Nightwing VS Daredevil

Nightwing VS Daredevil is the 99th episode of Death Battle, featuring Nightwing from DC Comics and Daredevil from Marvel Comics in a battle between acrobatic nighttime superheroes. Nightwing was portrayed by Danny Shepherd and Daredevil was portrayed by Tyler Tackett.
==Interlude==
Wiz: In a world where superhumans can fly through the sky or lift buildings over their head, it takes a lot more than a pair of tights for a mere mortal to stand out from the crowd.
Boomstick: But these guys have it covered.
Wiz: Nightwing, the original protégé of Batman.
Boomstick: And Daredevil, Marvel's Man Without Fear. He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick.
Wiz: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win... a Death Battle.
==Nightwing==
Wiz: In modern times, the... questionable whimsies of the circus are all but dead.
Boomstick: And good riddance, because the world doesn't need any more clowns.
Wiz: Yet, in its heyday, few performances could top the trapeze mastery of the Flying Graysons.
Boomstick: Well, until a mobster cut their cord on life short.
Gasps from an off-screen audience are heard, followed by the sounds of ambulance sirens.
Boomstick: Literally.
Wiz: But they had a son; young, yet just as talented as them. Orphaned and alone, all seemed hopeless for Dick Grayson.
Boomstick: Until he scored the coolest foster dad in the friggin' universe: The goddamn Batman.
Wiz: And under the Caped Crusader, Dick wasn't just a son; he was a sidekick, a superhero. He was... Robin. Until he wasn't.
----
Robin punches Batman in the jaw, causing the Dark Knight to fall to the ground.
Smokey: You got knocked the f*** out, man!
----
Boomstick: Robin spent many, many years kicking bad guys around the back alleys of Gotham City with his new dad. Who could forget the time he crushed Blockbuster under a truck, or when he whipped out that shark repellent? Never leave home without it, kids.
Wiz: But then Batman suddenly realized, "You know what? Bringing kids into battle is actually a bad idea!", so he fired him. And then promptly forgot this little revelation.
Boomstick: Holy time to update the resumé, Batman! Probably for the best, though. I mean, come on, the kid didn't even have a proper pair of pants! What's your problem, Bruce?
----
We see scenes from the 2018 Titans show trailer.
Nightwing: F*** Batman.
----
Boomstick: Whoa-ho! The mouth on this one.
Wiz: Actually, it WAS for the best, though not in the way Batman hoped. Inspired by a story of an ancient Kryptonian superhero, Dick took to the streets by himself with a brand new uniform and a brand new name. From then on, he would be known as... Nightwing.
----
Nightwing dodges a motorcycle thrown at him before attacking Blockbuster multiple times.
----
Boomstick: Gotta hand it to Bats; he sure knows how to mold a kid into a criminal-crushing machine. With expertise in taekwondo, ninjutsu, aikido, and a bunch of other styles, Nightwing is one of the finest martial artists in comic book history.
Wiz: No doubt helped by his world-class acrobatic skills.
Wiz: He is one of only three people on Earth who are capable of performing a quadruple flip.
Boomstick: And between the fancy schooling he got at Hudson U and being a founding member of the Teen Titans, he's got brains and brawn, plus a whole lot of weapons.
Wiz: Nightwing's suit is lightweight, bulletproof, and makes virtually no sound when moving. The blue colors even turn black while in the dark. His mask features a holographic UI, complete with night vision and a spectral analyzer.
Boomstick: He's rocking utility belts on his wrists and ankles full of lock picks, smoke pellets, and staples that are so strong, they can support the weight of a freaking helicopter!
Wiz: He also carries a re-breather, grapple gun, and wing dings.
Boomstick: That weird alien font with all the shapes? Oh, I'll figure out your secret one day, Wing Dings...
Wiz: No no no, more like the batarangs, or thrown shurikens. The standard Wing Dings are extremely sharp, but he also carries dulled, ultrasonic, and explosive variants.
Boomstick: But let's get to the good stuff, like his two screaming sticks...
Wiz: Escrima sticks.
Boomstick: ...that are great for beating the shit out of people, and they'll be pretty "shocked" when they find out Nightwing has wired them with 50,000-volt tasers.
Wiz: Despite their falling out, Nightwing clearly remains inspired by the gadgets and skills of his batty mentor, and he's put them to good use.
Boomstick: He's strong enough to punch people through solid walls and smash through a sheet of ice from underwater, and hold back the 19,000 pounds per square inch bite force of an orca!
Wiz: And while breaking a car window doesn't sound impressive, Nightwing's done so while the car was underwater, and therefore, pressurized. To pull this off, he needed to impact the glass with over 24,000 pounds per square inch.
