Nightwing: The Animated Series (or Nightwing: Bludhaven (Season One), Nightwing: Anarchy (Season Two), and Nightwing: Outsiders (Season Three) is a speculative TV-PG mock-series idea focusing on the titular DC Comics superhero.
The series follows Richard "Dick" Grayson, the first and former Robin of The Batman Of Gotham. After a fallout on morals and ethics between the two, Dick Grayson sets out alone for a different career: being a rookie police officer within Bludhaven's Police Department. A simple job quickly upgrades into familiar roots when the city rears its ugly image with a growing crime underworld and widespread municipal neglect that makes Gotham look "moderate" by comparison. Choosing to take advantage of his connections, Dick Grayson reboots himself as Batman-Lit-..er, Nightwing to attempt to investigate deeper into the inner workings of the city. Hopefully to save it from itself. Though having the likes of Detective Tatsu Yamashiro and Rex Mason of the Bludhaven Police Department and Barbara Gordan, as Orcale, doesn't hurt.
The series would have two notable tie-ins material:
- Tales of the Nightwing - A Spin-Off comic book series.
- Nightwing: Night Run - A mobile endless runner featuring a moderately sized cast of characters, including this universe's take on Catwoman.
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Main Series Tropes
Episodes of this series provide examples of:
- All-CGI Cartoon: Ideally a 3D-rendered animated show with a comic book-like art style. Along with some 2D animation for certain effects, backgrounds, and flashbacks. Similar to the likes of Batman Ninja and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
- Battle Harem: Downplayed in the Season Two finale. Zatanna, Power Woman (Kara Zor-El), Huntress, Katana, and Ravager are enlisted by Barbara (remotely controlling a mech suit) to aid Dick's plan in shutting down Black Mask's master plan. Out of those listed, only Power Woman, Barbara, and Zatanna had some form of romantic relationship with Grayson, with Barbara being the most recent and strongest bond.
- Cool Bike: The NightCycle "owned" by Dick Grayson; it's what he considers his own Batmobile, equipped with basic non-lethal weaponry, gadgets, and "armored mode". Later upgrades from Hiro Okamura (Toymaster) grants the abilities of cloaking and flight.
- Lighter and Softer: Than most of the usual Batman-related affair. That doesn't mean it can't be serious or dark when the time calls.
Characters
Main Heroes
Dick Grayson (Nightwing)
Proposed Voice Actor(s): Scott Porter
- Adaptation Dye-Job: His civilian look would sport naturally brown hair, unlike his usual depictions which were colored jet black. His helmet's hair, however, retains a navy blue color that's normally shown to be black.
- Amazon Chaser: Grayson would admit to some form of affection towards the Kryptonian Kara Zor-El and, arguably, Barbara Gordon. The arrival of Starfire in Season Three adds another name to the list.
- Animal-Themed Superbeing: Grayson would get the inspiration for his superhero identity from a story told by Supergirl. It was about a Kryptonian avian-like night creature that actively stalks multiple types of prey, usually to provide environmental balance among the wretched areas of Krypton.
- Anime Hair: His suit helmet's fake hair would imitate this style, channeling some form of Spiky Hair. His normal civilian hair
- Battle Couple: Whenever Nightwing is paired with Barbara's drones and mechs or Starfire.
- The Cape: While he doesn't like wearing an actual one, Nightwing is viewed as an ideal hero with the superhero (starting from his Robin years), and later the Bludhaven community especially after he publicly dethrones Chief Redhorn and his involvement with Season One's gang wars.
- Combat Parkour: Nightwing's primary fighting style involves fast strikes and plenty of movement that takes advantage of his environment.
- Dual Wielding: Nightwing's weapon of choice: two multi-functional escrima sticks.
- I Didn't Mean to Turn You On: He said this in verbatim towards Tarantula.
- Funny enough, Grayson gets the receiving end of this when he revealed his feelings to Kara Zor-El during their Titans tenure, only for Kara to turn down the ship as politely as she could.
- In-Series Nickname: As Nightwing, they include "The Ninja", "The Vigilante", "Wing-Night", and "Night-Stick". As Richard Grayson, it's "Dick" or "Grayson".
