Spotlight on Nightwing

The first Robin, Dick Grayson, eventually grew up and took on a new persona- that of Nightwing. This is one of the best examples of a sidekick that actually outlasted his sidekick status. Nightwing first appeared in Tales of the Teen Titans #44 in July 1984 but later went on to having his own miniseries as well as a headlining monthly series lasting 153 issues. Dick Grayson has at present dropped the Nightwing persona and become the current Batman.

Before settling on the "heroic" name Robin, Dick Grayson suggested Batboy and Nightwing as possible aliases in Batman Forever. In 1997's Batman and Robin, Robin's costume was highly influenced by that of Nightwing from the comics although the chest symbol appeared red rather than the traditional blue.

Nightwing would first officially appear in The New Batman Adventure episode "You Scratch My Back" in late 1997. Though he still teamed with Batman and the new Robin Tim Drake, Nightwing and Batman were no longer on the best of terms. This Nightwing toted him comic book counterpart's 90's style mullet.

Although the identity of Robin was never explicitly stated in the Teen Titans animated series, 2004's "How Long is Forever?" revealed Robins future identity as Nightwing - one of the biggest clues that the Titan's Robin was in fact Dick Grayson.

In 2006's Justice League Unlimited episode "Grudge Match," a shadowy figure appeared on a rooftop during the pan of the city of Blüdhaven. Being Nightwing's adopted hometown, the Blüdhaven setting gave away the identity of Nightwing who at the time, for legal reasons, could not explicitly appear in the series. Fan's rejoiced.

Nightwing appeared in The Batman on two occasions. First, he appeared in a future tale "Artifacts" in 2007. He would later appear in a lesser episode "The Metal Face of Comedy" as Dick Grayson's video game avatar.

In 2010, Batman: The Brave and the Bold's "Sidekicks Assemble!" ended with a grown Robin finally taking up a new identity. This incarnation's appearance was inspired by Nightwing's earliest designs and in the episode was named by Batman.

Later this year, Nightwing will return in the direct to DVD movie Batman: Under the Red Hood. So far, just a glimpse of the character has been revealed from a sneak peek of the film.