at the party. Unbeknownst to her, the Riddler was snooping around and following her. The girl breaks into Gene-Core's lab, then sets off a bomb, destroying the lab and much of the building. The explosion makes the Riddler regain his memory. Batman arrives at Gotham Port, where he finds Gordon and Bullock examining the cut-up corpses of several Falcone gangsters. From this, Batman deduces that the Reaper has somehow returned. Dick and Alfred then discover that the girl who blew up Gene-Core's lab is a prolific thief, and goes by many aliases. Dick finds footage of the girl escaping the scene in a taxi, which Alfred traces to Devil's Square. Batman wants to get hold of the girl for questioning, so he gets past Black Mask's snipers and into Devil's Square. Batman asks some local street kids if they know the whereabouts of the girl. One kid, known as Baby D, tells Batman that he's seen her hanging out with the Penguin's henchman, Bossworth. Just as he's about to say more Baby D, to the dismay of Batman, is shot and collapses into his arms.
After getting Baby D to safety, Dick returned to the war zone in Devil's Square to hunt down the Penguin, who seems oblivious and unaffected by the disorder in the area, continuing his usual activities. Dick breaks into the Penguin's facilities, brutally interrogating the pudgy crook on Kitrina Falcone, demanding to know how she is involved in his gang. Before Dick can beat an answer out of the Penguin, he summons Lark, one of his henchgirls, to his rescue. Pausing briefly to defeat Lark, Dick returns his attention back to the Penguin, who finally admits that Kitrina Falcone served as a minor errand girl for his criminal organizations.
After interrogating the Penguin, Dick goes to visit Baby D, who is in critical condition at the Gotham City Children's Memorial Hospital. Dick blames himself for the boy's injuries, vowing to give the child upon his recovery a mentor, a good education and a job, no matter what the cost.
Arkham Asylum was being remodeled by Wayne Enterprises, under Dick's supervision, using Hush as a puppet. An accident on the construction site killed all of the scientists working for Gene-Core company helping with the asylum's reconstruction, except for Dr. Singh, who had attended Arkham Asylum's reopening gala. Commissioner Gordon investigates the deaths and suspects foul play, but even though Dick is well aware that it looks suspicious that only Dr. Singh survived, but refuses to jump to conclusions about the accident. Damian, meanwhile, tries to figure out why Black Mask wanted to hijack a shipment of pills while bottled up in Devil's Square. Dick, continuing into Gordon's investigation into the accident at Arkham Asylum, contacts Oracle for any information she can find about Gene-Core. Together, Dick and Barbara come to the startling conclusion that Professor Hugo Strange must somehow be involved in Gene-Core.
At Devil's Square, Black Mask orders the Penguin assassinated when he discovers that the villain may know something about his operation and has been interrogated by Batman. Black Mask's henchmen attempt to kill the Penguin, who attempts to escape Devil's Square in an armored car. The henchmen desperately resort to using a rocket launcher, which blows up the Penguin's armored car, although the criminal and his henchgirl Lark manage to escape the explosion and flee on foot.
The Huntress reports to Dick that the Penguin may have been killed by Black Mask, but the new Batman refuses to believe her. Dick deduces that the Riddler must have been hired by someone to attend Arkham Asylum's reopening gala, and decides to look into the matter further. He also concludes he must confront Dr. Singh of Gene-Core. Grayson then receives the news of a terrible, tragedy: Baby D's death . Now grim and hardened by the death of a child whom he holds himself responsible for, Dick vanishes into the stormy night alone to brood.
In the first few weeks of being the Dark Knight Dick attempts to stop a ring of kidnappers and their leader named Mr Pyg. When Damian tries to rescue a girl, Sasha she falls apparently to her death. Later when Pyg has been stopped it is found out that he has been killed and there is a domino found in his hand. A few weeks later Batman & Robin find an accomplice to the The Black Glove. Dick and Damian burst in and apprehend him. After they do this there is an advertisement for the Red Hood and Scarlett (Sasha) they claim that the fight against crime must grow up. As part of the Red Hood's new campaign, the rogue murders a group of mobsters including Tony Li, Rodney Fidget, Gentlman-G Merriwether, "High-Rise" Romero, and Aitch-Eyes.
When Dick confronts the Red Hood he realizes that it is his brother Jason Todd, however the family reunion doesn't last long as Jason is shot twice in the head by a lobotomized hitman named Flamingo. Jason survived, although his helmet was a bit less fortunate but when Flamingo attacked Sasha Jason bravely went to her rescue claiming that his business was with himself in the ensuing battle Damian is shot in the back and paralyzed. Dick and Jason defeat Flamingo but Jason himself is also apprehended. Jason says to Dick that if a Lazarus Pit can resurrect him it can do the same for Bruce. He then gets Bruce's corpse and throws it in a Lazarus Pit. Unfortunately, the body turns out to be one of Darkseid's clones. Dick manages to kill it and begins to believe that Tim may be right that Bruce is alive somewhere.
After discovering Bruce Wayne's body had been stolen from its unmarked grave, Batman and Robin take Bruce's parents' bodies to the Bat Bunker to try to keep them safe. Deadman feels pain as his body becomes a Black Lantern and seeks Batman's aid. After Deadman alerts Batman, John and Mary Grayson arise. After getting some weapons to deal with the new Black Lanterns, Batman and Robin head to Police Central, where they encounter the re-animated corpses of some of Batman's deceased enemies. Batman, Robin, Deadman along with a returned Tim Drake (as Red Robin) managed to save Commissioner Gordon and Oracle. They are then attacked by Tim and Dick's Black Lantern parents. Dick and Tim send Damian with the Gordons to their underground base while they battle the Black Lanterns. Dick eventually orders Damian through their comm-links to send one of his Wingers with Mr. Freeze's gun. Grayson uses the weapon to cryogenicly suspend himself and Tim, forcing the Black Lanterns to retreat as they are unable to read any sign of life of them. Deadman later revives the former Boy Wonders.
Upon his return to the present, Bruce Wayne has turned the concept of "Batman" into a global operation known as "Batman Incorporated", after revealing to the press he has been "funding" Batman all these years. Dick has retained the Batman identity despite Bruce's return to the mantle. He continues to operate as Gotham City's primary defender with Damian Wayne continuing as his Robin. He has also joined the current incarnation of the JLA.
