One of the most important aspects of Nightwing’s past losing his parents to violent crime. While Mary and John Grayson were performing for the crowd of Haly’s circus, their rope was cut, and they fell to their deaths. While Tony Zucco has long been blamed for this, something more might have happened that night — including the involvement of a key Nightwing villain.

The plot synopsis for Nightwing #117 promises a shocking revelation that Dick will learn about his parent’s death. This is an interesting premise because the deaths of the Graysons were pretty cut and dry for years. Haly’s circus owed money to Tony Zucco, a local mobster. When the circus refused to pay up, Tony killed their star attraction and left Dick Grayson an orphan.

With Heartless being the overarching antagonist of Taylor and Redondo’s run on Nightwing, it’s likely that some hidden connection between Heartless and the death of the Graysons will likely be revealed. While this might sound absurd at first, Heartless had the means and opportunity to do it, as he was there the day they died.

Is Heartless Involved in Nightwing’s Tragic Origin?

A Young Shelton Witnessed the Grayson Deaths in Nightwing 2022 Annual #1 by Tom Taylor, Eduardo Pansica, Júlio Ferreira, Adriano Lucas, and Wes Abbott

When the Grayson family fell to their deaths, a number of key players were in attendance, including Batman, Raptor, Alfred Pennyworth, and Shelton Lyle. Witnessing the Grayson deaths was the first time Shelton saw another human die, and it’s what awoke his killer urges. From that point on, Shelton became increasingly more violent, until he eventually transformed into the supervillain Heartless. While it all seems like a coincidence that Shelton’s dark urges were awoken by the Grayson murders, that might not actually be the case.

Gerald Chamberlain was Shelton’s butler, and he watched over the young child for the majority of his life. Gerald recognized the darkness in Shelton and kept trying to coax it out. To do this, Gerald would do things like take Shelton to the zoo to watch the lions eat meat or to the butcher to watch the pigs be killed — which is why it’s so strange that Gerald decided to take Shelton to the circus. The first two involved animals feeding or being killed, but the circus was just clowns and acrobats. That Gerald, a killer himself, took Shelton here implies that he knew what was coming.

Nightwing’s Life Could Be Changing Forever with a New Revelation

Nightwing #115 by Bruno Redondo

There are always twists and changes to a hero’s origins over the years, and Dick isn’t immune to this phenomenon. Previous runs have already played with changing the context of Dick’s time in the circus, such as introducing the character of Raptor. Now it seems that Taylor and Redondo might be doing the same by tying Heartless and Nightwing closer than ever. Given that Gerald was a criminal, it’s not unlikely that he helped cut the ropes for Tony Zucco, which would mean Nightwing’s parents were killed just so Shelton could grow up into the villain Heartless.

Nightwing #117 is available August 21st from DC Comics.