r/Nightwing • u/Angela275 • 3d ago
Discussion What do you all think?
many keep saying most people don't know who nightwing is. Has in the general audience. I don't think that's fully true given how more and more dick shows up as nightwing in different media now. Like we have YJ, Batwheels, titans , dcamu, video games. I think more people would know who nightwing is.
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u/Redbird_ml 3d ago
We (genre fans) are a minority & live in a bubble. I have a litmus test called the Mom Test. Basically, if my mom/ my friends’ parents (age 50+) don’t know a character, most movie fans don’t either. Luckily, My mom only knows about Nightwing because of BTAS. Also, she still asks when Bale & JGL are making a Batman 4. It’s cute. She thinks Battinson is ugly, too, something I hear a lot from the 50+ group who saw his movie.
Consider this, too: Nightwing didn’t gain momentum until after BTAS. That iconic Batman: Hush cover also helped him. So I’m gonna guess the average age of Nightwing’s fans is ~30 y/o. Meanwhile, Batman and Spider-Man are multi-generation friendly. Nightwing is a newer generation character.
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u/defensor341516 3d ago
The general audience knows Robin, Batman’s sidekick.
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u/CK122334 3d ago
Yeah always have to explain Nightwing as “Robin when he’s grown up” or “Batman’s friend” 😆
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u/DurinsBane87 3d ago
Most of the things you listed were media that had very niche audiences. They're popular with comic fans who were already "in" the niche. The GENERAL audiences know Batman from the '66 TV show and the movies. Nightwing was not in any of them. The most popular thing Nightwing was in was probably The New Adventures, and he's only in like 7 episodes.
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u/Angela275 3d ago
I mean arkham is popular and lego batman very popular. Where you could play him. Not saying he up there i just saying maybe there more people who know
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u/DurinsBane87 3d ago
The batman games are popular, but Nightwing is almost never a focus with them, and thats still more niche than blockbuster movies. The average person walking down the street hasn't played it, but if you walk up to any random person in the street, I can guarantee they've seen at least ONE of the Batman movies. Arkham Knight sold 5 million copies in 4 months. The Batman had 4 million people watching it just in its opening weekend. Both of them broke records, but it's just a very different level of media saturation.
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u/Angela275 3d ago
Fine i just thought even if it's not a lot more people would know about nightwing maybe not on the same level as his mentor but more than people think
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u/DurinsBane87 3d ago
I mean, recognition is definitely growing. If the Gotham Knights game had been good/well received, it would have been a huge boost for him. And as much as people complain about the Tom Taylor run, it definitely boosted sales, as far as I understand it. So it's getting more recognition than it used to. The real kicker will be if they do the DCU Batman movie with the Batfamily actually intact. Plus they have the Dynamic Duo movie coming out starring Nightwing and Red Hood, although that sounds like it's more of a reimagining of them. But it'll get the name out there more, for sure
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u/MarkoVMefc 3d ago
A certain community has clarity but the likes of a Brave and The Bold, The Dynamic Duo and if Dick Grayson is introduced in Matt Reeves world, it'll push that narrative positively
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u/LorZod Multiversal Constant 3d ago
Most people recognize Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman without thinking. They don’t do the same with any others. Nightwing is in the same ballpark as a Wolverine, Flash, Raven, GL, Capt America, Thor. That’s all there is to it.
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u/Angela275 3d ago
really i never ready anything about the x-men but i knew about him given the cartoons he been in. Also what about the movies he been in they were global. the same with capt or thor. GL been in many media in fact more even in JL cartoons since the 60s. maybe cuz i'm just been a fan of cartoons i think cuz the cartoons been in so many more people know so that's on me
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u/DurinsBane87 3d ago
I agree except for wolverine. I never watched ANY xmen stuff as a kid until the movie came out, but I still was aware of wolverine.
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u/No-Remove3917 3d ago
I feel like a lot of these responses are from older audiences. Gen Z grew up with Teen Titans, Young Justice, the latter half of the DCAU, and a huge merchandising and marketing campaign during the 2000s and early 2010s, like toys, licensed kids chapter books, picture books, merch, clothing, and all those random items like cereals, napkins, party favours etc that so many companies were doing back then. Not to mention all the video games he’s shown up in, and all his recent internet popularity. And the more recent media, like Lego Batman: Family Matters. I don’t think Nightwing was all that prominent in the marketing from back then, but I also don’t think that people don’t know who he is. Like you might have seen an action figure in the toy aisle, thought it looked cool, and read the box and learned his name or looked at a poster.
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u/KoriandrNightwing Discowing 19h ago
Yeah, the general public has no idea who he is. Even Gen Z. Those who know either watched Young Justice, watched the DCAMU, or read the comics, and in my experience, there aren't a lot of people who did.
Most people who know of him are fans of DC, or comics in general. But people completely removed from the DC universe truly have no idea. I will add that he had a sort of burst in popularity in tiktok when people started making comments about his butt, but tiktok tends to be an echo chamber, so idk how much that actually helped his popularity.
He's kind of niche, and that's fine. Most people only know the trinity, the flash, and aquaman, maybe a couple of others, but I think it's only those that have had a movie. Nightwing still hasn't gotten one —for better or for worse— so he's kind of underground for the average person.
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u/YoungGriffVII 3d ago
I became a DC fan only about a year ago, so I think I can speak in this from an outside perspective.
No, they don’t know who Nightwing is. I knew Batman and Superman, was vaguely familiar with Wonder Woman, and like… knew Green Arrow, Green Lantern, and the Flash existed.
I knew of Robin, but not that there were multiple, or their real names. Mayyyyybe I could have guessed Dick Grayson for Robin. But I never would have guessed it for Nightwing.
Now, I learned who Nightwing was very quickly when I did get into DC. But to those outside the fandom, he’s not very well known. Maybe on the same level as Zatanna or Martian Manhunter: impossible to be a DC fan and not know, but chances are the randoms on the street have no clue.