(My) Richard Grayson

by darkfire77

What I think about the character of Dick Grayson, his various identities and what he has done in the history of superhero comics.

Richard John "Dick" Grayson-Wayne (-Wayne in most of my stories).

Dick Grayson, the best acrobat in all of DC hands down, is my favorite character in the entire DC world and the entire superhero world in general.

One name, many identities.

There are many reasons and I will try to list the ones that are the most important to me.

First of all, he is the first Robin and he was not only Batman's partner but he was also the first child partner of a hero within the history of superhero comics, practically making history as well as becoming a kind of role model.

As for in a DC fanfiction, I'm pretty sure that if Dick had never been taken in by Bruce and, therefore, Robin had never been born, the other child partners (such as Roy Harper/Speedy, Wally West/Kid Flash, Donna Troy/Wonder Girl, etc.) would never have become heroes precisely because their respective mentors would not have even considered taking child partners if it were not for Batman starting the "fad."

He also started his vigilante activity around the age of 8, the youngest of all and therefore also became the most experienced.

For me Dick is the first and the best of the Robins, although some might argue that the best is Tim but personally I consider Grayson as the best of the Boy Wonder.

In the comics and the various animated series Robin (Dick) has a multitude of outfits, one of the most famous of which is the one with scaly panties and no pants.

But I personally prefer Young Justice's version and, in all my fanfiction, it will be implied that he wore (or wears, it depends) this one.

One of the reasons why I madly love Richard Grayson and think of him as the best of the Robins is because he has been and always will be the light of Batman. What I mean is that it is thanks to Dick that Bruce did not sink into his darkness to the point where Batman became the real person and Bruce became his mask. In short, it is thanks to Richard if Bruce stayed in his humanity and did not become his own darkness and prevented him from becoming more violent and/or breaking his main rule.

Do not kill.

So yes, Dick basically kept Bruce from becoming a vigilante killer who would terrorize Gotham to death.

Bruce took Dick in after the death of the Flying Graysons because he knew what the eight year old was going through and to keep him from ending up like him, which was to become obsessed with his tragedy.

And Bruce succeeded: Dick, unlike him, got over the death of his parents and became a better person than Bruce could have been (and Bruce himself knows this).

Dick was not trapped in the past as his mentor unfortunately was.

Since Dick is for all intents and purposes Bruce's light and the best person in the world for him, I am of the opinion that if Dick had not been adopted by the billionaire the latter would not have taken in his other children either.

A much darker and more violent Batman would not have taken in Jason who stole his Batmobile tires, he would not have taken in Tim whose parents were neglectful of him, he would not have taken in Damian who was raised for the first ten years of his life by the League of Assassins, he would not have taken in Cassandra who was trained solely to kill and represent one of the deadliest people in the world, he would not have helped Stephaniela, daughter of the criminal Cluemaster.

So yes, I believe that Dick's adoption resulted in the adoption of Bruce's other children.

Dick has accomplished a lot of great things as Robin, but the best thing he has ever done is the casting out of the darkness from the Caped Crusader.

Batman actually taught everything (rather, not everything) he knew to Robin, but Dick Grayson taught Bruce Wayne how to live again and of everything I just said nothing will change my mind.

So, in my opinion, if there is one death that would push Bruce over the line of not killing, it is that of his first-born.

If, for example, Tim, Jason (for the second time), Cass, or someone else died, Bruce would not kill. By this I do not mean that he would not suffer because yes, his emotional pain would skyrocket and he would violently beat up whoever took one of his children away from him, but Dick would always be there beside him to keep him from falling permanently into darkness, as he has always done after all.

Or if there was no Dick there would be someone else who would convince Bruce not to kill. For example, when Jason died as Robin, Superman was able to convince the Dark Knight not to kill the Joker.

But if Dick was the one who was killed, then Batman would kill the killer of his first-born without a second thought. No one, not even Superman, could dissuade him from killing the killer of his first Robin.

Batman would not stop for a moment and he would go to the ends of the earth to end the life of the bastard who took away his first son.

As proof of this, look at what he did to KGBeast after he shot Grayson is head.

Without thinking half a time Batman broke his neck and he left him half dead in that blizzard, completely unconcerned whether KGBeast would die or not. And you have to consider that Dick had not even been killed; he was in a coma in the hospital.

Think what Batman would have done to him if his firstborn had been killed.

I'm sure if the Joker had killed Grayson instead of Todd, Batman would have killed him without question, Superma be damned.

Bruce admitted something very important.

Dick is his rock, his foundation, and without him he would be lost to the world.

Going further, once he assumed the identity of Nightwing, Dick became his own hero, becoming completely independent of Batman and taking his own city to protect: Bludhaven is Nightwing's city as Gotham is Batman's city.

