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Penguin’s the perfect villain to gain an unexpected sidekick — quietly setting up a new villain as Gotham’s anti-Nightwing.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the story “House of Gotham: Chapter Five” from Detective Comics #1051 by Matthew Rosenberg, Fernando Blanco, Jordie Bellaire, and Rob Leigh, now on sale from DC Comics
Batman’s rogue’s gallery has been expanding recently — especially with villains revealed to be influenced by other bad guys. Keepsake has been a threat to Harley Quinn, and a series of villain duplicates endangered Batman’s sidekicks in Robins. However, recent revelations about Nero XIX in Detective Comics #1051 quietly set up the character as a dark inverse of Nightwing and other Robins by establishing how he effectively became Penguin’s ward — which is a great concept for both characters.
The “House of Gotham” storyline has been exploring the origins of Nero XIX, a new villain who made an attempt on Mayor Nakano’s life during “Fear State.” Having grown up in Gotham and around the margins of Batman’s life have scarred Roy Dowd in unique ways — all building to his current life as a villain. Having witnessed the death of his parents at the hands of the Joker, he developed a hatred for Batman as well. He was taken briefly under the wing of the Scarecrow, who saw a potential kindred spirit. Seemingly having caught the eye of a young Thomas Elliot, Nero ends up under the guardianship of the Penguin. The villain quickly puts the boy to work in the Iceberg Lounge, and even defends him when a mugger assaults him in the middle of the night.
But Penguin also instructs Nero in brutality, refusing to spare the criminal and stomping on his throat for attacking his protégé. A lot of these elements can be seen in the present day Nero, who came close to murdering Mayor Nakano while bragging uproariously about it. Having him being the Penguin’s former ward is a terrific idea for an origin though. In many ways, it appears that Nero is shaping up to be an inverse of Nightwing. A former sidekick to established figures in the superhero world, Nero has adopted his own identity — with a sense for the erudite that does highlight his connection to Penguin. In fact, Penguin having a sidekick like Nero is a clever idea. His personal idealization of his importance and intellect means it makes perfect sense to adopt his own ward — to “pass on” his wisdom.
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It’s genuinely an interesting parallel to Batman’s habit of taking people under his wing and training them to protect others. Penguin’s mentorship of Nero is an inverse of the example of Dick Grayson transforming himself into Nightwing. Furthermore, it also quietly sets Nero up as a dark reflection of Harley Quinn, who also began her villain career as the “partner/minion” of a major villain. It took Harley years to overcome the kind of trauma left on her by the Joker, rediscovering herself as a somewhat more noble figure. Nero is an interesting way to afford Penguin his own version of that character archetype, one that has firmly embraced the mentality of his new mentor in the present day.
It’s interesting then to see Nero at the heart of the Arkham Tower storyline currently running in Detective Comics. As one of the “success stories” for the Psycho-Pirate controlled tower, Nero’s eventual turn back to brutality has already been teased. Nero XIX being a former sidekick to the Penguin is a great idea, and the sort of revelation that could create an interesting place for him in the Gotham rogue’s gallery — especially if he were to start confronting other members of the Bat-Family down the line.
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