Boomstick: He's quick enough to dodge point-blank gunfire, skilled enough to leap through the city while blindfolded, and tough enough to survive falling off a building!
Wiz: Generally, any unsafe landing over 21 feet is guaranteed to break bone.
Boomstick: And Nightwing dropped 140 feet onto his butt, and he was fine! And we've all fallen on our tailbone. That shit sucks.
Wiz: At one point, Nightwing spent 96 hours patrolling city streets looking for the criminal mastermind Two-Face, and an additional five or more hours collecting evidence. A 2010 study on sleep deprivation noted that 72 hours without sleep leads to a number of horrendous side effects, including hallucinations.
Boomstick: But, when it was time to leap between blimps hundreds of feet in the air and give Two-Face the beat down he deserved, you couldn't even tell Nightwing was in desperate need of a nap. And don't forget, he was trained by the number one detective in the world. He's good enough to solve a kidnapping with a single look at the scene of a crime.
Wiz: Even more impressive, he once performed a skydive at 930 miles per hour, which took all of 15 minutes. That puts his starting position around 25 miles high, and free-falling faster than the speed of sound. For reference, real-life Austrian athlete Felix Baumgartner performed a similar great leap from 24 miles up, hitting a maximum speed over 800 miles per hour. To pull this off, he needed a specialized suit to protect him from the extreme cold, unfiltered sunlight, and lack of oxygen. One mistake in movement could've put him into a rapid spin, rendering him unconscious and causing his blood to boil.
Boomstick: And Nightwing just did it without any of that! Damn!
Wiz: He's certainly tough, but he's had his fair share of losses. His scarred body is proof of that.
Boomstick: And eventually, him and Bats finally made up. He even took up the cowl himself when Batman was out for a while. Nightwing is one superhero who will always come out on top, along with his partners, Jim and Juan.
Wiz: What?
Boomstick: I mean, it's right here in the intern's notes. Who's Jim and Juan?
Wiz: Oh, that's uh... That's the names these ladies gave his butt cheeks.
Boomstick: Oh. Well, guess you can't argue with the ass on that Dick.
----
Starfire: Robin?
Nightwing: I haven't used that name in a long time. Call me... "Nightwing".
----
==Daredevil==
Wiz: Before he became the Man Without Fear, Matthew Murdock was the son of a professional boxer named Battlin' Jack.
Boomstick: Sounds like a badass. But Jack actually boxed because it was the only thing he was good at, and he needed money to get his kid through school so that little Matt would have a better life than he did. (sniffles) Aw, what a good dad. He's punching people for his kid.
Wiz: Matt still trained in secret with his father's exercise equipment, molding himself into a powerful fighter and an expert acrobat. This new athletic ability would come in handy when he witnessed a blind man walking right in front of a speeding truck.
Boomstick: Feeling especially heroic that day, Matt dove in to push the guy to safety, but the truck crashed, sending some weird acid stuff flying all over Matt's face.
Wiz: From that day forward, Matt was permanently blind.
----
Matt: I-I can't see! I CAN'T SEE!
----
Wiz: Still, Matt did not give up on the dream his father wanted. He earned his degree with flying colors and founded a law firm with his friend, Foggy Nelson. Things were actually looking up for him.
Boomstick: Well, except for when his dad was killed by a mobster for ruining a rigged boxing match. Because you can't be a superhero unless you've lost your parents.
Wiz: Matt was distraught. His world had come crashing down around him, and he couldn't even see it happen. But, he could hear it, smell it, feel it.
Boomstick: Yeah, 'cause turns out that radioactive goop didn't just blind Matt; it gave him superpowers! So, he dressed up like the devil himself and literally scared the mobster to death.
Wiz: And so, Daredevil was born.
----
Daredevil attacks a group of criminals framed inside an abandoned industry.
----
Wiz: Many blind people, particularly those born with it, experience a rewriting of the brain to heighten their other senses, somewhat making up for their lack of sight.
Boomstick: Something similar happened to Daredevil, except, like, a hundred times greater.
Wiz: His touch became so sensitive, he can tell when a person's close to him simply from the disturbance in the air. His ears can pick up the faintest of sounds, from the slightest movement of an enemy to the rising heartbeat of someone who's lying. His taste can detect each separate ingredient in any recipe, including poisons. And his nose can track you down like a bloodhound.
Boomstick: Who needs eyes when you can sense everything around you down to the smallest detail? But, he couldn't use his blind powers as well as he does without the training under a super secret warrior named Stick. No relation.
Wiz: With Stick's help, Matt mastered several fighting styles, including ninjutsu, Krav Maga, and kung fu.
Boomstick: And get this: Stick has basically the same blind powers as Daredevil.
