A lot of people might assume that Deathstroke, and there's plenty of reason to think that. But it turns out that while Deathstroke is a fantastic and deeply personal villain to Nightwing, he's not Nightwing's true archenemy, and it's not even close when Blockbuster is in the running.
Nightwing has gone up against some pretty dangerous villains over the years, and Deathstroke is one of the worst. Nightwing and Deathstroke have been battling one another for decades, since their most iconic face-offs in The New Teen Titans by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, and DC has prominently featured their rivalry in a few major events, such as Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths by Joshua Williamson and Daniel Sampere.
These major stories have led many fans to believe that Deathstroke is Nightwing's perfect archenemy, and there are certainly grounds for that argument. Deathstroke has been attacking Dick Grayson since Dick was Robin. The two have a long and bloody history together, but that doesn't necessarily make him a better rival than someone like Blockbuster, whose hatred of Nightwing is much more personal.
Deathstroke Was One of the Titans' First Real Villains
He's the Antagonist in Some of the Team's Darkest Stories
Deathstroke has been a major antagonist to the Teen Titans for many decades. Originally, Slade's son Grant went up against the Titans, but when Grant's enhancements caused his body to fail, Deathstroke decided to take up the contract in his son's place. Deathstroke brutally attacked the Titans again and again and proved that he was more than capable of keeping up with them. Despite how dangerous Deathstroke was, he was never quite able to defeat the Titans, which is when he decided to move on to his greatest plan against the teenage team.
Nightwing Assembles DC's Heroes For Their Biggest Crisis Ever
In a new preview for DC Comics' Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths, Nightwing is ready to lead and take the fight to Deathstroke's Army of Darkness.
Knowing that the Teen Titans were ultimately strong because of their teamwork, Deathstroke sought to undermine their trust in each other, which he hoped to achieve by introducing a mole into the team. That's where Tara Markov comes in: a young girl that Deathstroke had groomed to be his apprentice in the iconic Judas Contract arc from New Teen Titans. Terra ed the Titans as a spy for Deathstroke and managed to sow distrust and chaos in the team, very nearly destroying the team from the inside out before the plot was uncovered. While Deathstroke was defeated again, this story was the closest he got to gaining victory over the team.
Even in Adulthood, Nightwing Was Still Plagued By Deathstroke
A Rivalry for the Ages
Even after Dick Grayson grew up and became Nightwing, Deathstroke was still a regular antagonist for him. A rivalry must truly be good when it can start when someone is a child and continue on into adulthood. But despite all of this, despite the fact that Nightwing and Deathstroke's rivalry was the central focus of a line-wide crisis event, Deathstroke still isn't Dick's primary archenemy. That honor goes to none other than Roland Desmond, also known as Blockbuster.
Just as Batman has Gotham City, Nightwing watches over Blüdhaven. And just like Gotham City has its share of criminals, so too does Blüdhaven, and almost all criminals in Blüdhaven answer to Blockbuster, the crime lord who runs the city. When Nightwing first arrived in Blüdhaven, Blockbuster was one of the first people he wanted to try and bring down, but Roland proved to be significantly more dangerous than Nightwing had ever anticipated. While their rivalry was certainly deadly, it only became worse when Blockbuster's mother died due to an accident he blamed on Nightwing.
Infuriated at the death of his mother, Blockbuster went after Nightwing with everything he had. Discovering Dick Grayson's secret identity, Blockbuster blew up the apartment building that Nightwing had been living in, killing all of NIghtwing's friends inside, as well as destroying Dick Grayson's home. This attack pushed Nightwing to the absolute brink, and in a moment of desperation, Nightwing allowed Blockbuster to be murdered by the vigilante Tarantula. It was one of the darkest moments in Nightwing's life, and it's a place that Deathstroke has never managed to push him.
Blockbuster Pushed Nightwing Further Than Any Villain
Not Even Deathstroke Forced Nightwing to Break His Rule
While it's true that Nightwing doesn't adhere to Batman's no-kill rule as strictly as Batman himself does, Nightwing does still consider the rule to be extremely important. He does his best to follow the legendary rule and never really wants to take a life. Sometimes, Nightwing's anger gets the better of him, such as when he beat the Joker nearly to death after he believed that the villain had killed Robin Tim Drake. But those are outlier moments. By and large, Nightwing tries to avoid killing just as much as Batman does, which is why Roland Desmond is clearly his perfect enemy.
The worst thing that Deathstroke ever did to Dick Grayson was the plot with Tara Markov; Blockbuster actually blew up Nightwing's home, killed almost all of his friends, and forced Nightwing to break his biggest rule.
Roland managed to push Nightwing further than Deathstroke ever did. The worst thing that Deathstroke ever did to Dick Grayson was the plot with Tara Markov; Blockbuster actually blew up Nightwing's home, killed almost all of his friends, and forced Nightwing to break his biggest rule. That's the kind of impact every archenemy needs, and it's the kind of impact that Deathstroke has simply never had on the original Boy Wonder, which puts Blockbuster a step above every other villain that Dick Grayson has fought in his long history as Robin, Nightwing, and even Batman.
Blockbuster Has Continually Proved Himself Nightwing's Equal
Blockbuster Always Finds Out Dick Grayson's Secret Identity
A secret identity is one of the most important parts of being a superhero, and a supervillain learning the identity of a masked hero is a genuinely dangerous twist in any superhero story. While Deathstroke certainly knows who Nightwing is, he's never seemed to really care. Blockbuster, on the other hand, used his full criminal resources to make Nightwing's life a living hell from the very moment that he learned who Nightwing was. While Deathstroke is certainly a dangerous villain, he never outright traumatized Nightwing like Roland Desmond did.
Overall, Nightwing and Deathstroke's rivalry will always be legendary, and it might even carry more narrative weight than Nightwing and Blockbuster's shared animosity, but at the end of the day, only Blockbuster really works as Nightwing's archenemy. Deathstroke is a general DC villain. He will fight anyone he is paid to fight. Blockbuster, on the other hand, is practically the very source of crime in Blüdhaven, the city that Nightwing has sworn to protect. While Deathstroke is certainly cool, Nightwing has a consistent and personal reason to continue fighting Blockbuster, as they battle for the soul of Blüdhaven.
The New Teen Titans is available now from DC Comics.
- Created By
- Edmond Hamilton, Curt Swan, Marv Wolfman, George Perez
- Alias
- Dick Grayson
- Alliance
- Teen Titans, Titans, Outsiders, Justice League, Batman Inc., Birds of Prey, Young Justice
- Race
- Human
Nightwing is the superhero moniker taken up by Dick Grayson, upon his aging out of the Robin role and becoming a superhero of his own. Inspired by the original Kryptonian hero of the same name, Grayson has risen to comic book immortality with the identity, earning respect as one of the greatest leaders in the DC Universe.
- Franchise
- D.C.
