Nightwing's Exes Have 1 Thing in Common that He'll Never Understand

Warning: Spoilers for Nightwing 2024 Annual #1!

Summary Not everyone can be as lucky as Nightwing: Bea Bennett and Starfire overcame hardship to become heroes.

Nightwing's heroism was handed to him by Batman: Dick Grayson's privilege shaped his journey as a hero.

Nightwing's exes Starfire and Captain Blüd struggled before becoming heroes: both heroines saved themselves to become warriors.

Between Captain Blüd and Starfire, Nightwing's exes share one thing that he will never understand: struggling to become a hero without the help of a trusted mentor. While Dick Grayson has had a number of love interests over the years, including his current endgame relationship with Batgirl, two romances that were key to his character development were those with Starfire and Bea Bennett.

Nightwing 2024 Annual #1 by Travis Moore makes it apparent that, unlike Dick, both iconic Nightwing love interests know about struggling to survive in ways that he could never understand. When Dick's parents died, he was adopted by billionaire Bruce Wayne, almost instantly becoming the adopted son of Batman and gaining the luxuries that come with that relationship.

On the other hand, both Bea's origin story at the center of this one-shot and the origin story of Starfire as recontextualized in Titans #6 by Moore and Tom Taylor show how Dick's lovers weren't as fortunate, struggling to survive alone for years.

Related New Nightwing Lore Rewrites His Most Controversial Era One of the most controversial moments in Nightwing's history was the period where he simply went by Ric — but one new detail changes everything.

Nightwing's Exes Starfire and Captain Blüd Struggled Before Becoming Heroes

Not Everyone Can Be as Lucky as Nightwing

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Nightwing Annual 2024 #1 focuses entirely on the origin story of Bea Bennett's Captain Blüd, who is revealed to have been born as Destiny. One fateful day, an explosion takes Destiny's mother and her life away from her, and she's quickly orphaned, ending up on the streets where she lives for four years. Similarly, Starfire was initially tortured, experimented on, and enslaved for years following the invasion of her home planet. On paper, Starfire and Bea Bennett could not be more different as characters — besides the Nightwing connection, of course.

However, the two heroines have one thing in common other than Nightwing: both Koriand'r and Bea Bennett saved themselves to become heroes. Starfire waited for someone to save her, and when no one came, she became her own savior. Same with Bea, who, after struggling on the streets for years, waited for the right opportunity. In due time, she became the perfect spy for Spyral. For both Starfire and Bea, living through struggle, poverty, and pain were tragic, but essential in molding them as warriors.

Nightwing's Heroism Was Handed to Him by Batman

Page from Nightwing 2022 Annual #1 by C.S. Pacat, Inaki Miranda, and Adriano Lucas

Nightwing is a warrior in his own right, too, and no one wants to take away from the fact that he has grown into becoming DC's greatest hero. That being said, it would be disingenuous to not acknowledge that Dick Grayson got there through privilege, not struggle alone. Following the most tragic moment of his life, he was immediately taken into a billion-dollar mansion where he received training from the World's Greatest Detective, almost immediately becoming Robin. Nightwing proved to be more than just a child of privilege, but that privilege informed his experience more than struggle ever did.

When Bea and Starfire suffered the worst moments of their lives, they were forced to live in those moments for some time. Their struggle defines their experiences, as their resourcefulness and scrappy attitudes were crafted out of necessity coming out of that struggle. That doesn't make them any better or worse as heroes than Nightwing, but it does give them experiences and perspectives that exist separate from Nightwing's. Even when the trio are accomplished enough to stand side-by-side as equals, the love-interest duo understands overcoming and surviving struggle in ways Nightwing could never relate to.

Nightwing 2024 Annual #1 is available now from DC Comics.

NIGHTWING 2024 ANNUAL #1 Writer: Travis Moore

Artist: Travis Moore

Colorist: Ivan Plascencia, Alex Guimarães

Letterer: Wes Abbott

Cover Artist: Travis Moore, Tamra Bonvillain