Nightwing est un personnage fictif, un super-héros apparaissant dans les comics américains publiés par DC Comics. Le personnage est apparu sous diverses incarnations. L'identité de Nightwing la plus marquante est celle adoptée par Dick Grayson quand il quitta son rôle de partenaire de Batman, Robin.
Bien que Nightwing soit souvent associé à Batman, le titre et le concept ont leur origine dans les histoires classiques de Superman. Le Nightwing original de DC Comics était une identité utilisée par le super-héros extra-terrestre Superman quand il échoua dans la ville Kryptonienne de Kandor avec son ami Jimmy Olsen. En s'inspirant de Batman et Robin, tous deux protègent Kandor sous les traits des super-héros Nightwing et Flamebird. Avec Crisis on Infinite Earths, la continuité redémarre en 1985 et Nightwing fut ré-imaginé comme un justicier légendaire de Krypton, dont l'histoire inspira Dick Grayson dans son choix de nom quand il laissa derrière lui son identité de Robin.
D'autres histoires parmi les personnages de la Batman Family ont vu des connaissances et des amis de Dick Grayson porter brièvement le titre, notamment le deuxième Robin, Jason Todd. Pendant ce temps, les histoires de Superman ont vu Power Girl et le fils adoptif de Superman, Chris Kent, prendre le nom de Nightwing pour de brefs moments. D'autres personnages ont également pris le nom dans des histoires extérieures à la continuité principale de DC, et parfois le titre est resté inutilisé, comme lorsque Dick Grayson reprit la cape de Batman (suite aux événements de Final Crisis), ou quand il se fit passer pour mort (Forever Evil).
En 2013, Nightwing est classé 5e au « Top 25 des Héros de DC Comics » par IGN et Grayson en tant que Nightwing a été nommé à la 1 place du « Personnage Masculin le plus Sexy dans les Comics » par ComicsAlliance en 2013.
Biographie
Pre-Crisis Era
Superman
Nightwing is first depicted in the story "Superman in Kandor" in Superman #158 (January 1963). It is an alias used by Superman in pre-Crisis adventures written by Edmond Hamilton. These stories are set in the city of Kandor, a Kryptonian city that was shrunken and preserved in a bottle. In Kandor, Superman has no superpowers; in the story, he is branded an outlaw there due to a misunderstanding.
To disguise themselves, Superman and Jimmy Olsen create vigilante identities inspired by Batman and Robin. Because neither bats nor robins lived on Krypton, Superman chooses the names of two birds owned by his Kandorian friend Nor-Kan: "Nightwing" for himself and costumes evocative of the birds' plumage, and Flamebird for Jimmy. Nightwing and Flamebird rename Nor-Kan's underground laboratory as the "Nightcave", and use it as their secret headquarters. They also convert Nor-Kan's automobile into their "Nightmobile", and use "jet-belts" to fly into battle.
In Jimmy Olsen #69 (June 1963), "The Dynamic Duo of Kandor" introduces Nightwing's dog Nighthound. In "The Feud Between Batman and Superman" in World's Finest #143 (August 1964), Batman and Robin themselves visit Kandor with Superman and Olsen and the two Dynamic Duos team up.
Van-Zee
In Superman Family #183 (May/June 1977), Superman's look-alike second cousin Van-Zee and his niece's husband Ak-Var take up the Nightwing and Flamebird identities. The vigilantes take on crime in their city as had Superman and Olsen before them.
Dick Grayson
Both Nightwing and Flamebird team up with Batman and Robin for an adventure in Kandor that proves important to the young Dick Grayson. When Dick later gives up his role as Robin in 1984, he recalls the Kandorian adventure and renames himself Nightwing, in homage to both Batman and Superman. After the events of the Crisis on Infinite Earths re-boot of the DC Universe, Superman no longer has knowledge of Kandor; instead, he remembers Nightwing as an urban legend of Krypton, which he shares with a young Dick Grayson.
Post-Crisis
Kryptonian mythological figure
Post-Crisis, there is a different originator of the Nightwing identity. Several hundred years before the birth of Kal-El, there was a Kryptonian man who was cast out from his family and decided to take on crime as the vigilante Nightwing. When Superman tells Dick Grayson of this story, Dick takes the name for himself.
Dick Grayson
Dick Grayson became Nightwing after he was dismissed from the role of Robin at eighteen. Grayson's Flamebird was Bette Kane. He was featured in a Nightwing series from 1995 to 2009; after Wayne's apparent death, Grayson became the new Batman, subsequently retiring his Nightwing mantle temporarily.
Grayson's Nightwing costume was a high-tech suit specially designed for his high-flying acrobatic style. His gauntlets and boots each contained eight compartments in which he could store items. They had a self-destruct feature built into them, similar to the ones in Batman's utility belt, and, as another security measure, the suit contained a one-use-only taser charge, which automatically emitted a high-voltage electrical shock when someone attempted to tamper with either the boots or gauntlets.