So far Dick is the only one in the Batfamily who has taken this huge step, and that is a great credit to him.

Nightwing is, for all intents and purposes, my favorite hero of all time.

Nightwing tries to clean up his city not only at night but also during the day like Detective Richard Grayson, working both day and night.

I am of the opinion that Nightwing should be considered and treated as an A-list hero, on par with heroes like Superman, Batman himself, Wonder Woman and the rest of the Justice League.

In this last period he is experiencing his golden age in the comic book era thanks to Tom Taylor with drawings by Bruno Redondo who are doing him the justice he so richly deserves and for that I cannot thank them enough: they are doing an awesome job with Nightwing and I am more than happy about that.

It is a shame that so few (both fans and writers) recognize his true value: his character deserves so much more than being a half-known name (especially here in Italy).

In fact, if you ask an Italian person who Batman is, everyone will more or less give you an answer and at least half will also be able to tell you his civilian alter ego, whereas if you ask them who Nightwing is they will look at you like crazy saying, "Who the fuck is he?" Then of course there will be those who consider themselves big DC fans when in fact they don't even know that there have been multiple Robins, and that pisses me off like a beast.

Sorry for my little outburst but I had to do it.

With my meager stories I will try to spread Nightwing's name by giving him all the value he deserves.

Come on, folks: he even has a list of personal enemies, like Blockbuster, the Court of Owls, the Crime Syndicate but I consider Deathstoke The Terminator, the world's deadliest mercenary, as his archenemy.

Seriously: I love their rivalry and their mutual respect: Slade admires and respects Dick so much that he tried to make him his apprentice (hence Renegade) to make him the next Deathstoke and to keep his criminal reign from falling.

Many feel that Nightwing poses no real threat since he always wears a smile and is described as wanting hugs, cuddles, etc.

I mean, certainly that is part of his personality but to say he is not a threat is complete bullshit.

(Hell, he beat Ra's Al Ghul in a fight and even Batman himself!)

In his early years in the circus he learned how to read people, their movements and emotions (a skill then developed over time of course), and in fighting skills he had several mentors: Batman, Deathstoke, Lady Shiva (New 52), the Court of Owls, so it is obvious that he learned many lethal and potentially deadly moves.

That is why I am sure that Dick is the deadliest of the former Robins.

It is not that Dick cannot be lethal, but he simply chooses not to be, otherwise...

Personally, and I stress that what I will say is my strongly personal opinion, I think Nightwing is a better hand-to-hand fighter than Batman and one of the few people who can defeat him in combat.

Of course, Batman has been trained by the best warriors in the world but Nightwing has an advantage over him: he has been trained for almost a decade by the best of them all, that is by Batman himself (and has improved his repertoire of moves from the mentors mentioned before).

In addition, one important fact must be considered: Bruce took to the streets as Batman in his early twenties while Dick first took to the streets as a vigilante around the age of eight: Dick, unlike his adoptive father, was trained at a much younger age, in addition to the fact that he has had circus performer training practically since he was born, which conditions and makes his fighting style unique.

In short, I believe that Nightwing is not only a better fighter than Batman but also a better hero: he represents everything that Batman was originally meant to symbolize with his sunny personality (although there is certainly no lack of mysterious, gloomy darkness but it is buried deep within).

Nightwing represents the heart of the hero community: unlike his mentor he makes friends very easily and can rely on many people because he can trust them (in fact he has a kind of superpower of being able to make friends with virtually anyone, including criminals but that is another matter).

From this perspective, I think it is quite obvious that Nightwing is a better leader than the Dark Knight: Batman gives orders rudely, expecting his teammates to carry them out without objecting, and does not dwell on the emotional factor; Nightwing, on the other hand, inspires everyone with his open and friendly personality because he trusts his teammates, and thus stimulates and encourages them much more than Batman can.

After all, Nightwing founded the Teen Titans (whose members vary by version) and was only a human but, despite that, he was their leader and the others trusted him blindly and would do almost anything for him.

In addition, Dick led the Justice League itself on more than one occasion and saved the entire world several times (such as Obsidian Age and Justice League: Cry for Injustice) and always did an exceptional job and Bruce always reiterated the natural leadership qualities of his first-born.

Even Batman himself has admitted that Nightwing is a better hero than he is and he has also admitted that, his greatest pride, the one thing he could never regret, his greatest success is Nightwing himself and I fully agree with that.

The only time Batman can be proud of himself is when he stares at Nightwing and the hero his son has become.

These are also the reasons why Dick became the second Batman, when in the various comics Bruce was believed to be dead or otherwise absent from Gotham (such as Batman: The Black Mirror, Batman: Battle for the Cowl or others).

