Richard Grayson (Prime Earth)

{{DC Database:Character Template
 * Image                  = Grayson Vol 1 1 Textless Janin Variant.jpg
 * RealName               = Richard Grayson
 * CurrentAlias           = Agent 37
 * Aliases                = Robin, Nightwing, Batman, Birdwatcher
 * Identity               = Secret
 * Alignment              = Good
 * Affiliation            = Batman Family, Spyral; formerly Batman Incorporated, Haly's Circus, Teen Titans
 * Relatives              = Burton Crowne (great-great-grandfather, deceased), William Cobb (great-grandfather), Amelia Crowne (great-grandmother, deceased), John Grayson (father, deceased), Mary Grayson (mother, deceased), Bruce Wayne (adoptive father), Jason Todd (adoptive brother), Tim Drake (adoptive brother) Damian Wayne (adoptive brother, deceased)
 * Universe               = Prime Earth
 * BaseOfOperations       =


 * Gender                 = Male
 * Height                 = 5'10"
 * Weight                 = 175 lbs.
 * Eyes                   = Blue
 * Hair                   = Black
 * UnusualFeatures        =


 * Citizenship            = American
 * MaritalStatus          = Single
 * Occupation             = Spyral Agent; Spy


 * PlaceOfBirth           =
 * Creators               = Eddy Barrows; Kyle Higgins
 * First                  = Nightwing Vol 3 1


 * Quotation              = We fall because someone pushes us. We get up to push back.
 * Speaker                = Richard Grayson
 * QuoteSource            = Nightwing Vol 3 30


 * HistoryText            =

Dick Grayson is the adopted son of Bruce Wayne, better known as the vigilante Batman. Trained by the Dark Knight himself, Grayson eventually became Batman's sidekick, the first Robin. After Grayson outgrew his role under Batman, he graduated to the role of Nightwing, donning a new costume. However, after the Crime Syndicate came to Earth and caused the Justice League to disappear, they exposed Dick Grayson's secret identity to the world. Still wanting to be hero, Grayson agreed to take up a new identity and work undercover for Batman with a villainous spy agency known as Spyral.

Flying Graysons
When Dick Grayson was a kid, he was an acrobat prodigy travelling with the world-famous "Haly's Circus" along with his parents John and Mary Grayson. The three performers, known as the Flying Graysons, were one of Haly's most famous acts, a fact that went to Dick's head rather quickly. Dick, becoming rather pompous about his success, began to drive away his closest friends Raymond and Raya.

During a major blackout in Gotham City caused by the Riddler, Dick, who had decided to go to see a movie while Haly's Circus was stationed in Gotham, was caught in the streets alone. Working with a couple of kids, Dick managed to survive the immediate blackout and return to his family at Haly's camp. He learned not to take his friends for granted and apologized to them for treating them so poorly.

Eventually, Dick Grayson's parents were killed by the mobster Tony Zucco on his mother's birthday, leaving the former acrobat an orphan.

Robin: Boy Wonder
After being transferred to the Wayne Care Center, Bruce Wayne would occasionally check up on Dick and helped him out. While he seemed to be recovering from the tragedy, he actually sneaked out into the night to conduct his own investigation on the whereabouts of Tony Zucco. He would later encounter Batman various times as he aided him due to the fact both share a very similar tragedy.

Eventually, Batman brought Dick to the Batcave and shared his secret. Bruce then offers to help Dick in bringing Tony Zucco, a notion in which Alfred was reluctant in accepting. Dick accepts and Bruce trains him for months. After initially having trouble accepting a name, he finally settled on his moniker being Robin. One night, Batman was tracking an Assassin by the name of Lady Shiva. Poison and taken down by surprise, Dick would then make his first appearance in Gotham as Robin and battles Shiva. He is no match though impresses her. His intervention allows Bruce enough time to and Shiva withdraws, telling Dick to come to her when he feels he wants to improve his skills and move out of the "shadow of the bat".

A week later, Dick would initially have trouble with being on the field as Robin, Batman's strict and overprotective not allowing Dick to feel he was contributing as a partner. However, after an encounter with the Gangster Tusk, he proves himself to be valuable as a partner.

At some point, he would meet and partner up with Barbara Gordon, also known as Batgirl, numerous times and formed a close relationship with her. While both had feelings for each other and known both of them had such feelings, neither of them went any further. Eventually, he would take on many foes and criminals of Gotham during his tenure such as the Joker and Harley Quinn.

