According to Marv Wolfma , a romance was in the cards for Nightwing and Wonder Girl, but their nickname is memorable in all the wrong ways.
During his involvement with the Teen Titans, Nightwing’s relationship with Starfire became one of his most famous romances. However, Marv Wolfman, the writer of New Teen Titans, had planned a romance between Dick Grayson and Wonder Girl, and he gave the would-be relationship the worst ship name ever.
The New Teen Titans, written by Marv Wolfman with art by the late, great George Pérez, was a massive, company-altering hit for DC. Wolfman had total creative control over every character except Robin, since he was still connected to Batman, but this issue was later rectified with the introduction of Jason Todd. This gave Wolfman full power over Dick Grayson as well, and the character thrived under his control, even becoming Nightwing for the first time. Wolfman also expanded upon Donna Troy aka Wonder Girl, a character whose origin story he himself had created early in his career. Wonder Girl grew incredibly popular and played major roles in many DCU events during her time with the Teen Titans. Along the way, she developed a close friendship with Dick Grayson.
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Marv Wolfman intended for the friendship between Donna Troy and Dick Grayson to progress into romance, and he put in the work to set it up. Fans’ hearts broke when Nightwing and Starfire broke off their relationship. Donna married Terry Long in Tales of the Teen Titans #50, by Wolfman and Pérez. She had a child with Terry, but the couple soon divorced, and Terry and their son died in a car accident. Around when Nightwing’s relationship ended, Donna began dating new Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, but that wasn’t Marv Wolfman’s intention, according to CBR. “Yes, there was a Dick-Donna romance planned,” Wolfman later admitted. “I did plan to later get the D-twins (Dick & Donna) together, if only for them to see that they were too similar to be together.”
And thus, the nickname “D-twins” was unfortunately born. Wolfman didn’t intend for the romance to last, but with a ship name with those connotations, it’s a good thing the relationship never happened at all. Referring to a couple as “twins” is very strange. Additionally, Dick is already famous for his two mainstream relationships with Starfire and Batgirl. Adding another hero to the list – a close friend, for that matter – would likely complicate things even further. Wolfman implied that Dick and Donna would have resumed their close friendship after the breakup, so either Koriand’r or Barbara Gordon likely would have been very uncomfortable with Dick keeping one of his exes so close to him.
A romance between Dick and Donna could have worked in theory, but with their writer cursing them with a nickname like “D-twins,” the general public should be grateful that it never happened at all. Nightwing and Wonder Girl will simply have to remain close friends, thankfully.
Source: CBR
About The Author Grace Del Pizzo (17 Articles Published)
Grace Del Pizzo is a freelance writer with Screen Rant. She focuses her work on comics and loves everything Batman & Batman-adjacent. Grace hails from Philadelphia but spends most of her time in Phoenix, where she is currently working toward a degree in sports journalism from Arizona State University. Outside of comics, Grace is an avid Philly sports fan, has performed in too many musicals to count, and has been watching Doctor Who since the ripe old age of two. You can find her on Twitter at @GraceDelPizzo and on TikTok at @timdrakerights.
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