Nightwing Finally Defeats His Oldest Nemesis, in The Darkest Way Possible (Showing Batman How To Truly Destroy Evil in The Process)

Warning: Spoilers for Nightwing #118After three years, Nightwing‘s ongoing battle with his greatest villain has come to a dramatic end. Nightwing and Heartless’ conflict has been brewing since their childhood, and in one epic confrontation, they’ve settled the score once and for all. Nightwing has defeated Heartless at last, and he does it in a way so effective that Batman should take notes.

Nightwing #118 by Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo, Adriano Lucas, Caio Filipe, and Wes Abbott depicts the final face-off between Nightwing and Heartless, also known as Shelton Lyle. Shelton had framed Nightwing as the true Heartless in a fake unmasking, but Dick confronts him publicly and clears his name before going head-to-head in a brawl across Blüdhaven. Ultimately, Nightwing wins, bringing Heartless’ dastardly plot to an end.

Heartless, on the verge of death, still feels satisfaction in the fact that Blüdhaven will never forget him after the damage he caused. However, Nightwing has one last surprise for the villain: he’s making it so Heartless is forgotten by everyone.

“No One Will Remember You”: Nightwing Gives Heartless the Grim Fate He Deserves

Destroying all memory of the villain is something Batman would never even consider

As Heartless battles Nightwing, the heart he’s stolen from Blockbuster fails on him. Nightwing, who believes in mercy due to the no-kill rule he inherited from Batman, offers to help. Refusing this act of mercy, Heartless doubles down on his evil ways, claiming that he’ll at least be remembered. Nightwing then reveals that Oracle will erase Shelton Lyle from every news story and database. In an ironic turn befitting his title, Heartless will be “nameless and faceless”, his crimes all for naught. Everyone is going to forget Heartless while his victims are honored, making this the darkest possible fate for the power-hungry villain.

Nightwing’s ingenious move to strip away Heartless’ legacy makes this one of the most satisfying defeats in DC history, and Batman could learn a thing or two from it. One of Gotham’s biggest problems is that it’s overrun with criminals whose reputations precede them, giving them the renown they need to instill fear. By erasing his worse foe from the public eye, Nightwing is able to make Blüdhaven a better place in a way that Batman hasn’t managed to with Gotham. Nightwing got his start as Batman’s sidekick, but the student has surpassed the master now that he’s defeated his longtime nemesis.

Dick Grayson Completely Defeats Heartless, His First & Oldest Villain in Canon

The villain was ‘born’ the same night Dick’s parents died at Haly’s Circus

Heartless’ story has been intertwined with Nightwing’s from the very beginning, so it’s only fitting that his story has concluded with Nightwing as well. A child with an unusual affinity for violence, Shelton Lyle’s life changes the day his butler brings him to Haly’s Circus on a certain fateful day. He witnesses the death of Dick Grayson’s parents, which delights him and shows him the thrill of seeing a child left behind after losing parents. He goes on to incite violence upon others for a similar thrill, which leads him on the path to his earliest confrontation with Nightwing – as children.

To see Shelton Lyle’s full backstory as Heartless, check out
Nightwing 2022 Annual
– written by Tom Taylor, with art by Eduardo Pansica, Júlio Ferreira, Adriano Lucas, and Wes Abbott – available now digitally and in collected formats from DC Comics.

When Dick Grayson sees Shelton bullying a defenseless kid, he intervenes and stands up to Shelton. The two fight, and thus Heartless makes an enemy of Nightwing from a young age. Despite this initial encounter ending in violence, their true rivalry doesn’t begin until later in life. Making his first appearance in Nightwing #79, Heartless steals the hearts of parents in Blüdhaven after being inspired by Haly’s Circus, while Nightwing tries to stop him so no child will feel as he did at that circus. This culmination of their shared past cements him as a perfectly twisted narrative foil for Nightwing.

Heartless Was Arguably Nightwing’s Own Joker, Except He Actually Beat Him For Good

Nightwing defeated his own ‘perfect opposite,’ more completely than Batman could ever dream of

Heartless’ wicked deeds can all be traced back to Dick Grayson’s origin story. As mentioned before, he witnessed his parents’ death and found himself invigorated by it, so takes to killing parents in front of their children to steal their hearts (above, from Nightwing #114 by Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo, Adriano Lucas, and Wes Abbott). His replication of this defining incident in Nightwing’s history makes him a dark foil for Dick. Moreover, it depicts how cruel Heartless truly is, so much so that even many of Batman’s villains pale in comparison to him. To make matters worse, Heartless doesn’t merely steal the hearts of his victims. He uses them for a sinister purpose that Nightwing couldn’t have predicted.

Heartless lives up to his name with this gruesome reveal, fueling himself with the hearts of others because he lacks his own.

As revealed in Nightwing #118, Heartless doesn’t let the hearts he takes from the vulnerable go to waste. Instead, he has them implanted in his chest. Readers discover that Shelton has been cybernetically enhanced in some way, and that he requires different hearts in order to survive. Heartless lives up to his name with this gruesome reveal, fueling himself with the hearts of others because he lacks his own. His death then comes when he learns that the heart he stole from Blockbuster is a gorilla’s heart, so Heartless experiences his final heartbeat knowing that Shelton Lyle’s legacy dies with him.

Nightwing Ends A Comic Era by Cementing Everything Important About His Character

As a new creative team takes over, Dick Grayson knows what kind of hero he wants to be

With Heartless out of the picture at long last, Nightwing can look forward to the future for himself and for the city he’s sworn to protect. The children who had been captured by Heartless have trust funds set up for them by Dick so that they aren’t completely on their own the way he was, or the way Shelton hoped they’d be. With the victims remembered and Heartless forgotten, Blüdhaven can work towards a brighter future without his shadow looming over it. That peace won’t last forever, though, as the criminal element of Blüdhaven has plans for Nightwing.

With one story coming to an end with the final issue of Taylor and Redondo’s historic run, another begins for Nightwing as a new creative team takes the reigns. Dan Watters and Dexter Soy have inherited the former Boy Wonder to dive deep into Blüdhaven’s grimy underbelly and expose a gang war that’s begun to fester. A preview for Nightwing #119 offers a first look at Nightwing’s new villain that will follow in Heartless’ footsteps. What this mysterious villain doesn’t know is that Dick Grayson has taken down worse foes, and after stopping his worst yet, Nightwing is ready for whatever the future has in store.

Nightwing #118 is available now from DC Comics.