While expectations are that Damian Wayne may one day take his father's Nightwing. The son of the Bat has come a long way in his career as a hero, but the future for Damian is on shaky ground, with the wrong choice in superhero identities potentially sending him down a dark path.
Damian Wayne came from a harsh background with Talia al Ghul taking the child she sired with Bruce and raising him in the League of Assassins. The boy was trained to kill from an early age and Damian still struggles with the traumas of being raised in such a brutal environment. While his time as Robin has been productive in helping the young man regain his humanity, Damian faces a difficult decision to make as he begins to think about the man he wants to be one day.
When Damian first came into the lives of the Bat-Family, his sense of entitlement was bigger than he was. The young hero was still shaking off the conditioning from his time with the al Ghul family, but his mother had convinced him that the role of Robin was his birthright, as was the title of Batman. Readers would get a chance to see how well of a Dark Knight he would be in Batman #666 by Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert. Set in a potential future, Damian is continuing his father's war on crime as Batman alone and made a deal with the devil to keep it safe. This future for Batman's son is dark and leaves no room for all the development he's made in the last several years. Fortunately, the Injustice comic series showed an alternate path to a brighter future for Damian Wayne.
After Dick Grayson died in the Injustice universe, his spirit es on the moniker and gear of Nightwing to Damian and encourages him to grow out of his father's shadow. The ing of the Nightwing mantle is an attempt by Grayson to help the young man find peace by not being held down by the pressures and expectations that come with being Batman's son. Dick and Damian have had a very strong and close relationship since their days as Batman and Robin and the positive influence Nightwing has had on Damian has helped him develop empathy for others and get on the right path to being a hero. Instead of potentially falling back into role that he associates with brutalism and extreme dedication, Damian should strive to assume the mantle that represents freedom, growth and kindheartedness. That is, when Dick is ready to it on.
Damian has come a long way since his early days as a child assassin, and no one notices that more than the boy's former mentor. When the two are ready, Dick and Damian should discuss how the young hero should potentially become Nightwing one day, rather than Batman.
