Certainly one of Nightwing’s most explosive romances reveals what he thinks of Red Hood’s persona when their contentious historical past is not in play.
Regardless of each being educated as Robin by Batman, Red Hood and Nightwing are inclined to have a contentious relationship. Dick Grayson is the embodiment of hope, whereas Jason Todd is a cynic whose rage on the world can usually lead him to extremes. After all, the 2 care about one another, and so the strain of their relationship solely serves to make their moments of connection all of the extra significant. Nevertheless, one in every of Nightwing’s romantic relationships successfully noticed him relationship the feminine equal of Red Hood, and it resulted in catastrophe.
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This relationship was with Shawn Tsang, a former sidekick who had an acrimonious cut up from her former mentor (first showing in Nightwing #10, from Tim Seeley and Marcus To.) After a interval of darkness and self-reckoning, Shawn dedicated herself to atoning for her prior deeds, trying to make the world higher in generally unlawful methods, by no means contemplating herself a ‘hero.’ If this sounds acquainted, it is as a result of it additionally charts Red Hood’s personal journey from Boy Wonder to gun-toting antihero. The massive distinction is that slightly than being a teen hero, Shawn was the villain Defacer – a younger ‘artwork terrorist’ who labored with Batman villain the Pigeon to hold out unlawful protests and vandalize landmarks.
With a disdain for conventional authority and the experience to do one thing about it, Defacer’s angle is similar to Jason Todd’s, together with her want to assist those that remind her of her youthful self. It was this high quality that created some extent of reference to Nightwing, and the 2 grew nearer when Nightwing was focused by Physician Harm and Shawn was accused of homicide. They in the end broke up resulting from their differing attitudes to crime and punishment, with Shawn holding to lots of the criticisms of Gotham vigilantes that Red Hood has lobbed on the Bat-Household. One other means through which Shawn and Jason are related is their explosive tempers. When Nightwing was shot within the head and misplaced his reminiscence, Defacer took offense at him ‘ignoring’ her for months and vandalized a statue of the hero, together with her arrest giving Amanda Waller an excuse to power her onto the Suicide Squad in Suicide Squad: King Shark (a destiny shared by Red Hood within the latest Suicide Squad: Get Joker.)
That is to not say that Shawn and Jason Todd are the identical particular person – Defacer might lash out at a complacent society, however she by no means shot anybody within the head – however they do have remarkably related inclinations and histories. This makes her bond with Nightwing significantly attention-grabbing, because it reveals how Dick interacts with Jason’s persona kind when their historical past of animosity is not in play. It is subsequently telling that Dick felt such a connection to Shawn and that their relationship ended so dramatically. Jason and Shawn’s fiery ardour, mistrust of authority, and sense of accountability for many who society discards are qualities Dick really admires, however they’re additionally traits that ratchet up the exhausting emotions when issues go badly.
One of the crucial fascinating questions on Dick and Jason’s relationship is how they’d work together in the event that they had been capable of meet one another contemporary, and the previous’s relationship and later friendship with Defacer recommend they’d bond over greater than the Robin legacy. Sadly, it additionally signifies that Nightwing and Red Hood‘s disagreements could also be destined to at all times get out of hand, whilst Dick is able to seeing extra to admire in Jason than both of them would possibly suppose.