The legacy of Nightwing, Batman’s first Robin, has been tainted on multiple event by people utilizing the title Deathwing.
Even Nightwing has a darkish facet, or extra precisely, a darker reflection. At two completely different factors in his profession Dick Grayson got here throughout two people calling themselves Deathwing. Each was forged as an evil double for the previous Robin. And each set about tarnishing the Nightwing legacy in new and horrific methods.
The very first Deathwing debuted in New Titans Annual #7 by Marv Wolfman, Tom Grindberg, Tom Grummett, and Al Vey. The person who would grow to be the primary Deathwing hailed from an alternate timeline ten years sooner or later, the place the world is dominated over by a determine referred to as Lord Chaos. The person who took up the moniker of Nightwing was part of a resistance group calling itself the Crew Titans, who sought to finish the rule of Lord Chaos. This Nightwing was extra of a drill teacher in nature, extra pushed, but in addition a lot darker as a consequence of his circumstances. There was some gentle in his life nevertheless, as Nightwing fell in love along with his fellow hero Mirage. However then the Crew Titans bought their alternative to cease Lord Chaos for good…and every thing went terribly mistaken.
Touring to the previous, the Crew Titans tried to kill Donna Troy earlier than she may give beginning to the long run Lord Chaos. The crew failed and so they have been stranded up to now because of this. The long run Nightwing was quickly corrupted by a darkish model of Raven, who planted a Trigon-seed inside him, making him extra brutal and violent. It was presently that he took the title Deathwing, which served as a harbinger of how a lot worse issues have been to grow to be.
The Crew Titans have been worn out of historical past following the occasions of the Zero Hour disaster, however Deathwing and Mirage have been left behind. Deathwing adopted a brand new, extra brutal look and kidnapped Mirage, who was by then pregnant along with his youngster. The corrupted hero had a sadistic curiosity in his future youngster, however Mirage fooled him into believing she had a miscarriage, distracting the disturbed Titan lengthy sufficient for him to be captured. He was final seen at S.T.A.R. Labs beneath remark, his closing destiny unknown.
However this wasn’t the tip of the horrific affect that the Deathwing title would have on Dick Grayson’s legacy. The following individual to say the mantle was arguably much more horrifying and tragic than the unique. This particular person debuted in Nightwing #14 by Tim Seeley, Marcus To, and Carlos M. Mangual. Even earlier than he took up the title Deathwing, he was already in dire straights. Having been captured by Professor Pyg, this unknown particular person was reworked right into a dollotron, certainly one of Pyg’s mutilated slaves.
He then wound up within the fingers of Physician Simon Damage, who brainwashed him into believing that he was Nightwing. He took up the Deathwing title and started violently assaulting criminals earlier than ultimately turning his sights on Nightwing, believing that he was an imposter. Luckily, this Deathwing had a extra heroic ending than his predecessor. With the assistance of Nightwing and his allies, the disturbed hero broke by Damage’s brainwashing and turned on him. Within the ensuing battle, Deathwing was killed, shopping for Nightwing and his pals the time they wanted to flee.
The sample so far is that anybody who takes up the title of Deathwing has endured nice struggling up to now. The primary individual to take the identification was altered by magic and the second was bodily reworked and brainwashed. The Deathwing moniker is not only a stain on the legacy of the heroic Nightwing, it’s also a logo of immense ache and struggling.