The Present
Dick has returned to his identity as Nightwing, leaving Bruce Wayne to be the only Batman again. Haly's Circus comes to town for the first time since his parents were murdered. In his civilian identity he is attacked by an assassin named Saiko who insists that he's the fiercest killer in Gotham. Dick inherits the deed to the circus from a dying C.C. 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 doesn't learn anything. Batgirl visits and they team up to take down a shape-shifter named Spinebender. Following Haly's clues, he finds a mysterious Book of Names in the circus that holds his on the last page. He's forced to fight a rhyming demon named Acheron when his clown Jimmy Clark is attacked by an ex-fiancee using black magic. Tracking down more leads, he fights a super-villain known as Shox for information. 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's 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.
Nightwing receives a message from Alfred, which conveys the forty people the Court of Owls targeted for assassination. He goes to save Mayor Sebastian Hady and comes face-to-face with a Talon. Using lethal force on the Talon, Nightwing stabs him across the eye with his stick, as the Talon is already dead and Nightwing's stick is slowly taking his healing factor down.
Real name: Richard John Grayson
Current Alias: Nightwing (also known as Robin, Batman, Renegade)
Gender: Male
Age: 23
Occupation: Vigilante and Detective; Former acrobat, police officer, bartender
Marital Status: Single
Alignment: Good
Affiliation(s): The Bat-Family, JLA
Characteristics
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 175 LBS
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black
Character Type: Human
Description: Dick is in peak physical condition, well sculpted but not OVERLY muscular. Well endowed with good looks that have made quite a few ladies swoon as well as connected him with many a former girlfriend/relationship. More user friendly than his mentor , that isn't to say he's not ever bit as serious about his costumed activities as Bruce is. He is in fact more like Bruce in some ways than he'd ever admit.
Personality
Dick Grayson is a serious but easy going young man in his early to 20s. He's in a way the perfect big brother and the nicest, most popular guy in the group. He will approach everything with the confidence born of amazing talent and incredible training; yet manage to never seem pretentious in the slightest, always caring for others and being genuinely attentive.
At times, a casual observer might think his Motivation is Thrill of Adventure - he finds rooftop acrobatics or driving the Nightbird just plain *fun*, gets an obvious sense of satisfaction from bringing justice and happiness to the people, and has always some light banter ready for combat - although he's not a motor-mouth like Booster Gold, or even Roy Harper, he usually seems very relaxed when doing the vigilante thing. However, what actually makes him tick is a deep, burning desire to make the world a better, safer place where justice actually exists. Like the Batman, he wants no kid to ever suffer the losses he went through; unlike the Batman he does not see the world as a cruel and harsh place, but remembers the wonderful childhood he had. This profound difference in their memories of the time before the loss let Nightwing fight for a better, safer world for honest peoples around him while his former mentor fight to crush evil. While Batman follows his own obsessive rules, Nightwing is actually sane and a part of society. Like the Batman, he has a very strong "nobody dies on my watch" code.
Nightwing's courage is amazing - he has faced so much danger and monstrous opponents straight from a nightmare since his early teens that he seem to be fearless and take physical pain in strike without resenting it. To him it's a mere part of his job, and he can actually defy physical or mental torture with a smile. Even when badly hurt, he'll still act in a stalwart and generous way, saving innocents and bearing little grudge. Likewise, although his life has been a terrifying emotional grinder, he's outgoing, gentle and well-adjusted.
Nightwing cares a lot for Tim Drake - although he never treats him as a kid, he knows Tim is the closest thing to a little brother he will ever have. He enjoys teaming up with him, and will help to train him when he can, usually running Tim through old training routines the Batman devised for the first Robin. They have clear chemistry and respect between them.
His relationship with the Batman has changed over the years. It was initially rather complicated - Bruce Wayne simply did not have the tools to express how much he cared for the young man who is for all intend and purpose his son, and Nightwing always felt in the shadow of his formidable 'father'. They were awkwardly and silently defensive toward each other, with a lot of things left unsaid. However when Batman had bee missing, and Dick took over the mantle of the Batman, and Bruce returned, the relationship changed. Bruce allowed Nightwing to remain Batman, even joining the JLA. This showed Nightwing that he truly was considered an equal with Batman, and had finally left the shadow. The two work like clockwork together, and will fight along with each other in a heartbeat.
Despite being a huge hit with the ladies with his attractiveness, confidence and boy next door charm, his romantic life keeps turning into a minefield through little fault of his own. He keeps trying, though and has an easy, flattering, gently flirting manner.
Drive: The part of a man that motivates him and keeps him going usually defines his level of success. Dick has grown up with a heaping dose of motivation, and it usually takes true futility to make him quit. If they're dead, he'll accept that he can't bring them back to life. If they're driving away and he's on foot, he'll give up running after them...for now. Maybe. He is just not the kind of guy to take 'no' for an answer, instead mentally translating it as 'not yet'.
Nice: Unlike some other dark vigilantes of the night, Nightwing likes to smile and chitchat with people. He allows others to see when he cares, and is less likely to hold a grudge against someone for trying to knock his head off if he knows they believe their life depends on robbing that store or not getting locked up. He isn't prone to taking out his frustrations on people physically (though he might yell at them), and is definitely the kind of guy who'd give a dollar to someone who's down on their luck.
- Charming: With his good-natured humor, tendency to express himself sincerely, and kindness, Dick possesses a natural charm that tends to win him friends easily. He respects the qualities of others and tolerates common flaws, and in the end it's his acceptance of those who mean well and genuine concern for the welfare of others that speaks for him most. People like Dick because he likes them too, speaks to them tactfully, and treats them well.
- Tough: Dick has taken quite a few beatings in his life. He's dealt with many failures, too. Somehow it never breaks him and just makes him stronger. Inevitably when faced with some kind of let-down or challenge he mopes about it for a while and then decides to grow past it. It's not at all impossible to knock Dick down, but it is very hard to keep him down.
