Now that Young Justice: Outsiders has finally premiered in theaters, showing fans the state of Earth-16 two years after the Reach’s failed invasion and subsequent attempt to destroy the planet.
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In that time, a major romance has blossomed between Nightwing and his partner, another one of Batman’s former sidekicks.
Warning: Spoilers for Young Justice: Outsiders below.
In the sixth episode of the series, called “Rescue Op,” we finally get to see the mysterious Oracle, whom Dick Grayson has been talking to on his missions to dismantle the meta-human trafficking rings. Shocking absolutely no one, it’s Barbara Gordon.
Young Justice appears to be following the comic book route for the character as Babs is now in a wheel chair, possibly hinting at the character’s transition after the events of The Killing Joke when she was shot and paralyzed by the Joker.
There’s no mention of the past, however, as Barbara and Dick immediately begin kissing — confirming that their partnership extends beyond crime fighting duties.
It’s unclear if Young Justice: Outsiders will explore this backstory anymore than it has, as the series has leaned on iconic DC Comics storylines to flesh out details of the plot without actually telling those stories. Executive Producer Brandon Vietti previously spoke about that balancing act in the series, deciding when it’s best to tell the story or to let the canon speak for itself.
“There are some big events that we can sort of rely on for as you said, the big fans in the room will get it but we’re also okay if a new fan in the room doesn’t get it, and if it inspires them to sort of maybe go to the internet and search it,” Vietti said to ComicBook.com.
“What’s great about the DC Universe platform that we are on is that there are comics built into it that fans can actually search for and research. That’s one of the great things about having so many decades of DC U’s stories behind these characters that we’re working with, is that there is a lot of built-in history, and a lot of famous milestones for these characters that travel with them.
“We try to incorporate some of those to honor the characters that we’re working with and in some ways we get to have fun working with those milestone moments in the show and kind of putting our own Young Justice, Earth-16 spin on that milestone. Or, in other cases, we’ll just put that milestone out there without explanation, knowing that this is a great opportunity for our fans to kind of dig deeper into the DC Universe and discover more about these characters that they’re being introduced to through our show.”
New episodes of Young Justice: Outsiders premiere Fridays on DC Universe.
