Warning: Spoilers for Batman and Robin: Year One #3!When you factor in all the changes that have been made over the years,Robin’sorigin is almost as complicated as Batman’s, and a new development that almost changes who killedNightwing’sparents proves exactly that. It’s a clever moment that doesn’t actually change Dick Grayson’s origin that much, but demonstrates just how big Batman and Robin’s war on crime really is.
Batman and Robin: Year One#3 by Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, Mat Lopes, and Clayton Cowles adds a new wrinkle toRobin’sorigin story by suggesting that Two-Face let Dick’s parents’ murders happen. Harvey is being interrogated by the Falcone crime family, saying:“Who do you think let the Zuccos roll through last month… so they could kill that circus couple?”
Lucky for Harvey, Dick Grayson’s listening in, and the young Robin gets so angry at the idea that Two-Face might have hadsomething to do with his parents’ deaththat he interrupts the interrogation and gives Two-Face time to escape.
But It’s Not as Simple as That
What Harvey’s referring to, of course, is the death of the Flying Graysons,Dick Grayson’s acrobat parents, who were killed by mobster Tony Zuccoafter their circus refused to pay protection money. Creators love to tinker with the Grayson deaths, whether it’s revealingthat Dick himself was supposed to diethat night or tying the circus into the Court of Owls. It’s an escalating series of minor retcons and retellings second only to Batman’s own origin, and at first glance,Batman and Robin: Year One#3 looks like it’s doing the same yet again.
After 84 Years, DC Pays Off Nightwing’s Origin with a Heartbreaking Death
A major chapter in Dick Grayson’s story comes to an end with a death that has crushed one of the Original Boy Wonder’s greatest desires in life.
However, this moment isn’t as big a potential reveal as it might seem at first. Robin confronts Two-Face, whogleefully admits that he was just bluffing. He needed to seem big in front of the Falcones, so he said the first thing that came to mind. The problem is that he now knows that Robin cares about the Flying Graysons. It wouldn’t be much of a stretch for Two-Face to work out who Robin is from there. This series is, in fact, set in DC’s past, so it can’t impact Dick Grayson too much in the present, but it’s still a fascinating potential wrinkle.
Two-Face Is Lying, but There’s Still a Lesson to Be Learned for Robin
It’s Not About Revenge, and It Never Was
Even though Two-Face was bluffing, it’s still a good reminder that there are forces at work larger than any one individual criminal. Two-Face might not have actively let Tony Zucco kill Robin’s parents, but Zucco was operating within a structure of crime families that sees individuals as disposable. It’s like how Batman’s war isn’t against Joe Chill, but instead against crime itself. It doesn’t matter if one takes down the individual responsible for the original crime; one has to take out the system that facilitated that crime. It’s a lesson thatRobinhas to learn before he becomesNightwing.
Batman and Robin: Year One#3is available now from DC Comics.
Robin
Nightwing
Nightwing is the superhero moniker taken up by Dick Grayson, upon his aging out of the Robin role and becoming a superhero of his own. Inspired by the original Kryptonian hero of the same name, Grayson has risen to comic book immortality with the identity, earning respect as one of the greatest leaders in the DC Universe.
