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While Nightwing has played a big brother role for the entire Bat-Family, Dick Grayson extends this empathic lead to the wider DC Universe.
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Nightwing #89, on sale now from DC Comics.
The Bat-Family has truly grown to become a thriving, supportive surrogate family unit, continuing to hold together in the wake of Batman leaving Gotham City after the crossover event “Fear State.” And if there was ever a big brother figure among the Bat-Family, the title easily goes to Nightwing, the original Boy Wonder and mentor figure to virtually every young hero the Dark Knight has recruited into his ongoing war on crime ever since. After years of helping lead the Bat-Family, Dick Grayson is taking his big brotherly skills to the wider DC Universe, with the fledgling Superman Jon Kent as the latest young hero to benefit from his guidance.
Jon’s ascent to follow in his father’s footsteps and become the world’s new Man of Tomorrow has certainly been a rocky one. After his father abruptly left the planet to overthrow Mongul from his rule over Warworld, Jon has had to deal with everything from new supervillains, a budding romance, the destruction of his family farm and following a more socially conscious approach to his heroics than his father had. This is all a lot for a young adult superhero to process in such a short amount of time and Jon is in need for an older mentor figure now that his father is off-world, with Dick as the perfect candidate to become the brother Jon never had.
In Nightwing #89 (by Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo, Adriano Lucas and Wes Abbott), Jon finds that the hologram projection of his father doesn’t quite fill the void left by his actual father. Jon approaches Dick, with the two heroes working together to solve a series of super-killings while Nightwing provides vital advice to the young Man of Steel. This mentor role for Nightwing has been especially prominent throughout the Infinite Frontier era with a career path that taps into Dick’s background as a founding member of the Teen Titans and imparts this wisdom to a new generation of heroes.
At the start of the Infinite Frontier era, Nightwing and his fellow veteran Titans opened up Teen Titans Academy, extending his years of crimefighting experience to the trainee students attending the superhero school. For Dick, this is something the hero has been building towards for years after serving as an older brother figure to every Robin that has followed him, from a surprisingly close rapport with Jason Todd to helping Damian Wayne become his own Boy Wonder in the wake of Bruce Wayne’s absence. This stands in contrast to mid-range heroes like Roy Harper or Donna Troy not quite fulfilling the same mentor/older sibling role as Dick with the younger heroes that followed in their own footsteps.
Nightwing always has the time to help out his fellow heroes and knows how to communicate with the younger generation, offering advice without coming off as overbearing or stern. Nightwing leads through empathy and scores of heroes have benefitted from Dick’s guidance but, more than simply taking a mentor role, Nightwing knows the value in just being approachable and a thoughtful person listening to others. In a lot of ways, Nightwing is the glue that keeps the Bat-Family together more than even Batman and Dick is ready to take this to new heights for the entire DCU as it faces a world without its biggest heroes.
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