10 Awful DC Superheroes Who Were Successfully Reinvented

5. Dick Grayson

Why He Was Awful

It seems unfair to attack the Boy Wonder, like picking on... well, a little kid in short shorts and booties. That very fact is illustrative of why the character is a terrible superhero. This doesn't even mean he's a bad character, mind you -€“ just a terrible superhero.

Dick Grayson, the first Robin, was introduced in 1940, as a young acrobat whose parents were killed during a performance while Bruce Wayne was in the audience. He takes the young boy under his wing and eventually adopts him, in the process taking him out to fight violent crime as a vigilante. It's no wonder this concept has proven so difficult to adapt to the darker-themed Batman stories.

While some writers, such as Grant Morrison, have spoken and written about the wonderful relationship between Dick and Wayne, many are far more attracted to stories of Batman as a loner, making Robin not only a less-than-effective superhero in his own right, but a crutch for Batman in the eyes of many.

The Dynamic Duo were inseparable until the late sixties, with Robin co-starring in the Batman television show at the time. In '69, however, Dick went off to a university as part of a plan to relegate him to the background of the universe, which Dennis O'Neill realized was necessary to allow for darker Batman storylines.

How He Was Fixed

Dick Grayson was part of the Teen Titans team-up since its conception in the 1960s, but it wasn't until the Judas Contract story in 1984 that Grayson came back as Nightwing, a newly minted vigilante who (despite similarities to Batman) established himself as a fully fledged, all-out superhero himself.

The decision was evidently motivated by the Dick feeling unappreciated in Batman's shadow, and wanting to strike out on his own. The name was taken from a Kryptonite superhero from the city of Kandor, which was bottled, and subsequently visited by the Dynamic Duo.

While his original costume ("Disco Nightwing!") was rather goofy-looking, after the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Nightwing was a wicked vigilante, with his own gadgetry, supporting characters and villains, etc. Still in contact with his old mentor, Nightwing remained a part of the "Bat-Family" while being his own man. Still, he steps when Bruce Wayne is unable to fulfil his duties as Batman. He first took over the mantle the aftermath of the Knightfall saga where Bruce Wayne has his back broken by Bane. He then does so again after Wayne is killed for a while in the early 2000s.

The stories during that time proved that Batman does not absolutely have to be Bruce Wayne, but could instead be a title passed to another hero when the circumstances required it. That being said, he always consistently returned to being Nightwing, such as in his current DC ongoing.