WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Nightwing #75, by Dan Jurgens, Travis Moore, Ronan Cliquet, Nick Filardi and AndWorld Design, on sale now.

While Nightwing has fought against virtual every colorful villain in Batman's extensive rogues' gallery, one antagonist has risen above the others to become a very personal foe for Dick Grayson and the Bat-Family: KGBeast. In 2018's Batman #55, by Tom King and Tony Daniel, the masked Russian assassin shot Dick in the head from a distance with a sniper rifle while the original dynamic duo were responding to the Bat-Signal on top of the Gotham City Police Department's headquarters. While Dick endure severe brain trauma, amensia and the alternate Ric Grayson identity, he would eventually recover the pieces of his shattered mind.

And as news of Nightwing's recovery begins to spread, KGBeast decides to return to Gotham City to finish what he started in Nightwing #75.

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KGBeast Nightwing holding hostage

Even before now, KGBeast's role in attacking Dick had not gone unanswered. After traveling to Russia, the Dark Knight had beaten the assassin within an inch of his life after tracking him down to a remote cabin in the frozen landscape. Later, Damian Wayne would exact his own revenge on Anatoli for his role in attacking Nightwing. Damian and Dick had grown particularly close during Dick's time temporarily replacing Bruce Wayne as Batman, with Damian as his very own Boy Wonder. Robin nearly killed KGBeast, cutting off his left hand, with the rest of the Teen Titans forced to fight their leader to stop him from murdering the contract killer to avenge Nightwing's gruesome injury.

KGBeast's failure to kill Nightwing coupled with his separate defeats at the hands of Batman and Robin have clearly taken a toll on KGBeast's storied reputation. Taunted in a dive bar deep in Russia, Anatoli brutally murders the patrons mocking him before deciding to return stateside. After murdering an elderly couple he encounters on a road just to commandeer their automobile, KGBeast is seen driving towards Gotham to restore his reputation by killing Nightwing and anyone else who gets in his way. And to draw the recovered crimefighter out, the assassin decides to strike at his heart by attacking Dick's new girlfriend Bea.

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While Grayson had been living under his new persona as Ric Grayson, he had formed a romantic relationship in Bludhaven with a young woman named Bea. She remained with Ric even after they relocated to Gotham, despite her misgivings about the city. She was especially instrumental in using the Court of Owls' memory crystal to definitively heal Grayson's mind by restoring his memories of being Dick and Nightwing. While Bea initially appeared to leave Dick and Gotham behind, the recovered superhero managed to convince his girlfriend to stay with him and the city only for her to be kidnapped by KGBeast in this issue.

While Nightwing recovered just in time to help turn the tide of the recent crossover event "Joker War," Dick Grayson still has a long road to recovery ahead of him. And before he can move into the future as himself once again, Dick must confront the villain responsible for his gravest pain and intense trauma. Both Dick and KGBeast were broken in their own ways in the immediate fallout of the Dick being shot in the head. And with both figures back together in Gotham City, the original Boy Wonder and KGBeast are set for a collision course, and the Batman villain is making sure that he won't leave any survivors around this time when he returns to Gotham gunning for Nightwing.

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