----
Stick sniffs.
Stick: Whoa. (chuckles) Silk sheets.
----
Wiz: Thanks to him, Matt learned how to hone his senses to know and maneuver through his surroundings even better than those with working eyes. He also learned how to tap into something called an Atom Induced Radar Sense.
Boomstick: Like that thing that bats do when they bounce sound around to see in the dark or whatever?
Wiz: Sort of. That's sonar, or echolocation, and he can use it, too. But, thanks to his radioactive origins, Daredevil can actually emit electromagnetic energy waves from his body, which bounce off objects in his vicinity, painting a picture of his surroundings in his head. This means he doesn't even need sound to find and take down an opponent.
Boomstick: So, he's got a ton of ways to make up for his eye problem, but he's also got some awesome gear to help him take out the bad guys. Like his devil suit that's bulletproof, shockproof, flameproof, and a perfect backup plan whenever he forgets to prep for a Halloween party.
Wiz: For combat, he built a versatile weapon out of his most innocuous possession: a walking cane.
Boomstick: By day, he's a feeble blind man slowly tapping across the road, but by night, he whips out the horns and snaps his cane into a high-tech billy club.
Wiz: The club houses a cable, hidden blades, a recording device, and exploding pellets.
Boomstick: It can even turn into a boomerang! Man, where do I get one of these? You don't have to be blind, right?
Cut to a scene from Dexter's Laboratory where Dee-Dee destroys Mandark's lab with Dexter watching from the monitor from his lab.
Wiz: No, but you shouldn't. You already destroy everything without a super club!
Boomstick: Well, I'd need to practice to throw it as well as he does! You know how Captain America tosses his shield all over the place and it always seems to come back to him? Well, Daredevil does the exact same thing, and he can throw it hard enough to bust concrete! He's super strong; he can lift a 400-pound barbell and chuck it as casually as when I toss a beer away if it's time for a new one.
Wiz: He's quick enough to deflect bullets with his billy club and skilled enough to bounce one back so it killed the man who fired it in the first place.
Boomstick: Bet that guy wasn't expecting that! It looks like he's firing a Glock, which has a muzzle speed of about 1,200 feet per second.
Wiz: At just 20 feet away, Daredevil had to react within 17 milliseconds to avoid getting hit. And while he couldn't survive a shot to the head, he's powered through a heck of a lot when compared to the average human.
Boomstick: He's survived zaps from Electro, whose power can burn through metal. He's fallen multiple stories and walked away, powered through a napalm explosion, and been hit by a five-foot bar swung by the Ox, who can tear through metal cages and lift more than 800 pounds.
Wiz: His keen control over his nervous system has also helped him resist tranquilizers and toxins, but his super senses are also his biggest weakness.
Boomstick: They may give him way more field awareness than most anybody else, but if his opponent knows how his powers work, they can overload his senses with an extremely loud noise or a really bad smell, like, if you had a truckload of screaming skunks you could throw at him. That'd probably work, right?
Wiz: But even with those weaknesses, Daredevil is a fearsome foe for anyone who would face him, even if he can't see them.
Boomstick: He even managed to balance his life of law and the crime-fighting, and became a huge success on his own. Papa Boxer would be proud.
----
Kingpin: I'M GONNA KILL YOU!
Daredevil holsters his club.
Daredevil: Take your shot.
----
==Prelude==
==Death Battle==
In an automobile repair shop at night, Daredevil lands from above in the middle of the vicinity. He uses his heightened hearing to listen to the surrounding area before turning his attention to a white car. He feels around the back of the car and punches it to open the trunk. He grabs a silver briefcase lying in the middle of the back, but before he closes the trunk, he starts picking up on a scent.
Daredevil: I know you're there. You can leave now, or I can drag you out. It's your choice.
He places the briefcase back in the car's trunk as Nightwing arrives on the scene.
Nightwing: Oooh, I'm shaking in my boots. Especially looking at the Prince of Darkness. But that case is part of an investigation I've been working, so why don't you hand it over, and I'll get out of your horns?
Matt closes the trunk and slowly starts approaching Dick.
Nightwing: Is that a no, then?
The two vigilantes take their stance.
After the two run toward each other, Daredevil tries punching Nightwing, but the former Boy Wonder dodges and tries kicking the Man Without Fear. Daredevil catches the kick, prompting Nightwing to flip backwards. Matt punches Dick two times before trying to slam him into the ground, but Dick manages to flip over his arm and punches him back. Daredevil tries kicking Nightwing, but the Dark Knight's sidekick ducks before backflipping to avoid a punch.
