50 Greatest Super Heroes In Comic Book History

15. Nightwing

(Write-up by Amanda Chrisman, Caped Crusades and Bam Smack Pow Staff Writer)

Everyone’s favorite sidekick, Robin, has the number 12 spot on this list, and for very good reason. Not only is Robin the mold for the pre-teen/teenage sidekick, there have been so many heroes to use the name Robin that every Batman fan has a favorite — be it Jason or Tim, Dick or Damian, Stephanie or Carrie. But Richard Grayson, the original Robin, is the only one to earn his own spot on this list at number 15 as his second alter ego, Nightwing.

At first, Bruce and Dick made an excellent team as Batman and Robin, but as Dick grew up and went through puberty, the differences in their personalities became apparent. Eventually, things became so difficult between them — with Bruce treating Dick both like a child and a lackey, not really allowing him to live his own life — that the two had a major falling out. Dick quit being Robin and moved out of Wayne Manor, away from Gotham entirely. In the city of Bludhaven, Dick became a police officer during the day and the vigilante Nightwing at night.

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Richard was of course trained by the world’s greatest detective and had been fighting crime from the tender age of nine, which as you can imagine gave him quite the leg up on the police force. Many Batman fans regard Dick as the best Robin, but he really came into his own as Nightwing, when he was finally out of Batman’s shadow.

Though he spent years training under the man, Nightwing is a very different hero than Batman. Where Batman has always been a dark and brooding, often silent crime fighter, Dick is a colorful and witty hero, quick to smile and always with some quip or joke even in the middle of a fight, and that is why he has always been a popular super hero.

Next: No. 14: A man with a powerful dream