WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Nightwing #76, by Dan Jurgens, Ronan Cliquet, Nick Filardi and AndWorld Design, on sale now.
As the original Boy Wonder, many of the villains in Batman's extensive rogues' gallery have gone on to menace Dick Grayson even as he continues to forge his own superhero path as Nightwing. However, in the past couple years, one of the Dark Knight's more obscure antagonists has risen about the rest as an especially personal foe for Dick, threatening to ruin the former Robin's life: KGBeast. And as a recovered Dick finally has his rematch with the Russian contract killer, Nightwing surprises his opponent by ultimately sparing his life instead of pursuing lethal vengeance on the man that completely upended Dick's world for months.
While on a routine team-up with Batman, answering a call from Commissioner Gordon on top of the Gotham City Police Department headquarters, Dick was shot in the head by KGBeast while the assassin scoped out of the rooftop with a sniper rifle. Dick survived but endured severe brain damage, causing him to lose memories of his life beyond his parents' murder, including his time as Robin and Nightwing. Forming the divergent personality Ric Grayson, it took Dick months to regain his memories and past life, only with the aid of a memory crystal developed by the Court of Owls, with his new girlfriend Bea undoing the damage during the crossover event "Joker War."
Incensed by all the ridicule he endured back in his native Russia from failing to kill Nightwing and being horrifically defeated by Robin, losing his left hand, Anatoli returned to Gotham City to finish what he started. Taking Bea hostage to draw Dick out, KGBeast and Nightwing engage in a brutal showdown. Evading Anatoli's gunfire, Dick begins to taunt the contract killer to turn his focus from Bea to him and cause the assassin to behave more erratically. As KGBeast grew increasingly careless, Dick threw one of his batons into the barrel of the gun attached to Anatoli's prosthetic for his missing hand causing it explosively backfire and critically injure the villain.
Anatoli assumes that Nightwing will bestow the same treatment both Batman and Robin had in their past, individual confrontations, with the Dark Knight leaving KGBeast locked up with no means to escape, seemingly not caring if he lived or died, while Robin had been intent on finishing Anatoli off in revenge for shooting Dick. Instead, Dick not only comes to Anatoli's aid by stopping the bleeding on his grievous wounds with scraps of his torn costume but cracking jokes all the while as he provides the bandages while waiting for the proper authorities to arrive on the scene and take the assassin into custody
Dick Grayson faced down the man that nearly ruined his life for good and saved his life with a quip and a smile rather than leaving him to his grim fate as his mentor had previously attempted. And while Anatoli is more infuriated that Nightwing has eluded him as a high-profile target yet again, bracing himself for further humiliation for his most recent failure. Dick's surprise act of compassion isn't a major surprise at all for the former Boy Wonder, always one of the more cheerful, brighter figures within the Bat Family. But when an inevitable rematch between Dick and Anatoli finally occurs, Nightwing shouldn't expect the same noble gesture if he finds himself at the KGBeast's mercy.