Each gauntlet's sections could contain a wide array of equipment, such as sonic or smoke pellets, modified batarangs ("Wing-Dings"), knockout gas capsules, throwable tracers, and a sedative-tipped dart launcher. The right gauntlet was also equipped with a 100,000-volt stun gun. Like the gauntlets, his boot compartments could carry vital equipment such as flares, a rebreather as protection against any airborne non-contact toxins, a mini-computer equipped with fax, modem, GPS, and a minidisk re-writable drive. Other items were lock picks, a first-aid kit, a mini-cellphone, flexi-cuffs, antitoxin assortment, wireless listening devices, and a small flashlight. After coming to New York, Dick added a black utility belt to his costume, eliminating the need for his boots and gauntlets.
Held in spring-loaded pouches in the back of his costume, Dick carried a pair of Eskrima clubs made from an unbreakable polymer that were wielded as both offensive and defensive weapons. Some depictions display these tools with the mechanism to shoot a grappling hook attached to a swing line, while, in other instances, they can act as "line guns" similar to the ones Batman uses. The clubs could also be thrown with such skill by Grayson (and possibly due to their design) that they would ricochet off walls and objects to hit multiple targets, then return to his hands. These clubs also have the capability to be linked together as well as grow in size to make a staff, as depicted in many series, such as Teen Titans Young Justice (Robin uses these weapons).
Superman
In 2001's Superman: The Man of Steel #111, Superman and Lois Lane travel to a version of Krypton later revealed to have been created by the villainous Brainiac 13 and based on Jor-El's favorite period in Kryptonian history. Labeled as criminals, Superman and Lois become fugitives, adopting the Nightwing and Flamebird identities to survive, just as had Superman and Olsen in Superman #158.
Tad Ryerstad
In Blüdhaven, a sociopath named Tad Ryerstad becomes a superhero, inspired by the retired hero Tarantula. He takes his name, "Nite-Wing", from an all-night deli specializing in chicken wings. Unstable, Nite-Wing beats people for minor offenses. Nite-Wing is shot on his first night out and Dick Grayson, as Blüdhaven's protector Nightwing, defends him from Blockbuster's gang, who think it is Nightwing who has been injured. After Nite-Wing is released from the hospital, he kills the gang who put him there. Not realizing how violent Ryerstad is, Grayson agrees to train him. The two attack Blockbuster's organization, but are captured and separated. After an undercover FBI agent frees Nite-Wing, Ryerstad beats him to death, and when he realizes what he has done, Ryerstad flees. Nightwing subsequently tracks down and incarcerates Nite-Wing. In prison, Ryerstad is cell-mates with Torque (Dudley Soames), but the two escape by drugging the prison guard Amygdala.
Jason Todd
Bruce Jones' Nightwing (vol. 2) #118-122 run features Jason Todd prowling the streets of New York City under the guise of Nightwing, copying Grayson's costume.
Cheyenne Freemont
The "One Year Later" storyline features a metahuman fashion designer named Cheyenne Freemont donning a modified Nightwing costume to help Grayson.
Cheyenne first met Dick when they had a one-night stand together. They only exchanged first names the next morning, Cheyenne stating she's superstitious. The two had breakfast together and then he left. When he left another man walked into her apartment. He assaulted her for getting her "plumbing" fixed in her bath robe. She hit him with a telekinetic blast.
Dick found out Cheyenne was a fashion designer from a friend of his from Bludhaven. She ran into Dick again after he accidentally became a model for her. After seeing newspaper clippings of Nightwing (Jason Todd) she started creating superhero themed designs. Cheyenne wore a Nightwing costume to help Dick and Jason from a metahuman monster named Jakob. He ate her, but she used her powers to blow him up from the inside. Due to recent events she was left broke and soon left New York.
Power Girl
In Greg Rucka's Supergirl (vol. 5) #6, Power Girl and Supergirl assume the identities of Nightwing and Flamebird in a story set in Kandor, just as in the original pre-Crisis stories featuring Superman.
Chris Kent
Chris Kent, son of General Zod, was Nightwing during Superman: New Krypton. In that storyline, Superman was coming to terms with the death of his adoptive father; he was also dealing with 100,000 Kryptonians now living on Earth, which he had released from the bottled cities on Brainiac's ship (the same ship that contained the lost Kryptonian city of Kandor). At the end of the fourth issue of the arc, a new Nightwing and Flamebird appear in Superman's Fortress of Solitude to stop two of Zod's followers (who were living in Kandor) from releasing the Kryptonian General from his Phantom Zone imprisonment. While guarding the projector in order to prevent any Zod loyalists from freeing him from the Phantom Zone, both Flamebird and Nightwing exhibit powers that are not inherent to normal Kryptonians. Flamebird projects flames from her hands, and Nightwing uses "natural tactile telekinesis".
The pair seems to be stronger than normal Kryptonians: they knock out the two Zod loyalists with one blow apiece. In a later appearance, the duo is seen in Gotham City. Unlike previous portrayals, it seems Flamebird believes herself to be the dominant partner. When the Kryptonians led by Zod and Alura flee to a new Krypton orbiting the Sun, Nightwing and Flamebird stay in Gotham. In Action Comics #875, that Nightwing is revealed as the son of Zod and Ursa, Chris Kent. The "Nightwing" identity is revealed to be based on a mythical Kryptonian creature, whose existence is intertwined with that of its partner beast, the Flamebird. Inside the Phantom Zone Chris' mind interfaced with a piece of Brainiac technology, awakening a long-dormant connection to the Nightwing, and linking his mind to that of Thara Ak-Var, who had a connection to the Flamebird.