HISTORY

Dick Grayson was the first Robin to ever exist - first appearing in Detective Comics #38 in 1940!

Born to acrobat parents John and Mary Grayson, Richard (Dick) Grayson was raised to be an acrobat too, performing with his parents in Haly's Circus under the group act name of the 'Flying Graysons'.

This was until he was 8 years old, and the circus travelled to Gotham City on their tour. The circus was threatened by mob boss, Tony Zucco, to pay protection fees, which was refused, and consequently lead to the murder of Dick's parents as their high wire was sabotaged by the gang, with Dick only able to watch as his parents fell to their deaths in front of an audience.

After his parent's murder he was sent to a Juvenile Services system, where he was bullied and beaten, and later sent to a Catholic orphanage.
Here, he was quickly adopted by the famed billionare, Bruce Wayne, also known as Gotham's main superhero, Batman, as he had been in the circus audience and saw what happened to Dick's parents, taking pity on him as he too had witnessed his parents murder as a child.

BECOMING ROBIN

The name 'Robin' originated as a nickname given to Dick by his mother, since he was born on the first day of spring and was a very energetic child.

At first, Dick was extremely vengeful, trying to solve the crime of his parents murder by himself, before discovering his adoptive father's identity as the Batman, and working together with him to solve it. They succeed, but Zucco is said to die of a heart attack before his arrest. Batman gives an offer to Dick to become his permanent crime-fighting parter, to which he agrees.

LEAVING ROBIN

During his time as Robin, he began to slowly gain his independence, notably being the leader of the Teen Titans (various versions) and, earlier, the 2nd-in-command to The Team in Young Justice (the series), and moved out of the Wayne Manor during these periods.

At the age of 17, having been crimefighting for around 9 years, he sustains a gunshot wound from the Joker and, despite it healing completely, the relationship between him and Batman grows tense.

This caused a large shift for the dynamic duo, Dick realised he no longer relied on Batman and there were differences in their ideas of crime-fighting, plus, Batman had unrealistic expectations and rules for him that took away his freedom, and lead to more arguments, and after a fight between them, Robin was fired.

For advice, Dick went to Superman, who told him of a Kryptonian story about a hero, cast out of his family but fought for peace and justice, called Nightwing. Since Batman had told him he was no longer allowed to be Robin, Dick decided to use this as his new superhero name, and pursued a career as his own superhero, no longer a side-kick.

(Although Dick is fired by Batman who claims he will never have a partner again, Batman proceeds to get a new Robin within a few days.)