Dick Grayson is one of the most important superheroes ever. Dick was the first Robin, introduced to readers in 1940’s Detective Comics #38. He was created to give the young readers someone they could see themselves as and was wildly successful, birthing the teen superhero sidekick. He would play a massive role in the history of the Dark Knight and in the ’60s would found the Teen Titans, a new team of sidekicks that has since become one of the most popular superhero teams ever. The Teen Titans were the key to his future; seeing him away from Batman showed that he could be a hero in his own right, leading to him taking up the mantle of Nightwing.
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Dick Grayson is one of those characters who helped form what the modern superhero is in the minds of fans. Generations of kids grew up with Dick as their Robin in the cartoons they watched (for me, because I’m old, it was reruns of the ’60s live-action show) and then moved over to the comics, following his adventures as he got older and more mature over the last couple of decades, growing along with them. He’s reached a level of importance and popularity that can only be matched by Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman and has become a true legend. These five moments prove that Nightwing is the most important sidekick of them all, and one of them saved DC Comics.
5) Proved His Earth Was Better Than Earth-Two in Infinite Crisis
Infinite Crisis was a turning point in DC history. The event comic was partly a celebration of 20th anniversary of Crisis on Infinite Earths, bringing back the four heroes of that story – Alexander Luthor Jr. of Earth-Three, Superboy-Prime, and Superman and Lois Lane of Earth-Two. The group of them returned to “fix” the universe, which had gotten much darker since their sacrifice. Earth-Two Superman ends up going to Batman, believing his old friend will listen to reason. The two of them discuss Earth-Two and how it was a better Earth for Batman, with the Dark Knight finally asking if the Dick Grayson of Earth-Two was better than the one on his Earth.
Earth-Two Dick Grayson remained Robin as an adult, eventually taking Batman’s place on the Justice Society after the Caped Crusader’s death. He never formed the Teen Titans, never became a leader on his own, never forged his own identity, and never became anything more than B-list hero. Earth-Two Superman had to admit that Nightwing was better than Earth-Two’s Robin, showing that all of Dick’s accomplishments meant something.
4) His Time as Robin Defined What It Meant to Be a Sidekick
Dick Grayson was introduced on the night his parents died, the young acrobat watching them shot before his eyes, just like Bruce Wayne had years before. Wayne took him in and began training him, molding him into Robin. Dick became the smiling clown to Batman’s serious dark avenger, always ready with a joke while he was jump-kicking someone in the face. He brought vitality and life to Batman’s mission and this became the job of every sidekick. Go back and read Golden Age comics starring characters like Bucky, Speedy, Sandy the Golden Boy, Toro, and the rest; they were all Robin clones. This continued into the Silver Age, with Aqualad, Kid Flash, and the rest working in the mold that Dick created.
Dick Grayson was so popular as Robin that when Jason Todd became Robin, fans didn’t like him because he wasn’t Dick. He set the standard for what a sidekick was in the ’40s through the ’70s, creating the picture of what a sidekick was in the minds of readers. Once he got older, he showed how a sidekick should age, growing as a hero before becoming his own hero. His career as Robin is the sidekick gold standard.
3) He Restored the Multiverse in Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths
Nightwing’s place in the superhero hierarchy of the DC Universe has changed a lot in recent years. For a long time, he was an important hero, but he was always played as below Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman on the respect scale. However, Dick has been working with the three of them since the beginning and led the most respected team not named the Justice League or Justice Society. He’s been promoted in a lot of ways, making the Trinity into something of a Quad. During event comics, he takes a leadership role, usually helping the Trinity come up with the plan and then leading part of it, kind of like a non-commissioned officer would in wartime.
Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths is an underappreciated event comic. It’s not really an original story, but it does have its moments and Nightwing plays a key role in the story. It kicks off with the Justice League believed to be dead, leaving Dick as the de facto leader of the superhero community. He helps hold the whole thing together, leading the fight against Deathstroke and his Dark Army. During the final battle, Deathstroke would steal the power of the Great Darkness and decided to destroy everything in a twisted bid to save everyone from the pain of life. Nightwing stood against him and was able to defeat him in single combat, taking the power he had hoarded and using it to help stabilize the multiverse. Nightwing’s victory re-birthed the infinite multiverse, showing just how important a hero he’s become.
2) Leading the New Teen Titans
Dick Grayson, along with Kid Flash and Aqualad, formed the Teen Titans, with Kid Flash, Speedy, and Wonder Girl joining not long after the group’s first appearance (it’s kind of funny to think that back then, Aqualad was considered a bigger draw than Kid Flash). The team would grow even more over the ’60s and ’70s, with Bumblebee, Malcolm Duncan (he’s had so many codenames that it’s gotten to the point it’s easier to just call him by his real name), Golden Eagle, Lilith, Gnarkk, Hawk, Dove, and the various teen heroes of the day. However, the group was never as popular as the adult teams and eventually, faded away. The ’70s would end on a very bad note for DC, with the company almost destroyed when the DC Explosion, a publishing initiative that saw them release numerous new titles, turned into the DC Implosion.
Other than Superman: The Movie and its sequel, DC wasn’t really doing well. Then, Marv Wolfman and George Perez decided to create a new version of the classic teen team and the New Teen Titans were born. Dick was the leader of the group and one of the main characters, helping the book to become one of the most popular comics of its day. Grayson became Nightwing and was suddenly a superstar, with most of the team’s best stories revolving around him. The success of the New Teen Titans made DC cash-rich, allowing them to take the chances that made early ’80s DC so groundbreaking. All of that can be laid at the feet of Dick Grayson.
1) Becoming Nightwing
Dick Grayson’s history as a superhero is one of the most important in comics for numerous reasons, but the most important was the moment that he became Nightwing during “The Judas Contract”. While you can make an argument that him being Robin was more important – since more fans know of him from his time with Caped Crusader than on his own – becoming Nightwing showed that he was more than just Batman’s sidekick. It showed that there was a chance for the sidekicks to become heroes on their own. This completely changed the way that fans looked at sidekicks.
For years, sidekicks were just a part of comics. You didn’t really expect to see them get older or grow as a hero; lip service was paid to the idea of “the next generation of superheroes”, but it never came to be. Nightwing showed that a sidekick could grow and move on into lives of their own. It’s really only been in the years since he became Nightwing that this idea of sidekicks becoming heroes of their own started to gain traction, all because of his success on his own. Dick was constantly changing the comic industry, and becoming Nightwing was the biggest change he made.
What’s your favorite Nightwing moments? Sound off in the comment section below.
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