"Fuck Batman."
Those were the words heard around the world when Warner Bros. released the first trailer for DC Universe's live-action Titans series at Comic-Con International. Brenton Thwaites' Dick Grayson took to a dark alley, disposed of some bad guys in a brutal manner and, his face covered in blood, he declared that he was done with Batman.
It might appear a bit much at first, but salty language aside, this is actually a pretty accurate reflection of a time in the source material when Robin had had enough of Batman. Airing his frustrations, he struck out on his own, and before long had formed a new team with Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy and Raven.
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It's no secret that the live-action series, which will be exclusive to the DC Universe streaming service, is inspired by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez '80s comic The New Teen Titans, which re-launched the Teen Titans team with a roster that closely resembles the one from the show. At the time, Dick Grayson was still Robin, but four years later, in 1984's Tales of the Teen Titans #44, Wolfman and Pérez transformed Batman's former sidekick, giving him a new costume and a new superhero identity: Nightwing.
The Titans show appears to be poised to borrow a lot from that Teen Titans run, which leads to the inevitable question: Will Thwaites' Dick Grayson become Nightwing in Titans? And perhaps even more importantly, will Warner Bros. even allow it?
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Dick Grayson's evolution into Nightwing is an important arc for the character. After being Batman's kid-sidekick for years, the young superhero decided it was finally time to step out of the Dark Knight's shadow and strike out on his own. The Nightwing identity stuck, and has been Grayson's superhero persona to this day.
Dick's arc is one of the most important in DC Comics, because he is one of the few sidekicks who eventually grew up to become his own recognized superhero. What's more, his vacant spot as Robin became the training grounds for some of the Bat-Family's most loved characters, heroes who all look to Dick's Nightwing as inspiration.
The character arc is so iconic that fans of the character expect Titans to feature Dick's change of super-identities. In fact, the show's' co-creator Geoff Johns said during his spotlight panel, "Dick is really trying to leave Robin behind, so you might guess where he’s going to end up.” Although Johns' didn't namedrop Nightwing, fans of the character know that this is what Johns was referring to. Thwaites' Grayson is on the same path as in the source material, but with his anger cranked up to eleven. In the trailer, we've already seen him doubt the Robin emblem on his chest. The "Fuck Batman" scene was a verbal declaration, for the show as well as for the character, illustrating that this is only the beginning of the character's arc on the series.
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An eventual transformation into Nightwing seems all but inevitable, but we can't ignore the possibility that Warner Bros. may not even allow Nightwing to be seen on the small screen. Thanks to DC's movies and television series, we've come to expect that some characters have been taken off the board when it comes to the small screen. For example, Deathstroke, who was at one time one of the main characters of Arrow, can no longer appear on television because of DC Extended Universe movies. The same is the case for Harley Quinn, who can only appear in movies and cartoons.
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But then, there's The Flash, who appeared in Justice League despite starring in his own television series on The CW. It's hard to say which category Nightwing might fall into; after all, there is a Nightwing solo movie in development, with director Chris McKay attached to the project. This means that Warner Bros. could easily decide to leave him off limits for untying but the big screen. Then again, who knows when this movie will see the light of day? It doesn't appear to even have a completed script yet.
Given that it's been some time since we've had any news from the Nightwing film, it's clear that all the focus for the character will be put on Titans. Of course, there is the possibility that Grayson's identity as Nightwing will be saved for the ending of the series, Smallville-style. But Dick becoming this new superhero wasn't an ending for the Teen Titans, or for the character -- it was a turn of events in the middle of a story, just as much as it was a new beginning for the character. If Dick becomes Nightwing on Titans, something fans will be clearly waiting for, it's definitely something that should happen sooner rather than later.
Debuting on DC Universe, Titans stars Brenton Thwaites as Dick Grayson, Anna Diop as Starfire, Teagan Croft as Raven, Ryan Potter as Beast Boy, Alan Ritchson as Hawk, Minka Kelly as Dove and Lindsey Gort as Amy Rohrbach.