#dcz

For years, Batman and Robin were the closest of comrades. The Dynamic Duo! But, like many teenagers, Dick began to feel stifled by his guardian (and let’s face it, Bruce isn’t the easiest guy to get along with). Between going away to college and his time leading the Teen Titans, Dick was doing more and more crimefighting on his own and less with Batman. But as Bruce continued giving him orders and criticising his methods, Dick realized his mentor would never see Robin as anything other than Batman’s sidekick. After one particularly explosive argument, Dick handed in his costume and quit being Robin.

Using the trust fund Bruce had set up for him before their split, Dick set about starting a new life in nearby Belhaven. Wanting to forge his own identity, Dick recalled one of his finest hours: the now-famous battle in which he and Batman teamed up with Superman to save the world from the Brainiac Swarm. When Batman had been knocked off his mount, Dick had taken over riding the Nightwing, the biggest and baddest bird in the sky.

As Nightwing, Dick has made a point to take the lessons he learned from Batman and temper them with the lessons he’s learned from his other friends. He knows how to take his job seriously, and how to put the fear of god into his enemies. But he is also an effective and inspiring leader, and an open and trusting ally. He takes special care looking after the younger heroes he sees going through the same struggles he did–though he has a complicated relationship with Jason, the younger boy Bruce took in after he left, and who only gradually earned his respect and blessing. His new costume is stealthier and more intimidating than the one he wore as Robin, but with an even greater emphasis on maneuverability for his more acrobatic fighting style. He even added retractable glider wings to allow him to leap between buildings!

After Superman first fought and defeated the Brainiac, the swarm attacked his Fortress of Solitude in retaliation. An EMP field played havoc with the Man of Steel’s powers, and after calling in aid from Batman and Robin, it turned out it wasn’t great for conventional electronics like the Batwing either. The only solution was to mount three of the most dangerous flying creatures Superman had rescued from the Brainiac’s menagerie: a flamebird, a nightwing, and a Kryptonian drakehound.

On a trip to Africa with his conservationist parents, Garfield “Gar” Logan contracted a mysterious illness. He was sickly green and bedridden with rapidly rising fever. Desperate to restore their son’s health, the Logans accepted the experimental treatments of a discredited doctor.

Dr. Nicholas Galtry had once been a renowned geneticist. He fell out of favor, however, when he started promoting increasingly fringe studies–genetic memory, cryptids, “missing links”, even incorporating some Yoruba and African folk beliefs into his theories. Nonetheless, as Gar’s disease appeared to be breaking down his DNA, he was certain he could cure him. Nobody knows what experiments he performed on the boy, but whatever they were, they succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. Despite his green skin, Gar not only recovered, but had somehow been granted the fantastic ability to change into any animal on Earth!

Sadly, his new power put Gar on the radar of the terrorist organization known as the Brotherhood of Evil. The Brotherhood had Galtry and the Logans murdered, kidnapped Gar, and held him captive for study. Fortunately, Gar had also attracted the attention of Niles Caulder, an old colleague of Galtry’s and Chief of the Doom Patrol. The team soon came to his rescue. Fellow “freak” superhumans like himself, Gar quickly found kinship among them. One of their number, Elasti-Gal, even wound up adopting him!

Finally, with his new team and family, the boy could know happiness and laughter again… though those closest to him knew that behind every laugh, the specter of his trauma remained.

According to Amazon religious tradition, the island of New Themyscira lay on top of the door to Tartarus. That is why the island was concealed from the world of man. And the gods had led the Amazons to settle it not only for their own protection, but so that those famously fierce warriors could stand guard.

Wouldn’t you know it, turns out the story was true!

After the events of the Godswar weakened the fabric between dimensions, The Titans of Myth burst forth from their prison and attempted to reclaim Olympus. The Amazons stood in the Titans’ way, and were quickly pulled into their war.

It was only young Donna, Princess Diana’s cousin and psilos, who heard the Titans out. She and her friends (also called Titans) had attempted a sneak attack. Although the attack was a failure and Donna was captured, her captors were impressed enough–or at least surprised enough–that they deigned to speak to her. They protested that their continued internment in Tartarus was cruel and unusual, and they had long since repaid their debt for their part in the ancient war that they never really had much choice in anyway. Donna saw their point. With the help of her friends, she stood against the Amazon army and even her own hoplite sister in the Wonder Woman/Teen Titans crossover event, Titanomachy. In the end, she convinced her sisters they were fighting on the wrong side, and helped broker a tentative ceasefire between the Titans and the Olympians.

While serving special ops in a desert war I’m not at liberty to name, Slade Wilson agreed to be part of a study. The military was testing a serum meant to increase a soldier’s natural abilities by stimulating the brain. At first no effect was visible, and the program was officially shut down. But Slade could tell he had changed in unexpected ways. He had developed an extra-sensory perception that bordered on the telepathic. He could sense perfectly hidden enemies, dodge their attacks almost before they thought to make them, and always knew just their weakest point to strike.

When discharged for unrelated reasons, Slade put his talents to use as a mercenary.  With the help of his old war buddy Bill Wintergreen, he quickly became one of the world's top assassins, known only as “Deathstroke”.

Years passed, and then came an offer from the HIVE. This top-secret criminal conglomerate wanted to dispose of the next generation of heroes before they became a threat. They hired a number of mercenaries to bring them the Teen Titans, dead or alive. Most notable were Deathstroke and another world-renowned assassin, the Ravager. As the mercenaries all met at the Titans’ headquarters, Slade’s powers alerted him that the Ravager was actually his estranged son, Grant! This so surprised him that he allowed himself and Grant to be caught by a deflected grenade. The explosion took Slade’s eye, and Grant’s life.