- Interspecies Romance: Dick, during his Robin, temporarily attempted one with Supergirl/Kara Zor-El, but it fell through just as quickly as it started. He gets a second shot at this when Koriand'r crash-lands on Earth.
- Le Parkour: Grayson's secondary form of travel would combine with grappling hooks and a built-in glide suit function.
- Mr. Fanservice: As per tradition with any scene featuring shirtless and/or battle-damaged Nightwing.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Dick employs this trope in both his heroic and officer personas. Whenever he's around his police co-workers Grayson acts as a wide-eyed, (mostly) obedient cop who would rather perform light paperwork.
Barbara Gordon (Oracle)
Proposed Voice Actor(s): Kelsey Landowe
- Disabled Snarker: Barbara demonstrates this occasionally, usually within a tongue-in-cheek conversation with Dick.
- In-Series Nickname: Babs (for when she's acting sweet and level-headed) and Barbs (for when some snark or aggressiveness comes into play) by Dick.
- Shout-Out: Her nickname is Babs, trades some snark with her blue-colored cohort, and occasionally sports a shirt featuring a cartoony pink bunny.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend
Tatsu Yamashiro (Katana)
Proposed Voice Actor(s): Kelly Hu
- Heroes Prefer Swords: Rather, this heroine prefers her mystical katana to strike down her foes.
- Platonic Life-Partners: Dick Grayson and Tatsu share this relationship with each other.
Rex Mason (Metamorpho)
Proposed Voice Actor(s): Adam Baldwin
- Doomed by Canon: Comic fans will be well aware of the fact that Rex has to turn into Metamorpho at some point. It would just be a matter of where and when. The Season Two finale would seal it when Rex and Power-Woman's desperate attempt at mitigating the potential "Orb of Ra-infused Chemo" damage blew up in their faces. The result would seemingly kill off Rex until a follow-up Bludhaven episode in Season Three would show otherwise.
Koriand'r (Starfire)
Proposed Voice Actress(es): Hynden Walch
- Interspecies Romance: Her relationship with Dick Grayson/Nightwing, a human.
- Literal-Minded: Despite gaining a basic understand of human grammar and words, Kori would still struggle to learn or interpret Earth euphemisms/
- Magic Kiss: Her premiere episode, "Long Way from Home", would feature her gaining some knowledge of the human language and some personal details from Nightwing through a forced smooch.
- More Deadly Than the Male: Nightwing, a human with Olympic-level skills, is no slouch in the fighting, speed, and tactical prowess departments. However, when besides Kori (an alien warrior with extraordinary strength, senses, and energy based powers), there's a stark difference. Plus, she would be far more willing to kill when all other options have failed.
- Ms. Fanservice: A trait retained from the comics to match her male counterpart.
- Power of the Sun: Starfire's powers and abilities are either derived or empowered by non-ionizing radiation sources, like the Sun.
- Statuesque Stunner: Kori is tall, towering over most of the human characters at a height of 6'6''. Orca and Metamopho, for instance, are some of the few characters that able to match or tower over her.
- Walking Spoiler: Originally, there would no signs that the Tamaranian would even appear in the series, seeing as she would be Adapted Out of the Titans lineup with a more classic one (featuring Roy Harper/Speedy, Wonder Girl/Donna Troy, Supergirl/Kara Zor-El, Aqualad/Kaldur'ahm, Kid Flash/Wally West, and Robin/Dick Grayson). Thus, one would assume that the character had no reason to appear.
Major Rogues Gallery
Ronald Desmond (Blockbuster)
Proposed Voice Actor(s): Kevin Greivoux
- Mighty Glacier: Ronald's mutation would make him pretty strong and imposing, but lacks the speed to catch up with Nightwing's quicker footwork.
Krank (Toymaker)
Proposed Voice Actor(s): Steve Blum
- Canon Immigrant: Originally created for one episode in "The Batman" (and had an easter egg in Arkham City).
- Graceful Loser: While he can act aggressively during the duration of his games (and sometimes a downplayed Sore Loser when events don't go to plan), Krank shows off some reasonable sportsmanship towards his participants and willingly faces potential incarceration afterward.
