Nightwing Has Retired From DC's Universe

Warning: SPOILERS for Nightwing #50

Nightwing fans were shocked when a comic cliffhanger saw Dick Grayson take a sniper's bullet to the head. Thankfully Dick Grayson survived the injury... but he's not the same man he was before.

The heartbreaking Batman #55 saw the KGBeast stake out the Bat-Signal, waiting for a chance to hit Bruce Wayne where he's most vulnerable. Not any part of his own body, but the sidekick, friend, and surrogate son who had returned to Gotham for a visit. As the newest issue of Nightwing reveals, the attack worked. Dick is alive and kicking, but with absolutely no memory of the man he used to be, and no desire to play a superhero like his Bat-Family wishes, he's moving on.

Its hard to believe, but Nightwing #50 leaves no doubt: Dick Grayson is done being a hero in DC's Universe.

This Page: A Bullet To The Head Changed Dick Grayson
Page 2: Dick Grayson Survived, But Nightwing is Dead

Even a Bullet To The Head Couldn't Kill Nightwing

Before getting into the reasons Nightwing is basically done, fans should let out a slight sigh of relief. As final as a bullet to the head may seem on the comic book page, the writers have some wiggle room when it comes to the actual damage (and since every reader will want Dick to survive, especially now that Wally West has been killed, who's going to complain?). So as Batman hunts down KGBeast for trying to murder Nightwing - which he presumably believes he accomplished - Dick's own story makes a time jump forward, months after the shot.

We assume it's been months, at least, since Dick is able to describe the side effects and damage inflicted by The Beast's bullet. Even for a vigilante in Nightwing's shape, a brain injury means blackouts, memory loss, and mood and personality swings - all of which are shown to varying degrees in this issue. But not everybody has the ability to roll with the punches and start over like Dick Grayson, either. Embracing his sudden 'freedom' from his past and superhero obligations, Dick is taking his life in a... different direction.

The New Dick Grayson: Underground Boxer?

A brush with death as painfully close as Dick Grayson's is going to leave a mark, as the survivor comes to grips with their own mortality, their second chance at life, and the decisions that brought them to that point. When you add in Grayson's athleticism, lifetime of acrobatics and fighting, and general devil-may-care attitude, the way Dick is exercising his newfound need to feel alive is a bit more extreme. Embracing his reckless side and heading from the rooftops of Bludhaven to its underground fist fights "extreme."

He's still a good person at heart, sparing a small diner's employees by distracting an armed robber with his own poker winnings, before dropping him with a perfectly thrown coffee cup. But with none of his history with Bruce or the Teen Titans to guide him, Dick has returned to his nomadic, circus-life ways of no personal connections, and even fewer obligations.

Which is going to break the hearts of anyone who hoped Nightwing and Batgirl might actually end up together... because Dick Grayson doesn't remember her, either.

Page 2 of 2: Dick Grayson Survived, But Nightwing is Dead

Dick Grayson Survived, But Nightwing Didn't

Dick spends his days exercising, shooting pool, playing cards, and drinking beers with the rest of Bludhaven's working class, and his nights... well, doing the same, before relying on the empty homes of vacationing elites for a bed to sleep in. Living out of a backpack (before getting a job as a taxi driver, so he can also live out of a car), Dick still refuses the offer of help and friendship from Barbara Gordon, revealing that he has no memory of her, either. A particularly cruel shot to the fans, since Nightwing and Batgirl basically agreed they would get married at some point just a few issues prior.

That confirmation was a long time coming for DC fans, since it's never really been a mystery that Dick and Babs love each other, no matter how much they admit it. With Batman and Catwoman's wedding canceled and Bruce destroyed by the heartbreak, it seemed that Dick and Babs had both realized to stop wasting time. But as the new version of Dick Grayson effectively blows Babs off in favor of a beer and his new family of tavern regulars - no longer even going by the name "Dick" - he delivers the harshest, but clearest fact of the issue.

When he got shot in the head, it wasn't just Nightwing that his friends and family lost - but the man they knew as Dick Grayson. His brain managed to knit itself back together the best it could, but nobody can bring back the man he was, and no amount of begging is going to change that. All he can do is start over... and let's face it, being who others wanted him to be was never Dick Grayson's style.

The Batman Family Says Goodbye To Grayson

It's only when Batgirl reports back to Batman that she has had no luck connecting with Dick, or making him understand that the city, and his family needs him - as much as she needs him herself - that the truth of their struggle is actually shown. It seems that Bruce has also tried and failed to reach the Dick that he helped raise, and Alfred seeming just as dejected suggests that Batgirl was their last, and best hope. If Dick sees even her as a stranger, then forget Nightwing: the Dick Grayson fans knew is truly gone.

That point is well illustrated by the fact that as Batman accepts defeat, and wonders if Dick should be able to make the fresh start he wishes, that he's standing before a Robin costume, and not Nightwing's. Comic book fans may mourn the loss of the superhero Nightwing (or the original version, should he ever take up the mantle again). But it's the real Dick Grayson, the one who first stepped into that Robin costume that his family is mourning. No amount of comic book magic is going to "undo" Dick's brain injury, or the effects it will have both short and long term. Even if Dick's inner hero returns, and convinces him to take up the identity of Nightwing again. Even if some or all of his memories return, not all scars fade.

We join the rest of Nightwing's fans in hoping Dick Grayson returns to his family, and his superhero mission eventually. But the Dick Grayson now walking the streets of DC's Universe may never be the same - and fans had better accept that sooner, rather than later.

Nightwing #50 is available now from DC Comics.