Nightwing (DC)

, also better known as , is a major character in the . specifically serving as one of the main characters in both the and the franchises.
The title "Nightwing" is a name that has been used by several fictional characters in the DC Comics Universe. It was conceived as a Kryptonian analogue to the character of Batman, with Nightwing's frequent partner Flamebird based on Robin. The Nightwing persona originates with a Kryptonian vigilante taking the name of the "Nightwing", a bird native to the planet Krypton.
The son of the circus acrobats known as "The Flying Graysons", Dick would witness the death of his parents, and was later adopted by the billionaire Bruce Wayne. Once learning that Bruce was the crime fighter Batman, Grayson was given the position of being his sidekick - Robin, the Boy Wonder. Once he reached adulthood, Grayson left the Robin identity and continued his crime-fighting career as "Nightwing", and remained a close ally of Bruce and the Bat family. He has been a member of the Teen Titans, the Titans, the Justice League, and the Outsiders.
He was created by the late Bob Kane, the late Bill Finger and the late Jerry Robinson, and first appeared in Detective Comics #38 in April of 1940.
==History==
Prior to DC's continuity-altering 1985 limited series, Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Nightwing identity was depicted as an invention of Superman's during a time when he and Jimmy Olsen act as vigilantes in the Kryptonian city of Kandor; Superman draws inspiration from his encounters with Batman and Robin.
===Post-Crisis===
Post-Crisis, the name is attributed to a historic Kryptonian crime-fighter; this hero serves as an inspiration for Dick Grayson when he sheds his Robin identity and assumes the name and a new costume. Grayson was featured in an ongoing Nightwing series between 1996 and 2009. The most recent character to assume the name Nightwing is Superman's adoptive son Chris Kent, who - like the original Nightwing - is also Kryptonian.
===Batman Reborn===
Following the disappearance of Bruce Wayne at the end of Final Crisis, Dick Grayson inherits the mantle of Batman and takes Damian Wayne as his Robin. Their dynamic is inversely similar to Bruce and Dick's when he was Robin. After Bruce Wayne returns, he allows Dick Grayson to continue being Batman while he travels the world recruiting vigilantes for Batman Inc..
===New 52===
Dick Grayson resumes the Nightwing mantle shortly before the New 52 begins and is once again independent of Batman.
During the Forever Evil events, Nightwing is captured by the Crime Syndicate and has his identity revealed to the world. After the Crime Syndicate is defeated, Batman has Dick retire the Nightwing identity under the pretense that he was dead so that he could become a secret agent.
===DC Rebirth===
After completing his duties as Spyral, Grayson returns to his mantle and works with the Bat Family to stop Barbatos and the Dark Knights.
==Biography==
===Early Life===
Richard John "Dick" Grayson is the son of John and Mary Grayson, and became a circus acrobat for his family in the Flying Graysons of the Haley Circus. Dick was trained in acrobatics at birth, and was approximately twelve years old while being part of the Flying Graysons. While on tour in Gotham City, he overheard Tony Zucco threatening the performers to pay extortion money. The owner refused, and Dick later witnessed the death of his parents, who's high wire snapped and they fell to their deaths.
===Becoming Robin===
Dick felt responsible for the deaths of his parents, feeling that he didn't warn his parents in time. Afterward, Dick was placed in juvenile service system, and was later sent to a Catholic orphanage after being beaten up by inmates. Dick was adopted by Bruce Wayne as his ward, but became frustrated by the lack of attention from Wayne and the mystery surrounding his parents' death. One evening, Dick sneaked out of Wayne Manor to solve the crime of his parents' death, but stumbled into Batman, who was also investigating the murder.
Dick returned to the circus and was confronted by Zucco's associate, Eddie Skeevers, and the latter attempted to kill him. He was saved by Batman, and was taken to the Batcave, and was shocked to learn that Bruce was the vigilante. The two succeeded in reveling Zucco's complicity, but he supposedly died of heart attack before his arrest. Seeing a reflection of himself in Dick, a person who lost their parents and had a thirst for justice, Batman offered Dick to become his partner and sidekick. Dick accepted the offer, and chose the name Robin, becoming Batman's first partner out of many that would come later. 
While becoming the first Robin, Dick would become one of the founding members of the Teen Titans, a team created for sidekicks of mentor superheroes. Robin met with Wally West, Garth, Donna Troy, and Roy Harper, and the group helped free their mentors from mind control. Afterward, Robin became the leader of the Teen Titans, and continued his adventures with Batman, but also started to take on missions on his own. When Raven tasked Dick and several young heroes to form a new Titans, he resumed leadership of the team and fell in love with the alien Starfire. 
Dick then left the Titans and gave leadership over to Donna, and continued to be Batman's sidekick until he was nineteen years old. After being shot in the shoulder by the Joker, Batman decided to end Dick's career as his sidekick, and Dick moved out of Wayne Manor and attended Hudson University. He eventually dropped after his first semester, and decided to continue working with the Titans.