- Youthful: While he may be considered an adult, Dick has trouble hiding the fact that there is still a boy inside that runs the show now and then. He likes to have fun. He likes to go fast. He loves cool toys, and isn't at all ashamed of those things. Sure, he takes things seriously, but he somehow manages not to take them seriously all the time, or at least allows himself to see the absurdity and fun in life. Dick being jaded does happen, but typically it's a temporary condition that ends before he's managed to ruin his ability to smile.
- Empathy: One of the traits that really made Dick (as Robin) a good foil for Batman's dour attitude is his inherent empathy. Dick sympathizes with people, sometimes even the bad ones. It's a function of his fundamental goodness that he can't just not give a damn about people. This of course especially extends to his friends and family, and often Dick finds himself in the role of mediator because he's the guy that understands where everybody's coming from even when they can only see the world from their own positions.
- Hero: It's in his blood now. Dick couldn't NOT be a superhero, or rooftop vigilante, or whatever you want to call it. He'd pay money for the privilege to do it if he had to. Though over the years he has been an acrobat, a student, a police officer, those were all 'day jobs' compared to this, his life's calling as surely as any priest is truly called to the clergy. Being Robin filled a void in his spirit that may have been bigger even than the one left by his parents. Today it's about being Nightwing. He'll just never give it up.
- Smartass: Not only does Dick have a healthy sense of humor, he also knows how to use it. Making smart-assed remarks to people can have a definite effect, and though he does enjoy it he's also learned how to use it as a tool to manipulate others. This especially goes for bad guys, who have a habit of being too proud of themselves or beset by some mental instabilities that make them sensitive to verbal attacks. The right taunt here or there is sometimes enough to goad someone into making a mistake. Strangely Dick seems good enough at judging his audience that he seldom mistakenly hurts anybody's feelings he doesn't mean to. It's probably because he's constantly concerned with how others are doing.
- Restless: Put Dick alone in a room with no way out and he'll immediately waste a whole lot of time trying to get out. God could make the room and tell Dick there's no way out, and he'd still act the same. Once he's done wasting time trying to get out, he'd fidget. A lot. And he'd probably go insane after enough fidgeting, talking to himself, singing to himself, and trying to get out some more to drive anybody else insane. Dick just does not do 'idle' well. If he has nothing to do, he'll find something to do. He'll make something up. Even vacation and 'time off' for him (as rare as it is) consists of being active in some way. In his limited leisure time he travels or explores or parties or something, or most often just does pending work. Anything but just sit there.
- Hard: There are times when being nice doesn't cut it. When the evidence points you toward a culprit who protests all the way that they are innocent and you're persecuting them, it takes a steel edge to learn that some people are just that persistent about lying. When you know that Mr. Freeze is trying to put all of Gotham into a new ice age and it's because he is a brokenhearted man suffering from extreme loss and depression, it takes a surprising amount of 'I don't care' to push past that sometimes and kick his butt. It's something that Dick really learned thanks to Bruce, that sometimes it is absolutely vital that you be hard and do what needs doing, damn the circumstances.
- Creative: Flexible of body, flexible of mind, Dick is not one to be constrained by 'the box' in which most people think. He's very good at using the surroundings, personal information, some tidbit he watched on TV, or even something he learned in a Trivial Pursuit game five years ago to help him get through a problem. If it takes MacGuyver to solve a situation, then he's MacGuyver. For this reason he's also eager to learn and do new things, because one just never knows when some apparently trivial thing will become useful in the future.
History
Born on the first day of spring, "little robin" Grayson (as his mother called him) led an adventurous and happy childhood. One-third of the famed aerialist act The Flying Graysons - along with his father John and his mother Mary - Dick was a natural acrobat. He took to the high wire and trapeze at a very young age, thrilling audiences with his death-defying acts. He traveled the globe with his parents and the rest of Haley's Circus, seeing more of the world in his first ten years than most people see in a lifetime. The boy wonder of aerial acrobatics was billed nationally and was an inspiration for kids everywhere - even a very young Tim Drake begged his father to take him to Haley's.
Then the Circus traveled to Gotham. The Flying Graysons were the top draw at Haly's Circus, the act that pulled in crowds of children and thrill-seekers. And so it was the Graysons whom gangster Tony Zucco targeted when Pop Haly refused to pay him protection money. If Haly wouldn't pay in money, he would pay another way. Zucco sabotaged the rigging for the trapeze. That night, before a stunned crowd of Gotham's leading citizens, John and Mary Grayson plummeted to their deaths. Dick heard the ropes snap watched his parents die - and then he understood the meaning of the veiled threats he had overheard being made, and how he should have warned his parents.
Among the businessmen and politicians and socialites in the crowd that night was billionaire Bruce Wayne. He, too, had lost his parents tragically young - to a mugging gone bad. Seeing in Dick the same lost, confused and frightened little boy he had once been, Bruce offered to take in Dick and become his legal guardian. While Dick reluctantly settled in at the cavernous, luxurious and lonely Wayne Manor, Batman devoted all of his energies to capturing Zucco.
Dick, however, was very uncomfortable in the manor, under the care of the ever-absent Bruce Wayne. He would have fled the tomb-like Wayne Estate numerous times hadn't it been for Alfred Pennyworth's care. He ultimately did, however, wanting to avenge his parents. Racing back to Haly's Circus, he found it under the thumb of Zucco's men. He charged blindly at them as they were threatening the carnies and was nearly killed - but the Batman swooped in, taking out Zucco's men and declaring the circus to be under his protection.
While the carnies appeared to be now safe, Dick remained traumatized by his parents' deaths. Wayne had a talk with the youth as the Batman, after seeing to Grayson's wounds at the hands of Zucco's men in the Batcave. Dick told him about his loneliness (as he was seeing more of a mysterious creature of the night like Batman than Bruce Wayne), his guilt, his desire for vengeance and redemption. The Batman then took the dual step of revealing his secret identity to him, and taking him as an pupil.
Dick started a grueling regimen of mental and physical training - criminal psychology, aikijutsu, cryptology, jujitsu, forensics, karate... - that would last a year. Three months into that training, the Batman finally located Zucco, and he and his ward attempted to apprehend them. Tony Zucco ran as far as he could in face of the onslaught, but Grayson caught up with him and tackled him. The chase had been too much for the man, whose had a heart attack; while an ambulance was called he died on his way to the ER after confessing.