Nightwing
Eventually, however, both him and his mentor had a strife, resulting in Dick becoming Nightwing and no longer being his partner. However, Zucco would later die and Nightwing eventually left Gotham, though would occasionally return to mentor Robin, Red Robin and trained Batgirl.

During this period, he would form friendships with Green Arrow's protege Speedy and be in an romantic relationship with the Alien Princess, Starfire. He would also lead a group consisting with them along with others such as Vic, Gar, Lilith, and Garth. However, they would later seem to go their separate ways.

Becoming Batman
Eventually, Bruce appears to have been killed by Darkseid. As Batman's disappearance became known to Gotham, the criminals began running rampant. It also during this time Richard became aware of Damian's existence. After following him upon Alfred's orders, he would accept the role as Batman for Bruce's sake while Damian became his Robin. They would form a close bond with each other during this time as they took on Doctor Hurt and other criminals until Bruce's return.

Traps and Trapezes
Dick returns 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.

Night of the Owls
Nightwing recieves Alfred's message, 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 slowing his healing factor down. However, William Cobb, having been revived by another Talon, attacks Nightwing and stabs him in the chest. Nightwing then tricks Cobb into leading them to Gotham's train tunnels, where he is able to freeze him with a liquid nitrogen tub.

Death of the Family
A year after his disappearance, the Joker resurfaces in Gotham City, terrorizing it's police department and kidnapping Alfred. Realizing he was simply revisiting his past crimes, each with a sick twist, Bruce believes he can one-up the villain by bringing Dick along to their meeting which seemed to set up the Joker's age-old crime of poisoning Gotham's water. Dick was to keep guard of the water gate while Batman distracted the Joker. However, the Joker had predicted this, killed the people he believed would have been poisoned anyway and blew the part of the bridge Nightwing guarded. It was here that it was revealed the Joker apparently had worked out in his absense all the Bat Family's identities and planned a personal attack on each one. It is then assumed that after the battle between Batman and the Joker which resulted in Bruce almost drowning in the harbor, Nightwing saved him and brought him to the Batcave.

Dick invited the other immediate Bat family members to confront Bruce on his secret keeping. Here, they discover that during the Joker's first year of activity Bruce found a Joker card in the Batcave, insinuating that the villain may have found entrance to their base of operation. Disappointed Bruce would keep such a secret, Nightwing continued his vigilante work in Gotham City. However, it is soon revealed that the Joker attacks Grayson psychologically, killing past and new members of Haly's Circus, the circus Dick grew up in. Other members are being controlled by the Joker to attack Dick. After being overwhelmed by it all, Dick passes out and is dragged by Joker to an unknown location. Here, he is forced to take part in a makeshift feast scenario for Batman, where Joker reveals he had cut off the entire Bat-families faces. He also urges Batman do destroy the Batman family, arguing that his true family was him and the villains he fights. Bruce refuses, but Joker releases Joker gas causing the Batman family to succumb to his insane control and fight each other. The cut-off faces are revealed to be a ruse, but as each of Batman's apprentices pull off their bandages to reveal a insane smile, they begin attempting to kill each other, while Batman and Joker fight.

Second City
In the aftermath of Joker's personal attack, Richard is at odds once again with his mentor. Finding out that Tony Zucco was alive, he relocates to Chicago not only in an effort to hunt him down. After relocating to Chicago,he would move in with two of his roommates. . Meanwhile, as Nightwing, he continued his hunt for Tony Zucco. However, he finds himself having to elude Chicago law enforcement due to their strict no tolerance policy on vigilante-related actions. Trying to find a lead on Tony's location, he reluctantly enlists the help of Chicago's new super-villain,The Prankster. However, he ends up battling the Prankster and his forces as he launches a siege on Chicago. With the city on lockdown, Richard is forced to team up with Tony Zucco to put down the Prankster. In the aftermath of the siege, Tony Zucco turns himself to the police. Though Richard succeeds in bringing his parent's killer to justice, he realizes the change in his heart and feels nothing but sadness. However, he decides to stay in Chicago instead of moving back to Gotham.

While investigating recent thefts involving stealing Kanium, medicine used to hinder psychopathic tendencies, Nightwing encounters Marionette. As Nightwing tracks her down, Mad Hatter appears in Chicago, ready to take his "Alice" back. Though Richard assists Marionette in taking down Mad Hatter, he is doubled crossed and she steals more Kanium that was used in the Mad Hatter's tea. Nightwing finds himself unable to pick up her trail.

