'Titans' Season 2 Episode 9: Deathstroke has broken Dick Grayson and the rise of Nightwing is imminent
It's been a long, slow road to Nightwing and at this point, we're starting to get frustrated with the wait but it looks like the journey might almost be at its end.
In 'Titans' Season 2 Episode 9 'Atonement', Dick Grayson (Brenton Thwaites) has finally hit rock bottom, now that he's had to reveal that he's the reason Jericho Wilson (Chella Man) is dead.
Season 2 has seen Dick slowly but surely fall in a downward spiral with everything he tried to build broken down by his own dirty secrets. Ever since he left Batman (Iain Glen), all the former Boy Wonder has wanted was to create something new but now he's left with nothing.
With the Titans splintered and everyone except Gar Logan / Beast Boy (Ryan Potter), Conner Kent (Joshua Orpin), and Krypto (the Superdog) abandoning him, Jericho's father Slade Wilson / Deathstroke (Esai Morales) has broken the former Robin and taken his revenge. Deathstroke won.
Even though it really has been a long, slow-burn of a story, we've finally reached the point where the character has been fully dissected and now it's time to rebuild.
Dick's final act in the episode, attacking a bunch of officers so he can get arrested and sent away to prison, marks the final nail in the coffin of his old self and now he can be reborn into someone new — someone dressed in black and blue.
Thwaites' Nightwing costume was leaked online in September and the show has been building up to it since the very beginning of the series. We don't know what exactly causes Dick to actually become Nightwing yet but we should be finding out soon enough.
In the comics, Dick chose the name Nightwing as a way of honoring both Batman and Superman, who once told Dick an old Kryptonian legend of a man who was cast out of his family and decided to war on crime as a hero called Nightwing.
It wouldn't be the worst idea to maintain that connection to the Man of Steel somehow. After all, it's about time Conner got to meet at least one of his dads and Lex Luthor isn't really the best option.
Either way, the next episode is going to pick up with Dick at his lowest point and now the only way out is upward. Robin is dead and the Titans are disbanded but there are still threats aplenty to be faced and it's time for the rise of Nightwing.
'Titans' Season 2 Episode 10 'Fallen' will arrive on the DC universe on November 8.
