Is Nightwing in Teen Titans?

Cartoon Network’s 2003 Teen Titans TV series acknowledges within itself that it is but a small part of the wider DC Comic universe. There are frequent references to Gotham, a neighboring city to the Titans’ home of Jump City. There are allusions to each of the Titans’ individual histories and affiliations, including Cyborg’s former life as Victor Stone, before a tragic accident rendered the majority of his body robotic. Beast Boy’s need to be a part of a team, rather than a solo hero, is hinted at multiple times throughout the series- a tie-in to his previous affiliation with the Doom Patrol. Starfire’s alien culture is given significant attention, fleshing out and expanding the Teen Titans universe with rich intergalactic life and stories. The world is further expanded by Raven’s history, which confirms and explores the ideas of demons and spiritual dimensions, all of which are detailed in the comics.

All of Teen Titans‘ villains are also lifted from the Teen Titans DC Comic series and given new life. Everyone from the minor Mad Mod and Control Freak to the bigger and badder Slade, H.I.V.E. Academy, and Brotherhood of Evil, will be familiar to readers of the comics. However, Teen Titans’ biggest anchor to the DC universe is the team’s leader, Robin. More widely recognized as Batman’s right-hand man, Robin has undergone several iterations and personas in the DC comic books. Did any of those make it into Cartoon Network’s five-season series?

Who is Nightwing?

Robin’s real name is Dick Grayson- the persona of Robin is the superhero identity he assumed in his youth, both when he was trained by Batman before helming the Teen Titans, and in the series where he served as the group’s leader. Yet in the DC canon, Robin is far from Grayson’s only superhero identity. In fact, there are several comic book instances where Grayson himself held the role of Batman, following in father figure Bruce Wayne’s footsteps. However, Grayson’s arguably most notable persona that stands alone from Batman is Nightwing.

When he matured into young adulthood in his twenties, Grayson dropped the persona of Robin, which had garnered associations of youth and being a sidekick, and instead adopted the identity of Nightwing. Nightwing looks nearly unrecognizable to the Robin featured in the Teen Titans series. Where Robin has short hair and a red, green, and yellow uniform complete with a cape and eye mask, Nightwing has a darker energy and appearance. Nightwing has long hair, though he maintains his signature eye mask- with a slight twist. Nightwing sports an all-black suit, complete with gray wrist braces, a gray utility belt, and a blue bird symbol emblazoned on his chest. While the Robin depicted on Teen Titans is already an intense, serious, and dedicated hero, Nightwing has an even more somber and gritty energy about him.

Is Nightwing In Teen Titans?

In the DC Comics, Grayson doesn’t take on the persona of Nightwing until his time with the Teen Titans has concluded, and he has grown into an adult. However, the series finds a way to tease Robin’s future in season two, episode one, “How Long is Forever?”, the time traveling villain Warp gives the Titans a taste of their potential futures. A particularly chaotic and tense day in Titans Tower causes Starfire to worry about the group falling apart, which Robin quickly assures her will never happen, even going so far as to promise her that “we’ll all be friends forever”.

However, the team is interrupted by an alert that there’s trouble in Jump City. The young heroes spring into action, confronting Warp, a time-traveling villain who has come from one hundred years in the future to steal the valuable Clock of Eternity. In her attempts to thwart him, Starfire ends up tumbling through Warp’s time portal with him, damaging his suit in the process and landing them in an alternate future. Starfire explores this dark and dilapidated version of Jump City, encountering each of the former Titans one by one; the gang has broken up.

Cyborg, his tech now outdated and not functioning at full capacity, is confined to Titans Tower where he’s plugged into a power source that keeps him alive and somewhat mobile. He informs Starfire that twenty years have passed since the Teen Titans were a thriving team, but he can point her in the direction of Beast Boy and Raven; Robin, not so much. Beast Boy, balding and out of shape, now makes a small living in a one-man zoo, where he shape-shifts for a small, mean, and scoffing audience. He explains to Starfire that he tried to be a solo hero, and it didn’t work out (another reference to Beast Boy’s history) and that the bars he sits behind are to protect him from the cold and dangerous passersby who he performs for. Starfire finds Raven in a white-walled facility, convinced that Starfire is “just another figment”. Starfire quickly pieces together that without her friends to anchor her, Raven has lost control of her delicately dangerous mind, but Raven refuses to engage with her.

After leaving Raven, Starfire once again comes across Warp, who is now old and looking for his vortex regulator, which Starfire took in their scuffle. She demands that he repair the damage he did to the Titans timeline, but Warp declares that time was not and cannot be changed, merely traveled to. He begins to fight Starfire for his regulator, but is stopped by the fearsome and shadowy figure of Nightwing, even more intimidating than the young Robin ever was. Starfire excitedly calls out to who she knows as Robin.

I haven’t used that name in a long time. Call me… Nightwing.

Despite Nightwing’s melancholy demeanor, he reveals to Starfire that he has kept his Titans communicator all this time in the event- and the hopes- that he might one day need it. He’s undeterred at Starfire’s revelation that time cannot be changed, comfortable tackling the impossible and making it possible. They hunt down Warp and are soon joined by the rest of the Titans, who have been brought out of their funk at the thought of rejoining a team. In the battle, Nightwing’s gadgets resemble Robin’s signature weapons, with some upgrades- his projectiles altered to take the shape of wings.

The Titans manage to open a portal through time for Starfire, which she enters and finds herself back in her present, where the Titans are still a team, and still mid-battle with Warp. When Starfire reappears, Warp disappears through the portal she originally followed him through, though, crucially, the Clock of Eternity is left behind. Warp insisted that the Clock of Eternity was stolen in every timeline, so the Titans preventing its theft proves that the future can, in fact, be altered. Thus, Nightwing’s future is still only a possibility, at least in this Teen Titans universe.