===Becoming Nightwing===
Feeling confused and thinking of ending his career as a crime-fighter, Dick went to Superman since he couldn't no longer be Robin. Superman told him the story of a Kryptonian who dreamed of a world ruled by justice, and became Krypton's protector under the moniker of Nightwing. Inspired by the tale, Dick became the first and only Nightwing in the post-crisis universe, donning a costume that was partially inspired by his late father. 
When his teammates were captured by Deathstroke, Nightwing managed to free them from the HIVE with the assistance of Jericho. Having finally moved out of the shadow of Batman, Nightwing resumed leadership of the Teen Titans, and would help the team deal with harsh times. Dick would battle Brother Blood and endure brainwashing from the supervillain, and have his relationship with Starfire become strained from her marriage by state. Dick would later learn that Batman trained a new robin, Jason Todd, and became devastated by Todd's death from the Joker.
Nightwing would then encounter a young boy by the name of Tim Drake, who idolized Batman and Robin, and wanted to become the third boy wonder. Though Dick rejected this at first, he realized that Batman was in need of a new partner, and later helped the Dark Knight take down Two-Face. The two vigilantes were assisted by Drake, who donned the Robin costume, and was eventually accepted as the new sidekick after persuasion from Grayson.
===Infinite Crisis===
During Infinite Crisis, Blüdhaven is destroyed by the Society, with the group dropping Chemo on the city whom killing thousands of people. Nightwing is saved from the city by Batman before he could die from radiation poisoning, and asks for forgiveness for letting Blockbuster die. Batman tells Dick that he needs to move beyond Blockbuster's death and that forgiveness doesn't matter, and Dick is moved by Bruce's words enough to propose to Barbara. Nightwing is then tasked by Batman to alert other heroes about the Crisis, and meets with Superboy at Titans Tower. The two locate Alexander Luthor's tower, and attempt to stop the crisis before being attacked by Superboy-Prime. Nightwing is nearly killed by Superboy-Prime, but Conner stops the supervillain and sacrifices his life to destroy the tower.
===Becoming Batman===
When Batman disappeared from Gotham, Dick was forced to lead the Bat family against the new Black Mask, who was spreading chaos across the city. Dick refused to take the mantle of the Dark Knight, but later had to save Bruce's son, Damian, and later battled Jason Todd, whom had formed a crooked version of a bat suit. 
When Damian was shot in the chest, Nightwing took him to the batcave and realized that he was Batman's successor. Dick learned that Tim had taken one of the bat suits from the cave and went to fight Todd with the Secret Six, which included Bane, Catman, and Rag Doll. Nightwing arrived and banished them for their crimes, and later organized a network to go after Black Mask while he locate Todd. Confronting the Red Hood, Nightwing defeated Jason, and claimed the mantle of the bat and became the second Dark Knight.
At Bruce's funeral, Dick informed those who attended that he couldn't let Batman's legacy die, and decided to become the new Dark Knight for Gotham. With the help of Alfred, Dick had his own bat-bunker and tasked Damian with being his sidekick as Robin. The two work together to stop Professor Pyg from turning people into dollotrons, and also struggle to stop Hush from posing as Bruce. In addition, Dick decides to become a more media-friendly Batman, allowing crime scenes to be recorded so his convictions could be seen in court. Though Bruce returned from the past, Dick was still allowed to continue his tenure as Batman, and joined the new incarnation of the Justice League.
===New 52===
On Prime Earth, Dick was born into the Grayson family, whom had the dark secret of being trained assassins for the Court of Owls. Dick had been selected to become the new Talon for the Court to replace Alton Carver, but he escaped this fate after his parents were killed by Tony Zucco. 
The billionaire Bruce Wayne would check up on Dick when he was transferred to the Wayne Care Center, and Grayson would often sneak to investigate the whereabouts of Zucco. Batman would encounter Dick at various times, and decided to share his identity with the teenager since they both lost their parents when they were young. Taking him to the batcave, Batman offered to help Dick find Zucco, and Dick accepted, and was trained to become the first Robin.
Robin would eventually co-found the Teen Titans with Donna Troy, Kid Flash, Speedy, and Aqualad, and would lead the team against Deathstroke. When the assassin made an offer to stop trying to kill the Titans in exchange that they train his daughter Rose, Dick accepted it. Years later, Dick decided to leave Batman's side after an argument, and took the mantle of Nightwing to become a vigilante on his own. Dick would leave Gotham, but would occasionally return to mentor the next Robins, and improved Batgirl's training. When Batman was apparently killed by Darkseid, Dick took on the role as Batman until Bruce returned and took the mantle.
