Dick Grayson (character)

Dick Grayson (born c. 1990) is a detective for the Detroit PD who moonlights as the masked vigilante, Robin. Trying to distance himself from the hero game, Dick becomes entwined in a plot to use a teenage girl, Rachel Roth, to bring about the apocalypse. Choosing to mentor her, Dick forms a team for her protection and sets out to destroy The Organization. Dick hopes to overcome his ultra-violent tendencies and reclaim his self-control.

Early life
Dick was born to John and Mary Grayson; a pair of trapeze artists in Haly's Circus, known by their stage name The Flying Graysons. John and Mary fell to their deaths when Dick was eight, leaving him orphaned. He didn't know it at the time, but a criminal named Tony Zucco was responsible for their deaths. Dick, now an orphan, was adopted by billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne.

Boiling with grief and resentment, Dick made several attempts to run away, stealing Bruce's car to search for clues about his parents' deaths. Bruce, sensing Dick's turmoil, revealed himself as Batman - the cowled scourge of Gotham's underworld - and offered Dick a position as his sidekick, Robin.

Training to be Robin
During his time as Robin, Dick befriended two other bird-themed vigilantes; Hawk and Dove. Bruce found their methods crude, but Dick forged a strong friendship with them both, revelling in every opportunity to use excessive force. He even pursued a romantic relationship with Dove, one that ended in resentment and jealously.

Another of Dick's superhero friends was Donna Troy, aka. Wonder Woman's protégée Wondergirl. They bonded over playing second-fiddle to two of the Justice League's hardest hitters, and she inspired him to be a better detective, a better fighter.

In 2016, Dick discovered that Tony Zucco was his parents' killer. Robin had him arrested, but Zucco was promptly released on account of providing the police valuable intelligence about the Maroni crime family. Furious, Dick ambushed Zucco's convoy and beat him mercilessly. They were interrupted by armed Marois who fatally shot Zucco while Dick watched.

Moving away from Batman and meeting Rachel
Dick came to be disillusioned with Batman and left for Detroit in 2017. He felt that Bruce's methods were too vengeful, and feared that he would become corrupted by violence. He became a detective in the Detroit Police Department to keep criminals within arms' reach.

Dick first encountered Rachel when she was brought into the DPD interrogation room for questioning regarding her mother's murder. Obviously distressed, Rachel told Dick that she'd seen him in a vision as "the boy from the circus". Confused and concerned, he later found her being stuffed unconscious into a police car. Dick gave chase, and tracked her to a room in an abandoned hotel, tied to a chair, with her captor dead in a pool of blood.

After briefly stopping for some coffee near Middleburg Heights, Ohio, Rachel and Dick had a conversation regarding what had happened, but Rachel had no idea how she'd killed the man. Sensing Rachel's distress consoled Raven. They drove until nightfall, stopping for the night at Interstate 80 Motel. Dick headed out for some pizza, returning home to find Rachel in shock, consoling her. The following day they headed to Dawn Granger and Hank Hall's place in Washington, D.C., where Dick explained the situation to Dawn. They were interrupted by Hank, who was angry to see Dick. That night, Dick talked with Rachel, who questioned him as to why he'd hurt Dawn, as she could empathetically sense it, but Dick refused to answer properly. He then called Alfred Pennyworth, hoping to get some money transferred in order to pay Dawn and Hank to look after Rachel. The following morning, he went to the federal reserve to pick it up. When Dawn and Rachel arrived back from a day out, Dick talked to Dawn about the idea, but she didn't like it. Hank suddenly arrived home and saw Dawn holding Dick's arm, causing the two men to get into a physical altercation, only to be stopped by a sonic scream from Rachel. Dick and Rachel talked again that night, Rachel urging him to help Dawn out on her vigilante excursion that night. Dick eventually came round, saving Hawk and Dove from a large group of armed thugs. They headed back to the apartment, finding Rachel on the rooftop. Dick attempted to explain himself, but Rachel could sense Dick still lying. They were suddenly interrupted by a family, who proceeded to instigate a fight. This ultimately led to Dick and Dawn flying off the building. While Dick was able to grab onto the ledge, Dawn was unsuccessful, much to the horror of Dick.

