With "Nightwing" #10, Dick Grayson left behind his globe-trotting life as a super-spy and set off for new, yet still familiar, territory in Blüdhaven, the vigilante's stomping grounds from 1996 to 2006. But that was two decades, and two continuities, ago; in DC Comics' Rebirth, he arrives fresh to the crime-ridden city, only to discover some of its residents require little introduction.

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That's because writer Tim Seeley, with Marcus To and other artists, has populated Blüdhaven's fringes with "run-offs," D-list costumed criminals of the 1990s and early 2000s who were scared straight by their encounters with Batman and Nightwing, and fled Gotham for the relative safety of its even shadier neighbor. There's Stallion, pro football player turned Penguin's enforcer turned bartender at the Dude Ranch, former hacker/thief duo Giz and Mouse, ex-street racer and mercenary Thrill Devil, and one-time gun runner Gorilla Grimm. (Even Dick's new girlfriend Shawn has a connection of sorts to Batman and Robin's distant, and delicious, past.) To date, the most famous is Orca, which should tell you something about the caliber of Blüdhaven's criminals, reformed or otherwise.

Nightwing #14
From Nightwing #14

"Nightwing" casts a wider, and arguably weirder, net in Issue 15, pitting Dick and the Red Hood against old Blue Beetle foes the Madmen before sending in what looks to be the nunjas from the animated "Batman: Bad Blood" to fight Dick and Starfire. However, much more significant is the partly obscured figure with flowing locks and Nightwing's New 52 costume introduced in the final panel of Issue 14. If you thought there's no way that could be Deathwing, we learn in this week's issue the answer is -- to borrow an appropriately '90s expression -- way.

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And, if after he revealed himself and proclaimed his name to no one in particular, you thought, "Who's Deathwing?," then you clearly missed out on one of the stranger chapters of Nightwing's history. It involved Team Titans, an alternate-future timeline, an evil Raven and some painfully '90s superhero fashion. Just look at those shoulder pads and spikes. Those nipples!

Deathwing

But before there was Deathwing, there was a Dick Grayson from an alternate timeline set 10 years in the future ... only not really. Introduced in 1991 in "The New Titans Annual" #7, part of DC's "Armageddon 2001" event, this Dick helped to train the Team Titans, groups of super-powered rebels fighting to free their world from the rule of Lord Chaos, the son of Donna Troy and Terry Long (in case you need another reason to hate Terry Long, there's that ...). One of the squads of Team Titans traveled back in time to kill Donna and prevent the birth of Lord Chaos, but instead convinced her to relinquish her powers, thereby ensuring her unborn child doesn't possess the godlike abilities that enable him to enslave the planet. The end.

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OK, not really. Future-Dick briefly traveled back in time to join his stranded teammates, only to be attacked and corrupted by Raven during one of her not-infrequent dark periods. Implanted with the "Trigon seed," he became violent and bloodthirsty, renamed himself Deathwing serves as Raven's faithful assistant, and even tracked down and raped his former lover, the Team Titan member Mirage. Shortly thereafter, the events of "Zero Hour" erased that timeline but left Mirage, Terra and, yes, Deathwing, who were revealed to be not from the future but instead sleeper agents given false memories by longtime Legion of Super-Heroes foe Time Trapper to use in his fight against Extant. In short, Deathwing turned out not to be a future Dick Grayson but instead just ... some guy.

New Titans #119

That wasn't the last we'd see of Deathwing, however, as he resurfaced briefly in "The New Titans," still under the sway of the evil Raven, and sporting a new, and very fetishy, look, complete with leather pants and vest, spikes, a shaved head and painted chest. Although the Titans were ultimately able to free others from Raven's thrall, Deathwing appeared beyond redemption, and was kept under observation at STAR Labs in hopes that the Trigon seed could one day be expunged. And that was the last we'd see of Deathwing ... at least until he cropped up in "Nightwing."

The costume and hair (thankfully) have changed, but Deathwing's propensities for violence and referring to himself in the third person remain. Although he's so far only been depicted in a handful of panels, we know that he's exchanged the spikes and bare chest for Nightwing's red-and-black New 52 costume. But while Dick employs batons, Deathwing wields something resembling a pair of kusarigama, whose blades drip with the blood of Blüdhaven police officers and the Horsemen, a gang of horse mask-wearing criminals who deserve unrelenting ridicule but certainly not death.

Nightwing #16
From Nightwing #16

Given that Deathwing has so far fully appeared only on the final page of this week's "Nightwing" #16, it's premature to jump to too many conclusions about the Rebirth version of the character. However, we can assume he views Blüdhaven as his turf -- "Too bad there's only room in this town for one me," he says in Issue 14 -- and may even think he's Dick Grayson. He's also working for someone, presumably not Time Trapper, as he takes orders through an earpiece.

We're probably also expected to believe this Deathwing is behind the abduction of Dick's girlfriend in Issue 15. Although we only see a black boot in that panel, we can draw a line between that scene and his comment, "Your broken city needed Nightwing. And now a broken Nightwing needs Deathwing." However, that seems a little too simple -- and if DC history, as convoluted as it is, has taught us anything, it's that few things involving Deathwing are simple. Especially his origin(s).

Let's just hope the Rebirth version doesn't involve alternate futures, sleeper agents or an evil Raven.

"Nightwing" #16, by Tim Seeley and Javier Fernandez, is on sale now.