WARNING: The next incorporates spoilers from Nightwing #89, on sale now from DC Comics.
As one of many premier superheroes within the DC Universe, and one in all its best leaders, many look as much as Nightwing as a job mannequin and even a mentor. One among his best admirers is none apart from the last word image of hope himself, Superman. Clark Kent’s respect and admiration for Dick Grayson runs so deep, that the Man of Metal personally requested Dick to look at over his son and inheritor to the mantle, Jon Kent, stating that he could not consider a “higher position mannequin.”
The choice is a no brainer and involves fruition when the 2 heroes crew up in Nightwing #89, by Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo, Adriano Lucas and Wes Abbott. Apart from being an optimistic and optimistic position mannequin for youthful heroes, Clark’s determination to have Dick mentor Jon additionally is smart after we take a look at the same personalities between them and the intimate and shared private historical past Dick has to Superman and the prolonged Superman household.
Nightwing #89 opens with a flashback to the time Nightwing and Batman had been dispatched by the Justice League to find a younger Jon Kent after he had gotten misplaced whereas flying at evening. The 2 discovered him hiding in a cave. Batman was confused when Jon used his laser imaginative and prescient on them as Dick reminded Bruce that his costume would scare a baby at evening. Dick then comforted the younger Jon, assuring him all the things was going to be okay as Superman tracked down them all the way down to reunite together with his son. The difficulty then flash-forwards to the current day, as Superman’s robotic Keelex involves Bludhaven to ask for Nightwing to assist information the brand new Superman whereas his father is away, and Dick then remembered that he promised Clark that he would look over his son whereas he was off-planet again in Nightwing #83 (additionally by Taylor and Redondo).
Moreover being the proper huge brother to the DC Universe, a formidable chief, knowledgeable tactician and as a lot necessary to the superhero neighborhood as his personal mentor determine, Batman, Dick can be the perfect option to turn out to be Jon’s mentor for different causes. Firstly, as a member of the Bat-family, Dick will not be a meta-human and is a non-powered road vigilante, which means that he has a connection to how non-powered human beings see heroes resembling Superman and may remind Jon the right way to use these powers responsibly. Second, Dick is a way more personable determine than Bruce Wayne and is taken into account one of many nicest guys within the DC Universe’s huge roster of heroes, so can strike up a optimistic friendship with Jon in addition to mentor him on the right way to turn out to be a greater hero.
However except for all these facets, there additionally stays a key deciding think about Clark’s determination and that’s Nightwing’s personal private historical past with him and the Superfamily. Ever since his early days as Robin, Dick at all times appeared as much as Superman and the 2 developed a detailed friendship as Dick slowly grew into his personal as a hero. It was even Superman, who by telling Dick of a narrative of an previous Kryptonian hero known as “Nightwing” that impressed the previous Boy Wonder to tackle his personal superhero mantle within the 2005 miniseries Nightwing: Yr One (by Chuck Dixon and Scott Beatty). Fascinating sufficient Superman’s adopted son Chris Kent (later revealed to be Lor-Zod, the organic son of Basic Zod) would later briefly undertake the moniker of Nightwing within the pre-Flashpoint DC Continuity.
As a result of private historical past between the 2, it is smart that Clark would select Dick to mentor over his son. Clark has seen Dick develop as a hero and has influenced him to turn out to be a really completely different hero from his mentor, Batman. In contrast to Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson could be very trusting of individuals and is as a lot of an optimist of human nature as Clark Kent is, while additionally being as expert at crime-fighting as Batman. It’s this mix of the 2 facets of DC’s premier heroes that make Dick the pure inheritor to look over the following era of future heroes and a optimistic position mannequin for them to aspire to.