Mentor of a team
Visiting Dawn in hospital, Dick promised Hank to find the people responsible for her injuries. Dick received a call from a police officer, informing him of Rachel's whereabouts, while also informing him of Detective Rohrbach's death. Stopping at a crime scene that Rachel had been at, he gathered evidence and followed a number plate of the car driven by Rachel's savior, Kory Anders. Dick finally caught up with them at Scooters Roller Skating Rink. After Rachel had a demonic freakout, they headed to Saint Paul's Convent, where Rachel chose to stay for some time. While inside, Kory stole Dick's car. He found her in a storage facility, noticing all of her evidence regarding Rachel. They suddenly felt an earthquake, seeing smoke coming from the direction of the convent, as well as seeing copious ravens flying overhead.

The two of them headed back to the orphanage, where they found half of it having been blown up, along with the head nun injured. She explained that Rachel had escaped, despite them trying their best to keep her safe. They instead headed to the Covington Police Department, Dick showing his badge and a photo of Rachel. The attending officer told him of a man has come in describing a girl of her description, giving Dick the man's name and address. Dick and Kory headed there, but when he refused to talk to another cop, Dick entered the man's home and beat him up, before realizing they were being watched by his young son. The man gave Kory the only possible location of Rachel he could think of, the Caulder house on Danny Street. The two headed there, running into three of its occupants. However, Dick heard screaming, running to find Rachel engulfed in darkness. He definitively promised to never leave her again, before they embraced. Shortly following, the group left, joined by Gar Logan.

Trading Dick's Porsche in for a minivan, they made their way to Do-Si-Do Motel, where they hoped to lay low. Deciding they needed to know how to work best with each other, they found a warehouse and demonstrated their abilities to one another. However, Dick refused to actually show them anything. That night, Kory and Dick admired as Gar and Rachel bonded. After, when they'd all returned to their rooms, Dick helped Rachel to take down a mirror, scared of her demonic reflection. Shortly following, Dick took a shower, and after he got out, was interrupted by Kory, who'd brought some tequila. Determined to get him to open up, Kory came on to Dick and the two had sex. However, he remained guarded despite this. Right after Kory left, Dick was attacked by "Nuclear Mom" and "Nuclear Stepdad". He fought them off, but "Nuclear Stepdad" ran at Dick, sending him flying through the window and on to a car below, momentarily knocking Dick out. When Dick came to, he opened his case to put on his Robin suit, helping to overpower the Nuclear family. They tied them up and attempted to get information out of them, but to no avail. Dick went outside and found their car, using their cell phone to locate Dr. Adamson in Chicago, Illinois. Dick traveled there, hoping to get answers as to why he was targeting Rachel, but they were promptly ambushed by a group of soldiers trying to kill them. However, they were quickly rescued by Jason Todd.

Giving up Robin's mantle
The two of them took Adamson's unconscious body to a safehouse. On the way there, Jason told Dick all about how he'd become Robin, also making him aware of the trackers that both of them had in their arms, unbeknownst to Dick. When they arrived at the safehouse, Dick removed his tracker, simultaneously talking to Kory and telling them to join him at the safehouse. Before he could leave, Jason told Dick why he was truly there, and how someone had been hunting down his former circus friends, using hydrofluoric acid. He used a computer to find the whereabouts of the one remaining circus performer, Clayton Williams, leaving his friends behind while Jason joined him. They travelled to Corvo in Milwaukee, Jason unable to enter due to his age. Dick approached Clayton, surprising him, causing Clay to squeeze him tightly. The two talked and Dick explained his visit, before he noticed Jason entering a fight, having made his way into the speakeasy. Breaking it up, there was a sudden explosion from outside. In the meanwhile, Dick received a call from Nick Zucco, revealing his identity and revealing that he'd since taken Clay. Dick put on his Robin suit and headed to a warehouse, finding a strung up Clayton. Before Nick could do any real harm, Jason attacked him from behind, Dick then knocking him out. As this happened, police entered the scene. Jason brutally beat them down, stopped only by Dick, who scolded him for his intense violence. Returning Clayton to his home, he helped clean up his acid wound.

