Nope, Nightwing is only one and is Dick

No one should be in the Nightwing identity other than Dick Grayson, not every superhero identity needs a replacement. I feel like the Nightwing identity is something wholly Dick Grayson's and shouldn't be treated like the Robin mantle. DC is already in the bad habit of recycling superhero identities for new characters to the point that they end up with too many characters and not enough room or purpose for them (ex: too many former Robins). Or its only temporary and so you don't invest in it because what would be the point (similar to Dick being Batman).

Bruce ain't got a superhero identity right now. Give it to him.

this actually has nothing to do with Nightwing, Tim does however become Batman, temporarily

Dick Grayson should be the only Nightwing. As a matter of fact, I'm waiting to see how long the Spyral run lasts. Still, if anyone were to get the role (whether they're listed above or not), it should be Cassandra Cain.

This is meaningless.

What if Harper Row never called herself Bluebird, but Nightwing. What difference does it make?

Barbara Gordon becomes Nightwing. Stephanie Brown becomes Batgirl.

I like the idea of someone else becoming Nighwing, but they still need to get Grayson back in a costume.

I really don't see any reason for any Bat-character to be using the Nightwing moniker when the names Nightwing and Flamebird stem from ancient heroes of the planet Krypton. Grayson became Nightwing when he was not on good terms with Bruce and needed something to call himself, so Superman let him use the name. Especially since Bette Kane is apparently no longer calling herself Flamebird, give these identities back to the Superman family. Let Chris Kent / Lor-Zod and Thara Ak-Var continue to use them.

The purpose of Dick becoming Nightwing, and of becoming an agent of Spyral, is to bring him out of Batman's shadow. However, since he was originally created as Batman's original sidekick, neither he nor any other Bat-character will ever escape Batman's shadow. The best way to bring him out of Bruce's shadow would be to make him Bruce's equal by having them both be Batman simultaneously. And then the international members of Batman Incorporated should all be called Batman, with identical costumes, instead of Nightrunner, Batwing, Mr. Nobody, etc. I always thought the Batman Incorporated thing would be a good route to give Bruce and Dick a chance to both be Batman so a Batman gives enough time to both protecting Gotham City and running the international scope of Batman Incorporated. A similar route worked for Wally West. Lots of fans prefer Wally as their Flash. I'm not saying Flash is as iconic as Batman, but I think Jay, Barry, and Wally, can and should all be the Flash at the same time, and likewise Bruce, Dick, and the international Batmen should all be called Batman. There would be special insider knowledge within the Batman Incorporated group that there was this secret 'original' Batman.

Dick Grayson should be again NIGHTWING... Go out Agent 37

If I had to choose, but I'm new and little about the character, would choose to Cassandra Cain that you say that was so strong and experienced....

Honestly I just wish Dick would return to being Nightwing and call it a day...but if I had to pick Cassandra makes the most sense to me

give the mantle to Jason and call him Blue J... get it? red robin and blue j...

okay moving onto the next bad idea i can come up with

the only reason i wouldnt want Duke to take up the roll is because the internet and everyone else that doesnt actually read comics but knows who Robin is, will go nuts over a black Robin. 'Thors a girl, Cap is black, Supermans a hobo" and the world cant seem to get over it

I honestly would have preferred the name to be changed to Cardinal.

That's genius.

I respectfully disagree.

So much wrong here...

@indomitableregal: how so?

Honestly, I don't think anyone should take up the mantel of Nightwing aside Grayson. From what I can tell almost every member of the Batfamily has picked the name they had now for a personal reason.

Grayson became Robin for his mother who called him her littler Robin and became Nightwing when he got older after he had a falling out with Batman and was influenced by a story that Superman told him.

Jason Todd became the Red Hood as a cruel reminder of two of Batman's greatest failures.

Tim became Red Robin after Jason died seeing that Batman needed a Robin at his side as he was going mad over Jason's death but to honor the past Robin he tweaked the name to Red Robin rather than Robin.

Damian took up the mantle of Robin in order to prove to his father that he can be the best Robin there ever was and be able to work at his side.

Harper chose the name Blue Bird because it's personal to her I forget the reason but I believe it had something to do with either her mother or father.

Stephanie became Spoiler to spoil her fathers plan to take down Gotham and Batman.

Cons: None of them have any particular connection to Nightwing. Half of them will only meet Grayson after he left that part of him behind.

I'd say Cass just because she doesn't have another identity other than batgirl and black bat is to stupid.

All of these suggestions are somewhat terrible. Either these characters are affiliated with Batman or Batgirl. As everyone points out: The mantle isn't nothing special and that's because of the way they've treated Dick. Him being not Nightwing give him good stories cause the level of effort is different. Perhaps when DC is content in doing so while making him Nightwing, it can reach the status of legacy. But it has to be something beyond getting out of Batman's shadow. Dick has been doing that for far too long.

