5 Pieces of Nightwing Lore That Make Him More Than Just Batman’s First Robin

Nightwing is one of the most important characters in comic history. I would honestly put him on par with Superman as far as importance to the medium. Dick Grayson was the first sidekick, starting a trope that would help define what superhero comics are for decades. He was the first member of the Bat-Family, which is basically the first superhero family, a trope that everyone uses nowadays. He founded the Teen Titans, starting the idea of legacy teen teams (sure, the Legion was first, but they were their own thing in a way the Titans aren’t). He was the star of New Teen Titans and has had a solo book for about 30 years now, constantly being published. In fact, Nightwing (Vol. 4) is currently the longest running comic that hasn’t been rebooted at the Big Two, showing just how successful he’s been over the years.

Dick Grayson is an icon on a level that few characters can reach. If you’re of a certain age, you’ve definitely pretended to be him while playing. However, one of the problems with Dick is that he was Robin for 40 years in the comics – longer in the greater pop culture – and many fans only see him as a sidekick. However, he’s become more than that; he’s one of the leaders of the superhero community and one of the most popular fictional characters of the last hundred years. These five pieces of Nightwing lore prove that he’s more than just a sidekick, but one of the greatest solo heroes ever.

5) Re-Created the Infinite Multiverse

The multiverse idea has been an important part of DC Comics for decades, but the original infinite version of it was ended in 1986, with the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths #12. Since then, the publisher has brought it back, to the extent that it’s something of a meme among DC fans that every event comic is going to focus on it changing to a new form. Right now, we have the old school infinite multiverse back and you can thank Nightwing for that. In the underappreciated Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths, Grayson had to lead the superhero community against Deathstroke and his Dark Army after the “death” of the Justice League, who was working with Pariah. Pariah wanted to recreate the old multiverse, but ‘Stroke wanted to destroy everything. He was able to steal the power of the Great Darkness after Pariah was defeated, with Nightwing jumping into battle with his old enemy. Dick was able to defeat the mercenary, taking the power that he had stolen and using it to stabilize the Earths that Pariah brought back, allowing them to fully come back into existence. He not only saved all of reality, but he made sure that it would be stable and exist forever (until whenever DC decides to change it again). Not too shabby for a circus kid.

4) Nightwing Goes to Bludhaven

Nightwing’s longest-running series started 30 years ago. Nightwing (Vol. 2) was all about showing Dick Grayson as a solo hero after years of leading the Teen Titans and working with Batman. Instead of putting him in Gotham City or New York City or somewhere like that, writer Chuck Dixon created an all-new city for him to defend, the corrupt port city known as Bludhaven. In a lot of ways, Bludhaven is just a more nautical-themed version of Gotham, a city controlled by crime and corruption. Putting Dick in his own city was the perfect next step for the character. It showed that he wanted to step out of the shadows of his past and become his own man. While most members of the Bat-Family stay close to home, Dick wanted to show everyone that he could do it all by himself. It was the best way to show how much he’s grown and it’s led to some of the coolest stories ever (seriously, go and get Dan Watters’ current run on the book, which has been amazing since it started in 2025’s issue #119 and has only gotten better since the legendary Denys Cowan joined the book).

3) Inheriting Alfred’s Fortune

Alfred Pennyworth was an integral part of Batman’s mythos for decades. He was the second member of the Bat-Family to premiere and became the glue that held it all together. He was a father to Bruce and Dick, loving them like they were his blood. In 2018, during the “City of Bane” story arc, Alfred was killed by the villain, a massive blow to the Bat-Family that has changed the way they work completely. Alfred was well-compensated for his work over the years, being given Wayne stock and cash that just sat in accounts, accruing interest. It took a little bit for his will to get read – things were very busy in the DC Multiverse from 2018 to 2021 – but once it did, it was revealed that he left a multi-billion dollar fortune to Dick. Suddenly, he didn’t have to worry about working and could afford anything he wanted. He became a philanthropist in Bludhaven and funded the new version of the Titans, building them a new Titans Tower in the city, using his money to help the most people. The real interesting thing is that ever since Bruce Wayne lost access to his fortune in “Joker War” (for embezzling funds from his companies to his vigilante work, although it was never found out that he was Batman), Dick’s been the one with all the money, changing their relationship.

2) His Second Stint as Batman

Grant Morrison started writing Batman in 2006 and took the character in some bold new directions. Morrison “killed” the hero at the end of Final Crisis (he was really thrown backwards in time by Darkseid, moving forward in time and building Omega energy to make him into a multiverse-destroying bomb) and it led to something readers have been waiting for years for – Dick Grayson graduating and finally becoming Batman. This wasn’t the first time he acted as Batman – he also took over for a short period after Bruce beat Azrael. Dick took over the mantle of the Dark Knight and began training Damian Wayne, doing his best to break the boy’s more violent proclivities and to give him something of a normal life. He was able to protect Gotham from every threat, helped bring together a new roster of the Justice League, and was able to mold Damian into the hero he is today. Dick’s time as Batman was amazing, showing that he could step into the most important mantle in comics and still succeed. It was honestly a pretty big success and the only reason it was changed was because of the New 52.

1) Becoming Nightwing

Dick Grayson slowly but surely grew up over the decades, going off to college, doing his best to balance his two lives. Eventually, he’d help bring back the Teen Titans and would become one of the stars of the bestselling book New Teen Titans. DC would introduce Jason Todd to replace him as Batman’s sidekick and this led to Dick deciding that it was time quit being the Boy Wonder. However, he wasn’t giving up heroing, and started to create his own new heroic identity. After Deathstroke’s attack on the team in “The Judas Contract”, he put on his new costume and became Nightwing, the name based on Kryptonian lore shared with him by Superman (basically, in Kandor where he had no powers, Superman took up the name, based on a Kryptonian legend, and fought Kryptonian crime with Jimmy as Flamebird). It was the perfect change to the character, allowing him to grown into the iconic hero he is today.

10 Best Nightwing Storylines in DC Comics, Ranked by Impact