In the 22nd episode of the criminally underappreciated animated gem Young Justice, Wonder Woman confronts Batman about taking on Dick Grayson at the young age of 9 to fight crime alongside him. “Robin needed to help bring the man who murdered his family to justice,” Batman says. “So he could turn out like you?” she fires back. Batman simply replies: “So that he wouldn’t.” This simple but powerful exchange is the core of Dick Grayson’s entire characterization and captures, in just a few well-chosen words, why he’s the greatest character in the history of DC.
Dick is the first sidekick in comic book history, introduced way back in Detective Comics #38 as Robin, the Boy Wonder. Arriving in April of 1940, Dick predates major DC icons like Wonder Woman and Joker. Yet, antiquity alone does not a legend make, nor does his status as the first sidekick. In fact, Dick’s best traits would not be cemented until much later in his comic book run, once he moved away from the Robin mantle and adopted the Nightwing persona. Yet, today, it’s undeniable that Dick Grayson is the best DC character, thanks to his incredible characterization and the fact that he embodies the main traits that make a truly great hero.
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Who Is Nightwing?
NightwingImage via DC Comics
Richard “Dick” Grayson was born into the Flying Graysons, a family of trapeze artists working at Haly’s Circus. During one of their acts, Dick’s parents fall to their deaths after their act is sabotaged by Tony Zucco, a criminal rebuffed by the circus owner, Jack Haly. In the audience is Bruce Wayne, who instantly relates to Dick’s situation and adopts him, revealing his secret identity to him and accepting him as a sidekick. Under the mantle of Robin, the Boy Wonder, Dick brings Tony Zucco to justice, thus providing a sense of closure for his parents’ deaths. Bruce understands how crucial it is for Dick to actually see this through, as it means he can overcome his trauma and move on with his life in a way Bruce himself never could.
Dick remains Batman’s sidekick for years before joining the Teen Titans as their de facto leader. Because comic book lore is a mess (especially DC’s), the ultimate reason for Dick and Batman’s separation varies from continuity to continuity; pre-Crisis, Bruce fires Dick over safety concerns; post-Crisis, it’s because of Dick’s commitment to the Teen Titans. The fact remains, Dick abandons the Robin persona, and after struggling with his persona for a while, he eventually becomes his own hero, adopting the name Nightwing in honor of a legendary Kryptonian warrior (post-Crisis, anyway).
From then on, Nightwing begins a fascinating character journey that leads him from the Teen Titans back to Gotham and eventually to Blüdhaven, which is something like Gotham City’s ugly sister. In most depictions, Blüdhaven is a corrupt and crime-infested hell-hole, meaning Dick has his work cut out for him. Through highs and lows — and more than a few continuity changes — Dick remains one of DC’s most hopeful characters. Sure, he goes through a typical rebellious phase, mullet and everything, and he perennially struggles with confidence issues. Yet, he remains a firm believer in justice, because he has experienced it firsthand. It’s that conviction that separates him from other DC heroes, and which ultimately makes him the GOAT.
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Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would Be Your Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt
Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.
🎖️Rambo
🍸James Bond
🏺Indiana Jones
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🔧John McClane
🎭Ethan Hunt
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01
You’re dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.
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02
You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission.
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03
You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of.
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04
The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.
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05
How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.
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06
Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.
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07
Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.
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08
What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.
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09
Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.
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10
It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one.
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Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
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Rambo
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
James Bond
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Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Indiana Jones
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
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John McClane
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
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Ethan Hunt
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
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Why Is Nightwing the Best Superhero in DC?
It’s often said that Nightwing is Batman’s greatest success. Unlike Bruce, who was branded by the events on Crime Alley, Dick was able to process his grief and move on from it. Unlike Bruce, who is chronically incapable of trusting others, Dick has no intimacy issues and a willingness to let others in. He’s best friends with countless characters and has multiple support systems, both within the Bat-Family and without. In the Titans, Dick has a surrogate family, and he’s still close with those at Haly’s Circus. He’s that one friend who’s cool with everyone.
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Indeed, Dick’s greatest strength, besides his resilience, is his kindness. In that respect, it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that Nightwing is the true heir to Superman’s ethos. They both lead with hope and empathy, always believing that there is good in everything. Their friendship is also one of the most endearing in DC Comics. What once began as a mentor-mentee dynamic has transformed into a bond of peers, friends, and allies. Both Superman and Batman respect Nightwing, to the point where they trusted him to lead a new iteration of the Justice League following the Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Yet, a hero can only be compelling if he has actual trials to overcome, and Dick struggles with doubt and confidence issues going back to his days as Robin; after all, living in the Bat’s shadow can’t be easy. Yet, he’s also the only Robin who made it out of the somewhat cursed mantle; Jason fully went to the dark side before redeeming himself, while Tim allowed himself to be absorbed by the mantle, and Damian… well, he’s a little savage. But Dick wrestled with his demons and came out victorious, even if the battle endures. Dick is in one continuous fight against himself and his self-imposed expectations, but he’s learned never to allow it to overcome him. “The mission” is important, but it’s not everything, and that makes him a more effective hero.
Lastly, a hero can’t be truly great unless he kicks ass, and Dick kicks some serious ass. For one, he’s the best acrobat in all of DC. He’s also one of the few characters who can beat Batman, something he has actually done before. He’s the second-best fighter in the Bat-Family, which instantly makes him a top-tier fighter in the entire DC Universe. Lastly, Dick is also a detective, a genius-level tactician, and a forensic specialist, not to mention the most emotionally intelligent person in Gotham.
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It’s Time to Make the DC Trinity a Quaternity
Image via DC Comics
For decades, DC has flaunted the Trinity as the certified stars of the universe, the greatest superheroes in the medium and the pillars upon which DC rises. Yet, while Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman are certainly worthy of the praise, so is Nightwing. In terms of characterization alone, Dick Grayson is a far more compelling, complex, and inspirational character, and it’s about time he gets to occupy his place at the top of the DC canon. Currently, DC is back to its default state, with the Justice League at the top, and Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman leading it. I can’t help but wonder, though, how long it will take before Nightwing joins them.
His tenure leading the Justice League received universal acclaim because he combined the best qualities of the Trinity and then some. Dick is the best leader in DC Comics because he leads with the right combination of head and heart. Whereas Batman can only use the former, Superman often lets himself be influenced by the latter, and Wonder Woman writers constantly go back and forth between the two, Nightwing perfectly balances both, something that no other superhero can do. With each new issue, he further cements his place as the best leader in DC, not to mention one of the most universally beloved characters in the entire medium and an overwhelmingly positive portrayal of masculinity. What else can you ask for in a hero? Take a bow, Nightwing, because you are the single best character in DC Comics, and it’s not even particularly close.
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