And once that happens, it should be handed off to a character whom is a "Night-character". Not any of the other Robins because it partially defeats the purpose of Nightwing originally when Dick used it. Dick's Robin mantle is already used up enough to the point of overkill. Do not move on into the Nightwing mantle and use it like the Robin mantle.

It's high time Dick's toys and story get treated seriously and not just used to up another character. I don't see many articles on having a new Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, Superman, etc. in the main continuity. And If it had to be a character, I rather it be a new character whom totally deserves it and is maybe female cause that be cool IMO.

But If I was forced to choose on this list: Cassandra Cain. At least you can change her up to be a Batcharacter far more closer in the New 52 to Dick then previously. All of them still have too much connection to Batman.

@teerack: It is confirmed that she will be in Batman eternal

I vote for Jason Todd. He deserves some love in the Batman Family. He could drop the mantle of Red Hood (a new villain could come in say a year and a half later, take the name of Red Hood and start some serious trouble for Jason "Nightwing" Todd and the Bat family).

Uh... that was Stephanie Brown, and that series already ended.

Sorry I meant Batman and robin eternal.

She is going to appear in Batman & Robin Eternal, it is somewhat of a sequel Batman Eternal.

Edit: nevermind didnt see Berun comment at the time.

@kid_apollo: Your statement makes it sound as if everyone is complaining over race and gender issues which really isn't the case. "The only reason i wouldn't want Duke to take up the role is because the internet and everyone else that doesn't actually read comics but knows who Robin is, will go nuts over a black Robin. 'Thor's a girl, Cap is black, Superman's a hobo" and the world cant seem to get over it"

• I don't recall many people having a problem with a female Thor. In fact, the move was widely lauded for thrusting a female into such a prominent role and declaring that "This is not She-Thor. This is not Lady Thor. This is not Thorita. This is THOR." Not only that, but the comic has been handled very well and included plenty of scenes with the original Thor (or Odinson I guess) to make the transition smooth. The only complaints people had/have was trying to figure out who she was and why Odinson is no longer worthy.
• I don't think people really had an issue with "Black Cap" either because its not like they tried to reestablish Steve Rogers as black. This was just the next guy to take up the Captain America mantle. The biggest issue (at least for me) is that Cap is now Falcon, and as much as I never liked Rogers, I don't know if Sam is good enough or even popular enough (though the Winter Soldier movie helped, and for all we know this is a backup plan for the MCU should they lose Evans as Cap).
• The Superman redesign was a big deal because...well you know how he looks now. Jeans and a t-shirt with short hair? The only news we had initially was "...and this is how he looks post-Convergence!". I hate Superman and even I was scratching my head. Couple that with "...and Batman is a robot suit!" and people weren't happy, to say the least. Everything makes a lot more sense now that we have more info, but at the time, everyone was concerned about how convoluted and terrible Convergence was shaping out to be for DC and how drastically they changed one of the longest existing characters in comics.
• Lastly, I don't think people will have a problem with a black Robin. I think just about everyone knows there's been more than one Robin (and a lot of people are aware that there have been several). This would't fall under the same category as making Human Torch black, because that actually was completely changing an established character as well as his backstory for...reasons? Not only that, but Batman, as a character, franchise, entity, etc. has never had any issue with introducing characters of other races (e.g. Bane, Ra's al Ghul, Cassandra Cain, Bronze Tiger, David Zavimbe, Lucius and Luke Fox, etc.). If anything, I think people will appreciate that after 6 Robins (yes I'm counting Carrie Kelley), the 7th was black.

You had to pick the Evil!Cass picture for the story teaser...= =

But Cass was Batgirl. She freaking personified the mission, and made it her own like no one else did. Ahasldkjasdlkj She kicked ass in it.

DC is slowly driving me mad. Half of me wants her back really badly, and the other half has already seen the wretched imitations that came out during convergence and Batgirls Inc. or whatever, and is horrified at the mere thought. It's such a drawn out process of pain for me. Just ruin her and be done with it already! T-T

I feel you man, Cass was the best Batgirl at all levels, in my opinion too, no question.

As a matter of fact, i always felt like on Cassandra's case, it was the character that made the mantle and not the mantle that made the character like sometimes happens with other characters...because, let's face it, yeah sure the Bat-fanbase helped her popuarity, but it was Cassandra's unique back-story and overall personallity that made her character appealing, my point is, Cassandra Cain would always be Cassandra Cain, wherever her name/moniker was. as long as she went the same path, the same way, while interacting with the same characters, she would aways be just fine, even if she was called The Dark-Bat...so no, it doesn't bother me that she won't be Batgirl, though it bothers me what they are doing to the Batgirl mantle, and to Barbara's character.

Have some faith man, i belive that she's in good hands, at least for the moment, Sccot Snyder and James Tynion (The Main writters of Batman and Robin Eternal) are both fans of her, the main artista for the series Tony Daniel is also a fan of hers, even the current Bat-group editor Mark Doyle is a fan and readed her issues as they came out, so for now, i'd say that we can be optimistic, but let's wait and seee.

