Dick Grayson’s Nightwing Is Officially Too Old To Be A ‘Younger’ Batman

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Teen Titan Academy #2.

In the most recent issue of Teen Titans Academy, Nightwing is on the move in search of a possible traitor, but in his pursuit, he lets his age show more than he’d probably like to admit. Although Dick Grayson is far from superhero retirement and remains a leading force in the DC Universe, Teen Titans Academy #2 reveals that even he can’t escape the throes of time… especially when the next generation is there to point it out.

Dick Grayson started as a young spry acrobat-turned-orphan, taken in by another orphan in the form of Bruce Wayne. Batman gave Dick the opportunity to become Robin, and the rest is history. He evolved out of his role as a kid sidekick and took on a mantle all his own as Nightwing. Of course, he’s been more than that as well. He’s been the off-and-on leader of the Teen Titans for years and has even donned the title of Batman himself. Now, he’s taking on the role of teacher for a new generation of prospective heroes. But is the saying “those who can’t do, teach” an accurate call out at this point in his career, or is Nightwing just as formidable a hero as ever?

It seems like the next generation may be the first to call out the fact that even Nightwing can’t escape the march of time. Although he’s obviously still holding steadfast to the leadership role he has often fallen into and is using his knowledge and prowess to raise up a new era of heroes, he ends up doing something a little bit impulsive that leads to some moderate mocking by a young speedster. In this issue – from writerTim Sheridan and artist Rafa Sandoval – Nightwing discovers his Red X mask to have vanished. He can’t find it anywhere and doesn’t know where it could have gone until he finds someone seemingly hacking into the academy’s computer while wearing the Red X costume. In hot pursuit of the masked culprit, he grabs onto a fire hose to swing down a few levels and capture them, but doesn’t account for the fact that the hose is too long to safely land (which Donna Troy points out a moment too late). Luckily for him, Bolt, a speedster who doesn’t let a disability stop her, gets there in the nick of time to save him from landing face-first into the ground.

Unfortunately, though, the rescue also comes with Bolt pointing out that “Mr. Nightwing” should be more careful at his age, to which Dick gets immediately flustered, as this is probably the first time he has so blatantly been called out for that… especially by kids he’s training.

So, although it was quite an entertaining moment for readers, especially those who have watched Dick Grayson’s evolution as a character, it’s pretty obvious he wasn’t as amused by the commentary. He’s going to have to shake off the twinge of kids’ insults, though, because he’s got a much bigger problem to deal with now. Who at Teen Titans Academy is secretly operating as Red X… and what are they planning?

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