What's Next for Dick Greyson?

He came in strong, but what's he going to do when he goes out?

 

So it was recently announced that DC was officially cancelling a large amount of titles. Among them were Teen Titans, which never really lived up to its potential, Superman Unchained, which had a rocky start, but was finally getting good and Suicide Squad. None of these came as surprises to me, but what knocked me flat, the one that caused me to die a little inside, was the cancellation of Nightwing. April’s #30 is the last we’ll see of the former boy wonder as one of the coolest Batman spinoffs in history. I’ll admit that the last two volumes of the series were not the best points in Nightwing’s run, but I was really hoping for him to pull ahead as he has the potential to do.

But it’s something I should have seen coming; with Nightwing’s big identity reveal at the beginning of Forever Evil, it was a given that Nightwing would likely end. But this is only the end of Nightwing. Presumably, Dick Greyson is still around. He’s a great character with a huge fandom behind him. What could happen to keep Greyson fighting crime? Below are my theories;

A New Civilian Identity?

Could Greyson change his civilian identity and still work as Nightwing, allowing for a new Nightwing series to start (or maybe as part of the Justice League United)? He could fake his own death, take on a new name, get plastic surgery, change his hair and all of a sudden, the world thinks it has a new Nightwing on the scene. It could add something truly interesting to Greyson as he tries to maintain a secret identity within a secret identity... hmm... Identiception?

A New Hero?

While I would prefer Dick to stay as both Nightwing and Dick Greyson, that likely isn’t going to happen (unless either of my next two ideas come to light). So why not give him a new costume and a new hero name? He’s been Batman perfectly well without sacrificing who he was. He may opt to take on the mantle of the new Talon; repurposed for good. He may make an entirely new identity that sees him be just as incredible. He may even find a protégé of his own to become the new Nightwing while he operates in the background as this new character’s Alfred/Oracle/Bruce in Batman Beyond.

A New World?

Everyone on Earth knows who Nightwing is. A solution? Leave Earth. One of the best things to happen to Mr. Terrific was to throw him into Earth 2. Could the same happen to Nightwing? Nobody knows Dick Greyson there, so his identity would be pretty safe. Plus, it could truly separate Nightwing from the rest of the bat-family giving him some much-needed autonomy. Alternatively, what about going back to Earth 3; hell-bent on taking out anyone connected to the Crime Syndicate? It seems like the kind of thing Nightwing would do after being traumatised the way he was. What’s more it would be a chance for Greyson to tell the Syndicate that they don’t control him- that attacking him only made him stronger!

A New Attitude?

Nightwing’s stories in the New 52 have regularly been about Dick being who he chooses to be. Maybe Dick just needs to say “to hell with secret identities, I won’t let this stand in the way of Nightwing’s mission.” Of course, without a secret identity, Dick would need some powerful allies. What about A.R.G.U.S? Could Nightwing become an agent of the government and lead a group of soldiers as they bring justice to villains worldwide? We know that Marvel have, in many cases, dispensed with secret identities. Is it so bad if Nightwing chooses to do so?

So those are my theories. What do you think? What’s next for Nightwing?