Hero Profile: Nightwing

Do I really even need to do an opening paragraph for this guy? Oh, I’ve got one. Think of a side kick. If Robin isn’t in the top five of the list you just thought of, you’ve been living under a rock. And, unlike some other characters that have remained more or less the same since their inseption, Dick Grayson has actually developed quite a bit from his early days as the Boy Wonder. Let’s get to it.

Again, why is it that so many "covert" focused
characters dress in bright colors?

While I’m 90% certain most of us have some idea about the origins of Dick Grayson, it’s still probably better to cover them in brief. Dick grew up as the youngest member of the “Flying Graysons,” alongside his parents. He was a gifted acrobat from his earliest days, and loved to fly on the trapeze. The Flying Graysons were so good, they didn’t work with a safety net. Put a pin in that, we’ll get back to it in a second. One day, Dick witnessed a pair of gangsters trying to extort protection money from the circus owner, Mr. Haly. Haly refused, which probably wasn’t the best idea. The Gangsters, wanting payback, decided to sabotage the best act of the Haly Circus, the Flying Graysons. They snuck into the circus after hours, and coated the trapeze wires with an acid. During the performance the following day, Dick’s parents used said trapeze, and fell to their deaths when the wire snapped. So yeah, working without a net is cool, but…yeah, it would have been really helpful here. Dick wanted to rush to the police to let them know what he knew, but was stopped by the big brooding Batman. Batman warns Dick that the thugs work for Tony Zucco, a powerful crime boss, and that Zucco would…take offense to being named a suspect.

Dick still might have gone through with calling the cops, if Batman hadn’t revealed his own origins about his parent’s tragic deaths. Seeing the similarities in their background, Dick asked to be Batman’s aide, so he could get justice for his parents. Batman agrees, and trained him as Robin the Boy Wonder. After a few weeks of intensive training, they start hitting Zucco where it hurts, his wallet. They disrupt hiss disreputable business, and then catch the crook at a construction site after he got mad and stupid. Batman and Robin become an inseparable pair for years to come. The two quickly develop a father/son bond. Robin becomes something of a big wig in terms of Hero sidekicks, and even helps found the Teen Titans, a team comprised of entirely sidekicks. On one of their adventures, Batman and Robin find themselves in an Alternate reality. One where the shrunken City of Kandor is still full sized, and protected by its own Batman and Robin. These two being an alternate Clark Kent and Jimmy Olsen, going by the codenames Nightwing and Flamebird. Remember that first name, folks, it’ll be important in a sec. Robin goes into semi-retirement as Dick attends College, but he’s always ready to jump into action should Batman ever need him.

Simple, but effective costume.
Though wouldn't a gray bird match the name better?

After several years of being in his late teens/early twenties and yet still being referred to as the “Boy Wonder,” Dick has enough. He decides to rebrand himself, and uses the alternate Superman’s identity to do so. He becomes Nightwing, and sets about on his own crusade of justice. He occasionally stops in to help Batman and his successor Robins, Jason Todd and Tim Drake, respectively, but largely works on his own stuff. Which, does kind of come in handy a few years later. Batman had a faceoff with Bane that left him with a shattered spine. He chose another hero named Jean-Paul Valley to succeed him as Batman. Why? When Dick is clearly the best option? Well, Bruce didn’t want to burden the young man that is essentially his oldest son with the heavy mantle of Batman, especially given how hard Dick worked to be his own hero. And he feared Dick would go off the deep end trying to get payback. Turns out, he should have been more concerned with Valley, who loses it and starts behaving erratically. Batman goes through some extensive physical training to get back up to snuff, and he, Nightwing, and Robin (Tim Drake) battle and defeate Valley. But after this, Batman decides he needs to do a little soul searching, and leaves the cowl and cape in Dick’s very capable hands. While holding the fort as Batman, Dick gets a better idea of the emotional, physical and mental burdens his surrogate father has to go through on a daily basis. Suffice to say, when Bruce comes back, Dick happily returns the Batman costume. He seems to still desire to be Batman, but for now, he’s content being the Nightwing.

Richard “Dick” Grayson, like his mentor, is 100% natural human. He has trained pretty much since the cradle to swing on trapeze, which makes him a natural acrobat. He’s vigorously trained his body to be the peak of human ability. Dick rivals his mentor in terms of skill in martial arts, fencing, escapology, and criminology. He uses a variety of gadgets; smoke bombs, grappling hook, metal batons, “bird-a-rangs,” and the like.

