Spoilers Titans - DC Universe Series

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by dahj, Jul 19, 2018.

  1. dahj

    dahj Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Why? Presumably Dick's the only one of the lot who's heard of Nightwing (who knows, they may have even actually met in Kandor ;)) so I don't see a problem if he were to explain the name to the team after the fact.
     
  2. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Perhaps, but why does it have to be the same reason as in the pre-Crisis comics? For that matter, how often do we even know why a given superhero chooses their name? I'd call that an option, not a need. I mean, if an ex-protege of Batman wants to come up with a superhero name, "Nightwing" is not exactly a stretch, given that bats are nocturnal winged animals. There's no reason Dick couldn't have made it up on his own.
     
  3. Xerxes82

    Xerxes82 Captain Captain

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    Where did I ever say it had to be any reason from any comic? Beast Boy could spitball it, Starfire could suggest it, he could see it on the side of a cereal box for all I care. They had a perfect opportunity this week, with Donna. It could have been a name she called him when they were young to tease him, or taunt him. But they passed that up. At least for now.

    I'm just saying it's lazy writing if they don't introduce the idea somewhere before he adopts it. We should see the moment he first encounters the idea of Nightwing, however it happens. Even if it isn't necessarily the Nightwing name, but rather the costume. The suit, the name, something inspires Dick to choose the identity he goes with. They've gone to such lengths to show us how Robin hasn't worked, they need to give Dick some reason to believe the new persona will work better.

    Example in point: Daredevil never names himself Daredevil in the Netflix series. It's a name given to him by the media. First as "The Devil of Hell's Kitchen", and then later as Daredevil proper. But the series does show us Matt's thinking in choosing to specifically adopt the devil iconography when he has Melvin make him the suit at the end of S1 (Father Lantom's conversation about the devil being the hound on the heels of sinners, chasing them back to the side of the angels).

    That's all I'm asking for. Give me a reason why he chooses that identity. If not the name, then the suit. And "just because he's a superhero" may be true, but it's an absolutely lame justification in a world that has gone so far out of it's way to ground it's characters.
     
  4. thribs

    thribs Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I hope they show the Superman connection to the Nightwing name.
     
  5. Reverend

    Reverend Admiral Admiral

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    I've never been exactly sold on the idea that Dick got the Nightwing name from a Kryptonian vigilante. I mean because nothing screams "I want to find my own way and make my own identity" like taking the name of some other hero, right? ;)

    The way Donna was going though Robin's nicknames (Bird Boy, Boy Wonder etc.) I get the impression that Nightwing is something that either Dick himself or one of the others are going to come up with. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if it comes out of that ancient text as I think I caught Donna saying one of the names mentioned is "Night".
     
  6. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    In the lap of squalor I assure you.
    Is any one concerned that Trigon might be an Alien and not a Demon?

    Sure there might be different Demons responsible for different jurisdictions of the universe, but that just makes it weirder, that an alien religion takes root on Earth, if all Demons are just pandering manifestations of "local" superstitions.
     
  7. Morpheus 02

    Morpheus 02 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Speaking of aliens...since I don't subscribe...any hint yet that Starfire is an alien? And that her actual skin tone is orange?
     
  8. dahj

    dahj Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Yes.

    It isn't.
     
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  9. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Why? Why this assumption that Dick has to get the name from some outside source? Can't he just make it up himself? I mean, the guy has spent more than half his life surrounded by bat-related iconography. Bats have wings and they fly at night. Surely that's all the outside inspiration he needs.


    Not a great example, because that's the oldest cliche in the book when it comes to screen adaptations of superheroes. Practically every screen Superman since Christopher Reeve has been given that name by Lois Lane. Dr. David Banner's alter ego was named the Incredible Hulk by tabloid reporter Jack McGee. Both TV incarnations of the Flash were named by the media. Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man was given that name by a wrestling promoter, and the Daily Bugle staff coined "Doctor Octopus." And so on. At this point, it'd be a refreshing change of pace to see a TV/movie superhero who invents his own championym.
     
