Robin is a natural-born leader. He is heroic, noble, kind, selfless, stoic, stubborn, brooding and usually serious in tone, but has had a fair number of funny moments. Robin can even be toned and playful despite some outbursts of rage, such as when he learns of his parents' killer and when he eventually stops working as Batman's sidekick. However, Robin usually is serious, stern, strict and obsessed with hunting down criminals, even going so far as to masquerade as a villain to catch Slade. Despite this, Robin does maintain a more relaxed, at times even playful side, which he sometimes expresses when the team is not actively engaged in crime fighting. Out of all the villains that the team has faced, the one that is most hated is Slade. Robin will stop at nothing to defeat Slade. Robin insists that the two are nothing alike, despite Slade's claims to the contrary. Several encounters with him have led dangerously close to causing rifts between Robin and his friends. Robin eventually admitted to Starfire that he and Slade are very similar, but there is still one difference: Slade does not have any friends. Another flaw of Robin's is that he is very competitive, and still a little bit immature. But despite his struggles, Robin has time and time again proven to be a great leader. He cares for all of his friends deeply and will fight to the finish to defend them. Despite that, Robin still remains as a calm, level-headed and intelligent leader who comes up with clever strategies in battles and keeps a calm head most of the time. Robin is a bit of a loner. Beast Boy and Cyborg hang around with each other more than they do with him, and Raven and Starfire are both independent but still interact with others, yet Robin often spends long days locked in his own room, planning. He insists on doing everything himself, such as being Slade's apprentice and battling Red X. At first, Robin doesn't believe that heroes take vacations because, with no one to stop them, the city's worst criminals will run wild. Robin was born as Richard "Dick" Grayson to John and Mary Grayson. As a child, he and his parents were a family of circus acrobats known as The Flying Graysons. While he was preparing for a performance one day, he overheard two gangsters who worked for a crime boss named Tony Zucco attempt to extort protection money from the circus owner. The owner refused, and the two gangsters sabotaged the trapeze wiring with acid. During their next performance on the trapeze, his parents were swinging from ropes when they suddenly broke, causing his parents to fall to their deaths. Before he could go to the police, Batman appeared, and warned him that the two gangsters worked for Tony Zucco, a very powerful crime boss, and that revealing his knowledge could lead to his death. He was adopted by Bruce Wayne after his parents were killed by Zucco, and became Robin. Together, Batman (Bruce) and he disrupted Zucco’s extortion rackets and gambling rackets and then successfully baited the riled Zucco into visiting a construction sight, where they captured him. Through the years of working with the Dark Knight, he was greatly trained mentally and physically in ways no other child was. For reasons undisclosed in the show, but the actual reason being that after being shot, Batman tried to take Robin out of the field, but Robin thought he was being treated like a kid and was about to give up being a hero with Batman. Robin eventually left Batman, and moved to another city (though it is known to still be close to Gotham) to continue fighting crime, though this time he intended to go solo. He was 15 when he left Batman. Robin met up with Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Raven when Starfire came to Earth and started destroying the city. After a brief yet fierce confrontation where even the Boy Wonder appeared to meet his match, Robin helped Starfire by freeing her from her chains. She then kissed him to learn English, and told him to leave her alone unless he wanted to be destroyed. Robin and the others teamed up to find her, and they later fought the aliens who came to find and imprison Starfire. Shortly after defeating them, Robin gave the others communicators, and later created the Teen Titans, of which he became the leader.