Dick’s version of Robin has appeared in a number of Batman franchises. Usually, if a show/movie series lasts long enough, we’ll see the Flying Grayson in one form or another.

We see Dick go through his entire transition from sidekick to his own superhero in Batman: The Animated Series. His early episodes had him as the Bird-Boy, but he and Bruce have a serious falling out between Batman: TAS and its sequel show The New Adventures of Batman. While the two would still work together, there was always a strong sense that their personal relationship hadn’t recovered. He does form a strong bond with his successor, Tim Drake.

Best Nightwing line of the movie: "You know what I missed
most about running with you? The toys." 

Teen Titans’ Robin was almost never addressed by his “real” name, certain elements of his character are clearly Dick Grayson. The fact that he and teammate Starfire have a thing, the fact that in the time hopping episode “How Long is Forever?” we see Robin has become Nightwing, and that he has an obsessive extra-dimensional fan whose name is Nosyarg Kcid. Spell it backwards. See? Many of the early episodes focus on the team battling the villainous Slade, who wants to make Robin into his successor. Slade comes really close, after hitting the other Titans with nano-explosives. While training Robin to be ruthless, he makes an almost off-hand comment about how one-day Robin would call him father. In a pretty badass moment, Robin simply states “I already have a father,” which causes a group of Bat’s to swarm.

We see Nightwing in Batman: Under the Red Hood. He’s voiced by Neil Patrick Harris, who has also played Spider-Man in another series. No real point with that tidbit, the guy gets around is all I’m saying. He steps in to help Batman battle he incredibly dangerous Amazo Android. After they disable the Robot, he does his bests to help Bruce uncover the identity of the Red Hood, but is benched after he breaks his leg stopping a helicopter from falling onto the Gotham City streets. If you're going to get benched, that's the way to do it.

In my humble opinion, the Best Dick Grayson appeared in Young Justice. He’s the youngest member of the covert ops Team, still an awful name, but is the most experienced. Thirteen years old, but has been training as Robin since he was nine. He is forbidden to reveal his identity to the rest of the team, so is either wearing his mask or shades around the other team members. We get to hear Batman's thoughts on his young ward in "Agendas." In the subplot of the episode, the Justice League gets together and discusses adding new heroes to their roster. Wonder Woman calls Batman out on training Robin, claiming that Bruce was making someone just like him. Batman counters with "So he wouldn't be like me." He hoped to give Robin the closure that he never did, which seems to work out. Robin tries very hard to get himself and the rest of the team up to snuff throughout the series. In the episode “Performance,” he leads the Team on a mission to protect the Haly Circus. It’s revealed that one member is actually the Parasite, who would steal the abilities of circus performers to rob several high tech institutions. After stopping Parasite, Robin has a nice bonding moment with Mr. Haly, who revealed that he’d never forgotten what a Flying Grayson looks like on the Trapeze. It’s a good moment.

We see him in season two, where he’s transitioned to full leader of the Team, and is now Nightwing. Despite offers to join the Justice League, he chooses to stick with the Team. For Reasons. One of his most awesome moments happened in the episode “Complications.” In it, he’s investigating the mysterious disappearance of several teammates. When he learns who did it, he snaps the wing off a bird-a-rang. Batman tech is remarkably durable, so you have to imagine the rage he needed to feel to break one of those.

Dick Grayson is the original sidekick, for better or worst. I enjoy his story, the broken little Robin that turns into a savage Bird of Prey. Despite his unusual circumstances, he’s like any son, trying to live up to, and surpass, the expectations of his adoptive father. I think they put it best in Young Justice episode, “Disordered.” In it, the team is recovering from a psychologically damaging training mission. While talking with Black Canary, the group’s shrink, Robin admits that he no longer wants to be Batman. He still looks up to him, still wants to emulate him, but that he can’t be willing to sacrifice everything for victory. Like Batman. That’s why I think why he’s a well-liked character. We can all relate to living up to expectations, and trying to be our own man/woman/???, however you choose to self-identity.  He’s the amazing acrobat, the high flying Grayson, the shadowy Nightwing. Next time, the other other Robin, Tim Drake. 

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