Flying Graysons

The Flying Graysons are fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. They were a group of trapeze artists in Haly's Circus, they were a family act famed for always working without a net.

"John Grayson (comics)" redirects here. For the League of Champions superhero, see John Grayson (Heroic Publishing).

Flying Graysons
The Flying Graysons, as the appeared in Robin Annual #4 (April 1995). Art by Jason Armstrong
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceDetective Comics Vol 1 #38 April 1940
Created byBill Finger
Bob Kane
In-story information
Member(s)Dick Grayson
John Grayson
Mary Grayson

Fictional team history

The Flying Graysons are a group of trapeze artists consisting of mother (Mary Grayson), father (John Grayson) and son (Dick Grayson).[1] They worked at Haly's Circus and during a trapeze show, John and Mary Grayson were murdered by crime boss Tony Zucco when he sabotaged their trapeze in retaliation for Mr. Haly not paying him protection money.[2] Following that accident, Mr. Haly paid protection money to Tony Zucco. Bruce Wayne was in the circus and saw everything. Bruce remembered what had happened to him as a child, so he decided to take the little Grayson. Some time later, Dick became the first Robin and decided to avenge the death of his parents by helping Batman bring Tony Zucco to justice.[3]

In the Bronze Age a few years after the death of John and Mary, Haly's Circus created an all-new Flying Graysons, but one of them was a criminal and was arrested by Robin (Dick Grayson).

During the "Blackest Night" storyline, John and Mary Grayson were brought back from death by the Black Lantern rings and attacked Dick, Tim Drake and Damian Wayne.[4]

Other versions
  • In Frank Miller's All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder on Earth-31, they appear in the first issue.
  • An alternate timeline version of the Flying Graysons appears in Flashpoint.
  • The Earth-37: Thrillkiller version of John, Mary and Dick Grayson are Petra Graustark, Johan Graustark and Rickart Graustark.
  • The Flying Graysons appears in the Lil Gotham comics.
  • The Flying Graysons appear in the Batman & Robin Adventures comic (based on Batman: The Animated Series).
  • A poster of the Flying Graysons appears in Teen Titans Go! #47.
  • The Flying Graysons appear in issue 6 of the Young Justice comics. They featured in a flashback when Robin recaps his history. This version of the Flying Graysons also consisted of Richard "Rick" Grayson (John's brother), Rick's wife Karla and their son John II. While John, Mary, Karla and John II were killed in the trapeze accident caused by Tony Zucco, Dick's uncle survived and was paralyzed.

In other media

Television
  • The Flying Graysons appears in the Batman: the Animated Series "Robin's Reckoning", with John Grayson voiced by an uncredited Thomas F. Wilson and Mary Grayson voiced by an uncredited Diane Pershing. When Mr. Haly refused to pay protection money to Tony Zucco, the Flying Graysons' trapeze set was sabotaged where the ropes broke during a performance. Bruce Wayne adopted Dick Grayson after that since nobody else in Haly's Circus wanted to take them in just in case Tony Zucco targeted them as well.
  • The Grayson's deaths appear briefly in a flashback in the Teen Titans episode "Haunted."
  • The Flying Graysons appears in The Batman episode "A Matter of Family" with John Grayson voiced by Kevin Conroy and Mary Grayson voiced by Grey DeLisle. In this show, John also doubles as the manager of Haly's Circus. The family was confronted by Tony Zucco and his brothers who wanted them to pay protection money which also resulted in Batman showing up. Tony Zucco vowed revenge and secretly removed the nuts from the trapeze. Before Dick Grayson can join in on the trapeze act during the circus event, Mary noticed something was wrong as the trapeze as it comes apart. Mary's final words as she and John fell was "Dick." When Dick Grayson became Robin, he rescued Batman from Tony Zucco's trap and helped to bring him to justice.
  • A poster of the Flying Graysons appears in the Young Justice episode "Performance".
  • John and Mary appear in the Gotham episode "The Blind Fortune Teller" with John being portrayed by Rob Gorrie and Mary by Abbi Snee. While John Grayson and the Flying Graysons are the acrobats, Mary started out as Mary Lloyd whose family worked as circus clowns. During a circus show, the Graysons led by John's brother Alphonse Grayson (portrayed by Slate Holmgren) and the Lloyds led by Mary's uncle Owen Lloyd (portrayed by Jeremy Bobb) feuded over John and Mary's relationship until it was broken up by James Gordon. Owen even mentioned to Gordon that their feud with the Flying Graysons started when Alphonse accused Owen's great-grandfather Barry of stealing a horse. After Lila Valeska was found murdered, Alphonse and Owen were the likely suspects. When Jerome Valeska was apprehended as the real culprit, the two families reconcile as John gets together with Mary.
  • John and Mary Grayson were mentioned in Teen Titans Go! episodes "Let's Get Serious" and "Batman v Teen Titans: Dark Injustice" and appears in the Robin imagination in "Rad Dudes with Bad Tudes" with John voiced by Greg Cipes and Mary by Tara Strong.
  • The ancestors of John Graysons appears in the Legends of Tomorrow episode "Freakshow." They appear as a members of P. T. Barnum's traveling circus.
  • The Flying Graysons appears in the Titans in various flashbacks. Mary is portrayed by April Brown Chodkowski, John by Randolf Hobbs and the young Dick Grayson by Tomaso Sanelli.

Film

The Flying Graysons appear in Batman Forever with John Grayson portrayed by Larry A. Lee and Mary Grayson portrayed by Glory Fioramonti. The Flying Graysons are not a team consisting of three, instead, they have a fourth member named Mitch (portrayed by Chris O'Donnell's stunt double Mitch Gaylord) who is the older brother of Dick. Dick's parents and brother were killed by Two-Face when the Grayson family tried to disarm a bomb and their platforms collapsed.

Video games

The Flying Graysons appears in a poster in Batman: Arkham City and Batman: Arkham Origins.

References
  1. Greenberger, Robert (2008). The Essential Batman Encyclopedia. Del Rey. p. 161. ISBN 9780345501066.
  2. Fleisher, Michael L. (1976). The Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes, Volume 1: Batman. Macmillan Publishing Co. p. 202. ISBN 0-02-538700-6. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
  3. Detective Comics #38. DC Comics.
  4. Blackest Night: Batman #1. DC Comics.
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