  10. Reverend

    Reverend Admiral Admiral

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    If I remember Trigon's convoluted origin story correctly, he's the product of a union between some non-specific demonic entity and a woman, on a planet in another universe. I'm sure that's been retconned a few times since, but that's the gist of the original telling. Given that it's basically the same backstory as Raven's had she not been able to resist her lineage's pull, it seems reasonable that they're going to stick with something along these lines.

    So no, he's not alien in the sense that he's from another planet in this universe, But also he is an alien in the sense he's from another planet in a very similar universe to ours. Or at least it was until he conquered it and turned it into a living hell for everyone he left alive.
     
  11. thribs

    thribs Vice Admiral Admiral

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    But that was the idea. Dick is supposed to be a huge Superman fan, even before he became Robin. Superman used to tell him stories about Kryptonian myths such as the legends of Nightwing and Flamebird which were Kryptonian superheroes. He even too the name Nightwing when he and Superman were trapped in the bottle city of Kandor.
    He called himself that as a way to go or both of the people who meant a lot to him since the name does sound like something a Batman hero might call himself.
     
  12. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Commodore Commodore

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    I do not think the Kryptonian origins of the name Nightwing were ever that important. The first person who would likely agree with me is his creator Marv Wolfman. He mentions in his introduction to the trade paperback for the “Judas Contract” that neither him or George Perez were originally that thrilled with the name “Nightwing”. That was a placeholder and they never came up with a better name. They were glad that fans loved it though.

    From that story of how Dick’s new identity was created its clear they were not looking to Kandor Nightwing for inspiration at all. It was legally available because DC had already trademarked the name. I do not think readers realize how much that goes into why names are chosen. There is a lengthy legal screening process to all character names. That one they owned and fit Bat imagery.

    This reminds me of something I have not thought of in years. As a kid I tended to view everything through the spectrum of comic books. I saw a movie in a video store called “Nightwing”. Was disappointed it was not about the superhero at all. But about vampire bats.
     
  13. Reverend

    Reverend Admiral Admiral

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    Great, except 1) It'd require the show to either spend a whole episode relaying and setting up the Kandor story (fun idea, but impractical) , or just randomly mention it off-hand and thus carry no weight ot meaning or point to the whole thing. And 2) The whole concept in antithetical to Dick's character arc transitioning from Robin to Nightwing. Either he's being his own person, or he's not. There's no middle ground here.

    All the more reason to ditch the Krypton connection and have the name come about organically within the story they're currently telling. It made some kind of sense in the comics because they had all those past adventures to draw from that a good number of readers would have been at least partly familiar with. Not so much here, especially since the Dick Greyson version of Nightwing has become *far* more recognisable than the Kandorian one, thus diminishing it's relevance.
     
  14. thribs

    thribs Vice Admiral Admiral

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    just a mention will make me happy.
     
  15. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Obviously what needs to happen is that Dick will be brooding over his new hero name when a VHS copy of the movie Nightwing comes crashing through his window. ;)
     
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  16. Spot261

    Spot261 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Well played sir!
     
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  17. dahj

    dahj Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Titans will be dropping on Netflix worldwide* on January 11th.

    *minus the US
     
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  18. Noname Given

    Noname Given Admiral Admiral

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    You know, something just hit me with regards to Dick Greyson and this last episode:

    Unless I missed a scene/dialogue where he was fired, Dick is still employed as a working detective; and has a house/apartment he was living in for the past year. If that's the case, why is he acting like he's homeless all of sudden and begging couch space from Donna?
     
  19. dahj

    dahj Vice Admiral Admiral

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    It was mentioned he's on leave from the force.
    And he went to Donna for emotional support while trying to figure out quitting being Robin, rather than couch space necessity. ;)
     
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  20. thribs

    thribs Vice Admiral Admiral

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    The person who plays Dawn is gorgeous. It sucks I’ll never get a girl like that. :(
    The car accident looked too fake for my liking. It came off as comical.
    The person who played Dawn’s mother looked familar to me. Can’t place her though.
     
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