Parents: John and Mary Garyson, deceased. Ward of
Bruce
Wayne until he was of legal age. Recently adopted by Bruce Wayne.
Siblings: Tim Drake - Adoptive brother.
Birthdate: March 21st (The First Day Of Spring)
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 175 lbs.
Hair: Black
Eyes: Blue
Occupation: Vigilante.
Place of residence: Formerly Gotham City. Formerly Blüdhaven, a
whaling town just south of
Gotham
City. Currently, New York City.
Particular Skills: Trained as a circus performer from an early age. Natural athlete and highly trained detective. Master of several martial arts but favors Aikido and Jeet-Kune-Do.
Hobbies: Writing fiction when he has the time.
First Appearance: Detective Comics #38 (As Robin), New Teen Titans #39 (As Nightwing)
Titles Currently Appearing In: Nightwing. The Outsiders. Also appears in Robin, Teen Titans and and the various Batman titles on a regular basis.
Biography:
Dick Grayson was the only son of the famous Flying Graysons, a husband and wife acrobatic and high wire circus act with Haly's Circus. When he was ten, Dick's parents were killed by the mob when the owner of the circus refused to participate in a protection racket. Dick watched his parents fall to their deaths after a mob man, under the control of Tony "Boss" Zucco, cut their line during a performance.
Orphaned,
Dick was adopted by multi-millionare Bruce Wayne, who attended the
circus
that night and witnessed the murder. Dick soon discovered that Bruce
Wayne
was actually The Batman, Gotham City's infamous masked vigilante. Bruce
took Dick under his wing and trained him with the skills that he had
aquired
when becoming Batman. Dick became Batman's partner, the first Robin,
The
Boy Wonder.
Over the next nine years Dick and Bruce formed a father/son relationship, Bruce becoming the father that Dick lost and Dick becoming the son Bruce could never have. Dick also formed some relationships outside of the Batcave, becoming the leader of The New Teen Titans for many years. He tried college for a while at Hudson University but when it didn't work out for him he returned to Gotham. After a near fatal shooting by The Joker, Batman felt strongly that he could no longer endanger Dick's life. The two split and Dick soon abandoned the identity of Robin and became Nightwing, the leader of a new line up of Titans.
Eventually, Batman took on a new partner, the second Robin, Jason Todd. Jason was quick-tempered and prone to act on his own against the orders of Batman. Jason was killed by The Joker.
Dick continued on with the Titans, almost marrying another Titan, Starfire. Their wedding was terminated when an evil version of Raven, a fellow Titan, attacked during the ceremony and killed the minister. Dick and Starfire split and she returned to her home planet. After the aborted wedding, Dick quit the Titans.
Some time after the death of Jason Todd, Batman encountered Tim Drake, a young man who had also been present that night at Haly's Circus and had seen Dick's parents killed. Having seen both of them in action, Tim deduced that if Robin and Dick Grayson shared many of the same skills, then Dick must have been Robin and Bruce Wayne was therefore Batman. Tim felt that Batman needed a Robin to watch his back and that with the death of the second Robin, Jason Todd, Batman had become reckless and unstable. He urged Dick to take up the mantle of Robin again and return as Batman's partner, however, an encounter with the villian Two Face proved that what Batman really needed was a new Robin and Tim Drake became the third and current Robin with whom Dick has formed a older brother/younger brother relationship.
Shortly after Tim became Robin, Batman's back was broken by the madman Bane, who knew that to take Gotham he would have to destroy it's protector. From his sick-bed Bruce felt a new Batman was needed. He didn't feel that Dick was driven enough to be Batman and in his injury-induced fog he decided that Dick was his own man now and wouldn't be willing or able to help so he chose newcomer Jean-Paul Valley, also known as Azrael - a trained assassin, to become a new, harsher Batman. This hurt Dick immensly. Batman was healed and with the help of Dick and Tim, he retook the mantle of the Bat from an increasingly psychotic Azrael, then took some time off for undisclosed reasons, leaving Dick in his place as Batman. Dick grew into the role perfectly and realized that he deserved it if Bruce ever couldn't fill it. Once Bruce returned, he and Dick had a heated father/son talk about pretty much everything that has caused the uneasy rift between them over the years and they now stand on good terms, Dick hanging around Gotham and helping Bruce out from time to time. That is until 21 bodies washed ashore in Gotham harbor and Bruce sent Dick to the nearby town of Blüdhaven to investigate.
Dick took up residency in Blüdhaven, which was in some
ways even more in need of a hero than Gotham. Dick had become his own
man,
independently wealthy from a trust fund dating back to his days with
Haly's
Circus, which he now owns, and had set up camp in Blüdhaven with
the intention of cleaning up the town. He took a job
with the Blüdhaven Police Force to fight corruption from the
inside
and participated in reforming the original Titans where he found
himself once again looked on as the team leader. His relationship with
Bruce also underwent some changes at this time, being strengthened by
Bruce's adoption of Dick, making
legal what the two of them always understood, that Dick has become
a son to Bruce. Dick and the former Batgirl, Barbara Gordan (now
'Oracle'),
have also begun a romance built on years of friendship and a long
standing
attraction. Dick recently proposed to her and Barbara gladly accepted
though their relationship has since faultered.
Since then, Dick has led a new version of The Outsiders, his
mentor's one time super team, rejoined the Titans, and has moved to New
York where he
continues to fight for the justice that Bruce taught him to strive for
and which his heart craves.