A Trap For...Nightwing

When I was younger and first watched Batman Beyond: Return of The Joker, after finding out what happened to Tim Drake I always wondered what happened to Dick Grayson in the DCAU world. It's common knowledge what tragedy befell Tim - captured and tortured by The Joker for a few weeks until he eventually revealed all of Batman's secrets, changed into a twisted kid version of the Clown Prince himself - known to most as Joker Jr. - who ends up being loyal to Bruce in the end and is the one who kills the Joker; he spent a year with Leslie Thompkins until he was back to himself, fired from his Robin role by Bruce as he blamed himself for what happened causing Tim to strike out on his own...and ultimately being taken over by The Joker, the microchip embedded on his neck which led to a fantastic showdown with Terry McGinnis, etc.

Until now, no one exactly knew what tragedy befell Dick Grayson. And it wasn't until the recent 6-issue mini-series - which will become an ongoing in the next few months, not surprisingly - that we find out exactly what happened to Batman's first partner...








Thankfully I knew that Terry was talking to Dick but I was still blown away by this revelation and seeing the state of the Nightwing costume nonetheless. Dick's story is equally compelling to hear, and Alfred is mentioned in said story too:





It's pretty intriguing how Dick's tale of woe connects to the Batman Beyond series, as I was curious for years about how Bruce had a Nightwing costume in the Batcave but hasn't talked with Dick since that last mission. Still, I'm glad to see that the pieces are finally coming together after all this time of seeing an unsolved puzzle that is the awesome Batman Beyond.