After Adamson told Rachel about her birth mother being alive and held in an asylum, Rachel left to find her alongside Gar causing Dick and Kory to follow them. After reaching the asylum, they were captured and Dick was mentally tortured by showing him his dark past. He had a realization that he had blamed Bruce and Zucco for making him a violent and ruthless person, when in reality it was he himself responsible for it. Dick was soon rescued by Rachel, Gar and Rachel's mother; before they escaped, they also freed Kory and Dick taked out an entire horde of guards. Kory blew up the asylum, while Dick burned his Robin suit, giving up the mantle for good.

Self search and discovering the truth about Kory
After the traumatic experience at the asylum, Dick spent another night with Kory and noted that she was mumbling in her sleep. Questioned if there was anything revealed about her, he told otherwise. Kory realized that Dick had his belongings packed and he confirmed her suspicions that he would be leaving due to something personal placing in charge to look after the rest of the group while taking a train to Angela's home in Ohio. The following day Rachel, initially angry and sulky by Dick's departure, just a few seconds before he goes decided to drop the façades and give him one last hug, thanking him for all he had done for her. Later, he visited Donna and announce her that he quit being Robin. Seeing that he sought advice and a place to stay, she gladly lent a helping hand. To help clear his mind, she brought him to an exhibition featuring her photographs. However, after Donna received a text message regarding personal matters and told Dick she had to take care of something before leaving him alone at the exhibition. While concluding a meet-up with a strange group of men led by a poacher named Graham Norris, Dick appeared and attacked them. Following the assault, she faked photographs to avoid any suspicion being involved. Back at her own home, she spoke to Dick on his internal issues and hoped to give him some insight on who he truly is. While looking through his phone she found an image of a transcript found in Kory Anders storage unit, written in a peculiar text. Upon Dick's request, she attempted to translate it. The following day, while on the road, Donna finally got somewhere with translating the text and revealed that Kory was sent on a mission to kill "The Raven".

Dick and Donna reached Angela's home just in time, and Donna stopped Kory from further harming anyone knocking her out. Kory eventually regained consciousness but drove off in a frenzy. Before Dick and Donna were prompted to follow, Donna threw a tracker onto her truck so the two were eventually led to an old warehouse where Kory claimed her memories were leading her. Once they got inside, a large spacecraft revealed itself to be Kory's ship. Both Dick and Donna were informed that Kory is from another planet and that her mission is to kill an interdimensional being named Trigon: A demon capable of destroying her world and many others. Reading an old manuscript that explained the prophecy, Donna came to the conclusion that Rachel's mother, Angela, might actually be involved in Trigon's plan. On their way back to the house, as Dick realized that was Angela's plan all along, Donna flipped through the book and discovered that there is only one way to defeat Trigon—through Rachel. Suddenly, all of the power went out, including that of the vehicle. They all proceeded on foot and found Angela's house invisibly cloaked in a sparkling dome. Dick is the only one of the group who easily managed to ran through the field.

Personality
As a result of having witnessed the brutal murder of his family as a child and his subsequent upbringing by Bruce Wayne, Dick has developed a profoundly thick skin topped by a near-impenetrable suit of emotional armor to keep himself protected from the world at large. Dour, stoic, humorless, introverted and deadpan, Dick typically forgoes most human contact and keeps his feelings to himself. He does not get along very well with people, many of whom perceive him as rude, stubborn, anti-social, prickly and disrespectful. However he does have a soft-spot for children, especially runaways as he identifies with them, and with a select few people who have proven themselves trustworthy, such as his late partner Amy Rohrbach. He has no relationships beyond his former circus friends or a few others like Donna Troy, and has thus far exhibited no interest in pursuing a romantic relationship with anyone. Because of his circus upbringing, Dick places great value on family, believing it to be central to his world.

Dick has a very clear sense of justice befitting a vigilante as well as a strong moral compass; that good people must be protected and criminals must be punished.

