Name:
Richard John Grayson
Nicknames:
Dick
The Monk with the Dragon Tattoo
The Boy Wonder
Notable Aliases:
The Immortal Iron Fist
Nightwing
Robin
Gender:
Male
Age:
19, born March 21, 1996
Mentors:
Bruce Wayne, The Batman
Richard Dragon
The Masters of K'un-L'un
Alignment:
Hero
Affiliation:
Adopted Son of the so-called "Batfamily"
Current Incarnation of the Iron Fist legacy
Known to the Justice League
Founding Member of the Teen Titans
Appearance:
-Height:
5'10"
-Weight:
175 Pounds
-Build:
The former sidekick to The Caped Crusader has the build of a marathon sprinter, world champion martial artist, and Olympic swimmer all in one, essentially the picture perfect physique of a human athlete, or vigilante.
-Eye Colour:
Blue
-Hair Colour:
Black
- Costume:
Abilities, Skills, and Equipment:
Having been trained since birth, one of Dick Grayson's greatest assets is his almost superhuman acrobatic ability and agility, said to be vastly superior even to his mentor, The Batman. This, and all of his other abilities, have only been amplified by his training under the masters of K'un-L'un. Being at the peak of the human physique, Dick is capable of lifting upwards of a thousand pounds without the use of his Chi. With Chi, his strength is theorized to be almost immeasurable, as it is correlative to one's own strength of spirit, and Dick is said to retain an unnaturally strong sense of fortitude when compared to other practitioners of his craft.
Whilst not as noteworthy as his almost unmatched acrobatics, Dick has been steadily trained in innumerable branches of science and martial arts forms since the age of ten. Nightwing is reputed to be on par with the Batman in terms of detective ability, however, both Bruce and Dick know this is far from the truth. While Batman focuses more-so on pre-planning and investigation, Nightwing's skill lies in the realm of fieldwork and strategy, reacting to events around him where his mentor relies on a rigid, unchanging plan. This is not to say that Bruce is leagues above Dick's own intelligence, only that they utilize their intellects in different ways.
Bruce wholeheartedly trained the sole surviving Grayson to take on the mantle of Batman were the worst come to pass, and as such, gave Richard the best education an endless bank account could buy. Dick can be considered a world-class criminal scientist and computer engineer, and an above average biologist and mathematician. Most notably of his academic skills, Dick is multi-lingual, learning to speak Spanish, French, Arabic, Russian, Mandarin, Japanese, Cantonese, and German fluently.
Since coming to the mystical City of The Immortals, Nightwing has slowly developed his own unique martial arts style to further individualize himself from the image of The Batman. This new style utilizes and combines techniques from Aikido, Jeet Kune Do, Taekwondo, Hapkido, Shotokan Karate, Moo Gi Gong, and Jiu-Jitsu. Despite this, Dick is able to flawlessly alternate between dozens upon dozens of styles, as is befitting of his status as the Iron Fist.
Although he already possessed the reflexes and senses of a peak human, Nightwing has trained under the Masters of K'un-L'un to amplify these to superhuman levels. He is now able to hear the sweat roll down someone's face, even notice the subtle changes in one's heartbeat in order to operate as something of a human lie detector. Dick can now react fast enough to dodge bullets after they have been fired, and even deflect them with his Eskrima sticks or arm-guards, a skill even his mentor Bruce Wayne would be proud of.
Personality and Philosophy:
In stark contrast to his adopted father Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson can be called charming, even outgoing. Dick theorizes that this is partially due to the fact that the men who caused his parents' death were brought to justice almost immediately, and his reason for remaining a masked vigilante is drastically different from Bruce's own motivation. This is not to say, however, that Dick isn't as dedicated or diligent in his practice as the patriarch of the Batfamily. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Dick, as can be expected of his status as a Monk of K'un-L'un, does have an overbearing sense of pacifism and non-violence. He is prone to meditation and spouting bits of "spiritual mumbo jumbo." though he is equally as quick to dismiss anything he says with a joke. Truly, Nightwing possesses a quick wit and humor that cracks like a whip, much to the annoyance of his fellow vigilantes.
