"Old Wounds" is the eighteenth episode of The New Batman Adventures. Originally airing on October 3rd, 1998, it tells how and why Dick Grayson left the role of Robin after the end of the Batman: The Animated Series.
Plot
As Robin fights against pick-pockets and thieves, one gains the upper hand and traps him in an overturned garbage bin. When the goon runs into the street a shadowy figure flies off a building and tackles him. Around the corner where Robin is extracting himself from the garbage bin, Nightwing emerges with the man who tried to run, with Robin remarking that he could have gotten him. As Nightwing shrugs off this proclamation, Robin remarks that he is just like Batman. Taken aback by this comment, Nightwing remarks that he's is nothing like Batman. Robin then asks him why he left the role of Robin and Nightwing merely responds that "things change" and he should ask Batman. Robin tells him he did and all he told him was that "things change."
Nightwing then takes Robin to a dock and recounts his last days as Robin, just after he finished college at Gotham State University. Bruce Wayne misses his graduation because he is working in his capacity as Batman and when Dick Grayson is celebrating his graduation with Barbara Gordon, he is paged by Batman who wants him to meet him at a specified location from a tip he has received. When Dick returns to dance with Barbara he relays some worthless excuse why he must leave. Batman is watching a warehouse and Robin arrives. Batman tells him he is "late" and they prepare to investigate and foil the latest scheme by the Joker after Dick apologizes for "having a life". When the Joker easily makes as escape from Batman and Robin, Batman is trapped telling Robin to go on and "get them." Following a henchman named Connor who is left behind, Robin encounters the man returning home to his family. The henchman does not want anything to go down in front of his family, but before Robin can take him away, Batman crashes through a side window and pins the man against a wall. While Batman mercilessly interrogates Connor in front of his wife and son, Robin pleads with him not to make a scene in front of Connor's family. When Batman does not respond in kind, Robin takes off and later shows up at Barbara Gordon's apartment (as Dick Grayson) complaining about the situation and unsure how to proceed. Eventually he leaves as abruptly as he arrived with little explanation.
Joker displays the radar disruptor for his newest plan.
Some time later, Barbara Gordon is asking Bruce Wayne what has come between him and Dick. After he remarks that she cares a great deal for him, he asks her to follow him, opening the secret clock entrance to the Batcave. As she descends the staircase behind him, bats flutter from below and she realizes what Bruce Wayne is showing her about Dick and himself. Bruce also informs her of his knowledge about her secret, Batgirl. Alfred emerges from behind a corner and admits that "he is Batman." Bruce tells him that it is okay and Alfred tells him that there is something on the news channel that he might want to watch. Turning the volume up, the Joker is delivering a ransom note for his latest scheme, involving a radar jamming device. Bruce asks Alfred to contact Dick, but Alfred tells him that he has been trying and cannot raise him. Bruce says that he will need back-up and Barbara tells him that he already has it. After Batman and Batgirl leave to take on the Joker, Dick comes down to the Batcave asking where Barbara is after seeing her car in the drive. Alfred tells him that she and Bruce have ran an errand. Dick asks what kind of errand as he notices that the Batmobile is not parked in the cave.
When Robin arrives at the scene of the Joker's plan, Batgirl is thrown off a tower. Robin rescues her and the two fly to another building top. Telling her that they need to talk, she interrupts him because there is work to do. As Batman fights against the Joker and his henchmen, Batgirl re-emerges and tackles the Joker. Surprised at her resilience, he says that she should be "sidewalk stroganoff." Robin arrives on the scene and tells him that he changed the menu. The Joker then begins to fire upon the three, and Batgirl directs his attention toward the radar jamming device which is destroyed by the Joker's gunfire.
Batman then grabs Batgirl and the two hang from the building edge as the machine explodes and knocks everyone in close proximity to the ground, including the Joker. After the police arrive and the scene is being picked apart, Robin is furious at Batgirl for not telling him her secret. She responds that he was not open with her as well. Re-directing his anger at Batman, Robin asks why he did not tell him that Barbara was Batgirl. When Batman tells him that it was not his place to tell Robin, Robin says that they have grown apart and changed and quits. Batman says that he thought they had the same goals, but Robin rears back and knocks him to the ground. Stripping his mask and cape off, he leaves Batman and Batgirl and the role of Robin.
As Nightwing finishes the story, he and Robin return to the scene of the earlier fight and find a wallet that had been stolen by the goons. After opening the wallet to see who it belongs to, Nightwing is shocked to learn that it is Connor, who now works as a night watchman at Wayne Enterprises. Returning the wallet, Connor relates the earlier encounter with Batman and how it changed his life. Bruce Wayne had given him a job and regularly "checks on him." Nightwing responds that Bruce Wayne is a good man and he and Robin leave. The Bat-symbol comes on in the nightsky and Robin says that duty calls, and asks if Nightwing will join him. As Robin prepares to fly off, Nightwing remarks that it is about time and flies off with him to join Batman.
Background Information
Trivia
- This episode's flashback was later adapted into the limited series The Batman Adventures: The Lost Years. Written by series writer Hilary J. Bader, with artwork by Bo Hampton, Terry Beatty, Lee Loughridge, and Rick Taylor, it bridged the gap between Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures, explaining how Batman discovered Batgirl's identity, Dick's journey around the world, and Tim's life prior to becoming Robin (including his witnessing the final fight between Batman and company against the Joker. Contrary to popular belief, the Lost Years series was based on the script for "Old Wounds", rather than the other way around.
- Although Dick never says it out loud, clearly the climax of this episode implies that Dick has forgiven Batman for his abusive ways.
- This version appears to be a more Pre-Crisis version of Dick retiring from Robin on his own accord rather than the post-Crisis version having him fired by Batman.
- Alfred telling Barbara that he is Batman is echoed on the Static Shock episode "Hard as Nails" where he tells Static the same thing and replies to Static's disbelief "just once, I wish someone would believe me."
- This is the only The New Batman Adventures episode that features Dick in his Robin outfit and is only one of two episodes two feature the entire team in their current outfits, though Batman and Batgirl are only seen in the flashback.
Cast
Quotes
Robin (Tim Drake): You sound just like Batman. |
Barbara Gordon: (notices Bruce Wayne is not at Richard Grayson's graduation from college) He'll be crushed Bruce missed this. Where could he be? |
Joker: Nice entrance. Either you've never heard of a door or you just like pulling glass out of your shorts. |
Robin (Richard Grayson): Batman! Not like this! Not in front of his family! |
Barbara Gordon: He was so upset he couldn't even talk about it. It wasn't the first time I've seen him like that. What is it between you two? What's going on? |
Barbara Gordon: (realizes Bruce Wayne is Batman) Oh, my god. |
Richard Grayson: Alfred, I saw Barbara's car parked out front. Where is she? |
Robin: Batgirl, I can't believe it. How could you keep somthing like this from me? |
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