That death only served to intensify Robin's training regimen, as he realized he was not after vengeance but more after appeasing his guilt about his parents' death - and justice. Wayne, however, was reluctant to have a sidekick - and Alfred told Dick that Bruce would never ask for help, and that if he wanted to have a place at his side he would have to take it.
At the anniversary of the beginning of his training, Dick asked the Batman to convince him he was worthy by undergoing a final test - a real-world test of his abilities. From sunrise to sundown, he had to elude the Dark Knight on the streets of Gotham, leaving Batman clues as to his location. He passed with flying colors. Not only did Dick succeed in evading Batman, but he also cracked an attempted murder case and brought down Joe Minette, one of Gotham's most powerful mob bosses.
And so Richard John Grayson became Robin the Boy Wonder. Modeling his crime fighting outfit after his old aerialist costume, and taking his mother's nickname for him as his nom de guerre, he became the Batman's partner, his protégé, his surrogate son, a laughing, joking bright light in the Dark Knight's otherwise grim existence. Together, they faced the deadly streets of Gotham, night after night, taking down murderers and rapists and arsonists and drug runners. Together, they faced Gotham's most dangerous criminals: the maniacal Joker and schizophrenic Two-Face, the Penguin and Poison Ivy, monstrous Killer Croc and larcenous Catwoman. Moments of glory included a successful solo mission against the Mad Hatter (despite the Batman forbidding him to do so), and saving Batman's life from Blockbuster when Robin encountered him for the first time.
The status quo of Batman-and-Robin was dramatically changed by two events. The first was the appearance of Batgirl - Barbara Gordon. She was an uninvited guest, at least from Batman's point of view. She took his name and his symbol and began to fight crime, without his permission. The Boy Wonder, on the other hand, took to her immediately... though it was obvious part of his approval was an adolescent crush. It was Robin who finally convinced Batman to let the interloper join their close-knit family of crime fighters, and Batgirl was soon as well known in criminal circles as the Dark Knight and the Boy Wonder. When the Batman was busy elsewhere Robin and Batgirl would often team up, or enjoy something of a relationship.
The second event which proved so important was Robin's team-up with two other sidekicks, Kid Flash (later Flash) and Aqualad (later Tempest). On their own, the teen heroes joined forces to stop the villainous Mr. Twister. Shortly thereafter, the trio was joined by Speedy (later Arsenal) and Wonder Girl (later Troia) to rescue their mentors in the JLA from a mind-controlled thrall. The five young heroes discovered in each other an acceptance and friendship that their mentors could never truly offer ... and so they remained together. At Wonder Girl's suggestion, they took the name The Teen Titans and, under Robin's leadership, soon began having adventures of their own, far from the protection and oversight of their elders - who were busy saving the world without them as the Justice League of America, anyway. The Titans would know various incarnations and split several times. The Titans were another point of friction between Bruce and Dick, however, as the headstrong Robin had chose to reveal his identity to his teammate despite Batman's objections.
But Batman casts a long shadow, and the Boy Wonder would not remain a boy forever. In his late teens, Dick moved out of Wayne Manor to attend Hudson State University in the town of New Carthage. Though he never admitted it out loud, Bruce suffered a bad case of Empty Nest Syndrome. Once, he had resigned himself to being alone, to fighting His War alone. Then Robin appeared, a bright light, the son he had never imagined having. And now he was gone. To make matters more difficult, their relationship had become increasingly strained as Dick matured. While Bruce became even more intense, more dedicated, Dick began to crave that which he had lost long ago: a normal family. The final break came when Robin was shot in the shoulder by the Joker; though not fatal, the injury was an omen, a forewarning of what might happen - and it played on all the left over doubts in Batman after the Two-Face incident. Bruce decided that he would not ignore the obvious twice, and again forbade Robin to be a masked adventurer.
Furious, hurt, resigned, confused, Dick returned to Titan Tower and his friends in New York City. He dropped out of Hudson after only a semester - obviously he unconsciously hoped Bruce would react to this failure and demonstrate he cared somehow, but there was no reaction. Batman took away the Robin costume - Dick would no longer be Robin, could no longer be Robin. Then Batman made the young Jason Todd the new Robin - the replacement taking the very identity Grayson had created and defined for so many years. Wayne also legally adopted Todd as his son, which he never had done for Grayson. Utterly dejected, Dick left the Titans after making Wonder Girl the new leader. Kid Flash, who also had entered a point of personal crisis, left the Titans at the same time.
Uncertain what to do, he turned to someone he knew would understand: Superman. Very briefly, Dick had considered giving up the whole crime fighting gig ; but he couldn't imagine his life any other way ; he had even imagined that someday he would be Batman. He loved it. But if he couldn't be Robin, what would he be?
Superman had the answer. Long ago on Krypton, a man was cast out by his family - just as Dick had been. He dreamed of a world ruled by justice, and set out to protect the helpless of Krypton. His true identity was never revealed. He was known only as Nightwing. Dick adopted that name as his own.
Nightwing made his debut in the Colorado Rockies. His friends were in danger, betrayed by one of their own. Allied with the assassin/mercenary Deathstroke, the Titan Terra had turned on her teammates - and might very well have succeeded in killing them all had Nightwing not intervened like the proverbial cavalry. Deathstroke escaped, and the unstable Terra killed herself.
This time, Dick elected to remain. He made his home in New York, not far from Titan Tower. Having seemingly outgrown his adolescent crush on Batgirl, he had fallen in love with fellow Titan Starfire. An alien from the planet Tamaran, and a princess no less, Starfire a.k.a. Koriand'r a.k.a. Kory was a loyal if tempestuous lover. Where Dick now only had bitterness and aggression from Bruce, he had compassion and understanding from his teammates and love, honest love, with Koriand'r - and with his new life in new York seemed to escape the shadow of the Batman. Dick and Kory were together for close to three years - until Kory was recalled to Tamaran and ordered to marry a prince to seal a treaty and bring peace to her homeworld. Though he knew the marriage was politically-driven, Dick was still deeply hurt when Kory elected to remain on Tamaran and go through with the wedding.