Dick's outer persona however hides a far darker side, a side which almost always come out when he becomes Robin. When this happens, all of Dick's repressed rage, hatred, anger and pain is released at once and he becomes completely devoid of restraint or morality when engaging criminals or villains, inflicting pain and injuries on them so monstrously horrific that most who cross his path run from him automatically. This side of Dick is not, however, evil, merely merciless and absolute for he does not harm innocents regardless of the situation and works daily to deny it for it is the side of him that Batman cultivated and encouraged most.

Abilities

 * Peak human physical condition: Due to his training with Batman, Dick Grayson's body is at the peak of human condition. He has displayed peak human strength, speed, stamina, agility, reflexes, and endurance because of his extensive training. Dick has been shown jumping off of a building and landing onto cars without any discomfort. His condition also allowed him to keep up with and even defeat beings with enhanced abilities (such as the Nuclear Family).
 * Master Hand-to-hand combat/Martial artist: Dick is an extremely skilled martial artist due to years of crime-fighting with Batman. Dick is able to take down armed groups of thugs by using his combat skills and was also able to hold his own against the enhanced individuals such as Nuclear Mom and Nuclear Dad.
 * Master Stick Fighter: Dick possesses great stick fighting skills and is able to take down armed assailants with just his bo staff.
 * Master Marksman: Dick has impressive marksmanship and has demonstrated this ability with his specialized shuriken.
 * Master Acrobat: Dick was trained as a trapeze artist as a child and has developed many acrobatic skills. He is able to use these skills in combat, allowing him to dodge incoming attacks. He also possesses skill in freerunning and parkour, allowing him to scale buildings and even trees for quick and easy travel.
 * Skilled Leader: Dick's combat training as a child gave him the skills necessary to lead his new alliance even though two of the members have never participated in the battle.
 * Expert Driver: Dick is an impressive driver, even prior to having a license, he was able to drive a Porsche while being chased by police.

Equipment

 * Birdcomputer: Dick uses a computer outfitted with Wayne Enterprises technology (jokingly nicknamed the "birdcomputer" by Dove) to gather information.

Former equipment

 * Robin suit: Dick wore a protective suit whenever he's out fighting crime as Robin. But the latter later gave up the mantle of Robin thus discarded and burned the suit.
 * Briefcase: Dick possessed a briefcase to carry his suit. It can only be opened by passing a fingerprint and retinal scan.
 * Shuriken: Dick used specialized shuriken that are shaped in his Robin symbol. They were capable of penetrating concrete, making them strong weapons. One of them is R shaped and is installed as the symbol on his chest plate.
 * Grappling device: Dick used a technologically advanced grappling hook as part of his crime-fighting arsenal. The grapple line was strong enough to yank fully grown humans into the air, notably allowing him to separate enemies from their groups. As the device is primarily a traversal tool, Dick often used it to to scale buildings in mere minutes, if not seconds.
 * Smoke bombs: Dick used smoke bombs when fighting crime, such as when he took down Tyler Hackett and a number of thugs.
 * Bo staff: Dick used a bo staff when fighting crime. But later on while fighting the Nuclear Family the bo staff was broken into two.

Season 1

 * "Titans"
 * "Hawk and Dove"
 * "Origins"
 * "Doom Patrol"
 * "Together"
 * "Jason Todd"
 * "Asylum"
 * "Donna Troy"
 * "Koriand'r"
 * "Dick Grayson"

Trivia

 * Dick's phone number is 313-555-0165.
 * According to Donna Troy, he is attracted by "dangerous women", with Dawn Granger being the only exception.
 * Dick dislikes pineapple, at least on pizza.
 * It is implied that during his time with Bruce as Robin, that Dick wasn't allowed to drive the Batmobile, unlike the second Robin, Jason Todd.

Behind the scenes

 * In the DC comics, Dick Grayson is a vigilante known as Nightwing, leader of the Titans, and formerly known as Robin. His first appearance in the comics was Detective Comics #38 (April, 1940).
 * Dick's Bo-Staff and R shuriken are more associated with the third Robin from the comics, Tim Drake.
 * This is the eighth live-action depiction of Dick Grayson, previous live-action appearances of the character include Batman (1943 serial), Batman and Robin (1949 serial), Batman (1966 TV series), Batman: The Movie (1966), Legends of the Superheroes (1979), Batman Forever (1995), and Batman & Robin (1997).