My favorite superhero is Nightwing.
Who is Nightwing you ask? He is who Robin (Richard Greyson) becomes once he “graduates” being Robin. Actually, it’s more like he’s told by Batman to either come back as Batman’s sidekick, or leave. After a brief crisis of identity, Richard Greyson becomes Nightwing. He gets his name from a Kryptonian myth and becomes a superhero in his own right.
I love Nightwing. He has been my favorite superhero for years- although I can’t remember how I learned about him. It might have been during his one-time appearance in Teen Titans, the animated TV show. My adoration for the character might be influenced by my affection for the Robin of the show.
Of course, there isn’t a problem with that. I can like whomever I like. But I brought up my favorite hero to my uncle recently and was met with a lot of teasing questions. He and my cousins couldn’t understand why he was my favorite.
“Why would you like the second-best detective in the world when you could like Batman?”
I could respond to this by talking about how Nightwing is a more adjusted, less dark and gloomy Batman. I could say that he is an amazing hero with a full backstory, or that he is just less mainstream than most.
But more than that, I want to talk about why it seems so bad to be second best.
“Second place is first loser,” I was told by my dad during my childhood. Of course, in my family, it was meant as a joke or a teasing push to try a little harder. First loser, not as good as the best, so close but not far enough. Second place seems so bad to us. I’ve heard people say, “If I can’t be the best, then what is the point?”
I can understand. I like being the best myself. Somehow, though, I haven’t gained that emotional connection necessitating being the best. In simple terms, sometimes I just don’t care. There is nothing wrong with being second. For a very long time, (even now) I didn’t see myself as a “winner”.
I felt second best for most of my life. My fun little analogy is: “I grew up as a medium sized fish in a small pond full of large fish.” When you are surrounded by people who are smarter than you, you feel dumb. When you are around people who are better at something than you, you feel inadequate.
When you grow up as a homeschooled child in a rural area where some of the people you went to classes with applied to Yale and Harvard, you do NOT feel intelligent.
And maybe that’s why I like Nightwing, more than my appreciation for the original Robin. He is second best. He is not a “winner”. He feels like me.
Someone who is overshadowed by those who outpace him, but still shines in his own right.
He’s the hero I need.