Heart-broken, Nightwing returned to Earth and resigned once again as leader of the Titans. He set out on his own. For a time, he was even involved with the cult known as the Church of Brother Blood. He returned occasionally to Gotham, where he met his replacement. During this period, the Joker struck two devastating blows - a gunshot shattered Barbara Gordon's spine, permanently crippling her and meaning the death of Batgirl ; and a devious plan resulted in the death of Jason Todd at the ends of the sinister clown prince of crime.
Jason's death weighted on Dick's conscience, sent Batman on something akin to suicidal rampage ; he took irrational risks, facing opponents he was ill-prepared to meet, and nearly died several times. Alarmed by Batman's actions, thirteen year-old Tim Drake (who had long ago uncovered the identities of the Dynamic Duo) tried to convince Dick to return to Batman's side as Robin. Dick refused. He could never go back to being Robin again - but there was no reason that the brilliant Tim could not be Robin. Initially, Batman refused to even consider taking on a third protégé ; he would not risk the life of another child. Won over when Tim helped them take down Two-Face, Batman finally agreed to train the Drake kid, a decision he has never regretted. Nightwing, meanwhile, had bonded with his successor, becoming a surrogate big brother. Perhaps regretting that he did not know Jason better, he spends as much time as possible with Tim.
Starfire's Tamaranian husband eventually died, and she returned to Earth and to Dick. Though they moved back in together, things were never the same again between them. Tragic events followed - during the so-called Titans Hunt in which many Titans were severely injured or some even killed, all under the betrayal of Jericho (who later died) and the directorship of the apparent Wilderbeast Society. Struggling to keep everyone together as best he could and out of a fear of loss, Dick proposed to Kory, to which she agreed. Yet, the ceremony would be cut short with the appearance of a former Titan, Raven, who with an empathic attack managed to drive a wedge between the couple before the vows could be taken. Dejected, hurt and once more bewildered, Dick quit the Titans once more as it came under government sponsorship, as he left it in the care of Roy's leadership. With the aborted ceremony, Dick and Kory decided to end their relationship.
Though the break up was mutual, Dick remained hurt for a very long time. That hurt was only compounded when Bruce chose someone else to succeed him as Batman. His back broken by the redoubtable villain Bane, Bruce needed someone to carry on in his place. Too proud, too uncertain of his former ward's feelings, Bruce chose Jean-Paul Valley a.k.a. Azrael II, a man he barely knew. His choice had disastrous consequences after only a short time.
Valley, who had a complex history of mental and genetic manipulation, went mad. While Bruce suffered through intense physical therapy and retraining, Valley went on a rampage in Gotham. Far more ruthless, far more bloody, then the real Batman, "Az-Bats" left a trail of terrified and maimed criminals in his wake. Only when Bruce was fully recovered, only when he was sure again of his own abilities, did he dare take on Valley. And even than, he needed the help of Nightwing and Robin.
Nightwing returned to Gotham and helped his mentor/father stop Valley. He was glad to do so. But Bruce had one more favor, another favor, to ask. He was not yet ready to return as Batman. Would Dick remain in his place? Would Dick agree to wear the mantle of the Bat?
Reluctantly, he did so. He faced Killer Croc and the Ventriloquist, the Ratcatcher and a riot at Blackgate Prison. He even came face-to-face with his worst nightmare: Two-Face, holding Robin hostage in a morbid echo of past events. This time, though, he didn't play by Two-Face's rules, and he won. This time, no one died. Dick had finally conquered his long-time fear of the insane, disfigured maniac.
While his skills as a detective and scientist and martial artist proved more than up to the task, Dick found the costume an ill-fit. Dick discovered that while he could play the part of Batman, he could not fill the role. He was Nightwing, not Batman. He was and is Dick Grayson - a friendly, well adjusted young man fighting for justice - not Bruce Wayne - a brooding dark god relentlessly hunting injustice.
When Bruce finally returned, for good, it all came out. They finally talked, as they should have done years ago. Dick finally realized how much Bruce actually cared, and came to understand why Bruce did not immediately ask him to step in as Batman: Bruce was proud of Dick, of the life and name he had made for himself ; he did not want to take that away from him. Bruce, for his part, came to realize how much his seeming rejection had hurt Dick and how badly he had handled Dick's departure all those years ago.
Dick then flew to England to find Alfred Pennyworth, who had left Bruce's employ after Bane's assault. Dick found and rescued his old friend Alfred, and went on to thwart British terrorists plotting to blow up the Chunnel. For a short time, Dick considered retirement but Alfred produced some documentation showing that the Flying Graysons may have had a connection to the country of Kravia. While following this wild goose chase that ended triggering the collapse of the Kravian nobility, Dick learning little new about his parents, but became romantically entangled with a young woman he saved from kidnappers. However, it turns out that Maggie Sawyer had arranged the kidnapping to seek attention from her abusive father, that she ended up killing herself while Nightwing was busy battling the racist prince of Kravia who was planning ethic cleansing.
From here Dick took some time to follow up some other cases, his next bringing him into a courtship with Emily Washburn as he faked a marriage to her to attempt to uncover a black widow murderess... which turns out to be Emily's friend, Annelise. Having fallen in love with Emily along the way, the relationship does not last as Emily leaves betrayed.
When Gotham was ravaged by The Clench, a deadly ebola-like plague, Nightwing - the rifts between him and the Batman mostly healed - crossed armed quarantine lines to help. Some time later, when the city was leveled by an earthquake, Nightwing joined Batman and Robin and other heroes as they tried to free people trapped in the rubble, distribute much-needed supplies, and keep the city calm.
Meanwhile, when the bodies of dead made men begin to float upriver from Blüdhaven, Batman sends Nightwing to investigate. As bad as Gotham is, Blüdhaven is worse. A former whaling town turned industrial center, Blüdhaven is hopelessly mired in drugs and corruption ; everyone is on the take, especially the police. And at the top once sit Angel Marin - but the corpses of his wise guys were one of the few visible signs that Roland 'Blockbuster' Desmond, a gargantuan sociopath, was quietly taking his place. He placed a hefty bounty on the investigating Nightwing's head, which any number of assassins (such as the Scarecrow, Lady Vic, Stallion or Brutale) have attempted to collect on. All have failed.
