Nightwing is one in every of DC’s greatest, brightest characters. He’s not fairly on the extent of Batman and Superman, however his notoriety is simply the smallest step under theirs and is definitely leaps and bounds above what most characters can declare. Even past reputation, he’s somebody that everybody likes. Nightwing is a optimistic man who combines the very best traits from Batman and Superman, embodying each of them with out dropping his uniqueness. Characters and followers alike agree that Nightwing is among the most beloved and reliable folks round. Heck, even when he’s not everybody’s cup of tea, I’ve by no means met anybody who truly dislikes Nightwing.
In fact, there’s an exception to each rule, and the primary exception to this one is Dan DiDio. If his title sounds acquainted, it’s as a result of he served as an editor at DC from 2003 and the co-publisher from 2010 to 2020, when ties have been lastly lower. In that point, DiDio made himself notorious for his very sturdy, very divisive opinions. Most of all, he’s recognized for his absolute, incomparable hatred of Nightwing. He despised the primary Boy Surprise a lot that he tried to kill him off totally within the pages of Infinite Disaster. What’s attention-grabbing is how Nightwing dodged dying, and the way exhausting DiDio stored making an attempt to place him in a casket.
A Transient Historical past of DiDio’s Hatred
Earlier than we dive into how DiDio tried to have Nightwing killed, let’s discuss why. DiDio’s time at DC was outlined by the 2 major opinions he had about comics, which ruled each choice he made: comics must be like they have been when he was a child, and each comedian must be like Watchmen. In different phrases, DiDio wished the solid and characterization from the Silver Age to be ever prevalent whereas doing fixed edgy deconstructions of what it meant to be a superhero, ending with everybody being typically sad and unhappy. That is, in fact, an insane and contradictory best to have, however it informs how he felt about each legacy character.
Typically, DiDio hated legacy characters. He felt that they aged up the Silver Age lineup and muddied the water for his favorites. He did every thing in his energy to eliminate each legacy character and produce again his favorites. DiDio was the architect behind Hal Jordan and Barry Allen’s returns, and the particular person I can throw the blame to for what the late 2000s did to Cassandra Cain. No matter what I’ll or is not going to forgive, Nightwing was primary on DiDio’s hit record. Audiences had watched Dick develop from a boy into a person, rising up with him, and DiDio desperately wished Nightwing gone earlier than he wound up older than Batman. Enter Infinite Disaster.
The Story that Tried and Didn’t Clip the Boy Surprise’s Wings
DiDio’s early drafts for Infinite Disaster noticed Superboy-Prime homicide Nightwing, however the remaining launch had the legendary hero changed by Superboy, who was nonetheless an enormous loss. You possibly can see how the story was gearing up for this in the way it introduced Nightwing, even going as far as to actually nuke Bludhaven. If DiDio had gotten his manner, Nightwing could be six toes underneath and have his title scrubbed from historical past, however fortunately, the remainder of DC’s artistic workforce intervened. And I do imply the remainder. Apparently, the author outcry was completely bombastic. DC itself went to bat for Nightwing, they usually refused to publish a narrative the place he died.
This wouldn’t be the one time DC has to save lots of its golden boy, nevertheless, as DiDio was nowhere close to carried out making an attempt to eliminate him. The New 52 worn out his transition to Batman. Without end Evil noticed his identification uncovered to the world and him being strapped to a dying machine that may solely let him out when his coronary heart stopped. When that didn’t work, DiDio had Tom King shoot Nightwing within the head with KGBeast and start the dreaded Ric Grayson arc. DiDio will need to have figured that if he couldn’t kill Nightwing as a result of followers cherished him, then he simply needed to make folks hate him, like Jim Starlin did with Jason Todd. Sadly for DiDio, followers refused to cease loving Nightwing.
Infinite Disaster was speculated to be Nightwing’s remaining chapter, however it wound up simply being a small web page in his guide. At present, Nightwing is one in every of DC’s most pivotal characters, being the one superhero that everybody can belief and inarguably top-of-the-line leaders in the whole universe. He can unite the entire superhero group underneath his inspiring command, which by no means would have occurred had the writers not stood as much as DiDio and demanded he cease. Nightwing is one in every of DC’s greatest stars, and he’ll solely proceed to soar, regardless of how a lot hate is lobbed at him.
All of us have a personality that, regardless of how exhausting we attempt, we simply can’t stand. Which DC character is that for you? Tell us within the feedback under!