Nightwing Trivia Quiz

Answer: John

John Grayson was the patriarch of "The Flying Graysons." Dick's middle name is John, after his father.

Answer: Mary

Yes, Dick is the son of John and Mary. Kinda boring...but hey, these characters were named in 1939. Writers were more boring then. =)

Answer: Z

Anthony "Boss" Zucco was responsible for the death of two-thirds of The Flying Graysons: he ordered his men to tamper with the ropes of the trapezes, and, since John and Mary were working without a net, when the ropes broke, they fell to their deaths.

Answer: 1984

In "Tales of the Teen Titans" no. 44 (July 1984), after having resigned as Robin a few months before, Dick returned to the super-hero scene with a whole new look, attitude, and name.

Answer: Huntress

Superman, a longtime confidant of Batman, knows that Dick was Robin; in fact, it's revealed in "Nightwing Secret Files and Origins" no. 1 (October 1999) that Dick took the name "Nightwing" from an ancient Kryptonian legend that Superman had once told him about! Oracle, DC Comics' most reliable information broker, was once the first Batgirl...and since she and Dick have worked together for years -- and have been romantically involved, on and off -- she definitely knows his real name. The Flash was once Kid Flash, Dick's compatriot in the original Teen Titans; since they're best friends, they've known each other's secret identities for years.

The Huntress (Helena Bertinelli), despite having been...um...intimate with Nightwing, has no idea what his real name is.

Answer: Troia (formerly Wonder Girl)

Dick was involved with Barbara Gordon years ago, when she was the first Batgirl, and they reunited in the 90's. (Babs now goes by the name "Oracle.") Dick and Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran (a.k.a. Starfire) were involved for many years during their tenure in the Teen Titans -- in fact, they were actually married for a short time. Nightwing and the Huntress indulged in a brief, passionate, unsuccessful affair in the "Nightwing/Huntress" mini-series of 1998.

Dick and Donna Troy (a.k.a. Wonder Girl, Darkstar, Troia, etc.) have been very close friends for years, but they have never been romantically involved, much to the chagrin of certain readers.

Answer: Martial arts instructor

Even though no one in his apartment building knew it, Dick actually owned the Bludhaven building in which he and his immediate neighbors lived; this made him, by definition, a landlord, until the building was destroyed.

He has also worked as a bartender in Hogan's Alley, a Bludhaven watering hole frequented by corrupt police officers; and he later joined the Bludhaven police force in an attempt to attack corruption from within. Despite his phenomenal combat skills, though, Dick has never been formally employed as a martial arts instructor.

Answer: Shrike

Lady Vic first appeared in "Nightwing" no. 4. Brutale made his debut in "Nightwing" no. 22. Dudley Soames -- the corrupt Bludhaven cop who would become Torque in "Nightwing" no. 27 -- was first seen in "Nightwing" no. 1.

The boy who would grow up to be the adult assassin Shrike, however, first appeared in the "Robin" Year One" mini-series of 2000.

Answer: True

Dick thought that the Joker had killed Robin III (Tim Drake) in "Joker: The Last Laugh" no. 6 (January 2002), so he rather uncharacteristically lost his temper and literally beat the Joker to death. If no one had supplied the Joker with medical assistance, the clown prince of crime would have died right then and there...but Batman, of all people, revived the Joker with CPR.

He was only dead for a minute or two, but dead he most certainly was.

Answer: Danny Chase

Dick and the New Titans (formerly the Teen Titans) were off on an outer space adventure when Jason was killed. Upon their return to Earth in "New Titans" no. 55 (June 1989), junior team member Danny Chase rather callously informed Dick that Jason Todd was dead.

Answer: His head is turned around backwards.

Blockbuster, another of Bludhaven's resident criminals, enjoys dispatching enemies by twisting their heads around until their necks break. He tried this technique on Bludhaven P.D. Inspector Dudley Soames; however, an enthusiastic group of surgeons got to Soames before he died, and managed to save his life.

Unfortunately, his head is now permanently "backwards." Soames got his hands on some special glasses that let him see "behind" him (well, in *front* of him, really!), and started calling himself Torque.

Answer: Vigilante

In late 1994, Bruce Wayne asked Dick to stand in for him as Batman for a few months, and he agreed. Years later, after being framed for murder as Nightwing, Dick came up with an all-new identity, The Target, so he could clear his name and continue to fight crime in Bludhaven without being hounded by the police (see the 2001 one-shot "Nightwing: The Target"). In 2005, Dick dumped his Nightwing identity again, changing his costume, working with Deathstroke the Terminator, and calling himself Renegade.

Several people have used the alias "Vigilante" in DC Comics, but Dick has never been one of them.

Answer: Tad

Tad Ryerstad, unlike Dick, is clearly a sociopath. Dick first tried to train Tad, but quickly learned that "Nite-Wing" was insane, and served him up to the authorities.

Answer: The Tarantula

John Law, formerly The Tarantula, actually lived in Dick's apartment building before it was destroyed. He's written several books about his experiences as a crimefighter.

Answer: Infinity, Inc.

In 1993, Nightwing was among the very first members of the Justice League Task Force; later, in 2002, Batman asked Nightwing to lead a new line-up of the JLA due to the absence of the regular team. In 2003, Nightwing became a charter member of the all-new Outsiders.

Infinity, Inc. was mostly composed of the children of the original Justice Society of America. Dick has never been a member of that team.