From the Batman News Desk: Little Bird, Big Leagues Part 4: Dad’s Back, So Where Do I Go?

1 week ago 16

Welcome to From the Batman News Desk, a new series of op-eds and articles covering various aspects of Batman history. Each week one of the Batman News writers will share their thoughts on Batman characters and concepts across comics, film, television, and more.

Interestingly, as a result of the New52 reboot downplaying and later removing the existence of the previous Titans teams, Dick would actually show up more often in the pages of Justice League or in League-related stories. These include,

Rejecting membership in #18…

Getting unmasked in Forever Evil…

And a flashback story in #51

But there is a story arc in which Dick appears in the main Justice League title. I say appears and not joins as a member because this arc was a tie-in to Dark Nights: Death Metal named (sigh) Doom Metal. And it seems to have been written specifically to wrap up loose ends from Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV’s run on Justice League. Namely, every major character from that run that Snyder was developing and got dropped like a hot potato so that Wonder Woman and the Batman Who Laughs could be the two opposing forces of Death Metal, like Lex, Hawkgirl, and Martian Manhunter.

There is an attempt to make Dick feel like he’s leading a Justice League of his own, especially with a flashback of Dick as Robin sneaking onto the WatchTower and staring in awe at the League working really hard to make us feel like we’ve come full circle somehow. But the truth is this arc has to wrap up multiple threads like J’onn and Kendra’s relationship, Lex trying to claw his way back to power after Perpetua favored the Batman Who Laughs over him, getting the Legion of Doom to where they need to be in the main event, etc. Even Dick has a subplot after two years of being “Ric Grayson” about not feeling like he’s 100% Dick Grayson yet, with Cyborg and Starfire being there as his support. Doom Metal isn’t bad per se, it’s just a pizza with too many toppings. It might taste great, but it might do a number on your stomach the next night.

One of the things that all of you would have noticed from the title, and the articles in this series in general, was that Dick, either as Nightwing or as Batman, only became part of the League when Bruce wasn’t around. The reasoning behind that is pretty simple: Nightwing doesn’t add much to a League that already has a Batman. Barbara’s stellar computer skills as Oracle make her an asset in a way that sets her apart from Bruce (when writers are actually allowed to reference that she’s Oracle), but Dick doesn’t really have that. Sure, he’s more personable than Bruce, but that’s less of a superpower and more of a life skill.

So, how does DC solve the problem of a young adult not being allowed to grow up and reach his full potential because his predecessor seemingly holds the industry together?

That’s right. Reject the chance to be a part of something bigger and instead hang out with his buddies forever (the rest of the Titans fall under this as well. Except Wally, who actually grew up).