Pitch a Direction: Nightwing

[oasis1313]

Still not sure Dick needs to be dragging around children.

[nhienphan2808]

Dick to me is the kind of guy who is self sufficient and can do practically everything, at least As he is at the end of pre - flashpoint. He can do odd jobs ok if he has someone and something to live for and not just boring and unstable “normal” life. So I can see him needing help at the beginning when he took some kid in, but the rest is his and his alone. He is a great mentor and as long as the child is some kind of connection to his owl origins , he wouldn’t be just dragging some helpless kid around.

I gave up trying to think for Prime Earth Dick. He’s irrelevant.

[oasis1313]

Dick to me is the kind of guy who is self sufficient and can do practically everything, at least As he is at the end of pre - flashpoint. He can do odd jobs ok if he has someone and something to live for and not just boring and unstable “normal” life. So I can see him needing help at the beginning when he took some kid in, but the rest is his and his alone. He is a great mentor and as long as the child is some kind of connection to his owl origins , he wouldn’t be just dragging some helpless kid around.

I gave up trying to think for Prime Earth Dick. He’s irrelevant.

Is Earth Prime Dick currently being called "Ric"?

[Jackalope89]

Is Earth Prime Dick currently being called "Ric"?

Yep. Meanwhile, a bunch of random people are running around as Nightwing, using "Ric" as their transportation.

[dropkickjake]

Dick to me is the kind of guy who is self sufficient and can do practically everything, at least As he is at the end of pre - flashpoint. He can do odd jobs ok if he has someone and something to live for and not just boring and unstable “normal” life. So I can see him needing help at the beginning when he took some kid in, but the rest is his and his alone. He is a great mentor and as long as the child is some kind of connection to his owl origins , he wouldn’t be just dragging some helpless kid around.

I gave up trying to think for Prime Earth Dick. He’s irrelevant.

Its not that I don't think Dick could handle adopting a kiddo. Its more just that he is single and in his mid-twenties. I think that kid Mutt from the Dixon series is a good example of how Dick would handle meeting a kid who needs a father figure. Dick had the owner of the bar he worked at take him in. I think Dick being young is part of the character. IMO, he should never be older than mid twenties in the main universe. His youthfulness is part of the character to me.

[Ascended]

Still not sure Dick needs to be dragging around children.

I dont think Dick *needs* a kid/sidekick/ward/legacy/whatever, but if we're talking about Dick taking the next logical step in his life, growing as a individual and a hero, a sidekick is a pretty standard direction to go. It's sort of what a hero does, once they hit a certain level. It's a right of passage really, showing that the hero has become a big enough deal to inspire others into taking direct action.

Now, Nightwing could enjoy a long and full career as a hero and never take on a sidekick again (as Batman Dick did have Tim and Damian as sidekicks), but I also dont think its a "wrong" direction either; there isn't a better father figure or role model in the DCU than Dick Grayson, and his experiences and history and natural talents make him one of the best mentors in comics. It'd show growth and development, build easily from his past leading and training the Titans (especially the younger ones) as well as Tim and Damian. Plus it'd open up some new story avenues, as Dick gets to experience the sidekick dynamic from the other side. Not that he hasn't done so already; the idea of Dick having a sidekick stopped being original way back with Prodigal. This would just be Dick having a sidekick as Nightwing instead of Batman.

I do think adopting a kid isn't the right way to take him right now. Too young, too much wanderlust.....I struggle to imagine Dick staying in one apartment long-term and joining the PTA, yknow? When he's closer to 30 maybe he'd settle down enough for that, and if he had a kid (not adopting, but got a gal knocked up, all classy like) right now he'd be all over fatherhood and step up to the responsibility like a man. But a sidekick doesn't have to mean sole parental responsibility either.

[ermac]

I'd replace Clark and Bruce with Dick and Kara on the Justice League. Let them develop there while Bat and Sups have their own line of books to be explored.

[Jackalope89]

I'd replace Clark and Bruce with Dick and Kara on the Justice League. Let them develop there while Bat and Sups have their own line of books to be explored.

Kara is still 16 or so right now. Karen though, I could see be on the League.

