Nightwing is a code-name shared by various superheroes in the DC Comics universe, specifically from the Superman and Batman mythos. Currently and most prominently the role is held by Richard John "Dick" Grayson, formerly Robin.
| Nightwing | |
|---|---|
| File:Nightwingxa.png Nightwing Art by Phil Hester. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | (as Robin) Detective Comics #38 (April 1940), (as Nightwing) Tales of the New Teen Titans #44 (July 1984) |
| Created by | Robin, Bob Kane Bill Finger Jerry Robinson Nightwing, Marv Wolfman George Perez |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Richard John Grayson |
| Team affiliations | Secret Society, The Outsiders, Teen Titans, Justice League of America, Justice Society of America (Earth-Two only), All-Star Squadron (Earth-Two only) |
| Notable aliases | Robin, (The Boy Wonder) and later, Robin (The Teen Wonder) |
| Abilities | None; relies on his years of extensive training under the Batman, along with detective-like gadgets and weapons. He also possesses near meta-level agility/acrobatic skills and exceptional leadership abilities, having headed the Teen Titans, the Outsiders, and even the Justice League. |
Character history
Pre-Crisis
Superman
In Pre-Crisis continuity, Nightwing was an alias used by Superman in adventures shared with Jimmy Olsen in the city of Kandor, a Kryptonian city that had been shrunken and preserved in a bottle.
In Kandor, Superman had no powers and was branded an outlaw due to a misunderstanding. To protect themselves, Superman and Jimmy created vigilante identities inspired by Batman and Robin; however, as neither bats nor robins existed on Krypton, Superman chose the names of two native avian species: Nightwing (for himself) and Flamebird (for Jimmy). At one point, Nightwing and Flamebird teamed up with their inspirations, Batman and Robin, for an adventure in Kandor which would prove especially important to the young Robin.
Van-Zee
While in Kandor, Nightwing and Flamebird met Van-Zee, a Kandorian scientist who looked strikingly similar to Superman. At one point, Van-Zee himself donned the Nightwing costume in order to rescue a captured Superman. After Superman and Jimmy's departure from Kandor, Van-Zee took up the role of Nightwing full-time. Van-Zee's lab assistant, Ak-Var, later assumed the mantle of Flamebird. The two shared several distinct adventures, once teaming up with Superman and Jimmy.
Robin
Eventually, the maturing Robin grew weary of his role as the Batman's young sidekick. Recalling his adventure on Kandor, he renamed himself Nightwing.
Post-Crisis
Following the reboot of the DC universe in Crisis on Infinite Earths, Robin was for a time regarded as the one and only Nightwing there had ever been, as Kandor was no longer in-continuity.
Kryptonian Origins Restored
Nightwing Secret Files #1 tells the post-crisis version of how Dick Grayson gave up his identity as Robin and was inspired by Superman's tales of an ancient Kryptonian hero named Nightwing. This tale maintains the link between Dick Grayson's identity and the Kryptonian hero called Nightwing, but retroactively erases the notion that Superman and Jimmy Olsen ever held the titles of Nightwing or Flamebird.
The direct association between Superman with the role of Nightwing was restored in 2001's Superman: the Man of Steel #111, wherein Superman and Lois Lane travel to the Kryptonian past to assume the names themselves.
Dick Grayson as Nightwing
Origins
For many years, Dick was Batman's sidekick Robin. He was introduced in Detective Comics #38 (1940) by Batman creators Bill Finger and Bob Kane as (first) Robin. The sidekick debuted only a year after Batman and was part of an effort to soften the character of his mentor, originally a dubious, nightstalking vigilante. DC Comics also thought a teenaged superhero would appeal to young readers.
The name "Robin the Boy Wonder" and the medieval look of the original costume were inspired by the legendary hero Robin Hood, as well as the red-breasted American Robin, which continued the "flying animal" motif of Batman.
