Warning - Spoilers for DC vs Vampires #6 Ahead!
DC vs Vampires by James Tynion IV, Matthew Rosenberg, and Otto Schmidt has never pulled its punches, and its latest revelation turned Nightwing into a vampire lord. But this reveal isn't just another comic-book twist; rather, it's a coldly calculated subversion that strikes at the fundamental heart and soul of the DC Universe.
At this point in the series, the Bat-family is among the few heroes actively resisting the vampire incursion - the rest are either unaware or have already fallen. In a classic Batman plan, the family sets a trap for a vampiric Green Lantern and Wonder Woman while Batgirl seeks out the Joker, believing him to be the vampire orchestrating the entire war. When Joker is found dead, however, Nightwing reveals himself to be the vampire king, having used the properties of Starfire's harvested blood to escape detection. Dick then slays Batman and Jason Todd. As the survivors flee, Nightwing orders the final assault on the living to begin.
The horror of making Nightwing into a bloodthirsty vampire isn't just for shock value, however. Dick Grayson is widely held as a pillar of the DC Universe, if not its very center. From his role as the very first Robin and ushering in the era of 'kid sidekicks' to proving himself with the Teen Titans and later breaking free of Batman's shadow to become a hero on his own merits, Dick Grayson has touched the lives of countless other DC heroes. He is so integral to the DC Universe that in Nightwing #47 by Benjamin Percy, Christopher Mooneyham, and Klaus Janson the supervillain Wyrm targets him for this very reason. There is hardly a single DC hero whose life Nightwing hasn't touched or improved in some way.
This central position is more than just interpersonal - Nightwing has essentially come to act as the moral core of the DC Universe. In his very first adventures as a solo hero, he brought compassion to the crime-ravaged streets of Blüdhaven, eventually providing it with social safety nets and an ethical backbone. He acts as a friend and mentor to many of the newer heroes, including the sons of both Batman (Damian Wayne) and Superman (Jon Kent) as they become the new 'World's Finest'. His proclivity for good is so well known that when the writers of Infinite Crisis discovered the editors wanted to kill him off, they campaigned for Dick Grayson to survive. Born and raised into the superhero life and coming out uncorrupted by power or influence, Dick Grayson is the DC Universe's greatest success story.
Revealing Nightwing as the vampire king in DC vs Vampires #6 essentially goes against everything the mainstream DC Universe stands for. He's more than just a Superman - he's a good man, and turning him into the murderer of his former friends and family blots out the light in the DC Universe far more deeply than any eternal night ever could. The existence of an evil Nightwing simply breaks a basic rule of the DC Universe: that Dick Grayson has always been the best of us.