The next article accommodates spoilers from Nightwing #93, on sale now.
Not a lot is thought about Bludhaven’s most annoying serial killer, Heartless. Nightwing #93 (by Tom Taylor, Bruno Redundo, Wade von Grawbadger, Adriano Lucas, and Wes Abbott) shed somewhat mild on the thriller by revealing that Heartless truly has some mechanical enhancements. That shocker apart, there may be one other implication revealed by his enhancements and even the gear he used to restore himself: that Heartless should be very rich.
It is the one clarification to elucidate how he is ready to keep himself. Heartless has not as soon as been proven to steal cash or any type of monetary assets. The one logical conclusion is that Heartless is rich, that is actually supported by the existence of his butler, Gerald. His monetary state of affairs nevertheless, additionally provides context to his most well-liked sufferer pool: Bludhaven’s homeless inhabitants. It is doable that, as a rich man, Heartless believed he may simply get away with killing Bludhaven’s at-risk inhabitants as a result of nobody would care about them.
Heartless supposedly targets victims who’ve individuals that will be left behind after he kills. In a approach, Heartless feeds off the information that the murders he commits may also be inflicting somebody or a number of individuals, emotional hurt. It is a sadistic excessive he appears to want, and one which was confirmed when he refused to kill Blockbuster as a result of nobody would mourn him. Nonetheless, such killings would undoubtedly acquire an excessive amount of consideration if he began killing extra properly off individuals.
Heartless may by no means goal somebody with connections. For instance, if he focused somebody whose checking account had seven digits or larger, he ran the chance of angering the individuals left behind. Individuals who would undoubtedly use their wealth to trace Heartless down. So, the homeless appear to be the right sufferer. There may be an abundance of them in Bludhaven, and for the reason that metropolis paid little consideration to them earlier than Dick Grayson got here alongside, it is sensible that he would see them as the best goal. In fact, there may additionally be a extra disgusting motivation to him concentrating on them past mere comfort.
There are a variety of billionaires who’re corrupt, and think about anybody not within the higher class as beneath their discover. It is solely doable that Heartless falls into this class. Whereas his urges is likely to be uncommonly twisted, his perspective is likely to be ordinarily horrible. He would possibly genuinely assume that even when one of many bereaved have been to come back after him, he could be nice, as a result of he has cash, and they don’t.
That actually provides yet one more disgusting depth to Heartless’ motivations if true. The truth that he needs to kill Dick Grayson, for the act of attempting to assist the homeless, appears to help this perception. There may be even a touch of entitlement when he threatened to remove Bludhaven from Blockbuster, as if this was one thing he may simply do. The proof is there, all that’s left is a affirmation of higher class standing for Heartless. Regardless, he’s nonetheless the identical murdering monster that Nightwing must confront quickly.