CRISIS O'BSERVATION TWO - DICK GRAYSON AKA ROBIN

CRISIS VS: TOOBWORLD 2
O’BSERVATIONS ON DICK GRAYSON

In the multiverse in which Toobworld can be found, the surge in TV series in which superheroes can be found has resulted in a sew of alternate Toobworlds to house them all.  (There have been elements in most of them which prevent them from sharing the same Earth, not the least of which is that there have been many reboots of certain characters so they couldn’t share the same space.  It may be a TV-based universe, but that doesn’t mean life there has to go through continuous reboots and reruns.)

But the main Toobworld, Earth Prime-Time, has been the home for a core group of TV superheroes, all predicated on a first-come first-served basis.  For the most part, they are the core group of the Justice League.

• SUPERMAN (‘THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN’)
• BATMAN (‘BATMAN’)
• WONDER WOMAN WONDER WOMAN’)
• THE FLASH (‘THE FLASH’)

Into this mix would be added Spiderman and the Hulk.

With those shows, they came about in a simpler time – yes, even 1990 falls into that estimation, but that year probably serves as the end to such a consideration. After that, the concept of the multiverse really took hold, thanks to ‘Sliders’.

The idea that there were multiple Earths had already been considered, especially with the primary example being the “Evil Mirror Universe’ established in the “Mirror, Mirror” episode of ‘Star Trek’, which got later confirmation thanks to ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’ and ‘Hercules: The Legendary Journeys’.

But new shows came along which wanted to stake their claim to being the official Earth for their premises.  That’s understandable, of course – for showrunners, the concept that their show had to conform with what was being promoted by other TV series would have been too restricting.  You never would have been able to get all of those zombie series if everybody thought that way.

Anyhoo…

For today’s O’Bservation on Crisis vs. Toobworld, we’re taking a look at one of the first victims of the Anti-Monitor’s disintegration of various TV dimensions.  And that would be Dick Grayson of Earth-66.

As everybody should have realized that designation was what David Bianculli would call an “Extra”, an in-joke.  As played by Burt Ward, this Dick Grayson is supposed to be from the 1966 TV version of ‘Batman’.

Well, it is and it isn’t.  With a lot of crossovers to parallel worlds we’ve seen over the years, generally the main character’s doppelganger looks exactly like him/her, with some differences – the cliché being the goatee as worn by Mr. Spock’s “evil twin”.  Willow Rosenberg (a black magic practitioner in the evil dimension) and Ares (god of War vs. god of Love) being the best examples after Spock.

For the Toobworld Dynamic, Dick Grayson still lives on Earth Prime-Time, which is not designated as Earth-66.   (Sadly, the Batman of Earth Prime-Time has died in the last few years.)

It’s an extrapolation of what his life was like after the series was cancelled, with the added flavoring of cherry-picked events in his life from the comic books, but I think the Dick Grayson of Earth Prime-Time eventually assumed the crime-fighting alias of Nightwing before assuming the cape and cowl of the Batman after Bruce Wayne retired.  And in the tradition of the Phantom and the Dread Pirate Roberts, he executed his role of the Caped Crusader as though he was Bruce Wayne.

But eventually, he too retired – it’s been fifty years plus since he was in high school after all!  And he physically changed as he aged, making gradual donations to his overall avoirdupois, let’s say.

I also think that he may have retired while still in his prime in order to marry and begin a family.  After all, for Toobworld Central (if not for other crossoverists), Dick Grayson is the founter of the family tree which will eventually lead to the birth of Amanda Grayson, the human mother of the previously mentioned Mr. Spock.

All we saw of the Dick Grayson from Earth-66 was that he was walking his dog as his world came to an end.  Except that he looked exactly like the man from the main Toobworld and employed an equally pithy/corny exclamation, we know nothing about this man on that world.

Did he even become the Boy Wonder and ward to Bruce Wayne in that life?  On Earth-66, he might have become a schoolteacher instead.  (If so, that would make Earth-66 the Toobworld of TV movies.  On second thought, I’m not going to relinquish that alternate Toobworld.)

We never even got confirmation that he was actually named Dick Grayson.  If he got adopted by somebody else in that world, he could have been given a different name; he could have been Dick Murphy for alls we know, not Dick Grayson!  (Go ahead, look him up.)

Here’s a possibility – what if Earth-66 was the legendary “Evil Mirror Universe”?  Frankly, I think just from the name, Earth-666, the getaway home for Lucifer Morningstar, would be better-suited for that particular life ethos.

It’s a primal concept for alternate Toobworlds which I’m sure will come back again in some TV show.  (I think we last saw it in ‘Deep Space Nine’, but I could be wrong… not an uncommon occurrence.)

Even so, if some other TV series did bring back the concept of an evil Toobworld, all that would mean is that I’ve got some splainin to do.  I’m sure I could find a way to make it work for the Toobworld Dynamic.

But think of the possibilities if we were witnessing the last minute of life for the evil Dick Grayson!  Perhaps he was a major crime boss now in Gotham City, and he wasn’t just taking his dog for a walk.  Maybe he was returning from siccing his dog on somebody who didn’t pay the “vig” fast enough to suit Grayson.

Like Muskie Muskrat would say, “It’s pozz’ble, just pozz’ble.”

Speaking of that dog, I’ve seen it suggested that he was supposed to be Ace the Bat-hound from the comic book universe.  If anything, the canine could have been named after the original Ace – if that world’s Batman and Robin actually had such a dog.  The original would have been long since dead since the 1960s!

One last possibility – we could have been seeing the Earth-66 televersion of Burt Ward.  He does have an established presence in Toobworld, thanks to appearances in episodes of ‘Living Single’ and ‘Clueless’.  (And – over in the Tooninverse, in an episode of ‘Futurama’.)

After fifty years living under the spectre of his most famous role, spouting such “Holy Whatever!” phrases could be second nature.  And it wouldn’t be the only time we saw a member of the League of Themselves during this mega-crossover whom we can assume eventually died.  (It could then be that Earth-66 is Toobworld-Toobworld, where those behind the scenes docudramas can be found.)

Whatever the overall concept of Earth-66 might be, as far as Toobworld Central is concerned, we did NOT see the actual demise of the Dick Grayson we knew and loved from the original ‘Batman’ TV series.

That was some other Dick.

Holy dead doppelganger!”

BCnU!