Bent on revenge after diagnosed with a fatal sickness that manifested after his first altercation with Nightwing and Batgirl, Splitbender arrives in Chicago and attacks Nightwing by disguising himself as Batgirl and, later, his allies and biggest enemies as he taunts the hero on how he should kill him. However, he fails to kill Nightwing, killing himself in the process. After the failed attempt on his life, Richard assists his roommate in taking care of Jen, one of his neighbor's daughters. However, her parents are killed when Zsasz visits Chicago. Jen asks Richard to help extract revenge towards Zsasz. However, when he denied being Nightwing, she stole his Escrima Sticks and went to confront Zsasz alone. As Nightwing, he goes out to rescue her as Zsasz attempts t kill her. After defeating Zsasz, he helps the girl move on with the sudden change in her life. After being informed she will live with her aunt, he then also informs Sonia that he will be in Gotham soon. .

Spyral
In the wake of the collapse of the Crime Syndicate, Batman tests his former apprentice's will in a heated battle while debriefing him of the organization, Spyral, and asks him to infiltrate Spyral as a double agent. He tells him the risks of taking the mission make makes him aware that he cannot let himself be known to anyone. Especially those close to him. Overcoming his mentor, Richard reluctantly accepts the mission. Setting out in the world, Richard begin taking down various terrorist plots, including those involving the "Fist of Cain". His actions attracts the attention of Spyral. They send Helena Bertenelli out to retrieve him. He is eventually enlisted into Spyral by the organization's mysterious leader, Mister Minos.

Weeks after joining Spyral, Richard Grayson, now known as Agent 37, is sent out into the field with Helena to capture yet another meta bio-weapon, individuals implanted with modified body organs to gain superhuman abilities. Ninel Dubov, the target, is unaware of such an organ inside him. Though the SVR(Russian Foreign Intelligence Service) and The Midnighter also attempt to retrieve Ninel, Richard is victorious and Spyral successfully extracts the organ from Ninel & confirm it to be part of the "Paragon Protocol". Mister Minos congratulates both agents and dismisses them. Later, he secretly communicates with Batman under the alias of "Birdwatcher" but is interrupted by Helena. She flirts with him in order to prove to him that she didn't need to use "Hypnos" to charm Ninel, a suggestion in which he made during the mission to her.

As he secretly conversates with Batman once again, The Hood make a surprise appearance in St. Hadrian's Finishing School during Helena's class lessons. As he receives an impromptu debriefing, he leaves to be debriefed further by Mister Minos. He informs both agents of his assignment in following leads concerning another Black market Meta-Bio Weapon, in which costed him to be hospitalized. He then sends both of them to retrieve the meta bio weapon in Farmingtion, Leicester, allowing them to use the "Spyral-Mobile". During the mission, Richard & Helena encounter Dr. Poppy Ashemoore, a former Biologist & employee of T.H.E.Y, The British Secret Service. They find that she has implanted herself with a mechanical stomach that gives her the abilities of a speedster, but at the cost of her having to consume calories by eating people to retain her youth. She also later informs them that many espionage agents came to retrieve the organ inside her, eating various espionage agents due to them frequently appearing and planned to do the same to Richard. However, Helena instead offers her to join Spyral, finding her too valuable of an asset. However, Richard protest and insist she be arrested for murdering. Using a secret subliminal post-hypnotic phrase, she easily takes down Richard & tells that she will not alert the director on his indiscretion. Later, after returning to St. Hadrian, he secretly informs Batman of Spyral successfully harvesting another super organ.


 * Powers                 =
 * Abilities              =


 * : Before even being formally trained, Richard possessed limited skill in hand-to-hand combat. After being trained rigorously by Batman in martial arts, his skills impressed the likes of Lady Shiva and Midnighter when he engaged in combat with both adversaries. He has even been able to match his mentor..
 * As a result of his status as an agent of Spyral and being taught by Helena Bertinelli, Richard is proficient in the art of Espionage.
 * : Richard Grayson was a acrobatic prodigy who was part of the "Flying Graysons" act, who were well known for conducting acrobatic acts without a net. As a result of his skill, he garnered success for Haly's Circus.
 * Due to his training with Batman, Richard is well versed in many melee weapons such as staffs, escrima sticks, and bladed weaponry such as swords.
 * Trained by Batman, Richard is proficient in throwing objects. He has often thrown his escrima sticks to incapacitate his opponents. He has even done the same with the use of a gun.
 * Being trained by the Dark Knight himself in various fields, Richard Grayson is shown to have a naturally high level of intelligence, though not as high as Batman's own.
 * : Richard Grayson was taught in various fields by Batman and as a result, is a capable tactician. In addition to that, he is skilled in reading the body motions of others, using this skill to aid in defeating multiple armed opponents and anticipate an opponent's next move.
 * Taught by Alfred Pennyworth in acting, Richard Grayson is proficient in the art of disguise. He was able to pose as Joker in Arkham Asylum and occasionally poses as Batman whenever Bruce Wayne and Batman needed to be sighted at the same time.
 * : Being trained by the World's Greatest Detective, Batman, Richard is known to be an excellent detective.


