Genre: Action/Superhero
Director: Sam Hargrave
Writer: Jimmy Ellis
Based on DC Comics characters
Cast: Taron Egerton, Madelaine Petsch, Alfred Molina, Rachel Brosnahan, Jimmi Simpson, Kyle MacLachlan, Haley Lu Richardson (cameo)
Plot: Dick Grayson walks the streets of Bludhaven at night, off duty from the police. He hears a commotion happening down an alleyway. A gunshot then goes off. With no gun on him Dick gives chase to the suspect. He pulls his old Robin mask out of his pocket and puts it over his eyes so as to not be recognised. As he reaches the man he begins punching him, repeatedly until he is incapacitated. He finds some nearby rope and ties the suspect up. He then calls it in, disguising his own voice. He searches the body, using gloves, for anything of interest. He finds a casing for a drug featuring a symbol of a luchador mask,staring back at Dick. It clicks with him: he has seen that symbol before. He takes photos of it on his phone before walking away.
Dick takes a deep breath, trying to still his nerves. He steps through a set of double doors, before straightening his tie and sitting in a chair behind a large wooden desk. Dick’s partner, Amy Rohrbach (Rachel Brosnahan), steps up to his desk and tells him they have a case to go investigate. He rubs his eyes before standing up and walking to the doors with her. The two walk by the desk of Macklin Arnot (Jimmi Simpson), a cop that Dick ran into as Robin. Macklin calls out to Dick making snide remarks at Dick out of envy. Dick and Amy jump into the police cruiser and drive off to the crime scene. They arrive at the crime scene and Dick realises that it is his scene from the night before. Rohrbach tells him that officers got a call last night but still haven’t cracked anything, so Redhorn wanted them to take a look. The two of them find traces of the drug but cannot determine what it is. Dick suggests sending it to the lab to see the results.
Later that night Dick sits in his apartment alone, exhausted. His doorbell rings and he goes to let them in. It is Starfire (Haley Lu Richardson) Starfire hugs Dick and the two of them catch up a bit. She tells Dick that if he ever needs anyone to talk to, she can be here to listen. Dick hears police sirens going by and almost leaps out the window, but he stops himself. He had decided to leave the vigilante life behind in pursuit of a normal life, something that could’ve cost him his job a couple nights before. Starfire tells him that sometimes he should show restraint like he just did, he cannot always be the hero. They go out onto the balcony, talking about their lives ahead of them. Starfire asks if he’s still calling himself Robin, and Dick just laughs. He explains that he feels like he doesn’t deserve that title but he feels like he’ll never be his own hero, but always be in the shadow of Batman. She begins to tell Dick a story from Tamaran, detailing the heroic deeds of a humble man who had dealt with his own struggles of identity. She tells him that this man went by the name of Nightwing and it gave him his own freedom. After a night of talking Starfire flies away off the balcony leaving Dick to sit and think.
Dick Grayson studies the images he took at the crime scene on his desktop at work, trying to remember where he had seen that symbol before. Rohrbach walks up to his desk handing him a dossier full of previous cases involving that symbol. She lingers at his desk, before asking if he would want to grab dinner that night. Dick looks at her and nods, warmly smiling. He flips through the dossier, looking for any information possible. He sees that most cases occur in Gotham. After a while he gets a look on his face like he knows who this is.
A limousine pulls up to an estate and a man sporting a cane, Eduardo Dorrance (Alfred Molina), steps in. The limousine makes its way into Bludhaven before it stops in front of a museum. The man steps out and begins walking. He stops in front of a suited man, the man turns himself around to reveal Macklin Arnot. Macklin tells Eduardo that he can only keep the police off his back for so long. Eduardo puts a hand on Macklin’s shoulder and squeezes with much more strength than would meet the eye. He tells Macklin not to cross him, promising his life will meet a nasty end if he does.
Dick nervously adjusts his collar, approaching the door to an apartment. He knocks lightly, before Rohrbach steps out in a beautiful dress. The two walk to Dick’s car, and he drives them downtown to a fancy restaurant for their date. The date is going by awkwardly at first, but things start to smooth out when they begin to discuss work. He fills her in on the masked symbols' history, with it being used by a cartel leader back in Gotham.
Meanwhile, Eduardo Dorrance sits in a limousine, staring out at the street. Men and women flock out to it, all wearing black and white masks and holding weapons. Another army steps out, all wearing grey and white, Dorrance fires a gun in the air. The armies, all in shock, rush each other, attacking one another as they both thought the other had just started the war.
