Richard John "Dick" Grayson is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Batman, Teen Titans and Justice League. Created by writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane, he first appeared in Detective Comics #38 in April 1940 as the original and most popular incarnation of Robin, Batman's crime-fighting partner. He is the eldest child of Bruce Wayne, Batman's alter ego, the first child to be adopted by Batman.[3] In Tales of the Teen Titans #44 (July 1984), the character, after becoming an adult, retires his role as Robin and assumes the persona of Nightwing. Grayson has donned the cape and cowl to replace Wayne as Batman; his most notable spell followed Wayne's supposed death in Final Crisis, and sees Grayson adopt Damian Wayne, Bruce's biological son and his adoptive younger brother, as his Robin. The youngest in a family of acrobats known as the "Flying Graysons", Grayson witnesses a mafia boss, Tony Zucco, kill his parents to extort money from the circus that employed them. Bruce Wayne takes Grayson in as his legal ward and trains him to become his partner Robin, The Boy Wonder. Grayson also works with former Batgirl Barbara Gordon and established himself as the leader of the Teen Titans. As Nightwing, he continues to lead the Teen Titans, the Titans, and the Outsiders. In the second volume of his eponymous series (1996–2009), he becomes the protector of Blüdhaven, Gotham City's economically troubled neighbor and the locale the character is most associated with. He has been depicted as a protector of Gotham and New York, both of which he continues to return to. Grayson has taken on the identity of "Batman" several times. In the aftermath of Batman: Knightfall, he was not offered the role while Wayne was recovering from a broken back, because he felt Nightwing was a hero in his own right and not an understudy. But after the events of the Zero Hour miniseries, Grayson fills-in as Batman, beginning in Robin (Vol. 2) #0 (1994) and extending through the Batman: Prodigal storyline in 1995. Grayson assumes the mantle following "Batman R.I.P." (2008) and Final Crisis (2008–2009), when Bruce is presumed dead. As Batman, he moves back to Gotham and takes on Damian Wayne as his partner, who becomes the fifth Robin. He also becomes the leader of the Justice League, joined by teammate Donna Troy. Following Wayne's return, both simultaneously maintain the Batman identity. In 2011, Grayson returned to the Nightwing identity with DC's New 52 publishing event. In 2014, he abandons the Nightwing identity to serve as Agent 37, Batman's mole in the nefarious spy organization Spyral. He returns to being Nightwing as part of the DC Rebirth relaunch in 2016. Grayson has appeared as Robin in other adaptations: the 1943 serial played by Douglas Croft, the 1949 serial, the 1966–68 live action Batman TV series and its motion picture portrayed by Burt Ward, and played by Chris O'Donnell in the 1995 film Batman Forever and its sequel, Batman & Robin. Grayson appeared in the Titans TV series. Loren Lester voiced Robin in Batman: The Animated Series and as Nightwing's first screen adaptation in The New Batman Adventures, Jesse McCartney voices Grayson as Robin and Nightwing in Young Justice: The Animated Series, Sean Maher voices Nightwing in the DC Animated Movie Universe, and Michael Cera voices a cheerful Grayson as Robin in The Lego Batman Movie. In 2011, IGN ranked Grayson No. 11 on their "Top 100 Super Heroes of All Time".[4] In 2013, ComicsAlliance ranked Grayson, as Nightwing, as No. 1 of the "50 Sexiest Male Characters in Comics".[5]