Nightwinghas grown from a child sidekick into a team-leading, universe-saving hero, with Dick Grayson receiving more quality character growth in his 80-year history than most other heroes and villains combined, making him a fan-favorite member of the Bat-Family who has more than earned his keep. But like it or not,Nightwing has a problem that his mentor, Batman, will never have, one that’s holding him back from becoming an even better character than he already is — and it all starts with his villains.
Fighting a fair amount of Batman enemies throughout his career as Robin/Nightwing either in his hometown of Gotham or in his adopted home of Blüdhaven, Nightwing is more so known for his high-flyingantics and devil-may-care attitude thanhis cast of villainsor surrounding Nightwing-specific supporting characters.
In a recent AMA onReddit’s r/DCcomics channel, writer/artist and previous Rebirth-eraNightwingscribe Tim Seeley explains why, for as great as Nightwing is as a character, one of his most longstanding and unaddressed problems is thatNightwing has very few recurring villains who he can claim as his own.
Nightwing Has a Villain Problem That Stops Him From Being Even Better Than He Is
According To Former Nightwing Writer Tim Seeley
Posting the question “What is your take on Nightwing having a rogues gallery?” along with some context before Seeley responds, Reddit user HotTakes4HotCakes points out howmostNightwingwriters introduce villains who “just don’t seem to stick” after their run endsand how new creative teams never seem “all that interested in reusing the villains created by a predecessor.” Admitting that he agrees with this sentiment, Seeley explains how he created the villain Raptor during hisNightwingrun because of this exact reason, conceding, “But, you’re right, everyone since has thrown it all out, or just went back to Blockbuster.”
I Always Knew Nightwing’s Sister Was Going to Become His Enemy, But It Still Stings
It always seemed inevitable, but it’s still going to be hard to see Nightwing forced to oppose his sister, the current mayor of Blüdhaven.
Highlighting what’s holding Nightwing back — a proper rogues gallery— Seeley goes on to say how “most writers are only familiar with the stuff they read as a kid, or with characters that appeared in cartoons or film,” putting Nightwing at a firm disadvantage, asoutside of Blockbusterand the more recent Raptor, the representation of Nightwing-exclusive enemies are next to nil. While Deathstroke could be considered a Nightwing villain, he’s really more of a Titans foe, with Dick’s relationship to Professor Pyg, Dr. Hurt, and KGBeast — three Batman-related enemies — not getting much attention outside of their initial arcs with him.
Nightwing-Specific Villains Are Few and Far Between, and He Needs More
Heartless Is One of Nightwing’s Most Recently Introduced Villains
Last year, Tom Taylor concluded his critically acclaimed and character-defining run onNightwing, opting to jettison previous original villains to createthe cold and relentless Heartlesswhilealsobringing back Blockbuster for good measure, further proving the point this Reddit AMA makes but also giving future writers one more villain to give a new lease on should they choose to.Nightwingis still as great a character as he’s always been — exclusive recurring villains or not — butone of Dick Grayson’s biggest problems isn’t being addressed and it’s stopping him from reaching even higher heightsas a DC Comics superhero.
