Fans might not like the new info Nightwing just gave comics fans. While the former ward and Robin of Batman no longer works at his side in Gotham City, Dick Grayson does protect Gotham's sister city of Blüdhaven as his own hero. The news Nightwing shares in Nightwing Annual #3 has to do with the correct pronunciation of his chosen city. Read on to find out the correct way to say "Blüdhaven" and odds are, most fans have been saying it wrong for years.
Blüdhaven was first created and introduced in the DC Universe in 1996 by Chuck Dixon. Its levels of crime are on par with that of Gotham, yet distinctively has the problem of a large corrupt police force. As a day job, Grayson actually joined the force to fight the corruption from within. Its most notable criminal is crime boss and super villain Blockbuster, who sends the Blood Knights of Blüdhaven to take down Nighwing in the latest annual issue of Nightwing.
Related: Dick Grayson Wasn’t Actually DC’s FIRST Nightwing
While fighting the Bloodknights, Nightwing provides the true pronunciation of his city in Nightwing Annual #3, from writer Dan Jurgens with art by Inaki Miranda. When they proclaim themselves as the Bloodknights of Blüdhaven, Nightwing instantly knows that they must be from out of town, based on how they're pronouncing the city's name. He clarifiers the actual way to say it, and it's all thanks to that darn "ü".
Apparently, the correct way to say Blüdhaven is not "Blood-Haven". According to Grayson, it's actually "Bleud-Haven" with more of a "ew" sound. Despite Nightwing being a pretty solid authority, it seems as though some fans might have a hard time making that switch. "Blood" is easier (and cooler) to say. However, it makes sense given the umlaut. It could be that the correct pronunciation of the city could fall into the same form of debate among fans like the correct way to say GIF (gif or jif?)
Blüdhaven isn't the first name from comics to face questions or debate about their correct pronunciation. There are other notable names from the DC Universe up for debate such as the Demon's Head of the League of Assassins: Ra's Al Ghul. Is it "Roz-Al-Ghul" or "Rash-Al-Ghul" as it was pronounced in the Batman animated series? Another tough one is obviously Mister Mxyzptlk (perhaps Mixy-spit-lick?) In Marvel comics, a big one is "symbiote", like Venom or Carnage (sym-BYE-ote or sym-BEE-ote?). Funny enough, the first trailers for the Venom film had actress Jenny Slate saying "sym-BYE-ote" which was then changed to "sym-BEE-ote" in the actual film itself, so perhaps the latter is the correct way.
As always with comic book debates, there will be fans that care and those that don't and will keep pronouncing Blüdhaven however they were beforehand. Hopefully they choose to do whatever provides them the most joy and entertainment out of reading the comics in the first place. However, it is pretty funny that Nighwing's correction throws off the Bloodnights of Blühaven's whole naming scheme. Sorry, the Bleud-knights.