Nightwing Just Created a New Kryptonian (And He’s Going to Remake the World)

Nightwing has a long and storied history in DC Comics. Dick Grayson has been around since 1940, and the Nightwing hero identity actually emerged decades before Dick would use it, being the vigilante name Superman took when he fought crime in the Bottle City of Kandor, which started in 1963. All of this long history is coming back to bite Nightwing, who was trapped in a Titans Tower corrupted by Nite-Mite, Nightwing’s own mythos brought to life and turned against him. And in the middle of all of that chaos, there was a brand new Nightwing born. He calls himself Nightwing-Prime, and not only is his identity way worse than we thought, he plans on fixing the world however he sees fit.

Nightwing-Prime Is Born

The mysterious entity known as the Zanni somehow managed to injure and trap the fifth dimensional imp Nite-Mite in the third dimension, and his lack of understanding with pain caused him to transform Titans Tower into the dangerous world of Titanis. Nightwing ventured inside to rescue Babs and help Nite-Mite, and wound up meeting this world’s protector; Van-zee, the second Nightwing of Kandor and Superman’s cousin. The two fought their way to the center of Titanis, but Nightwing-Prime decided that Dick was a threat to the order of his world, and tried to eliminate him. Thankfully, Barbara had been talking to Nite-Mite the entire time, and managed to walk him through his pain by comparing Nightwing to chicken soup, the ultimate cure all that would make him feel loved and cared for. Nite-Mite began to revert the changes he made to reality, but as the fight raged on, Nightwing realized who Nightwing-Prime really was.

Prime wasn’t Van-Zee, but in reality was a transformed Bryce Morgan. Bryce was an eleven year old boy who lost his parents years ago, and whose brother was killed by Spheric Solution’s uncaring private soldiers months ago. He was a new member of the Teddy Gang, but dedicated himself to working for Nightwing after the hero was the only one to stand up for the numerous gangs of Bludhaven when Spheric Solutions sought to wipe them all out at once. He tried to sneak into Titans Tower to prove to Nightwing that he could be useful, only to wound up transformed into Nightwing-Prime while Nite-Mite was calling out for a hero to help him. As the world he thought was his whole life faded away before his eyes, Bryce took off into space, staying transformed. Now he’s on his own, with all the powers of a Kryptonian, the perspective of a kid who lived on the streets, and a drive to change the world for the better, no matter the cost or who stands in his way. This could end well, but it could also end very, very poorly.

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A New Hero, or New Threat?

Nightwing-Prime definitely wants to make the world a better place. Not only does he have the heroic mind of Van-Zee, but he remembers all of the pain he lived through as Bryce, who wanted to help Nightwing. Except we’ve already seen he was willing to kill Nightwing to maintain order in Titanis, so we know he’s willing to go too far to get results. That’s on top of his clearly unstable mental state, with two warring sets of memories duking it out in his head. The last thing anyone needs is a Kryptonian who is constantly at the brink. And besides, it’s very likely that the emergence of this new powerhouse was directly constructed by the Zanni. The entity wants to forge Nightwing into the Ringmaster for his Cirque du Sin, and has set about turning him into a leader that he wants. In the first arc of this run, the Zanni manipulated events to try and force Nightwing to take leadership of the multiple gangs of Bludhaven, ending with Bryce as his follower.

Nightwing tried to get the kid to live a normal life before this, but now that is nowhere near an option. He’s going to have to step up and become Bryce’s mentor, just like the Zanni wanted all along. He’s obviously prepping Nightwing, trying to make him think and act a certain way, and while we don’t know what exactly that is, it definitely involves the inherent fear of the circus, of breaking down the status quo and giving consequence. We don’t know what the future holds for our hero, but as it stands he’s playing right into the Zanni’s hands. Still, if the Zanni feels this comfortable creating a brand new Kryptonian and making him be loyal to Nightwing, he must either be terrifyingly confident or very stupid. Either one is very, very bad.