Origin:
Richard Grayson was born on the first day of spring (for which his mother prophetically nicknamed him 'Robin'.) to a pair of acrobats in Haly's International Traveling Circus. These were no ordinary performers however, these were John and Mary Grayson. Better known as "The Flying Graysons", the most famous husband-wife duo of acrobats on the planet. Due to this legacy, Dick was trained from birth in the more professional arts of gymnastics, however, unbeknownst to his parents, the young Richard would sneak out to master the more practical arts of parkour and street running.
At the age of nine, tragedy struck. Haly's Circus had stopped to perform in the metropolitan city of Gotham. There, big Jack Haly was quickly "propositioned" by men under the employ of Tony Zucco for protection from Gotham's ne'er do wells. Jack refused, and only ten minutes or so before their act was to go on, Dick found the men in question toying with the circus equipment. Before he could tell anyone about it, the young acrobat was introduced to the Drake family, and subsequently shoved up the ladder. What followed remains a blur in Dick's memory. One second his mother's arms were reaching out to him, and then...they were falling. Thrown into shock, rushed to escape the circus. He was met by more of Zucco's thugs seeking to "finish the job". Dick remembers a blur, crunching sounds, and a shadow looming above him. Lo and behold, he had met Gotham's Dark Knight.
Eventually Dick was adopted by Bruce Wayne, and soon became aware of his status as Batman. The orphan quickly begged to be trained by his elder so he could go after the men that killed his parents. Bruce finally gave in and took the boy on after being fervently annoyed almost every day about the subject. As such, Dick trained day and night for almost an entire year, honing his body, mind, and reflexes. With the help of one Alfred Pennyworth, Richard manufactured his own combat suit out of spare materials around the Batcave. After subsequently "rescuing" Batman from the assassin known as Lady Shiva, Dick officially became Batman's partner in crime. In remembrance of his mother, he named himself Robin.
There he remained for years. Dick likes to think he grew up as Robin, and what he is today is the result of his previous experiences in Gotham's underbelly. Believing he had learned all he could from his adopted father, Dick left the sanctuary of the Batcave and Wayne Manor to start up his own solo operation in Gotham's neighboring city of Bludhaven. He did not last there long, however, as he quickly became a thorn in the side of Ra's al Ghul. During a routine patrol, Dick was apprehended by the one and only Lady Shiva. A quick scuffle ensued, and Dick-then known as Nightwing, was utterly defeated. Despite this, Shiva spared the young detective, directing him to one Richard Dragon. Dick refused to seek out The Dragon for rather obvious reasons until he brought up the matter to Batman, who also suggested the newly solo vigilante train under him, and so Dick abandoned Bludhaven for Asia, on another journey to better himself. Unbeknownst to him, this journey would change his life forever.
The training regiment under Richard Dragon was brutal. Many times worse than his training under The Dark knight, and that was saying something. However, Dick never wavered, never let his spirit escape him, and most importantly, kept a smile on his face throughout it all. It was this aspect of him that caught The Dragon's attention and admiration, and what caused his new mentor to make a rather hefty judgment call. Late at night, after several hours of kickboxing and eskrima, Dick's sensei escorted him deep into the woods surrounding his secluded dojo and to a large waterfall with a small circular island in front of it. Little did he know at the time, but that minuscule island served as the only portal between the Earth, and the mystical realm of K'un-L'un, City of the Immortals.
Escorted to K'un-L'un's palace by Dragon, Dick found himself in awe at the beauty and wonder of the realm that lied parallel to Earth. Before long, his mentor turned him over to the Masters of the City to begin training. It was explained to him, in time, that he had been chosen to become the Immortal Iron Fist, the Champion of K'un-L'un and their bridge to the Mortal realm. A position Richard Dragon had held for many centuries. Naturally, Dick accepted the proposition without hesitation.
He still remains ignorant as to just how long he spent in that city. Time flowed differently in that realm, a year could feel like a day, an hour a week, and so on. He was trained to deaden his nerves to pain by clinging to a snowy mountain cliff bare-handed for hours on end. He learned to focus his senses to the extent that he could hear sweat roll down a person's face. And, in time, he mastered all he could from his teachers, and plunged his hand into the molten heart of the dragon Shou-Laou, which burned the dragon symbol into his chest, and empowered him with the Iron Fist.
Bidding them farewell, Dick left the City of The Immortals and returned to Earth. Eager to see how much had changed and how much had stayed the same since he left. His first destination? Gotham City.