Police sirens rush by the restaurant, causing Dick and Rohrbach to leave their date early. They meet up with the rest of the squadron at an intersection, suiting up in bulletproof vests and riot gear. They move in to contain the war, but it’s too late. The black and white masked group vastly overpower the others, before turning to the police, Rohrbach steps forward to shoot but is caught by two bullets in the stomach, causing the police to start firing as well. The army rushes off, and in a split-second Dick Grayson chases after them, Police Chief Redhorn (Kyle MacLachlan) yells at Dick to fall back, but he keeps running. He sheds his bulletproof vest and chases them like a madman with a death wish. Or, like a hero reborn.
Feet hit the pavement and men rush by, shouting and firing their guns, creating a cacophony of noise. One of them, the pseudo leader, begins barking orders out in Spanish. The air becomes dead, suddenly a thud from behind the men. Dick stands there in his dinner suit and his mask. The leader pulls his gun, but Dick grabs it out of his hand and proceeds to take down the man. The other men try to attack him but in swift fluid motions, Dick takes them down one after the other. One of the men runs away and hides behind a car, taking out a small bag and injecting himself with some kind of drug. He begins twitching, his muscles tighten and expand to the human limits. The man tackles Dick, knocking the wind out of him. Dick tries to get out of his grasp, but the man is way too strong for any normal man. For a split second the man loosens his grip and Dick is able to get loose. As Dick is about to throw a punch at the man, a gun is pressed to the back of his head. He looks back to see the pseudo leader with a bloody nose. A figure appears behind the both of them and in a moment of fear Dick thinks his past has caught up with him. The pseudo leader is taken down, and Dick sees one of the last people he saw before leaving for Bludhaven: Barbara Gordon (Madelaine Petsch), in her full Batgirl attire. Batgirl throws an explosive pin at the man, which explodes just enough to leave him concussed. Batgirl sends a roundhouse kick to his face, knocking him out cold. She reaches a hand out to Dick, helping him up. The two of them fight side by side against the army, sending most of them fleeing.
Dick paces his apartment, trying to find the words to say to Barbara. Barbara exits his bedroom, now in normal clothing with her superhero attire on the bed. Dick immediately apologises to her about her father’s passing. She tells him that she just wanted to come to Bludhaven to get away from Gotham, all she has there is pain. She says that she wanted to see Dick, she hoped that he could make everything feel better. But, it seems he is still working. She says that the two of them do have a job to do and to take down this drug running. Before they talk about what’s happening, Barbara quickly begins berating him for being so arrogant as to go after the men without any disguise. The two begin arguing and Barbara eventually yells at him for leaving her, Alfred, Bruce and her dad back in Gotham, tears well up and obviously she was putting on a brave face moments ago. The two sit in silence for a moment before Dick makes his way over to her and gives her a shoulder to lean on. She wipes her tears and tells Dick that they’d better get down to work. Dick tells her everything he knows about the cartel, and the two begin to lay out a plan for taking down Dorrance. Barbara questions him about a suit. Dick walks over to the closet and pulls out the briefcase. He knew this day would come; it was only a matter of time. He pulls out the suit revealing an iconic blue symbol spray painted onto it - the Nightwing symbol - he had obviously altered the suit knowing this day would come.
Eduardo Dorrance stands in front of a room of people. He discusses the future of his business. He tells them his plan is to move all his operations to Metropolis, wanting to offer his services to the more socially elite than those in Bludhaven or Gotham.
Dick Grayson arrives at the Bludhaven Police Department with Barbara Gordon beside him, with a fake badge and credentials. Once inside, the entire department turns to him, confused. Rohrbach storms up to him and demands to know where he has been. He explains that he tried chasing down the assailants but lost them. Lying he states that he eventually called in an old friend from the Gotham City Police Department to help with this case, as the cartel’s operations used to be based there. Barbara plays along, claiming to be a forensic detective with the GCPD. Redhorn approaches, telling Dick that stunts like that either get you killed or discharged, and tells him to get to work. Amy, Dick, and Barbara begin to scour over the evidence, before Barbara finds multiple arrest records that had been wiped from the system on a man named Eduardo Dorrance, putting together that he must have a man on the inside. Amy researches the name, finding multiple articles written on Dorrance. As they continue to trace the name through the police systems, photos pop up, a muscular man wearing a black and white luchador mask, Dick falls silent. He prints off the images of the man, much to Amy’s confusion, before he gets up to leave. Barbara follows but Rohrbach demands they stop. She begins berating him for leaving, telling him they’re partners, and this is their case together. He tells her that there is more at stake here than what she realizes and leaves the building.
Later that night, Batgirl and Nightwing costume stake out Eduardo Dorrance’s home. They see a hooded man enter and then half an hour later leave again. Dick gets out and tails the man. The man disappears. Seconds later a gun is drawn to Dick. The hood falls away revealing Macklin Arnot, who takes shots at Dick. Batgirl knocks Arnot’s gun away with a batarang, allowing Dick to tackle him to the ground. They tie Arnot up and take him to the police department, dropping him off with a note that says, “For questioning.”
