DC Characters

Dick Grayson

The End of the Dynamic Duo
Dick's new found independence and duties with the Titans leave him with less time for his former commitments in Gotham City. Dick feels that he rediscovers his self-worth among the Teen Titans Batman, however, is less than pleased. He informs Dick that if he no longer wants to be his partner, he'll have to retire as Robin. Furious, hurt, and confused, eighteen year old Dick Grayson leaves Wayne Manor after this fallout. Helping him through this difficult time are his fellow Titans, including Starfire, a beautiful alien with whom Dick had fallen in love with. Dick ultimately decides to hand over leadership of the Titans to Wonder Girl.

Nightwing
Pre-Crisis

Nightwing
In the original story, Dick realizes that he's grown up and doesn't need Batman anymore to help him. He decides that in order to discover who he is and his place in the world, he must leave Batman's side. Dick decides to drop his role as Robin and as the leader of the New Teen Titans. After retiring for a time from the hero business, he is attacked not as Robin but as Dick Grayson by Deathstroke the Terminator, who was hunting the Titans. Dick manages to escape and meets the ex-wife of Deathstroke (Adeline Kane) and his son Joseph (Jericho). Dick takes the name of Nightwing, as well as a completely new costume. He chose the name to honor another hero by the same name after being told the story of the Kryptonian hero by Superman. After saving his teammates and defeating Terra and Deathstroke (thanks in great part to Jericho) Nightwing once again becomes the leader of the New Teen Titans.

Post-Crisis

Although the story of Dick as Robin wasn't greatly changed after the Crisis on Infinite Earths, his origin to become Nightwing was drastically changed. In the redone origin, Dick decides to leave the cave and his role as Robin after a mission against Two-Face goes terribly wrong and Batman almost dies. After that, Dick embarks on a journey to find himself, which leads him to Metropolis where he meets Superman. Asking for an outside opinion on what he should do next with his life, Superman relays the story of a hero from Krypton who had been cast out by his family only to become a great hero. This hero's name was Nightwing. After a short stint in Haly's circus to clear his head, Dick takes on the name Nightwing and begins establishing a reputation for himself in Gotham.

Dick and Bruce do manage to mend things. When Batman's back is broken by Bane, Jean-Paul Valley, Azrael, is given the mantle of the Bat. He proved to be unstable due to his training and mental conditioning from The Sacred Order of Saint Dumas. Dick later confronts Bruce as to why he didn't ask him to become the next Batman. Bruce simply tells him that he didn't think Dick would want to do it as he was his own person now. Dick tells Bruce that while he didn't want to be Batman, he would have done anything he was asked. In a defining moment of Nightwing's history, Bruce admits that these sort of arguments are what occurs between "fathers and sons". Bruce later asks Dick to fill in for him briefly as he recovers from his back injury.

Major Story Arcs

Prodigal
Following the events of Knightfall, Bruce realizes the mistake he had made, and leaves the mantle of Batman to Dick as he finishes rebuilding his skills to become Batman. During his early days as Batman he began to round up the remaining Arkham escapees alongside Robin, with the two quickly catching Killer Croc, The Ventriloquist and Ratcatcher. However, the two would face their biggest challenge as the new Dynamic Duo when Two-Face is released by a computer glitch in place of Harvey Kent, and sets out to cripple the Gotham justice system through their dependence on computers. Dick eventually defeats Two-Face while also saving Robin and Harvey Kent from death, while at the same time rectifying his greatest mistake as Robin.

With Two-Face recaptured, he then sets out to restore the status quo of Gotham, capturing the three worst killers in Gotham's "War Zone" area. He's soon captured by the Tally Man, who believe him to be the same Batman as Jean Paul Valley and seeks to avenge his torture. However Dick using a combination of his intelligence and the Tally Man's emotional issues frees himself and brings him in. Following an unsuccessful case in which he believes Jean-Paul Valley to be the killer, he returns to the Batcave to find a returned Bruce there. The two finally discuss issues stemming from the end of their partnership and Wayne's choice of Valley over Dick, with the two working through it and becoming closer than they had been in years.