Dick Grayson was an eight-year-old half-Romany (gypsy) circus acrobat, the youngest of a family act called The Flying Graysons. In the original comics storyline, a gangster named Boss Zucco had been extorting money from the circus and killed Grayson's parents by sabotaging their trapeze equipment as a warning against defiance. Batman investigated the crime and – as his alter ego millionaire Bruce Wayne – had Dick put under his custody as a legal ward (legally adopting him as his son years later), and rigorously trained the boy in physical, fighting and investigation skills to be his assistant. Together, they investigated Zucco and collected the evidence needed to bring him to justice.
Robin's origin had a typological connection to Batman's in that both witnessed the crime-related deaths of their parents, creating an urge to battle the criminal underworld. This provided a bond and understanding between the two.
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, DC Comics portrayed Batman and Robin as a team, deeming them the Dynamic Duo, and rarely published a Batman story without Robin, although stories entirely devoted to Robin appeared in Star-Spangled Comics from 1947 through 1952.
Teen Titans and emancipation
In 1964, The Brave and the Bold #60 introduced the Teen Titans, a junior version of the Justice League of America, an all-star superhero team of which Batman was a part. The Titans were led by Robin and included other teenaged sidekicks, such as Aqualad (sidekick of Aquaman) and Kid Flash I (sidekick of The Flash).
In 1969, writer Dennis O'Neil and artist Neal Adams returned Batman to his darker roots. One part of this effort was writing Robin out of the series by sending Dick Grayson to college and into a separate strip in the back of Detective Comics. Robin appeared only sporadically in Batman stories of the 1970s.
In 1980, Grayson once again took up the mantle of Robin as the leader of the Teen Titans, now featured in the monthly series The New Teen Titans, which became one of DC Comics' most beloved series of the era.
New identity
Four years later, Grayson took on the identity of Nightwing, a move that symbolized his increasingly strained relationship with Batman and his desire to take more control of his life as a crimefighter. The name Nightwing came from an alias previously used by Superman. The Post-Crisis version of Grayson had him become the first and only Nightwing, with his costume partially inspired by his father, who at one time wore a circus costume that was a variant of colleague Boston Brand's Deadman costume. He was inspired to take the name by a story Superman told him about an old hero of his native Krypton.
In 1996, DC launched a monthly solo series featuring Nightwing, in which he patrols Gotham City's neighboring municipality of Blüdhaven. The series continues, as of 2005, and has been collected in four graphic novels so far.
For several years, Nightwing led various incarnations of the Titans and became the most respected former sidekick in the DC Universe. He was even chosen by a believed-dead Batman to lead the Justice League when it once appeared that the Leaguers had died in battle. In 2003, after a disastrous battle in which teammate Donna Troy died, Nightwing left the Titans and they disbanded.
Arsenal prompted Nightwing to join a new group that would hunt villains, and he reluctantly accepted, forming the Outsiders. After an event in which "insiders" threatened both the Outsiders and the newest incarnation of Teen Titans, Dick deemed that the teams had gotten "too personal" and quit.
As of the current Infinite Crisis-themed storyline, Nightwing has adopted a new villainous costume and persona in order to infiltrate Lex Luthor's Secret Society of Supervillains. Under Deathstroke's employ, he is presently training Slade's daughter Rose, the newest Ravager.
Personal life
Dick's personal life has always been subordinated to his duty. He has several good friends, like his fellow Titans Arsenal, Aqualad, Flash III and Troia, and has acted as a older brother figure to the third Robin, Tim Drake. Having been in the capes-and-tights game since childhood, he has either befriended, led, or made acquaintance with nearly every costumed hero in the DC universe.
His relationship with his adoptive father Batman has been a rocky journey, often seeming to hit bad patches more often than good ones, but in crucial moments, it is always clear that Dick's loyalties lie with Batman and vice versa.
