Warning: contains spoilers for Nightwing #81!
As a lifelong crimefighter and a former Dark Knight, Nightwing is one of the greatest fighters in the DC Universe, especially against superhuman threats. After years of experience going up against foes of all kinds, Dick Grayson is ready for anything. The latest issue of Nightwing shows just how prepared the hero of Blüdhaven really is, with combat moves specifically designed to take down enhanced humans.
Nightwing #81 by Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo, and Adriano Lucas sees Dick squaring off with his new foe called Heartless. This ruthless criminal has been living up to his name, using a futuristic gun to steal the hearts of his victims throughout the city. At first, Nightwing’s mysterious new villain seems like easy pickings for the Flying Grayson, but Dick soon learns that there’s more to this monster than meets the eye.
Facing off with Heartless in the burning remnants of what had once been an inner-city refuge for kids without housing, Nightwing initially rushes the killer and throws one of his trademark escrima sticks right at his foe’s face. But when Heartless manages to turn the tables by catching the escrima stick and beating Nightwing with his own weapon, Dick sees that he’s underestimated this new threat. Realizing that his target is enhanced, Nightwing decides to switch to his “counter-superhuman techniques.” He begins dancing around his foe, dodging Heartless’ powerful but untrained blows. Keeping his opponent physically and mentally off-balance, he’s able to use Heartless’ momentum against him and temporarily cut his air supply. While their fight is cut short by one of Heartless’ traps, Nightwing more than holds his own against this superpowered threat.
It’s no surprise that Nightwing would have an arsenal of counter-superhuman techniques at his disposal. After all, he was raised and trained by Batman – a man whose penchant for contingency plans has come back to haunt his superhuman allies on more than one occasion. Not only does it make sense for Batman to devise such techniques and train his proteges in their use, but it’s totally logical for Nightwing to have developed these skills on his own. Fans actually saw another perfectly judged counter-superhuman technique in the previous issue, when Nightwing and Robin played the Electrocutioner and Brutale off against each other, using the villains’ powers to end the fight.
It’s easy to forget that Dick Grayson became Robin very early in Bruce’s career as Batman. While Bruce is obviously the elder crime-fighter of the two, he’s only a couple of years more experienced than his oldest adopted son. Not only that, but the early years of Bruce’s career were spent largely fighting human criminals, save for Gotham’s monsters like Solomon Grundy or maybe the carnivorous Killer Croc. Batman had hardly faced superhuman threats before Dick Grayson began fighting by his side as the Boy Wonder, and they learned to face these dangerous new threats as a team.
As a founder and leader of the Teen Titans, Dick has been going up against superhuman opponents for most of his life. Oftentimes, he was one of the only powerless members of the team, so it’s no wonder he’s instantly comfortable in a situation where lesser fighters might be outmatched. Heartless may be stronger, but in a one-on-one fight, it’s clear that artificial enhancement is no match for Nightwing‘s skill and experience.
