Jk, Babs is his true love, imo. He fell for her very early, they have along shared history, and they never betrayed one another or anything. Starfire is his fun, uninhibited, exotic, and super emotional college girlfriend who doesnt know what she wants yet, still too enamoured with her new found freedom and all the new experiences to be found.
As great as Starfire is, she’s no Barbara Gordon. She is gorgeous, sweet in nature, and kind (and a 15 on the 1-to-10 scale) but Babs has got to be the woman he would judge all others against. Can Starfire challenge Dick like Babs? No. Do you think she could understand him as a person as deeply as Barbara? Not with her entire life being split between Tamaran and her enslavement. With Starfire, Dick would constantly have his hands full do to her being so naive and unfamiliar. He would be a part time dad to her. With Barbara, he gets an equal. Her being crippled might be challenging at times but we all know Grayson dgaf about that. The guy grew up in a circus, hard to become superficial in that environment.
As @magesmiley pointed out, Donna Troy is the best fit.
I have always shipped Kori & Dick, but upon reflection Donna & Dick are a potentially great ship and should be explored.
It gets rid of the Babs “she’s much older. Look at the age difference between them in her first appearance” issue. It gets rid of the “they sometimes really have a brother/sister vibe.” Issue as well.
The way Mr Gatyson has been known to play the field I don’t think Kori is ok with that. And their powers don’t complement each other as well in battle as Donna & Dick’s do.
Donna can certainly keep him in check, and focused on not becoming the Batman. Also, I can see Donna & Dick having an open relationship. Which we don’t really get to see in most DC ships. I don’t think an open relationship would be an issue with either of them. Donna & Dick in an open relationship certainly wouldn’t break canon. If anything it makes the most canonical sense.
Donna and Dick ARE a great ship. When you think about it, Donna seems like she probably didnt even register as a possible love interest to Dick as he would have been too young and too twitterpated with Barbara to notice the perfect girl next door, Donna Troy. Looking back, there are women from my past that probably would have been great matches if I weren’t so obsessed with someone else at the time.
Barbara is best for Dick but he is not best for her. She is waaaayyyy to good for him. I find Kory annoying personally. I can get behind Dick and Donna!
In Rebirth it is quite obviously Babs. The two are so special together that it needs to happen. Forget Star, I think Babs and Dick are the most adorable couple ever!
In the comics I’d say Batgirl in animation I’d have to go with Starfire. Overall it’s Babs for me they should have already been able to find happiness even more so than even Batman and Catwoman. Why not make a Nightwing Batgirl series? I really enjoy watching them fight crime together.
I have what has been called a “highly interesting” perspective on this.
Barbara is the best thing to ever happen to Dick.
Dick is one of the worst things to happen to Barbara.
Dick is a pretty rotten boyfriend when it comes down to it. Barbara, on the other hand, is probably one of the best girlfriends ever. I don’t know about you, but all the times Dick has cheated on Babs I would reconsider being on the same planet with him, much less dating him.
Kory was designed to be a love interest. I generally dislike characters that were designed to be love interest so I am bias against her. She should ditch him for the same reasons as Babs but won’t because she is too naive.
Ultimately, I always have and always will choose Barbara. They are just better compliments to each other. Babs makes sure Dick isn’t too much of an idiot and Dick makes sure she has enjoys life.
[Edit: For the record, Dick is one of my favorite characters even if he is a rotten boyfriend.]
Starfire 100%, they have an undeniable connection, and is a refreshing love compared to what everyone expects (Dick/Babs). I also feel as though Dick and Babs are more of a familial love.
In fairness, Dick’s only a bad boyfriend because of retcons designed to push that Dick and Babs were in love, even though he was with Starfire, and he and Babs hadn’t been depicted interacting in years. To each his/her own, but I’ve never personally seen any reason for pairing Dick and Babs besides convenience. “Hey, we need a romance. They’re male and female, and in general proximity to each other. Why not?” I can perceive no other reason. Heck, Babs was originally not a romantic interest at all (she had a character, Jason Bard, who was created to be her romantic interest, in fact), so you could argue that the Dick/Babs thing tends to reduce her character to being a romantic interest. I see how Dick and Kory were good for each other. I don’t see how Dick and Babs were anything but convenient.
I think Dick’s true love is Barbara. To me Kori seems like a teenager/college fling. They only really dated in Titans comics, and when he was still figuring himself out. But with Barbara he dated her when he was older (where he has himself figured out better) and it wasn’t only with the Titans (I know she wasn’t really lart of the Titans), but in many different series. They also have better relationship that being dating or as friends.
Agreed, just laziness on the part of the writers. But Whatever happened to the normal boyfriend/girlfriend dynamic. Not saying that a hero romance isn’t appealing or can’t be complex but I kinda miss that in my cape stories.