DC's Treatment of Nightwing

He used to be portrayed as a highly competent character. But now is constantly a victim of Batman’s villains, especially in the animated movies.

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IKR. I even noticed that in Arkham Knight. These should be Damian’s plot points. Not Dick’s.

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Ow! my Shoulder hurts thinking about it

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He is now Super Worf. Need to show a new villain is powerful- he clobbers Nightwing. Need to make things look worse- a villain clobbers Nightwing again. Need to make Harley do something weird- she rapes Nightwing (I so wish I was joking). Need to show off a new hero- he clobbers Nightwing. Need to remind us a hero is powerful- he clobbers Nightwing in training using no powers. Need to have a 5 year old child do something “cool”- he clobbers Nightwing.

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Is…that a thing that happened? I dropped Nightwing’s title after the whole Ric Grayson thing, and I don’t follow Harley at all. Did they really use that plot for Nightwing again?

I agree about his portrayal, though. I feel like they didn’t know what to do with him after he gave the cowl back to Bruce. They’re kind of treating him like a new sidekick again, rather than a hero with more experience than most, even a lot of heroes older than him.

His personality has been changed, too. He’s always had a sense of humor and optimism, but it was tempered with intelligence, practicality and determination. Now, I feel like he’s often written to be a bit of an idiot (not sure if Grayson is still Canon, but that’s a great example.) That or they try to make him grim and gritty (Ric Grayson, the Titans TV series.)

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From what I know, One of the producers in the animated films hates Nightwing, so that would explain his poor treatment. As for the Ric Grayson thing, I have a feeling that was Dan Didio’s doing. He would slowly destroy legacy characters and then replace them. Thankfully that will no longer happen and Night will hopefully recover from all of these and become the Chuck Dixon Nightwing we all love.

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Agreed, I really liked him as Batman. My favorite story is Black Mirror and Dick is the lead.

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That was in the movie “Batman and Harley Quinn.” Yes, it happened and his actor from the DCAU (Loren Lester) reprised his role for it. I actually got to see and hear a childhood hero get raped, and it was played for comedy. I wish I was joking about at least one point.

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Truely the most distuping part of the movie. Thankfully he wasn’t raped in the main bo… take it back, he was raped in the main book

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that was Definitely not the R word. but, to each their own.

It was clearly a Tickle fight.

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Oh, I did see that movie. That scene was really awful!

I’m glad it didn’t make it’s way into the comics, at least.

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I have noticed that

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For some reason DC has always hated on Dick Grayson as Nightwing. I remember years and years ago there was a big upheaval cause they said they were going to kill him off during one of the Crisis Events and they didn’t expect the fan backlash they got. They’ve played around with almost killing him off several times since then. My conspiracy theory self is that they’re mad the fans wouldn’t go for it.

I’m kidding.

(Mostly)

I will say, I’d really been loving the Nightwing Rebirth comic and then the Ric Grayson atrocity happened. Thank goodness that seems to wrap up next month cause I was moments away from dropping that title. Why would I want to keep reading a comic about a character who isn’t actually the character I signed up for.

I think DC has a problem with the ‘wholesome’ characters. They don’t seem to know what to do with them unless they can make them ‘edgy’ somehow. The whole not allowing marriages in their comics and ‘heroes can’t be happy’ mindset is a symptom of that as well. Every now and then it’s okay to just have something nice happen.

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That’s really awful. And that actually makes it the second time Dick has been r*ped in canon then. The first time was in the comics by Tarantula. So gross.

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The number of memes about Dick’s shoulder that you can find everywhere is sad and hilarious at the same time.

It really is such a disappointment at times.

Also, if we want to get technical… Dick has been r*ped three times. First time was with Mirage who made herself appear as if she was Starfire and had sex with him, the second was Tarantula, and then third was in the Harley movie. (There was a pretty in-depth discussion on Reddit about it last year.)

Dick deserves so much better…

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Oh you’re right! He does deserve so much better. He and Tim should get their own book titled “We Deserve Better”

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If they can just learn to push the other characters along w/out making “Stalwart” characters suffer it’d be a whole lot Better I think

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Wow. I’m in complete agreement with everyone’s takes in this post. What is up with DC’s shabby treatment of Dick lately, both on the screen and within the pages of the comics? Actually, when I think about it, the most egregious treatment of the Richard as Robin legacy came from Zack Snyder in his killing off of the character. Wut!? DC fans are chomping at the bit for a solid live action depiction (or at the very least a well placed informed eater egg) of the 1988 landmark storyline ‘A Death In The Family’ and Snyder instead opts to rub Dick out and in the process all but nullifies any chance of seeing the Robin to Nightwing transition anywhere within the Snyderverse. Odd choices by DC where the Batman mantle heir apparent ls concerned to be sure.

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Welp that Reddit thread requires the app on my phone.

Noooooope.

AH HA! Laptop boo ya

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I disagree with that being a mistake. The point of killing Jason was in killing the current Robin. That was adapted as killing the most popular Robin. BvS with its many faults does show the huge value Dick has to Batman. Knowing DC keeping him around would mean this.

(Dick and Batman fist bump)

Dick: My Shoulder is broken.

Bats: It was a mistake training you.

Dick: You mean bringing a kid to…

Bats: No, you just have the frailest shoulders and arms in the history of the world.

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