Dick, Barbara and Rohrbach stand around a window staring at Arnot, handcuffed to the table. Redhorn is seen yelling at him but the words can’t be heard. Redhorn exits, signaling at the trio to enter. An interrogation begins, but to no avail. No matter what tactic they try, Arnot refuses to budge. After hours of trying, the group exits the room, frustrated. Amy pulls Dick off to the side, wanting to talk about what happened the other night as well as the previous day before Arnot showed up on the doorstep, tied up. Dick dodges her questions, but her suspicion remains. That night, Dick and Barbara talk about the disappointment of not getting info out of Arnot, before an idea dawns upon Dick. The two suit up.
Batgirl and Nightwing break into the holding cells, finding Arnot. As they enter, Dick tells Barbara to hang back. He enters alone, scaring Arnot. Arnot lunges at him, and Dick begins to brutalize him. As he pummels Arnot to get information out of him, his shadow begins to morph to look like Batman’s, and as he notices this he backs away in horror. Seizing the opportunity, Arnot tries to go for him but is stopped by Batgirl, who had been standing behind Dick. They throw him against the wall, and he caves. He tells them all about Dorrance’s plan in Metropolis and gives up Dorrance’s location. Dick and Barbara look to each other before leaving the man bloodied on the ground. Back at Dick’s apartment, Barbara asks what their next move is. Dick tells her that they stop him from getting to Metropolis.
Eduardo Dorrance sits in his limousine on the phone. He tells them that Arnot is of no more importance before hanging up. The limo parks and he steps out, entering a warehouse. Clapping his hands, the lights turn on and armies of men step out all wearing luchador masks. He tells them to prepare for the night ahead of them. Dorrance finishes his speech and steps into a back room, alone at last. A thud sounds from behind him, and as he turns he sees Dick Grayson standing before him. He asks him who he thinks he is, Dick smiles, “Nightwing”.
Dorrance whistles and men begin to pour into the room, surrounding Dick. He tells them to squash the pest, before Dick begins to fight harder than he ever has before. The army begins to get the upper hand before Batgirl drops down, taking them out in stealth. The two use different sets of combos to take down the lackey’s They are an unstoppable duo.
The Bludhaven PD gets alarmed about gunshots and Amy Rohrbach rushes to the scene.
Dick and Batgirl finish off the last guys before looking to see Dorrance sitting in a chair, looking down on them as a king would from a throne. He stands, before cracking open a briefcase and flicking the tip of a needle. He says a small prayer before injecting himself, growing and morphing into a hulking monster of pure rage. Dick and Batgirl try to fight him off but he easily swats them away. The police sirens arrive at the scene. Dick turns to see where it is coming from and in that instant, Dorrance grabs Batgirl and lifts her from the ground, he slams her onto his knee and shatters her spine. Dick screams out in anger and begins to barrage the man with punches, none of this works. He keeps going and going. Dorrance continually swats him away but Dick will never give up. He electrifies his baton and begins attacking him with it. This proves to be a little more effective, with every strike shocking Dorrance. Dick spots a mark on Dorrance’s neck that he targets and hits Dorrance with the electrified baton on the neck. Dorrance falls straight to the ground unconscious. Dick, torn costume and face fully revealed, holds Barbara in his arms. Rohrbach bursts into the room and the façade comes crashing down. He looks at her with tears in his eyes. She looks at him sympathetically and nods, she tells him to go, explaining that she will forge the documents for his exemption. He thanks her and runs off with Barbara in his arms. She calls Delmore Redhorn and requests backup and EMT’s for Dorrance, who begins to shift back, his body convulsing wildly. He goes still, she hangs her head in overwhelmed grief.
Dick arrives at a hospital in Bludhaven at night. We see Dick walk through the hospital and buy some flowers, he continues walking and gets on an elevator, we see Dick’s eyes well up with tears before he keeps his emotions in check. He gets off the elevator and walks into a room. Barbara Gordon is there in a wheelchair, Dick is told by the doctor that she can return home now, but will require extensive rehab, reminding him that she will never walk again. Dick wheels Barbara out of the hospital, as she sits without emotion due to the painkillers. Barbara tells Dick to drive her to her new place. Dick follows the directions all the way to the Gotham Clock Tower. They take an elevator up to the very top of the tower and into the clock itself, which has been equipped with state of the art technology. Barbara wheels herself over to a computer that has a flashing red light. She tells Dick that there is a robbery in progress across the river back in Bludhaven. She gives Dick an earpiece and offers to lead him there. Dick puts it into his ear and suits up in his new Nightwing suit.
At night, Nightwing hangs off the side of a building and leaps down like the acrobat he is to follow police cars with their sirens wailing as they chase after the latest criminal Bludhaven has to offer.