 * Strength               =
 * Weaknesses             =
 * Equipment              =
 * Spyral Implants: Due to being an Agent of Spyral, Richard Grayson has received various implants to better aid him in the field when he is on his missions. It seems that agents of Spyral typically have implants into them..
 * Hypnos: Hypnos are implant that enable the user to hypnotize others. This was used by Richard, who already displayed mastery in it's power despite it normally taking years to master. However, it is revered as a dangerous implant in which can open a two-way brain scramble.
 * Identity Protection: This implants makes the user's face unable to be captured by surveillance cameras and a person's memory.
 * Hypnos: Hypnos are implant that enable the user to hypnotize others. This was used by Richard, who already displayed mastery in it's power despite it normally taking years to master. However, it is revered as a dangerous implant in which can open a two-way brain scramble.
 * Identity Protection: This implants makes the user's face unable to be captured by surveillance cameras and a person's memory.


 * Nightwing Suit: As Nightwing, Richard Grayson's costume was made up of sturdy but flexible material that not only suited his strength in speed and acrobatics, but also was durable enough to take bullets from machine guns. His former costume was a stylized red "wing" across his shoulders and extending to his hands, coloring his two middle fingers, over a black torso and legs. He also has gauntlets much like Batman's own suit. Nightwing's costume is tailored specifically to his unique style of crime-fighting. He also has variants of his costume in which one one his stylized red "wings" reach only to his shoulders, another to his wrists, and one in which has hip and finger stripes. In addition, he formerly owned a suit which was blue and yellow, and another that was an armored suit that sported a Bat Symbol, which is currently being used by Red Hood His suit houses various hidden compartments for his gadgetry such as smoke pellets, fire extinguishing pellets, wing-dings, and small bombs. The fingertips of the suit also enable him to use a needle in which can give chemical analysis and even sport lockpicks from his fingertips.
 * Nightwing's Domino Mask: As Nightwing, the domino mask is shaped just like his wing-dings. It has various capabilities such as being able to track the GPS coordinates of a cellphone, thermal vision, detect radio waves, and being capable of giving detailed analysis of scenes and fights.
 * Nightwing's Gauntlets: Hidden within secret compartments lies Nightwing's gadgetry, in which a great majority seems to be hidden. He has various gadgetry in his gauntlets such as binoculars and it is occasionally used to store his Escrima Sticks. His gauntlets can also shoot remote bombs, a sonic device with his ear dampeners, and a grapple line.

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 * EMP Mask: A highly advanced mask created by Lucius Fox, the mask is made of webbing that retracts light surrounding the wearer's head and artificially alters the appearance of someone's face. Richard has used it to sneak into Arkham Asylum and pose as Joker and used it again to gain information on Lady Shiva.
 * Transportation         =
 * Wingcycle:
 * Weapons                =
 * Escrima Sticks: Personalized by Richard himself, his Escrima sticks is a sleek black stick in which is made of very sturdy material. He also later upgraded it in which could emit electricity and shoot a grappling line, and even hold some smoke bombs.
 * Wing Dings:
 * Notes                  = * Robin (Richard Grayson) was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, first appearing in  Detective Comics #38. However, in the rebooted Prime Earth continuity his first appearance as part of the DC Universe is in Eddy Barrows and Kyle Higgins' New 52 Nightwing series.
 * 2 Issues that deal in the origins of Dick Grayson's emergence as Robin in the New 52 slightly differ. In Nightwing #0, Dick would come to find out Bruce's identity as Batman on his own due to their similarities. However in Secret Origins #1, Dick is surprised to find Bruce Wayne is Batman.
 * Trivia                 =
 * Out of all of Batman's allies, Joker despises Nightwing the most.
 * Recommended            =
 * Links                  =