Nightwing is a former Boy Wonder, however he is equally outlined by the main women in his love life. These have included a number of heroines throughout the DC Universe, however the two most notable are Barbara Gordon’s Batgirl and the Teen Titan, Starfire. His fellow Batman sidekick could also be who DC is making an attempt to pair him off with for the time being, however Starfire is his one real love.
Nightwing’s relationship with Starfire has been a serious a part of his character for many years, and it is a part of what helped him turn into his personal man. Nonetheless, his romance with Batgirl at all times felt unnatural and compelled, extra of a necessity than an natural growth. This is why the Dick Grayson/Barbara Gordon romance pales compared to his love for a sure Tamaranean.
Starfire Helped Nightwing Grow to be His Personal Man
The New Teen Titans was greater than only a mega-hit for DC Comics again within the Nineteen Eighties — it was additionally key to growing Dick Grayson as a personality. Upon assembly the Tamaranean princess, Starfire, through the revamped staff’s first journey, Grayson was without end modified. His relationship with Starfire was not like some other and as their relationship grew, she constructed up his confidence, pulling him out of Batman’s shadow. This transformation finally led him to shed his function as Robin and turn into Nightwing as a substitute.
Starfire was a former slave, and it motivated her to assist others overcome their previous traumas, similar to she did. Her love and compassion helped Dick recover from his troubled previous and fears, specifically his issues about his dedication to crime-fighting. This culminated in her and Dick admitting their emotions for one another, later coming into a considerably controversial sexual relationship. The romance was highly regarded amongst followers, and it even lived on in considered one of DC’s darkest futures. On the planet of Kingdom Come, Nightwing and Starfire obtained married and had a daughter, Ma’ri Grayson, who later grew to become the heroine Nightstar.
The dissolution of their relationship was extra resulting from editorial interference than the rest. DC’s inventive staff needed Nightwing to be often called a Batman character and minimize his ties to the Titans for some time. Since Starfire was a Teen Titans character, this meant the top of their lengthy and tenuous romance. There have been rumors in regards to the revival of their relationship in DC Rebirth. However, sadly, the present DC continuity determined to go in a unique course and put Dick Grayson in a way more trite relationship.
The Nightwing/Batgirl Romance Was All the time Pressured
Nightwing and Batgirl’s romance wasn’t launched within the comics in a serious approach till the 2000s. This was as inorganic because it might probably be and an apparent advertising ploy to latch Nightwing to a marketable love curiosity within the Batman mythos. 2007’s Nightwing Annual #2 (by Marc Andreyko and Joe Bennett) had a jarring scene during which Barbara tries to romantically pursue Dick, solely to be greeted by a half-naked Starfire. This awkward scene was meant to indicate that Barbara was Dick’s “one real love,” with the golden-skinned alien interloper merely being a meaningless fling who was “in the best way” of their blooming relationship.
What makes this relationship so clearly compelled is the truth that initially, Barbara was at the very least 6 or 7 years older than Dick and noticed him as a youthful brother — not a possible love curiosity. Nonetheless, Nightwing being with Batgirl is extra marketable, particularly for the infinite Batman franchise. That is why the present run of Nightwing has the 2 collectively, as unnatural as it could be. Sadly, the once-venerable Teen Titans property continues to be shafted by DC, and its many nice relationships, together with one of many strongest romances within the DC Universe, are handled as mere footnotes.