Saiko
Proposed Voice Actor(s): Matthew Yang King
- Meaningful Name: "Saiko" is Japanese for "the best", matching Saiko's boisterous perception of his fighting skills (though, he's not wrong). However, when you pronounce the name, it sounds like "psycho" which also matches his outward personality of low empathy and loneliness.
- Race Lift: In the comics, Raymond is Caucasian. Nightwing: TAS would make him Japanese, most likely to avoid the Mighty Whitey trope.
- Walking Spoiler: His presence begins a build-up side story spreading throughout the three planned seasons focusing on the Court of Owls.
Minor Heroes
Helena Bertinelli (Huntress)
Proposed Voice Actor(s): Amy Acker
- Badass Longcoat: Helena would trade the cape look from the comics to a dark purple hoodie trench coat.
Bruce Wayne (Batman)
Proposed Voice Actor: Kevin Conroy
- Walking Spoiler: [[He appears in 2 episodes in flashbacks during Season One of how Grayson quits as Robin. Makes his full physical appearance in Season Two and Three in assisting Nightwing in fighting Deathstroke and Black Mask.]]
Kara Zor-El/Danvers (Power-Woman/Supergirl)
Proposed Voice Actor(s): Laura Bailey
- Adaptation Name Change: Her older superhero persona is known as "Power-Woman", not PowerGirl.
- Composite Character: Supergirl and Power Girl are one of the same, rather than being alternate versions of the same character.
- Distaff Counterpart: As Supergirl, she would be the younger, female of Superman.
- Chest Insignia: She would discuss the idea with Nightwing in their Crossover episode, but ultimately lacks one.
- Power of the Sun: Every Kryptonian from the comics have this trait to gain their Combo Platter Powers powers, and Kara is no different here.
Minor Rogues
Grace Balin (Orca)
Proposed Voice Actor(s): Laura Bailey
- Clothing Damage: Grace's first transformation after trying to "get back" at her Aquarium's local vandals.
- Evil Is Bigger: Another powerhouse character that would tower over the protagonist (and most average size humans for that manner
- Magic Pants: Later appearances feature more size adjusting feminine sports attire.
- Statuesque Stunner: Grace's monstrous aquatic form is very tall.
Rose Wilson (Ravager)
Proposed Voice Actor(s):
- Morality Pet: Her young brother, Jericho, would be this to Rose. Hence why she chooses to kill contracts involving morally ambiguous or rotten folks rather than innocent people for cash (which would be used to support her brother's health condition).
- Walking Spoiler: Rose would appear in an episode involving an assassination plot of important business figures during a big gathering. However, it would appear that she was not blatantly involved with the ordeal, but rather acting as one of Blockbuster's guests. A later episode would feature Deathstroke, or so it seems, ambushing Nightwing as Black Mask reveals that his hired gun "to even the odds". During their brutal fight, Nightwing damages "Deathstroke's" helmet, forcing the assailant to unmask and reveal herself as Slade's daughter and the guest from weeks prior.
Harleen Quinzel (Harley Quinn)
Proposed Voice Actor(s): Hynden Walch
- Reluctant Psycho: Harleen would be well aware of the fact that Harley Quinn has a separate personality as a result of The Joker's death. Therefore, she would try to self-diagnosing and get prescriptions to subdue her wild side.
- Talking to Themself: Harleen privately holds conversations with Harley, usually when she's in her temporary office within Bludhaven. This also extends to her mental manifestation of The Joker.
Adonis
Proposed Voice Actor(s):
- Canon Immigrant: Originally from the 2003 Teen Titans cartoon.
Episode Recap
Season One: Bludhaven
- Episode 01) Out of the Shadows: Part 1: Months after passing the police academy, Dick Grayson gets comfortable with his new surroundings within the Bludhaven police and social community. Comfortable enough to brush off his vigilante skills to investigate the aftermath of a random mugging.
- Episode 02) Out of the Shadows: Part 2: New clues reveal an ongoing substance transport occurring near Bludhaven's shipping harbor.
Season Two: Anarky
- Episode 01) Police Relations: A couple of months after exposing Redhorn's connection to the foiled gang war, Nightwing earns the respect of Bludhaven populace. Though as a cost, the populace's strained relationship with the police worsens.
