Warning: Spoilers for Nightwing #117 and Titans #14
Summary
It’s normally assumed thatBatmanis the peak human of the DC Universe, both physically and mentally, butNightwinghas some training of his own that far surpasses his adoptive father in both body and mind. Not only is Dick Grayson an accomplished acrobatic, but he’s gained a mastery of his own mind with a tactic that allows him to split his brain. Batman could never.
In previews for bothNightwing#117by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo andTitans#14by Taylor and Lucas Meyer, fans are really getting to seea more nuanced and powerful side of Nightwing. In the former preview, Nightwing’s acrobatic skills are revealed to have been cultivated through exposure therapy, which likens a new fear of heights to Batman’s canonical fear of bats.
And inTitans,Nightwing reveals to the team that he sequestered a part of his mind away, only to be accessed at a safe house, so that he could build a case against a teammate he didn’t trust.
In these two different ways, physical and mental,Nightwing proves just how casually he has become a superhuman— without even a superpower to his name.
I’m Totally Convinced DC’s New Titans Romance Is a Reworked Version of Nightwing/Starfire (& I’m Here For It)
Nightwing got his chance to hit it off with the alien princess Starfire, and now it’s another Titan’s turn for an extraterrestrial romance!
Nightwing Became a Superhuman Through Conquering His Fear
Dick Grayson’s Childhood in the Circus as the Flying Graysons
Nightwing having a natural talent for acrobatics doesn’t make him a superhero - but conquering his fear and making that conquest his superpower does.
In any flashbacks ofNightwing’s time in the circus, fans only ever glimpse the joy he had and the ease with which he performed in the spotlight he loved. This behind-the-scenes moment with Deadman as his mentor shows the other side ofhow Nightwing got so good at what is assumed to be natural talent: exposure therapy.Nightwing having a natural talent for acrobatics doesn’t make him a superhero, but conquering his fear and making that conquest his superpower does.
Even in the present, Nightwing tries to fight that same fear that he had as a child, and this struggle makes him an accessible hero. This very idea, both for him as a child and an adult, is inspiring to the degree that it can make the reader believe they can do the same by starting off in the same place: being afraid. Nightwing proves thatthe only difference between a human and a superhuman is facing fears.While Batman tries to become the thing to fear, Nightwing overcomes it, which is just another example ofNightwing doing something that Batman can’t do.
Nightwing Reaches Peak Human Not Just Physically But Mentally
Nightwing Has Surpassed Even Batman
But Nightwing isn’t just at his physical peak; he’s also trained his mind.Batman is also known forthe mental barriers he has put up as just one of his many famous contingency plans. It seems like Nightwing has his own too. By splitting his mind,Dick was able to keep his suspicions out of reach of a telepaththat could otherwise have destroyed the Titans from the inside out. Unlike Batman, however, Nightwing didn’t create this plan to bring down a friend but to help them.
InTitans,Nightwing knows Raven is in trouble, and his split-mind tactic is only there to bring his friend back: another way that Nightwing has not only improved on Batman’s methods but far surpassed him. Batman has never quite been able to master his own fear or control his own mind, and Nightwing shows that he has done all of that long beforeBatman,makingNightwingthe true superhuman of DC.
NIGHTWING #117 (2024)
TITANS #14 (2024)
Nightwing
Nightwing is the superhero moniker taken up by Dick Grayson, upon his aging out of the Robin role and becoming a superhero of his own. Inspired by the original Kryptonian hero of the same name, Grayson has risen to comic book immortality with the identity, earning respect as one of the greatest leaders in the DC Universe.
