Warning! Contains spoilers for Nightwing 2024 Annual #1!
Nightwing has had a few different names over the years, including Dick Grayson, Nightwing, Ric, Ravager, and of course, Robin. But Spyral’s newly revealed mission name for Ric Grayson has to be one of the funniest and most thematically fitting for the Ric era, especially since it’s used by his mysertious ex-girlfriend, Bea Bennett.
The hilarious code name for Dick Grayson was revealed in Nightwing 2024 Annual #1 by Travis Moore. When Nightwing’s ex-girlfriend, Bea Bennett — who is revealed to be a Spyral agent in this very annual — is assigned to watch over Ric Grayson, she refers to him as “Moby Dick.” It’s a cute code name for numerous reasons, least of which because of the reference to Herman Melville’s classic novel, Moby Dick.
The easiest reference is in “Dick” being shared with both Moby Dick and Dick Grayson’s name, but the code name has even deeper connections than that, including Blüdhaven’s history as a whaling town. These connections make “Moby Dick” the perfect spy name for Nightwing — which is to be expected from Spyral, one of the biggest intelligence agencies in the DC Universe.
Nightwing has a complicated history with Spyral, having infiltrated their ranks after the events of Forever Evil. At that point in DC’s history, everyone thought Dick Grayson was dead. Batman felt this provided the perfect opportunity for Dick to infiltrate a mysterious organization that Batman had been made aware of: Spyral, a major spy group in the DCU that had been gathering information on the superhero community. Dick was willing to help Batman out, but he didn’t stay in the organization forever — and he never knew that Bea was trained by the same group.
While the name comparison between Dick Grayson and Moby Dick is obvious, the other big part of the name is Dick Grayson’s connection to Blüdhaven. Blüdhaven is the city that Dick Grayson has sworn to protect and has spent the last several decades in. Blüdhaven’s primary source of income was once whaling. Being located right next to the ocean, the citizens of Blüdhaven would hunt whales constantly in order to sustain their economy. As funny as it is, Moby Dick is therefore the perfect code name for Dick Grayson, as it encapsulates both sides of his identity.
Bea’s call-in to Spyral is a small throwaway line, but the “Moby Dick” code name really does capture who Nightwing is from every side — which is to be expected from a major spy agency like Spyral. They’ve spent years gathering information on the superhero community, so it’s no wonder that their mission name for watching over Ric Grayson makes note of who he truly is, on both sides. So, while Dick Grayson has had countless names and identities over the years, the most surprisingly succinct name for Nightwing was the literary reference to Moby Dick.
Nightwing 2024 Annual #1 is available now from DC Comics!