Nightwing Actually Did Kill The Joker (Yes, Really)

The Joker has done some pretty heinous things in his day, and while the heroes can usually resist the urge to kill him for his crimes, everyone has a breaking point. There are storylines where Batman and even Superman have put Joker down for good, but there’s another hero the Clown Prince of Crime has successfully goaded into killing him – Dick Grayson, AKA Nightwing.

Dick Grayson was the original Robin and fought crime as Batman’s sidekick for many years. While his reason for giving up the Boy Wonder mantle vary from story to story, it usually has something to do with Dick wanting to grow out of Batman’s shadow. He moves from Gotham to the nearby city of Bludhaven, where he establishes himself as Nightwing and builds his own reputation as a crime-fighting vigilante. Despite leaving Bruce’s tutelage, Dick remains a close ally of his former mentor – and even fills in for him as Batman once in a while.

Being Batman’s ally also means sharing his enemies. In the comic series Joker: Last Laugh, Nightwing – as well as several other heroes, like the Birds of Prey – assist Batman in his fight against the Joker. Unfortunately, Tim Drake, the current Robin at the time, gets captured by Joker’s men, and then re-captured from them by Killer Croc. When Huntress confronts Croc in the sewers, she finds Robin’s tattered uniform, leading her to believe that Tim is dead.

Even though Croc is the one who actually killed Tim, Nightwing puts the blame on Joker – and himself. “Just like Jason, we weren’t there for him…” he says. “How long does this go on?” Dick is, of course, referring to Jason Todd, the second Robin whom Joker beat to death in Batman: A Death in the Family. Not only that, but Joker is also the one who crippled Barbara Gordon, the former Batgirl and Dick’s girlfriend. Filled with rage, Nightwing ignores Barbara and Black Canary’s pleas and goes to confront the Joker. He easily takes down Joker’s men and starts wailing on the clown himself – with Joker egging him on the whole time. But what finally sends Dick over the edge is when Joker brings up Jason. “I hit Jason a lot harder than that,” he says. “His name was Jason, right?” Those words anger Nightwing enough to deliver the final blows – just before Tim walks in, alive. At first, Nightwing doesn’t even believe what he’s seeing. Once Dick comes to his senses, Tim checks for the bloodied Joker’s pulse – but he doesn’t find one. “He’s dead,” Tim says.

Fortunately for Joker, he doesn’t stay that way for long. After nearly going into the light, Joker wakes up to see Batman standing over him – presumably after saving his life. But even though Joker was saved, Dick still feels tremendous guilt over losing control, saying, “He was dead and I was…I was happy about it. He won.” Nightwing leaves defeated, because when all is said and done, he did actually kill the Joker.

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