While in Gotham covering for Batman who was elsewhere on other missions, Nightwing encountered the Huntress as the two were both investigating mobster who was falsely accused of killing a prostitute. Working together, they made the mistake of becoming lovers - which was obviously doomed from the start. Solving the case, they parted ways both unsure what to make of the situation, and each other. Although they keep an obvious physical attraction (especially on the more aggressive Huntress' side), they are aware their personalities and philosophies are incompatible.
Hoping to be for the 'Haven what Batman is for Gotham, Dick settled down in a low-rent apartment and quickly landed a job as a bartender in a police bar. His work as a vigilante was much tougher - he was basically alone, not wanting to rely on the Batman and having very few honest cops with whom to ally - least of whom police chief Redhorn, an ally of Blockbuster. He had to create his own networks of information and grip over the city, with help from Barbara Gordon (now known as Oracle) - and for a short while had to rely on information from "Deadly" Dudley Soames, a crooked cop playing a formidably dangerous game between law enforcement and playing off criminal factions.
While maneuvering to keep the very dangerous Blockbuster in check, Grayson had to keep juggling with various problems, such as a tentative romance with his superintendent, Bridget Clancy, the spectacular thefts of the acrobatic sister act called the Double Dare, or the actions of a young bull-headed vigilante who had coincidentally called himself Nite-Wing. The end result of eighteen years in Blüdhaven's foster care system, Nite-Wing is a sociopath who believes himself to be a hero. Armed with a steel baton and garbed in a hockey jersey, Nite-Wing spent his nights cracking skulls and stealing money from criminals. The real Nightwing has had to rescue Nite-Wing on more than one occasion, and has often been blamed for the latter's brutalities. Unaware that Ryerstad was an homicidal brute, Dick even took him under his wing for a short time - but had him arrested when Ryerstad tragically murdered an undercover FBI agent, Cisco Blaine.
During this time, Dick also found himself fighting alongside Oracle in post-quake Gotham, when the city had been declared a no man's land by the federal government. There had been romantic tension between them for some time, but Barbara just didn't admit Dick could love a cripple. He eventually won her over.
Looking for an angle to have a long term effects on the crime and corruption in Blüdhaven, Grayson enrolled in and graduated from the local police academy. Once within the system, he managed to find a few good cops, such as his partner Sergeant Amy Rohrbach or detective Addad, who want to clean up their city just as badly as Dick - and was made a member of a secret cop organization struggling to build a file on corruption within the department. However, juggling with a day job as a cop and a night life as Nightwing proved exhausting, and Dick started doing a fair amount of mistakes. At one point, during a fight with Sylph, he was thrown on a highway ; although he survived the harrowing experience, the resulting pileup led to the death of Blockcbuster's mother, who had a cardiac condition - an event which would have dire consequences. He also was nearly killed by Shrike II, looking for revenge after an early case Dick had solved as Robin.
The issues with vast corruption were eventually solved, though, after Nightwing secured the journal of Mary Redhorn, the chief of police's estranged wife. There were enough names and dates in it to, along with the documents amassed by he secret anti-corruption club, to trigger a Federal investigation and sweeping arrests and retirements within the force. Due to severe personnel shortages, many remaining cops were suddenly promoted. Dick's ex-partner, Sgt Rohrbach, became a Captain while Detective Added came to head the department.
Due to fatigue, Dick became less careful about his secret identity (and, thus, Batman's secret identity). Amy Rohrbach understood who he was when Nightwing intervened to save her from a home invasion lad by a small force of corrupt cops. Feeling betrayed that a masked vigilante had infiltrated the force, she fired Dick shortly after. Blockbuster also came to learn that Nightwing was Dick Grayson. Which was very, very bad news - as he was now recovered from his heart transplant, and considered Nightwing to be directly responsible for the death of his mom.
Blockbuster launched a ruthless campaign to destroy Nightwing's life. Most notably, he had the Firefly attack the Haly Circus by setting the big top on fire, resulting in many deaths and wounded carnies and customers ; Nightwing nearly killed himself attempting to save everyone, and was morally devastated by the blow. A short time later, Blockbuster had Dick Grayson's building bombed. The firebombing killed many friends of Nightwing as well as John Law, a novelist best known for having been the Golden Age hero called the Tarantula II.
An attack by an agent of Blockbuster, Tarantula III, was also the catalyst for a breakup between Dick and Barbara, which had been brewing for some time. Barbara still had strong issues with her crippled legs and self-image, and couldn't stand Dick's habit of living in the past and always remembering about the good old days with the first Batgirl - his time as a cop, risking his life day and night like her father did, and Nightwing slowly becoming more like the Batman, also helped considerably in wrecking their relationship.
Still in a crisis of conscience, Dick adopts the new villainous persona of Renegade in order to infiltrate Lex Luthor's Secret Society of Super-Villains. He allies himself with his long-time enemy Deathstroke in order to keep the Society's hands away from Blüdhaven. He also begins training (and converting) Deathstroke's daughter Ravager.
Deathstroke betrays Nightwing when Blüdhaven is destroyed by the Society. The Society drops the supervillain Chemo on the city, killing 100,000 people. Dick tries to rescue survivors but is overcome by radiation poisoning, only to be rescued himself by Batman. Nightwing confides that he let Blockbuster die and asks Batman to forgive him. Batman tells him that his forgiveness doesn't matter; Dick has to move beyond Blockbuster's death. Inspired by his mentor, he proposes to Barbara Gordon, who tearfully accepts his proposal with a kiss.
Gotham has gone to hell and Robin and Nightwing are trying their hardest to set it right, they have developed the Network, made up of their best allies to help. Robin and Squire were tracking some robbers but before they could take them down some else does, Robin and Squire don't see the person but he leaves them a note saying "I'M THE REAL BATMAN" but before anything can be said Nightwing call's Robin for back up with a gang, they take the gang down. Meanwhile a coach full of Gotham's most dangerous criminal's on their way to Arkham but the coach is stopped by a small army of goons lead by the Black Mask. After the criminals are off the coach, Arkham is blown up [by the Joker] also they've caught on that Batman is no longer around. Back in the Bat-cave Nightwing is looking at all of Batman's different suits when Tim walks in saying that one of them [Tim or Dick] needs to become the new Batman. Nightwing shrugs this off so Tim tells Dick about a man running around in a custom made Batman suit fighting crime [possibly Jason Todd] but this was no beginner he was experienced and knew what he was doing.
