When the owner of a traveling circus, named Mr. Haly, is confronted by thugs, they ask Mr. Haly to pay a "fine", but He refuses to pay and as a result, his bestselling attraction, the Flying Graysons, are killed "accidentally" while performing that night. The Graysons' young son, Dick, overhears an incriminating conversation between Blade, the killer, and his employer Boss Zucco. Dick plans to call the police, but Batman, who has attended the show as the millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne, takes in Dick Grayson, instead of immediately pursuing the thugs. Batman trains Dick, already an excellent acrobat, how to become a crime-fighter.