Warning: SPOILERS for Future State: Gotham #18As Batman’s most stalwart ally and one of DC’s most beloved heroes, Nightwing is famous for his big heart and strong sense of morality. His heroic sacrifice in the near future of DC’s Future State: Gotham is evidence of how willing Dick Grayson is to give his all to protect the innocent, however it’s also the cruelest thing he could possibly have done to his Dark Knight mentor.
In the potential future of Future State, the fascistic group known as the Magistrate have taken over Gotham, splintering the Bat-Family. Bruce Wayne has given up the Batman name, Red Hood has joined the Magistrate undercover, and Nightwing is fighting to keep Gotham’s heroes together. Recently, Damian Wayne went missing, and Nightwing committed to finding him by using the ‘Brane’ substance to gain psychic powers. However, the substance has seemingly been affecting Dick’s personality, and he has declared himself the one true Batman.
In issue 18, Damian Wayne is back in Gotham, possessed by the spirit of Joe Chill – the man who killed Thomas and Martha Wayne. Nightwing manages to go toe-to-toe with Damian, drawing out the evil spirit of the man who created Batman. Dick uses his new abilities to temporarily act as Chill’s host and contain the ghostly killer before sacrificing himself to destroy Chill for good. Nightwing saves the day at the cost of his own life, but in doing so, he allows the instigator of Bruce Wayne’s life-altering trauma to take away not just his parents, but his adopted son as well. Future State: Gotham #18 comes from Dennis Culver and Justin Greenwood.
Nightwing’s Final Flight
Nightwing reveals that he chose his sacrifice after the Brane substance gave him a psychic vision of the future, hiding his true intent from his allies. What’s particularly heartbreaking is that Dick made his choice in order to prevent Bruce’s own death at Chill’s hands – an outcome the Dark Knight would doubtless have chosen over the death of his beloved son. Batman has commented before that whenever he loses one of his allies, he re-experiences the death of his parents, feeling abandoned and alone all over again, and it’s a pattern for him to become colder and harder when one of the Bat-Family is lost. Bruce’s trauma isn’t buried in his past, but something he lives every day, and Dick’s sacrifice can’t help but compound it many times over.
Nightwing goes out as a hero by sacrificing himself to save the rest of the Bat-Family from Joe Chill’s spirit, but it’s ultimately a short-sighted decision that Batman would have never allowed if he’d known it was coming. Bruce Wayne would never choose to let one of his sons die in his stead, and in making this choice on his behalf, Nightwing puts Batman through an experience almost tailor-made to play out his deepest trauma on a whole new level. While Nightwing‘s Future State death shows Dick Grayson’s commitment to protecting everyone he can, it’s also undoubtedly the cruelest thing he could have put Batman through, and if history is any indication, Bruce’s reaction will see him unravel in some truly dangerous ways.
Future State: Gotham #18 is available from DC Comics now.
