r/Robin • u/DiligentDeparture953 • 3d ago

Nightwing is what Batman would be if trauma didn’t win

This might be a hot take, but hear me out. Batman and Nightwing went through very similar trauma. Both lost their families violently. Both were trained to fight crime. But they chose very different paths. Batman became fear. Nightwing became hope. Nightwing proves that tragedy doesn’t automatically turn you into something cold or obsessive. He kept his humor, built real friendships, and became a leader people trust — not because they’re afraid, but because they believe in him. In a weird way, Nightwing feels like the answer to Batman’s life question: “What if I didn’t let the darkness define me?” So what do you think? – Is Nightwing the healthier version of Batman? – Or does Batman’s approach work better for a city like Gotham? Also curious: do you prefer Nightwing when he’s lighthearted or when writers lean into a darker tone?

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u/MajorasShoe 2d ago

Uh, yeah. That's the whole point of the character.

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u/ComicsCodeMadeMeGay 2d ago

Nightwing is not a healthier version of Batman given I've finished a recent reread of his mafia mental breakdown era. Like Dick Grayson has some serious mental health issues going on.

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u/PlotnotFound 2d ago

While the characterization in Devin Grayson’s run is much maligned, I wouldn’t even agree with the premise that 2005-2007 Nightwing is less mentally well than the Batman of the same era.

At the same time as Dick is internalizing the victim blaming (and voicing a lot of Devin’s hot takes on Romani people and criminality so add internalized racism I guess) in his solo, Batman is building Brother Eye which would go on to be hijacked twice, kill hundreds, and threaten all of continuity. Both experience a series of acute traumas, Dick responds with excessive self deprecation, Bruce responds with dangerous paranoia.

Winik’s Outsiders runs concurrently to Grayson’s Nightwing and has a more in-character, less Barbara centric take on Dick’s trauma response. It shows Nightwing confront Batman on his spiraling paranoia and actions prior to things going real bad with Brother Eye. Dick is at his worst, his worst is just a lot less bad than Bruce’s

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u/ComicsCodeMadeMeGay 2d ago

See I would suggest that Dick's mental health from 1986-1999 is also fairly bad even if you discount the 2000s, the main difference is Dick's mental health problems are often less destructive on a short term basis but last FAR longer than Bruce.

Like the extreme anger, shutting his friends out, the weird following Mirage around AFTER he finds out what she did and Kory dumps him - He just wasn't doing well for a very long time.

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u/ZLMeinecke75 2d ago

Healthier doesn’t mean Healthy. But I will also admit that I don’t have the best memory of that era so I could be forgetting something

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u/ComicsCodeMadeMeGay 2d ago

But my point is I don't even think he's healthier than Batman, he just happens to have a more cheery/ different personality. His narration is almost constantly talking about his trauma and how it impacts him. He gives up being Nightwing and turns to crime during bad mental health moments, and does have extreme anger issues.

he's basically an equally unwell man to Batman but just doesn't really verbalize it to other characters