Nightwing & Flamebird: From Birds to Heroes to Gods
Nightwing and Flamebird have changed since their first appearance 60 years ago and a lot of these changes only came about because Clark created and told their story.
Nightwing and Flamebird first appear in Superman (1939) #158 as native birds of Krypton. Nightwing seems to be modelled after a Raven, while Flamebird shares most of its characteristics with parrots but has the headfeathers of a cockatoo. They both appear again in Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #69, but the colour of Flamebird’s feathers has changed slightly. While it was initially an orange and yellow bird, green feathers got added to its wings.
A year after the first appearance of Nightwing and Flamebird, Jor-Ell II and Kal-El II, the two sons of an alternate universe Clark, take up the mantles of Nightwing and Flamebird to stop a mysterious raider. They are aware that their father and Jimmy were Kandor’s Dynamic Duo and derived their names from the birds. Nightwing and Flamebird appear once again, but this time not in captivity. The birds are temporarily resized by the villain of the story. By now, Flamebird has even more green in its design. (Superman (1939) #166)
Clark inspired Dick to take up the identity of Nightwing in Tales of the Teen Titans (1884) #44, and in Secret Origins (1986) #3 Bette Kane took on the Flamebird identity because of her crush on Dick Grayson. Sadly, nothing seems to connect her to the Kryptonian origin of the name.
Nightwing and Flamebird as a duo don’t appear again until Superman: The Man of Steel (1991) #111 over 30 years after their last team-up appearance. It is unclear whether the original human Nightwing and Flamebird were still Clark and Jimmy in this altered reality. What is known is that the two heroes fought for justice for all living beings.
Another five years go by until Nightwing is mentioned once more by Clark in the pages of Nightwing (1996) #102. Clark introduces the hero as having lived on Krypton centuries before Clark’s birth. While Dick was cast out by Batman, Nightwing was cast out by his family. He fought for justice and helped the weak. There’s no mention of Flamebird.
In 2009 Nightwing and Flamebird were introduced as Gods of the modern Kryptonian pantheon. They are creations of Rao, who is the prime divine entity observed in Kryptonian religion and was introduced just a decade prior in 1999.
Flamebird’s original purpose was to destroy the creations of her brother Vohc in order to inspire him to create greater works, while Nightwing was tasked to hunt down the evils which hid from Rao in the shadows. Nightwing and Flamebird later fell in love and established a union.
The appearance of Nightwing and Flamebird shifts. Sometimes they look more like phoenixes, other times they are as burly as modern western dragons.
The Winged-Ones appearing in Krypton Chronicles (1981) might have served as an inspiration for the dragon God designs. In addition, the comic reveals that Rao and his children represent the modern Gods of Krypton. There were ancient Kryptonian deities before them.
The next time Nightwing and Flamebird get mentioned is in Grayson (2014) Annual #2. It’s the first time Clark tells Dick about both heroes. Flamebird still represents destruction, while Nightwing became the rebuilder.
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