Tim uses his brilliant detective skills to work out where the imposter Batman's hideout is, but Tim decides not to confront the fake Batman as Robin but as Batman, he uses the silver age Batman suit. Mean while Damian is joy riding in a Batmobile with a friend when Oracle calls him to do a sweep of the docks, Damian's friend starts talking, Oracle takes control of the car and presses the eject button on Damian's friends seat, and she goes flying into a small stream where Killer Croc and Poison Ivy are trying track the Batmobile, Croc eats the girl, then knocks the car of the road into the stream, Damian is terrified and tries to talk his way out of it, Croc was about to eat Damian but Nightwing flies in on a hand glider and saves Damian; but while their flying they are shot out of the air, on the ground they are quickly surrounded by goons, suddenly the phony Batman comes in shooting the goons.
Dick begins to fight the phony Batman, while their fighting Dick revels he knows the phony Batman is Jason Todd, Jason shoots Damian in the chest then flees the fight. Back at Black Masks hide out and is planning to blow up Gotham police headquarters with Firefly and Adam Bomb meanwhile Tim [dressed in the Silver Age Batman suit] has found Jason's Batcave but he is not alone, Catwoman has followed Tim thinking he was the one killing people. At the same time Dick discovers that Tim had taken the Bat suit.
As Nightwing pursues the Black Mask while also attempting to prevent the authorities from destroying Gotham, Nightwing sends Damian to retrieve Tim unaware of Jason's attempted murder of Tim wearing the Batman costume. Damian saves Tim while Dick confronts the murderous Jason in his makeshift Batman outfit. The battle between Dick and Jason ends with Jason saying he will meet Dick again when Dick defeats Jason knocking him into the river. Fearing Jason will destroy the Batman identity Dick reluctantly returns to wearing the Batman costume with Damian as his Robin rather than Tim. Dick chose Damian instead of Tim because he sees Tim as an equal, not a sidekick: he chose Damian to be Robin so Damian can be guided down the right path of bringing criminals to justice or he could kill someone once again.
Quickly after Dick's becoming of the Dark Knight, he had made his first debut as Batman when he had to take down Scarecrow who was terrorizing people in the road. Other adventures Dick had when he became Batman would be against Two-Face, a new villain named Pyg and Pyg's henchmen/doll people, Jason who became Red Hood again, and Black Mask! Also, around this time Mario Falcone would reemerge as the head of the Falcone Crime Family.
Firefly attempts to burn Gotham City which allows Hush to escape and a new character named Abuse tries to help Gotham. Eventually Firefly nearly kills Black Mask but Zsasz stops him. Batman beats Firefly but learns of Hush posing as Bruce. The JLA and Outsiders then give Hush rules to play by while Black Mask gives Zsasz unlimited money to kill. Zsasz buys new clothes and the Broker sells him an apartment to kill people in. The Broker gives Batman Zsasz's location after getting beat up by the bat.
A priest named Father Mark goes crazy and attempts to kill Helena and Man-Bat who are saved by Batman. However, it is Father Mark who takes out the criminal hired by Black Mask.
Black Mask has been cornered in the Devil's Square area of Gotham City by the National Guard. Black Mask's army of Arkham Asylum escapees are deteriorating without their proper medication, so he begins brainwashing innocent citizens to join his False Face Society. Batman and Commissioner Gordon are attempting to negotiate the release of the Devil's Square citizens that Black Mask is holding for ransom. Dick approaches Selina Kyle, requesting her to get specific information on Black Mask's hideout. Meanwhile, the villains Fright, Dr. Death and Professor Hugo Strange have been inducted into Black Mask's Ministry of Science, with the job of brainwashing the False Faces. Selina Kyle (Catwoman) isn't able to get information on the hideout, but points Dick to the re-emergence of Mario Falcone and the Falcone Crime Empire in Gotham. Mario was behind the killings of members of the False Face Society. To counter Falcone's attacks, Black Mask resurrects an old Batman foe named the Reaper. The Reaper, aided by Strange and Fright, goes on a killing spree, evening out the escalating gang war.
Batman and Robin stop some False Faces from stealing a shipment of pills from a hospital, many miles from Devil's Square. Dick then goes to attend Arkham Asylum's reopening gala to keep an eye on Tommy Elliott posing as Bruce Wayne, aided by the Huntress and Oracle. Also at the party are Dr. Arkham, Mario Falcone and Dr. Singh from Gene-Core, a company going into partnership with the Asylum. Oracle, angry at Huntress for kissing Dick, makes her go after a suspicious girl at the party. Unbeknownst to her, the Riddler was snooping around and following her. The girl breaks into Gene-Core's lab, then sets off a bomb, destroying the lab and much of the building. The explosion makes the Riddler regain his memory. Batman arrives at Gotham Port, where he finds Gordon and Bullock examining the cut-up corpses of several Falcone gangsters. From this, Batman deduces that the Reaper has somehow returned. Dick and Alfred then discover that the girl who blew up Gene-Core's lab is a prolific thief, and goes by many aliases. Dick finds footage of the girl escaping the scene in a taxi, which Alfred traces to Devil's Square. Batman wants to get hold of the girl for questioning, so he gets past Black Mask's snipers and into Devil's Square. Batman asks some local street kids if they know the whereabouts of the girl. One kid, known as Baby D, tells Batman that he's seen her hanging out with the Penguin's henchman, Bossworth. Just as he's about to say more Baby D, to the dismay of Batman, is shot and collapses into his arms.