Dick's good looks and sensitive nature have always made him a hit with the ladies. As a teenager, he maintained a tenuous friendship with Flamebird, despite her unrequited feelings for him. Dick's longest romantic relationship was with the alien princess Starfire; they were a couple for several years and were even engaged to marry, but due to one of their team-mate Raven's evil periods, their relationship dissolved. He later had a brief affair with Huntress. Despite all of this, Dick has always had - and will always have - strong romantic feelings for Barbara Gordon, the first Batgirl. They finally started dating a few years ago, but the relationship dissolved due to Nightwing's obsession in defeating Blockbuster. The two remain close friends with instances of lingering romantic tension. Recently, Dick briefly rekindled his affair with Starfire, spending a night with her before removing himself from the heroic spotlight for a while.
Skills and Abilities
Nightwing's detective and martial arts skills are second only to Batman, making him one of the greatest crime fighters alive. He carries along detective-like gadgets (micro-camera, crime scene analysis kit, built-in nightvision goggles etc.) and non-lethal weapons which include grapnels, sonic or smoke pellets, Night-a-rangs, escrima sticks and his own shuriken type wing-dings. He also possesses near meta level agility/acrobatic skills and is one of the only three people on Earth who can do the quadruple somersault. His leadership skills are superlative, having served as leader to the Teen Titans, the Outsiders, and even the Justice League.
Richard Grayson of Earth-Two
After the establishment of DC's multiverse in the early 1960s, it was stated that the Golden Age version of Dick Grayson named Richard Grayson existed on the parallel world of Earth-Two. There, Richard eventually grew up, remaining Robin, although adopting a more Batman-like look for a time, and by the 1960s had become a lawyer and the ambassador to South Africa. In the mid-1960s he eventually joined the Justice Society of America. This version of Dick died during the 1985 miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths.
All Star Richard "Dick" Grayson
This is an alternate continuity of Grayson, featured in the All Star Batman and Robin title which debuted in July 2005. His origin differs in various ways to the official DC Comics Universe. In this universe he is a twelve year old boy who performs in the circus with his two parents, as the Flying Graysons. Bruce Wayne had come to the show many times to watch him perform his amazing stunts. One night, while Bruce Wayne watched the show with reporter Vicki Vale, the Graysons performed an amazing feat. The audience began to cheer and clap when suddenly a man arrived and shot Dick Grayson's parents in the head. They fell to the floor and died. Batman took out the gunman while some corrupted Gotham City Police officers took young Dick Grayson into custody, and absconded with him; They took him to a place outside Gotham City, into a deserted stretch of forest where they tortured and/or executed people, but Batman came to the rescue, and attacked the corrupt cops, forcing them into flight. Batman rescued Dick and took him in the Batmobile and asked him to join him in his crusade against crime in Gotham City. Dick agreed to join the crusade.
In All-Star continuity Robin has not yet appeared but is expected to appear in All Star Batman and Robin #3.
Grayson in other media
- Actor Burt Ward played Robin in the 1960s Batman television series, which further made Robin an inseparable part of the Batman mythos.
- Dick Grayson/Robin was played by actor Chris O'Donnell in the 1995 movie Batman Forever and its 1997 sequel Batman and Robin. In this continuity, Grayson's parents were murdered by Two-Face/Harvey Dent during a similar sabotage in the annual Gotham Circus. At one point in the movie, he even suggested Nightwing as his codename, though this was little more than an homage to the comics. Robin's costume in Batman and Robin is similar to that of Nightwing, except that it has a cape.
- Nightwing's most notable TV appearances were on The New Batman Adventures where, as in the original series Batman: The Animated Series, Dick was voiced by actor Loren Lester. The B:TAS episode "Old Wounds" explained that Grayson (then still Robin) had come to blows with Batman over Batman's controlling nature and increasing ruthlessness, and that Dick had left Gotham as a result. He returned years later as Nightwing, and, though he worked with Batman several times over the course of the series, never fully reconciled with his former mentor. Batman Beyond, another TV series in the DC Animated Universe, implies that Grayson is still alive (and bitter) some fifty years later.
- Nightwing also appeared briefly in the Teen Titans animated series in the episode "How Long is Forever?" as the future identity of Robin (another argument in favor of the theory that the animated Robin of the Titans continuity is really Grayson).