'Titans' Just Set the Stage for Dick Grayson's Nightwing Debut

The latest episode of Titans is called "Donna Troy", and not surprisingly it introduces Wonder Woman's iconic sidekick from DC Comics to this new DC Universe. Donna (Conor Leslie) turns out to be an old friend and confidant of Dick Grayson (Brenton Thwaites), who is able to provide the former Robin some much-needed wisdom, at a time he sorely needs it.

Near the end of "Donna Troy", Dick and Donna sit down for a full-on heart-to-heart about Dick's identity crisis, and Donna shares the following wisdom:

"You know when Diana took me in, she showed me how to fill the hole fire left in my life with love, and with family. It's just what the Amazons do: they have a tradition of empowerment and self-discovery. Bruce filled that hole in your life the only way he knew how. With rage and violence. Wonder Woman was born to protect the innocent. Batman was created to punish the guilty. But we're not them. Neither one of us. I didn't quit being Wonder Girl. I just realized that I could do more good being Donna Troy. Do you understand? ...

You'll never be a civilian, Dick. You lost that chance the day you became Robin. And you can't be Robin anymore, because for all the good he did, ultimately he was an echo chamber for Bruce's pain. And for yours. You wann go out there and kick bad-guy ass? You wanna make sure there's not a chance, not a single chance, even one of them gets away? Do it."

Dick responds with the decleration that, "I won't be Batman," to which Donna replies:

"Then don't. Don't be Batman or Robin. Be something else. Someone else."

Of course, while this meeting of the minds clearly sparks a new idea about Dick's future as a crimefighter, the two ex-sidekicks don't quite arrive at the conception of Dick's Nightwing identity quite yet. When Dick asks Donna what his new superhero identity should be, her only response was "Hell if I know."

It's been speculated (and seems pretty clear) that Titans is angling to have Dick Grayson transform into Nightwing as part of the climax to season 1. Again, that's just speculation, but the way Dick's story arc has been paced, and where it's now headed, makes the destination seem all too clear - and we can't wait. F*ck Batman, it's Nightwing's time!

You can catch new episodes of Titans streaming every Friday on the DC Universe app.