After getting Baby D to safety, Dick returned to the war zone in Devil's Square to hunt down the Penguin, who seems oblivious and unaffected by the disorder in the area, continuing his usual activities. Dick breaks into the Penguin's facilities, brutally interrogating the pudgy crook on Kitrina Falcone, demanding to know how she is involved in his gang. Before Dick can beat an answer out of the Penguin, he summons Lark, one of his henchgirls, to his rescue. Pausing briefly to defeat Lark, Dick returns his attention back to the Penguin, who finally admits that Kitrina Falcone served as a minor errand girl for his criminal organizations.
After interrogating the Penguin, Dick goes to visit Baby D, who is in critical condition at the Gotham City Children's Memorial Hospital. Dick blames himself for the boy's injuries, vowing to give the child upon his recovery a mentor, a good education and a job, no matter what the cost.
Arkham Asylum was being remodeled by Wayne Enterprises, under Dick's supervision, using Hush as a puppet. An accident on the construction site killed all of the scientists working for Gene-Core company helping with the asylum's reconstruction, except for Dr. Singh, who had attended Arkham Asylum's reopening gala. Commissioner Gordon investigates the deaths and suspects foul play, but even though Dick is well aware that it looks suspicious that only Dr. Singh survived, but refuses to jump to conclusions about the accident. Damian, meanwhile, tries to figure out why Black Mask wanted to hijack a shipment of pills while bottled up in Devil's Square. Dick, continuing into Gordon's investigation into the accident at Arkham Asylum, contacts Oracle for any information she can find about Gene-Core. Together, Dick and Barbara come to the startling conclusion that Professor Hugo Strange must somehow be involved in Gene-Core.
At Devil's Square, Black Mask orders the Penguin assassinated when he discovers that the villain may know something about his operation and has been interrogated by Batman. Black Mask's henchmen attempt to kill the Penguin, who attempts to escape Devil's Square in an armored car. The henchmen desperately resort to using a rocket launcher, which blows up the Penguin's armored car, although the criminal and his henchgirl Lark manage to escape the explosion and flee on foot.
The Huntress reports to Dick that the Penguin may have been killed by Black Mask, but the new Batman refuses to believe her. Dick deduces that the Riddler must have been hired by someone to attend Arkham Asylum's reopening gala, and decides to look into the matter further. He also concludes he must confront Dr. Singh of Gene-Core. Grayson then receives the news of a terrible, tragedy: Baby D's death . Now grim and hardened by the death of a child whom he holds himself responsible for, Dick vanishes into the stormy night alone to brood.
In the first few weeks of being the Dark Knight Dick attempts to stop a ring of kidnappers and their leader named Mr Pyg. When Damian tries to rescue a girl, Sasha she falls apparently to her death. Later when Pyg has been stopped it is found out that he has been killed and there is a domino found in his hand. A few weeks later Batman & Robin find an accomplice to the The Black Glove. Dick and Damian burst in and apprehend him. After they do this there is an advertisement for the Red Hood and Scarlett (Sasha) they claim that the fight against crime must grow up. As part of the Red Hood's new campaign, the rogue murders a group of mobsters including Tony Li, Rodney Fidget, Gentlman-G Merriwether, "High-Rise" Romero, and Aitch-Eyes.
When Dick confronts the Red Hood he realizes that it is his brother Jason Todd, however the family reunion doesn't last long as Jason is shot twice in the head by a lobotomized hitman named Flamingo. Jason survived, although his helmet was a bit less fortunate but when Flamingo attacked Sasha Jason bravely went to her rescue claiming that his business was with himself in the ensuing battle Damian is shot in the back and paralyzed. Dick and Jason defeat Flamingo but Jason himself is also apprehended. Jason says to Dick that if a Lazarus Pit can resurrect him it can do the same for Bruce. He then gets Bruce's corpse and throws it in a Lazarus Pit. Unfortunately, the body turns out to be one of Darkseid's clones. Dick manages to kill it and begins to believe that Tim may be right that Bruce is alive somewhere.
After discovering Bruce Wayne's body had been stolen from its unmarked grave, Batman and Robin take Bruce's parents' bodies to the Bat Bunker to try to keep them safe. Deadman feels pain as his body becomes a Black Lantern and seeks Batman's aid. After Deadman alerts Batman, John and Mary Grayson arise. After getting some weapons to deal with the new Black Lanterns, Batman and Robin head to Police Central, where they encounter the re-animated corpses of some of Batman's deceased enemies. Batman, Robin, Deadman along with a returned Tim Drake (as Red Robin) managed to save Commissioner Gordon and Oracle. They are then attacked by Tim and Dick's Black Lantern parents. Dick and Tim send Damian with the Gordons to their underground base while they battle the Black Lanterns. Dick eventually orders Damian through their comm-links to send one of his Wingers with Mr. Freeze's gun. Grayson uses the weapon to cryogenicly suspend himself and Tim, forcing the Black Lanterns to retreat as they are unable to read any sign of life of them. Deadman later revives the former Boy Wonders.
Upon his return to the present, Bruce Wayne has turned the concept of "Batman" into a global operation known as "Batman Incorporated", after revealing to the press he has been "funding" Batman all these years. Dick has retained the Batman identity despite Bruce's return to the mantle. He continues to operate as Gotham City's primary defender with Damian Wayne continuing as his Robin. He has also joined the current incarnation of the JLA.
The Present
Dick has returned to his identity as Nightwing, leaving Bruce Wayne to be the only Batman again. Haly's Circus comes to town for the first time since his parents were murdered. In his civilian identity he is attacked by an assassin named Saiko who insists that he's the fiercest killer in Gotham. Dick inherits the deed to the circus from a dying C.C. 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 doesn't learn anything. Batgirl visits and they team up to take down a shape-shifter named Spinebender. Following Haly's clues, he finds a mysterious Book of Names in the circus that holds his on the last page. He's forced to fight a rhyming demon named Acheron when his clown Jimmy Clark is attacked by an ex-fiancee using black magic. Tracking down more leads, he fights a super-villain known as Shox for information. 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's 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.
Nightwing receives a message from Alfred, which conveys the forty people the Court of Owls targeted for assassination. He goes to save Mayor Sebastian Hady and comes face-to-face with a Talon. Using lethal force on the Talon, Nightwing stabs him across the eye with his stick, as the Talon is already dead and Nightwing's stick is slowly taking his healing factor down.