Joker

Gallery

Real Name

Richard "Dick" Grayson

Current Alias

Joker

Aliases

Hood, Robin, Boy Wonder

Status

Alignment

Bad

Identity

Secret Identity

Citizenship

American

Marital Status

Single

Characteristics

Gender

Male

Eyes

Blue

Hair

Black

Origin

Universe

Earth-31

Created by

Frank Miller, Jim Lee

First appearance

Appearance of Death

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #1
(February, 1986)

The Dark Knight Strikes Again #1
(November, 2001)

He might be just a genius. A genius-- or something worse...

-- Batman

HistoryEdit

All Star

Dick Grayson was the youngest member of a family of trapeze artists known as the Flying Graysons. While touring in Gotham City, a local mobster named Jocko-Boy Vanzetti murdered Dick's parents, leaving the boy an orphan. The costumed vigilante the Batman dealt with Jocko, leaving the corrupt Gotham City Police Department to canvas the area. The GCPD took Dick Grayson into their care and he told them that he could identify his parents' killer. This was not information that the police really wished to see spread about. They prepard to terrorize Grayson when a wave of bats descended upon them. The Batman arrived on the scene in the Batmobile, snatching up young Grayson while the cops tried to fend off the frenetic bats. Grabbing Grayson by the shirt collar, he snarled, "On your feet, solider. You've just been drafted. Into a war."^[1]

Batman proved to be twice as intimidating as any common criminal. Though terrified of him, Dick found the courage within himself to go on. Batman began training him in guerilla warfare and instructed him to develop a secret identity for himself. Inspired by legends of Robin Hood, Dick decided to assume the name the Hood. Batman quickly showed him how wearing a hood was actually a liability in battle, and told him to drop the "Hood". He was now just "Robin".

Batman soon discovered however, that Robin's internal trauma was actualizing itself through the young boy's actions. During a chance encounter with the Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Robin flew into a frenzy, nearly killing the elder hero. At this point, Batman realized that Dick had yet to come to terms with the deaths of his parents. ^[2]

The Dark Knight Strikes Again

Years afterwards, Dick was known to have been fired by Batman in disgrace for gross incompetence. He went through an experimental procedure that made him nigh immortal through cellular regeneration, and he was actually driven insane. He became the second Joker after the original one, and murdered several retired superheroes, including the Creeper and the Guardian. After attempting to kill Catgirl, Batman finally killed him by throwing him into lava and extinguishing all of his cells simultaneously.

Related

• 12 Appearances of Richard Grayson (Earth-31)
• 10 Images featuring Richard Grayson (Earth-31)
• 1 Quotations by or about Richard Grayson (Earth-31)
• Character Gallery: Richard Grayson (Earth-31)

LinksEdit

Discover and Discuss

• Search this site for: Joker · Richard Grayson (Earth-31)
• Search the Forums for: Joker · Richard Grayson (Earth-31)
• Discuss this and other characters on the forums

Footnotes

Batman Family member This character is or was an incarnation of or an ally of Batman, and a member of the Batman Family. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the "Batman Family members" category.