Dick, despite expressing several times that he never wanted to become the Dark Knight because he wanted to be his own man and hero, did not hesitate in stepping up to the front and taking up the cape and cowl.

Dick knows that Batman cannot die and he is not willing to let that happen and so he takes on the role of the Dark Knight.

Now, if you weren't outraged by everything I said before, I'm pretty sure you will be now by what I'm about to say.

To me, Dick is a better Batman than Bruce.

There.

Dropped the bombshell.

Now let me state my reasons.

Dick's Batman is a smiling, more acrobatic Batman and even makes puns, reasons why Batman's villains recognize that the person behind the cowl is different, although they will still learn to respect and fear him since he is efficient and good (if not superior) to the former.

Even the citizens of Gotham and some police officers liked Dick's Batman better than Bruce's.

Dick's Batman, in essence, is a Batman less shrouded in darkness and sunnier: he is more human and it is this humanity that is one of the reasons he is a better Batman than Bruce.

It does not detract from the fact that he trained Damian, the blood son of Bruce and Talia trained for the first ten years by the League of Assassins, to become Robin: with patience and effort he earned his respect and made him less brutal and more of a hero: a feat Bruce probably could not have accomplished.

Thus a new Dynamic Duo was born: a sunny Batman and a dark Robin (a personality reversal in practice).

Dick's time in the hood established a fact that I personally think is indisputable: he represents a clearer version of what Batman is supposed to stand for, and Bruce himself has repeatedly stated this.

For these reasons I believe that Bruce's only worthy successor as Batman is Dick alone.

Jason and Damian are too violent while Tim, although he excels as the best detective and in intelligence, is a little lacking in fighting skills. Perhaps Cassandra might turn out to be a good choice but I reiterate that, of all those who have ever worn the Batman cowl, Dick is the best of them.

Dick is not only a fantastic fighter but also an excellent detective, and compared to his siblings, he is the only one who perfectly encapsulates all the skills and abilities that a Batman must possess.

Dick is the best Batman of them all, and of this I will remain firmly convinced.

On top of that he is also the best secret agent in all of DC, having infiltrated one of the world's most dangerous international agencies that specializes in brainwashing and deception using a hypnotic implant: Spyral, and thus Spyral's Agent 37 was born.

This is one of the many, many reasons why Grayson's character is cool: he was a fucking secret agent!

Going further, I have other identities of Dick that will be featured in a fair amount of my fanfiction.

The first is Renegade, which I mentioned earlier. This identity stems from Deathstoke's desire to make Richard as his apprentice and heir.

Slade saw a lot of potential in the first Robin and decided to exploit it with brutal training, teaching Dick many lethal moves that Batman would never teach him.

Whether Dick wants it or not, Slade was a real mentor to him and taught him a lot.

I like to think of a darker version of Dick as Renegade as one of the most brutal killers, and I already have a couple of stories in mind to write.

Yes, I like the character of Renegade a lot.

Then we have Dick as Talon version trained by the Court of Owls with one purpose.

Killing.

If it were not for Bruce taking him in, Dick was destined to be not a Talon, but the Gray Son of the Court, The Talon, the best of them.

I go no further.

I think that's enough about the character of Talon and how fucking deadly that would be.

Just to stimulate your curiosity, in Earth 5029 Dick has abandoned the identity of Nightwing to assume... that of Deathstoke!

Yep, the "golden boy" (Jason's kind nickname) has assumed the identity of his rival: the world's most dangerous mercenary.

You might have guessed that I enjoy both Dick's stories as a hero (both as Robin, Nightwing, and Batman), but also stories of Richard's darker side.

Also, even Dick's Batman could get much darker than Bruce's Batman but I will not add to that.

A really deep hatred I have for DC is that they continually belittle Dick by always making him a low-class character when in truth he is one of the best heroes around representing the heart and soul of the entire hero community.

These sons of...

Finally, Richard is without a shadow of a doubt the best big brother in all of DC.

I think I have written the most important reasons why Dick Grayson is my favorite DC character and Nightwing is my favorite hero of all time.

Ah, I forgot the most important reason!

Ready?

Nightwing's costume is the coolest.

All jokes aside, I hope I have given you an understanding of Richard Grayson's character and how much of an influence he has had on DC history, having pretty much made history there and reached the level of A-list heroes.

I hope that, at least in Italy, there will be more people who know about this fantastic hero who deserves nothing but fame and respect that not even DC (especially in the animated TV series, in this field only Young Justice gives him what he deserves) itself (saint Tom Taylor!) gives him.

Eh nothing, I think I've said most of what I needed to say about him. I am curious what you think about the character of Dick Grayson and don't hesitate to write your opinion in the comments!