Despite coming from astronomically different backgrounds, Dick Grayson and Koriand'r do actually share one striking commonality. The sufferings and torments of their early lives are ultimately what brought them to the Teen Titans, and their eventual meeting. Typically referred to by their superhero aliases, Nightwing and Starfire, the two shared one of the best, yet most complicated relationships in all of DC.
The two have never officially fought one another, and that will probably never change. Aside from some light sparring, their love for one another will always triumph any kind of friction that could lead to a fight. However, if they were to ever go head-to-head, who would actually emerge victoriously? Taking into consideration everything from their most prominent strengths to their most vulnerable weaknesses, let's check out whether Nightwing or Starfire wins in this battle of star-crossed lovers.
10 Durability/Strength: Starfire
Dick Grayson posses a great number of strengths that make him such a great fighter and a prominent member of the Teen Titans. However, when it comes to literal strength, he doesn't hold much of a candle to that of Koriand'r. The source of her strength and unbelievable durability is ultimately her Tamaran DNA. However, there are plenty of other factors that made her the powerful warrior princess she is.
Much of Starfire's early life on Tamaran was marked by abuse, torment, and pain. As a result of the injustices from her own people, and especially her own sister, she emerged as an incredibly strong and battle-tested hero. Her strength is an undeniable part of her heritage, but it's the darkness she's overcome that proves just how strong and durable she truly is. Although Nightwing has battled his fair share of injustices as well, his strength is really nowhere near comparable to Starfire's.
9 Equipment: Nightwing
Not all, but most of the categories of this battle are fairly lopsided. When it comes to the external equipment of these two heroes, Nightwing earns the win and it's not even close. That's largely in part to the fact that Starfire doesn't have any equipment at all, and her weaponry is simply her natural abilities.
However, that's not to say that Nightwing doesn't possess an extensive list of advanced tech and weapons. Just his suit, from its advanced technological interface to its color that allows him to operate so stealthily, gives him an advantage here. On top of that, the escrima sticks he utilizes in just about every fight have become a defining symbol of his hero persona. Unlike Starfire, Dick Grayson relies almost entirely on the advantages of his equipment to make him such a formidable and lethal fighter.
8 Allies: Tie
Both Nightwing and Starfire have served as essential members of the Teen Titans and Titans teams, thus they have a lot of the same allies. However, each also has plenty of their own from their early lives. For Nightwing, he has the backup of the basically the entire bat family.
Starfire, on the other hand, is still the princess of an incredibly strong alien race. Yes, she isn't always on the best of terms with her own people, but in terms of having them as back-up, they would likely still fight alongside her. Since they share so many allies from their various stints with similar and different DC teams, along with the allies they each bring from their individual backgrounds, this one goes down as a tie.
7 Leadership: Nightwing
At one point or another, both Nightwing and Starfire have served as a leader of different incarnations of the Titans. Leadership, however, is a much more characteristic trait of Dick Grayson than it is of Koriand'r. On a number of different teams, he's been the obvious leader to the point where he is now considered the frontman of almost every group he's a part of. While a trait like leadership might not be a physical trait to assist a character in a one-on-one bout, it's one that can't be ignored considering both characters here have led at one point.
6 Abilities: Starfire
Each character brings a specific strength to the table, whether that be fighting skills or inherent abilities. For Starfire, it's the latter that makes her such an overpowered hero. Her energy absorption and energy blasting abilities give her a major advantage in combat, and her flight power is just the cherry on top.
When it comes to their abilities, it's another lopsided battle considering Nightwing doesn't actually have any kind of inherent powers. Even as a specialist in combat and martial arts, he still wouldn't stand a chance if Starfire were to utilize her abilities against him.
5 Combat: Nightwing
Where Dick Grayson lacks natural or inherent superpowers, he makes up for in his insane combat skills. As a master of martial arts and hand-to-hand combat, a former trainee of Bruce Wayne himself, and a brilliant strategist, Dick Grayson is nearly undefeatable against non-powered opponents. Even against those with abilities, he can easily hold his own. Although he would need Starfire to minimize the use of her powers against him, Nightwing would still be able to do some damage simply thanks to that incredible skill.
Part of what makes Nightwing such an incredible combatant is his acrobatic history. In most fights, you can see his gymnastic talents shine through, utilizing them to outmaneuver opponents and thrive when aerial combat becomes necessary. All those years training under the wing of the Dark Knight clearly paid off for Dick Grayson and without them, he would never have become the hero that he is today.
4 Intelligence: Tie
When it comes to their intelligence, both Nightwing and Starfire bring their own strengths to the table. While most of Dick Grayson's intelligence comes from years of training in the fields of combat, strategy, and deductive skills, Koriand'r's intelligence seems to just come naturally from her Tamaran upbringing. In the areas where one character lacks a certain level of intelligence, the other seems to make up for it. Together, their intelligence makes them such important and strong heroes and team members, no matter the group they're apart of, so neither truly has an advantage here.
3 Ruthlessness: Starfire
One thing that partly defines Starfire, which definitely isn't present in every iteration of her character, is her ruthless nature. With such incredibly powerful abilities, that allow her to wipe out enemies with one blast of solar energy, she can pick and choose when to hold back or not. Those times in which she chooses not to hold back the destructive capabilities of her power is easily when she is at her most merciless.
Her relationship with Nightwing and her respect for his anti-killing methods often lead her to hesitate when unleashing her power. There have been plenty of instances, however, when she forgets that and truly shows how ruthless and dangerous she can be. Although Dick Grayson also has his moments of ruthless rage, they're nowhere near as lethal and terrifying as those same occasional moments of Starfire's.
2 Experience: Nightwing
It's tough to locate a clear advantage when comparing the experience of Nightwing and Starfire. For the most part, the two have shared a lot of their experiences as members of the same Titans team. Well, the advantage in favor of Dick Grayson simply comes from his time as Robin, and especially as the apprentice of Bruce Wayne.
Before becoming Nightwing, Dick Grayson spent years under the Robin mantle fighting the same battles as Batman. All those experiences under Wayne are ultimately what led to him gaining some independence and turning to the Teen Titans, where he and Starfire would eventually cross paths. With all those extra years of operation, Dick Grayson earns the advantage when it comes to experience.
1 Winner: Starfire
All things considered, Starfire is just far too powerful for Nightwing to possibly beat. Even with all the skill he possesses and his years worth of experience as a hero, Koriand'r's abilities, durability, and unmerciful tendencies would make this a pretty unfair battle. Their relationship would likely keep this fight from ever actually happening, but if it were to go down, Starfire would have no problem defeating one of the loves of her life, Dick Grayson.