Batman is the world’s greatest detective and one of the greatest superheroes ever. Even Superman, the guy who can drag an entire solar system with his bare hands, fears him and even calls him “The World’s Most Dangerous Man”. You know a guy is a real deal when even the Man of Steel is afraid of you. And then there is Nightwing aka Dick Grayson. The first ever Boy Wonder and a superhero protégé that was nurtured and carved into the legend he is today under the tutelage of Bruce Wayne aka the Dark Knight.
Batman and Nightwing have both been fighting crimes since years and both are amazing at kicking the bad guys’ butt. But Batman is generally considered the better option. Or is he? We have compiled a list of areas Batman scores really badly but Nightwing excels at. Based on such basic criteria, we have come to the conclusion that Nightwing just might be the better superhero! Presenting – 10 Reasons Nightwing is a much better superhero than Batman!!
10. He is as brilliant as the Batman
Bruce Wayne became a vigilante all his life. After he saw his parents dying in front of him, it took him a span of twenty years to become the man he is today. Batman had his whole life to prepare. He has mastered multiple disciplines in science like cryptography, forensics, biology, computer science and a busload of other fields. He is also an incredible escape artist and a master tactician.
His deduction skills are also top notch. But Nightwing, unlike Batman, never had the time. He was already a teenager when he saw the death of his parents. It would take him a matter of years to learn whatever did. Dick Grayson is also an expert in several disciplines of science and his learning curve is also shorter than Batman’s. As far as intellect is concerned, Batman might be the seasoned veteran but Nightwing is an aborn prodigy.
9. His love life is better
Batman has been around. He has had multiple relationships with femme fatales throughout the comic books. But all of them have only failed spectacularly, blowing on his face one way or the other. Talia al Ghul would keep betraying him. Catwoman left him at the freaking altar! Batman may be smart when it comes to catching criminals but he is a sucker when it comes to a healthy love life. Dick Grayson has none of those concerns.
While he also has had one night stands with a lot of women, the only two constants at his side have always been there for him. Star Fire and Barbara Gordon were the two women Dick has been with the most. And even after a breakup, things between them would never amount to animosity. Dick was also more considerate and sensitive than Bruce Wayne ever will be.
8. He earned the Cowl
After Final Crisis killed off Batman in the most heroic way possible, the fans were wondering who could be the next guy to become the Batman. In The Battle for the Cowl storyline, Damian Wayne, Tim Drake, Dick Grayson, and Jason Todd – the (current and) former robins of the Bat Family, fight amongst themselves regarding who should be the successor to the dark throne of the Bat.
Dick Grayson would eventually win the fight but later returned it after it was revealed that Bruce Wayne is alive and well. The reason why Nightwing is better than Batman is that he not only has the skills and abilities to beat the most highly trained warriors in their own game to earn the title of the Dark Knight, but also have the sense of honor and justice to return it to Bruce when the time came.
7. Dick is a highly respected figure in the superhero community
When Kal-El aka pre-Flashpoint Superman made an abrupt appearance in the New 52 universe in DC Comics, everyone was highly distrustful of the guy. The only superhero who said it out loud that eh trust Kal-El was Dick, and trust us on this one, it was a big deal to earn Dick Grayson’s trust and confidence. Dick is an extremely respectable hero within the highest leagues of superheroes of DC. So when he said he trusts Kal-El, everyone followed suit because Dick is someone who that everyone trusts. Kal-El held Dick’s sense of trust in him with such high regard that he treated it as the highest of honors possible.
6. He doesn’t make fail-safes to hurt his own friends
If there is one thing we have learned about Batman, it is that the guy is highly paranoid and suspicious of anything and everything. He created contingency plans for his own teammates should they ever decide to go rogue. That is how crazy Batman can get. But not Dick Grayson! His sentiments take a different turn when it comes to taking a jab at your own teammates.
When Raven was possessed by Trigon, Dick was one of the first people to support a movie where she is helped to get herself out of Trigon’s mind control. The others wanted to kill her and stop the ordeal then and there itself. When Cyborg became a part of the Technis race and threatened the world, it was Dick Grayson and the Titans that moved heaven and hell together to stop the Justice League from killing their friend.
5. Better Fighter than Batman
Batman may be one of the world’s greatest close combat fighters but he had to train a lot to get there. His technique is also very inferior. Batman, believe us or not, is less of a fighter that relies on technique and style and more of a mightier that uses brute force tactics. Bruce Wayne’s uniquely chiseled physique gives him an edge by providing him with incredible amounts of strength within the human limitations, which he uses to his advantage.
The greatest fighters in the DC Universe like Lady Shiva and Cassandra Cain, use a different technique while fighting which is why they are way above the league of Batman’s. By reading the muscle movements of their opponents, they can predict what their enemy is about to do in the next moment and counter it even before it happens. Dick Grayson was never built for raw strength tactics, which is why he relies on a similar technique driven fighting style which is superior to Batman’s.
4. World’s greatest gymnast
His gymnastic abilities are truly off the charts! Dick is the only guy in the whole world that can do the excruciatingly difficult quadruple summersault. He has been trained in a circus on gymnastics as well as by the Court of Owls, who wanted to turn him into a high-level gymnastic expert for their own ends. Dick’s agile and quick reflexes coupled with his flexible body make him an opponent that is even more formidable than Batman in a fight.
3. His leadership skills are acknowledged by Batman
Dick Grayson is the leader of the Teen Titans. But there is more to this aspect of his personality than what meets the eye. When the Justice league was pulled into the past, the world became vulnerable to external threats without the presence of the League. To avoid that, Batman had developed an emergency protocol to appoint a reserve team to be the standby Justice league until the original ones return. Batman, who has never been a leader all his life in any team, chose Nightwing to lead the reserve Justice League. What do have to say about that!!
2. His powers of deduction are on par with Batman
Dick Grayson was trained by none other than the world’s greatest detective on how to deduce facts from seemingly trivial stuff while solving a crime. Dick Grayson has honed those abilities up to the extent that he is now on par with Batman as a detective. Apart from that, he has also become really well-versed in the art of espionage and sabotage after he spent some time working as a government spy.
1. Dick never embraced the Darkness but fought through it
Like Batman, Dick also saw his parents dying before his eyes and his loved ones being tortured and killed in front of his eyes. Both have been a superhero to right the wrongs of the world since forever. But where Batman faltered is his ideology. He believed that he cannot trust anyone with his secrets, not even the Bat Family. Her secretly spied on every one of his allies and kept tabs on them. His justification for the ‘No Kill Rule, was that if he kills one soul, then he would become the very thing he wanted to eradicate.
Dick Grayson trusts his teammates and allies more than Batman ever could, broods a lot less than him and he never had to justify his no kill rule. According to him, killing someone is just not the right thing to do which is why he drew the line, unlike Batman who is scared that he might turn into the things he fights on a daily basis. Dick Grayson is better than Batman in this aspect because he has still clung to his humanity while Batman has completely given in to the darkness.