===DC Rebirth===
After his tenure as Spyral, Grayson returned to his duties as Nightwing, first having to save Damian from the Parliament of Owls' scheme. While infiltrating the Owls, Nightwing reunited with Wally West, whom returned from the speed force and gave Dick his memories of him back. Later on, Nightwing and the Bat Family worked with Batman to investigate the Dark Multiverse, which resulted in Bruce releasing Barbatos and his evil counterparts.
==Love-Interests==
*Batgirl
*Starfire
*Donna Troy
*Huntress (Helena Bertenelli)
==Other Media==
===Films===
*In the 1943 serial Batman, he was portrayed by the late Douglas Croft.
*In the 1949 sequel Batman and Robin, he was portrayed by the late Johnny Duncan.
*In Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, he was portrayed by Chris O'Donnell.
*In The Lego Batman Movie, he was voiced by Michael Cera, who also played Scott Pilgrim in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
===Direct-to-Video===
*In Justice League: The New Frontier, he was voiced by Shane Haboucha.
*In Batman: Under the Red Hood, he was voiced by Neil Patrick Harris, who also played Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother, Patrick Winslow in The Smurfs films, and also voiced Lou in Cats & Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore and Prince Gumball in Adventure Time.
*In JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time, he was voiced by Jack DeSena.
*In DC Animated Movie Universe, he is voiced by Sean Maher.
*In Batman Unlimited: Animal Instincts, Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem and Batman Unlimited: Mech vs. Mutants, he was voiced by Will Friedle, who also voiced Ron Stoppable in Kim Possible.
**Friedle reprised his voice for the character in Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League: Gotham City Breakout.
*In Batman Ninja, he was voiced by Daisuke Ono (who also voiced Silver the Hedgehog in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), and Erwin Smith in Attack on Titan) in Japanese and Adam Croasdell (who also voiced John Morgan in Dead Island: Riptide, and Ignis Stupeo Scientia in Final Fantasy XV) in English.
===Television===
*In the 1960s Batman series and the feature film, he was portrayed by Burt Ward.
**Ward reprised his voice work for the character in Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders and Batman vs. Two-Face.
*In Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures, he was voiced by Loren Lester.
**Lester reprised his voice work for the character in Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu and Batman and Harley Quinn.
*In The Batman, he was voiced by Evan Sabara as Robin and Jerry O'Connell as Nightwing.
*In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, he was voiced by Jeremy Shada as Robin, Crawford Wilson as Nightwing, and Lex Lang as Batman.
*In Young Justice, he was voiced by Jesse McCartney.
**McCartney reprised his voice work for the character in Young Justice: Legacy.
*In Harley Quinn, he is voiced by Harvey Guillén.
===Titans===
*Dick Grayson/Nightwing appears as the main protagonist, and is portrayed by Brenton Thwaites, who also played Prince Phillip in Maleficent, Bek in Gods of Egypt, and Henry Turner in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
===Radio===
*In the 1989 Batman: The Lazarus Syndrome and the 1994 Batman: Knightfall, he was voiced by James Goode.
===Video Games===
*In Lego Batman: The Videogame, he was voiced by James Arnold Taylor, who also voiced Ratchet in the Ratchet & Clank series, and Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels.
*In DC Universe Online, he was voiced by Joey Hood.
*In Injustice: Gods Among Us, he was voiced by Troy Baker, who also voiced Joel in The Last of Us series, Erron Black in the Mortal Kombat series, Talion in the Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor series, Booker DeWitt in Bioshock: Infinite, Delsin Rowe in inFamous: Second Son, Terrance Brooks in Call of Duty: Black Ops and Jack Mitchell in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.
*In Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, he was voiced by Cam Clarke.
*In the Batman: Arkham series he was voiced by Josh Keaton (who also voiced Jak in Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier, Spider-Man in The Spectacular Spider-Man and Shiro in Voltron: Legendary Defender in Arkham Origins) and Scott Porter (who also voiced Lukas in TellTale's The Walking Dead) in Arkham Knight.
**Keaton would voice the character again in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham.
*In Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, voiced by Charlie Schlatter as Robin.
*In Lego DC Super-Villains, he was voiced by Matthew Mercer, who also voiced Leon S. Kennedy in the Resident Evil series, Smoke and Kurtis Stryker in Mortal Kombat (2011), Levi Ackerman in Attack on Titan and Robin in Batman: Arkham Knight.
==Quotes==
==Trivia==
*Ranked #11 on IGN's "Top 100 Super Heroes of All Time".
*Ranked #1 on ComicsAlliance list of the "50 Sexiest Male Characters in Comics".
*When it comes to romance, Dick has a weakness for redheads.
*Dick Grayson's best friend is Wally West, and has called Alfred Pennyworth his best friend on numerous occasions.
*Despite his time as Robin, Dick actually favors Superman over Batman.
==External Links==
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