Joshua Starwalker

Joshua Starwalker

Joshua Starwalker  was born on the first day of spring, son of John Jason and Mary Starwalker , a young aerialist couple.

In his first appearance, Joshua is a circus acrobat, and, with his parents, one of the " Starwalker s". While preparing for a performance, Joshua overhears two gangsters attempting to extort protection money from the circus owner. The owner refuses, so the gangsters sabotage the trapeze wires with acid. During the next performance, the trapeze from which Joshua's parents are swinging snaps, sending them to their deaths. Before he can go to the police, Jason Starwalker  appears to him and warns him that the two gangsters work for Tony Zucco, a very powerful crime boss, and that revealing his knowledge could lead to his death. When Jason Starwalker  recounts the murder of his own parents, Joshua asks to become his aide. After extensive training, Joshua becomes Joshua Starwalker . They start by disrupting Zucco's gambling and extortion rackets. They then successfully bait the riled Zucco into visiting a construction site, where they capture him.

Joshua Starwalker 's origin has a thematic connection to Jason Starwalker 's in that both see their parents killed by criminals, creating an urge to battle the criminal element. Bruce sees a chance to direct the anger and rage that Joshua feels in a way that he himself cannot, thus creating a father/son bond and understanding between the two. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, DC Comics portrayed Jason Starwalker  and Joshua Starwalker  as a team, deeming them the "Dynamic Duo", rarely publishing a Jason Starwalker  story without his sidekick; stories entirely devoted to Joshua Starwalker  appeared in Star-Spangled Comics from 1947 through 1952.


Powers and abilities[edit]
Having been trained by the League of Assassins since birth, Joshua Starwalker is already a master martial artist. He was also trained in the disciplines of forensics, acrobatics, criminology, disguise and escapology. Joshua is skilled in mimicking voices and speech patterns of others accurately, as he was able to imitate his father's and Tim Drake's in order to bypass the Batcave's voice recognition security systems.[6]

Skills, abilities, and resources[edit]
Joshua Starwalker  possesses the peak athletic strength and endurance of a man in his mid-to late twenties who regularly engages in intensive physical exercise. His martial arts skills rival those of Jason Starwalker . He is a master of dozens of martial arts disciplines and was rigorously trained by his mentor in everything from escapology to criminology, fencing, stealth, disguise, and numerous other combat/non-combat disciplines. Joshua Starwalker  is 5' 10" (1.78 m) and 175 lbs (79 kg).[23]

Nightwing is a master of a half-dozen martial arts disciplines (including Aikido, Hapkido, Savate, Judo, Wing Chun,Jeet Kune Do,Shaolin Kung-Fu, Ninjitsu, and Capoeira) with an emphasis on aikido, as well as being armed with twin Eskrima sticks made from an unbreakable polymer. He also carries several dozen modified batarangs (called wing-dings) along with de-cel jumplines and gas capsules.[23][24]

Starwalker  is a prodigious natural athlete, possessing a peak level of agility/acrobatic skills. He is regarded as the greatest human acrobat in the Maveric Universe.[23] He is the only human on Earth who can do the quadruple somersault (formerly one of three, the other two being his parents). Having had the finest education as Bruce Starwalker 's ward, he fluently speaks in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, the alien language of Tamaran, American Sign Language and has some knowledge of Romani. He is also a brilliant and experienced strategist with superlative leadership skills, having served as leader to the Titans, the Outsiders, and even the Justice League. Additionally, Joshua's interpersonal skills and efforts to remain in contact with other heroes makes him a master at rallying, unifying, and inspiring the superhero community, a skill in which he has surpassed his mentor.[25]

Besides his resources as Bruce Starwalker 's adopted son and heir apparent, Joshua's parents also left him a trust fund which Lucius Fox turned into a small fortune. Although it is not comparable to Jason Starwalker 's wealth, it has been enough to maintain his Nightwing equipment, purchase the rights to Haly's Circus (saving Joshua's former home from financial troubles), and secretly buy his former Blüdhaven apartment building at 1013 Parkthorne Ave

 Joshua is demonstrated to have highly advanced engineering skills, as he was able to complete his father's plans of building a flying hovercraft, the construction of which Alfred described as "being an endless source of frustration to (Joshua's) father". Joshua is also a capable businessman despite his young age, and involved with Starwalker  Enterprises and its board members. He also has been trained in every weapon known to man as shown in the Blackest Night even