[nhienphan2808]

This story of Dick raising a kid can be good if the writers made it good. He wouldn’t just raise a problem child or a Robin but raising a talon and going on grand adventures with the child to the multiverses. Also he has never has something that is wholely his. I feel it’s all he ever wanted and needed right now to improve his stAtus.

I don’t know why Too many fans put so much limit on Dick. This is why he’s underdeveloped. Initially there might have been no conscious attempt to sabotage him, it must be just people coming up with ideas for him and was turned down every time because of a FEELING he wouldn’t make this work. This has been going on since the 90s, like that space adventures plans with starfire. And the argument that he’s too young and should be young lines up with Didios bullshit about aging. I know it’s not meant to, but in time it creates reasons for him to actively sabotage Dick and give his stories to Batman or “better” Robins instead.

[Ascended]

This story of Dick raising a kid can be good if the writers made it good. He wouldn’t just raise a problem child or a Robin but raising a talon and going on grand adventures with the child to the multiverses. Also he has never has something that is wholely his. I feel it’s all he ever wanted and needed right now to improve his stAtus.

I don’t know why Too many fans put so much limit on Dick. This is why he’s underdeveloped. Initially there might have been no conscious attempt to sabotage him, it must be just people coming up with ideas for him and was turned down every time because of a FEELING he wouldn’t make this work. This has been going on since the 90s, like that space adventures plans with starfire. And the argument that he’s too young and should be young lines up with Didios bullshit about aging. I know it’s not meant to, but in time it creates reasons for him to actively sabotage Dick and give his stories to Batman or “better” Robins instead.

Fandom is an interesting place. We say we want growth but we're actually very, very hesitant about even the most minor changes or alterations.

I've always thought it was because we don't want to lose the core aspects of the character that made us like them in the first place. If you became a Nightwing fan because he's the sexy younger less broody bad boy version of Batman, then him having a child could potentially endanger that status quo as Dick turns down high speed car chases for movie night. Its not that we dont want to see our heroes grow and evolve and become better.....we're just hyper picky about how that happens.

[Pohzee]

I think that Dick having a kid, a story like Mister Miracle, would be a magnificent development for a character who most represents personal growth in the DCU. But that would be a leap for Dick's character as big as the leap from Robin to Nightwing. There's no going backing from that. So I wouldn't want to do it until we reach a point where there are no more stories to be told of Dick as the upcoming young adult with freedom and adventure. And I really don't think that he's reached his potential here yet. So I would hold off for a long while.

[nhienphan2808]

He’s reached that once, pre crisis . He could do everything to take care of himself and fly solo already. But no they had to make Bruce and Dicks relationship unhealthy to erase that mAturity and left him emotionally lacking. Dickory ship died the moment Bruce fired him and Jason died. Then he thought he could be free and happy because Tim came to help, but in the NW solo he went from could cook could take care of household fine to “Kory has always took care of all this **** for me” and apparently having no friends outside supes and bats. And I won’t talk more about Devin Grayson Hal-Jordanizing him or the mess that’s the New52 or Rebirth now. Say after Being Batman before the reboot, he has every thing he needs : mAturity, security about his place in the fam and world, Bruce coming back, Damian and Tim having grown and all. Dicks story is about an oldest sibling who choose family over himself or love , taking care of a father and brothers until they all could fly on their own without him, and then he is free to marry or do whatever he wants with his life. That’s realistic enough, and wouldn’t be too big a leap because pre flashpoint already hinted at CoO, Owlman and Dicks origin.

The Nightwing mantle has never been satisfactory or built upon, a child would help with that, just like Bruce only built upon Batman ever since Dick.

[Arsenal]

I’m not sure that’s a good comparison since Dick was practically there from the beginning. Bruce barely ever had time to build anything before Dick got involved.

[nhienphan2808]

All things considered , yes it is. I don’t talk about golden age Bruce who literally had dick before his own butler, but early Post Crisis Bruce who had family and friends but not yet “into” making them about Batman being actions and not just an ideal, and has to learn though Dick to be a hero to Harvey, to Clark and to the JL. Dick HAD family and Friends and we knew what Nightwing is about, but As Nightwing, he had not made anything to be wholely his.

[Rac7d*]

I still want a nightwing and Friends series Goinng around the globe solving mysteries and kicking butt with old and new friends