Nice catch! although by that time Cass was already out of Slade's influence, but it does belong to the same arc.

NO.

And while we're on the subject, why must Tim ALWAYS be gifted with accolades that other bat members worked hard to build for themselves? Let Tim do his own thing. Stop entertaining this idea that he must graduate to Batman Beyond/Robin/Nightwing. Red Robin's not even his original identity, he took it from Jason for chrissakes.

Not to derail the thread, but I was re-read some old trades from her series before I gave them away yesterday, and I absolutely agree. Like put aside her crazy fighting abilities and costume (Which i've actually never been that fond of) but her origin alone was completely unique and intricate, setting her up with her own issues and demons that had literally nothing to do with Batman. The way she decided she'd never kill because of her being able to sense/feel the horror of death after she had killed someone was great. Cassandra being cast aside like she was will hurt my soul forever smh. (Same with Wally West for that matter) Just disrespectful to an excellent character.

Isn't Tim's future self the current Batman Beyond? I think his present day counterpart should stick with being Red Robin or get his own new identity. I'm getting annoyed of Tim constantly taking someone else's identity all the time.

I think Cass or Harper should be the next Nightwing since they're kinda being left in the cold at the moment and desperately need a new status quo.

• Carrie, Duke and Harper don't make much sense and don't have the skill
• Tim would have made sense if he took the mantle directly after Dicks death, but know there is not much reason for him to become Nightwing
• and it's pointless to speculate about Cass, since we don't know what she will be like in the new 52

And after just one year I'm still not convinced that Dick will stay at Spyral on the long run. It doesn't really feel like his thing for me.

@bat_girl_cc: I'm glad to hear that they're all fans of Cass. Although the Scott did write her a bit too wordy during Gates of Gotham for my taste. Guess we'll have to cross our fingers and hope that they'll do her some justice X(

I prefer only Dick Grayson but Cassandra cain would get my vote as I love the character.

Go Marvel style and make the new Nightwing a Jamaican albino transsexual lesbian. That'll win them points with the SJWs.

But seriously, NO. Nightwing isn't a legacy character. DC had a whole team of legacy characters and they jettisoned them for the idiotic 5 year timeline and the horrible Earth 2 book. I'm tired of super-spy Grayson anyway; he needs to go back to the tights and mask.

This is stupid, I've always hated the generation passing the costume down. Each character needs to have their own identity not have 5 batmans, three nightwings and 4 batgirls. The robin mantle is understandable but it gets complicated for readers (not me, I know every character) to remember who's who. I like it that Tim is Red Robin, Dick is Nightwing, Harper is Bluebird, Damian is Robin, Stephanie is Spoiler and hopefully Cassandra will have her own identity as well.

Carrie kelly would be very interesting to see

@indomitableregal: ok let me clarify myself then, I have no problem with a black Robin, id actually like to see it because im kinda over the whole (for lack of a better term) cookie-cutter robin mold. Aside from Steph and Carrie (I also count her as one of the Robins), the Robins all have very similar appearances, even going so far as to dye Jason's hair black (not sure if thats still in continuity or not). I think Duke would be a decent change for the mantle, for however long it may last.

and in regards to the rest, it seems like every time i walk into my local comic shop i hear people complaining about any significant changes or retcons to their favorite characters or teams, including race, gender, social standing, etc. the examples i gave are only a few that ive heard in the stores and on this site, others include Wally West's race change in the comics and tv show, Martian Manhunter getting removed from the original JL lineup, whatever the h*ll they did to Tim Drake's background in the new52, Jimmy Olsons race change on the Supergirl show, and various deaths and rebirths of a character from either side of the big 2. in hindsight the examples i stated before worked out for the most part, but thats in hindsight. it doesn't stop people from complaining in the meantime and thats the part i dont like

tim drake should be the next nightwing tbh

No in the new 52 he has natural black hair again.

The idea of Nightwing as a mantle is retarded, it was just a name he went by.

Where going to end up with some pyramid of mantles, whoever gets Nightwing has there name taken by someone else and so on.

@kid_apollo: Okay, you have a point. I agree with pretty much everything you said, especially the cookie-cutter Robins lol. I just hope the next Robin gets a significant amount of training so it's believable when they pull off certain moves or when they handily beat a large group of thugs/crooks. People do seem to complain about nearly every change for some reason or another. At some point, they're gonna have to accept that characters have to evolve. I personally don't get the complaints about Wally, but maybe that's because I've always been more of a Barry Allen fan anyway (maybe that's why I'm also indifferent to whatever they do with Tim; he's my least favorite male Robin). I would probably care more about the Jimmy Olsen thing if I had any plans to watch Supergirl, but I don't. It is funny though because Superman exists in that universe, and the guy playing Jimmy is 6'3". Cavill is only 6'1" in comparison and even comic Supes is 6'3". Mehcad Brooks probably would have made a pretty good Steel instead.

If dick grayson has a son or daughter that's who