The world of Injustice: Gods Amongst Us is one among DC Comics’ darkest alternate universes, and the emotional loss of life of Nightwing provided a singular perception into Batman‘s ideas on dropping his sidekick and adopted son. Whereas Injustice is about in an alternate universe the place Joker breaks Superman’s heroic spirit, it’s established that Batman’s relationship to his Robins unfolded in a close to equivalent technique to that of his Earth-0 counterpart, that means Bruce’s fascinating response grants a heartbreaking look into the interior workings of the Dark Knight followers know and love.
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Injustice: Gods Amongst Us is critically acclaimed comedian continuation of the favored online game sequence of the identical title, which follows a staff of heroes led by Batman who oppose a brand new totalitarian regime created by Superman, after the Joker killed Clark’s spouse Lois and their unborn youngster. The sequence time and time once more proved that nobody was secure from loss of life, however that did not make Nightwing’s passing any much less horrible. Whereas Dick’s loss of life continues to stay controversial to some followers, primarily due to how anticlimactic it was, it was particular for straight relating Batman’s ideas in a method few trendy comics have.
What made Nightwing’s loss of life in Injustice: Gods Amongst Us #16 – written by Tom Taylor and drawn by Mike Miller – much more tragic is that it was inadvertently brought on by Batman’s organic son, Damian Wayne. Damian sided with Superman by most of Injustice and when going through off in opposition to Dick, he threw one among Nightwing’s basic escrima batons at him. Though this didn’t straight kill him, it did trigger Nightwing to lose steadiness and hit his neck on a pointy rock, immediately inflicting his loss of life. The opposite main distinction between the loss of life of this former Robin, and when Robin has died in different timelines, is that Bruce’s interior dialogue is seen, and it’s placing how clearly Tom Taylor is ready to present the trauma response he has to the lack of his adopted son. Usually readers are capable of see the direct aftermath of a loss of life by way of motion, or a personality processing it internally properly after it truly happens, however on this second Bruce places phrases to his anguish, and is straight away introduced again to the homicide of his mother and father, exhibiting simply how a lot their deaths proceed to affect him, his view on household, and his psychological well being.
It’s no shock or shock that the lack of a Robin, which has occurred a number of occasions over time, is devastating for Batman, however what Injustice argues is that Nightwing’s loss of life additionally forces Bruce to relive the worst evening of his life, the mindless homicide of his mother and father. Batman’s inner dialogue confirms this when he says to himself, “I am deserted once more,” exhibiting how the lack of his mother and father, his perceived “abandonment” by them, continues to hang-out him. That is additional illustrated by the direct comparisons Bruce attracts to his emotional response to Dick’s loss of life stating, “It is the scream of a kid deserted instantly, way back. Because the scream echoed in that alley, it echoes now in my thoughts.”
Whereas Bruce has clearly grown so much for the reason that loss of life of his mother and father and doesn’t make a determined scream out loud, it’s clear that the response he has to Dick’s loss of life is a continuation of his formative expertise in Crime Alley. Batman’s ache is not merely contemporary, however connects again to his origin, retraumatizing Bruce repeatedly all through his vigilante profession.
The loss of life of Dick Grayson suggests that every time Batman has misplaced one among his proteges, he has skilled not simply the ache of that loss, however a much more complicated course of through which he emotionally experiences a way of abandonment that goes proper again to his childhood, whether or not or not they ultimately return. Whereas Batman may not at all times be capable of present his love for his sons explicitly, his heartbreaking response to Nightwing‘s loss of life in Injustice: Gods Amongst Us confirms that his grief at their passing is much darker and extra layered than most followers know.