While leaping back, Nightwing throws two wingdings at his opponent, who backflips to avoid both of them. The projectiles strike a car right behind him. After they both land on their feet, they resume their fighting stances and rush towards each other. Daredevil blocks Nightwing's punches before ducking down to avoid Dick's spinning kick. Now back to back, the former Titan tries backhanded attacks that the Defender catches.
After avoiding another kick, Daredevil punches Nightwing and kicks him forward into a car. Dick narrowly avoids Matt's kick, which shatters the car door and window. Nightwing tries kicking Daredevil, but Matt catches his leg and pins him against the car. Dick manages to push him back and tries punching him again, but Matt blocks the attack and flips the both of them to pin Dick on the ground between his legs.
Daredevil takes out his billy club and tries swinging it down at the pinned Nightwing. Dick manages to narrowly avoid getting struck on the head before using his gauntlet to disarm Matt. Nightwing manages to turn around and pin Daredevil, but the attorney's leg manages to block his punch. He barely misses Daredevil's head when attempting to stab his opponent's head with his gauntlet.
Nightwing then pins Daredevil's right arm down with his legs. While the two wrestle, He activates the scanner in his mask and discovers the electro waves emitting out of Matt's head and an anomaly in his opponent's visual cortex.
Nightwing: What the—?!
Dick dislocates Matt's arm, causing the Man Without Fear to yell in pain. When Daredevil attempts to stand up, Dick uses his legs to toss Matt into a dusty crate. Daredevil struggles to stand up while Nightwing leaps off of the ground without using his hands. Matt puts his billy club into his mouth to bite on it as he relocates his arm.
Nightwing: What are you?
Nightwing takes out his escrima sticks out of his utility belt and prepares a stance. Daredevil takes out his other billy club and connects the two parts to form a longer stick.
Daredevil: Better.
Nightwing counters Daredevil's billy club attack and electrocutes his opponent with the escrima sticks. Daredevil tosses his club into a car which bounces back and hits Nightwing in the back of the head before its owner catches the weapon. Nightwing tries rushing down his opponent with his sticks and manages to hit Daredevil once before getting hit again with the billy club. Noticing a circuit box in the corner of the shop, Dick tosses one of his sticks into the electrical switch, turning off all the lights in the facility.
Nightwing runs away to perform a stealth attack on his opponent, but Daredevil's Radar Sense allows him to see in the dark. He hears three Wing Dings coming at him and counters them into a nearby car. Nightwing tries leaping off a car to perform one final strike with his escrima stick, but Daredevil knocks him down by launching his grappling hook right into the former Robin's face.
Nightwing falls onto the ground face down in pain and drops his remaining stick. Daredevil turns his opponent upward using his foot and plants it on Nightwing's chest to keep him down.
Daredevil: I wish I could see... the look on your face.
Nightwing: Me too.
Nightwing pushes a button on his belt and activates the ultrasonic soundwaves in the three Wing Dings he threw at Daredevil in the dark. Matt starts feeling immense pain and steps back to cover his ears while screaming. Nightwing stands back up and charges his fist with electricity to deliver one final punch to Daredevil, snapping the vigilante's neck from the impact. Daredevil's body falls down lifeless.
Nightwing: Hah. See you in Hell...
Dick Grayson walks away, presumably to grab the briefcase still in the car's trunk as Matt Murdock's corpse lies on the floor with his detached Daredevil mask in front of him.
==Results==
Boomstick: What the... Was that live-action? We can do that now?
Wiz: This was possibly one of our closest matchups to date. Despite lacking a true superhuman physique, both Nightwing and Daredevil were extremely skilled and deadly fighters.
Boomstick: When it came to overpowering each other, they were pretty dead even. Sure, based on their previous feats, we can tell that Nightwing seemed a little stronger and more acrobatic, and Daredevil seemed a little quicker to react.
Wiz: But these differences were extremely minimal. It's actually feasible that these two could pull off almost all the exact same feats.
Boomstick: Keyword being "almost".
Wiz: Right. With such similar physical abilities, this really came down to their arsenal: Nightwing's gadgets and Daredevil's superpowers. At first glance, these could simply counter each other, making this match completely even again. For example, both could take advantage of the dark with night vision or super senses, but only one set was perfectly suited to actively disrupt the other.
Boomstick: Remember Nightwing's scanning mask? There's no way he couldn't notice those electro waves Daredevil's Radar Sense was sending everywhere. Even Mr. Magoo could've figured out something was weird here, let alone the guy trained by freakin' Batman. You know, the greatest detective in the world?
Wiz: Through a little hand-to-hand action, Nightwing was certainly clever enough to recognize Daredevil's reliance to sound over sight, and had the perfect counter weapon: The ultrasonic Wing Ding.
Boomstick: Look, I'm sure there were several possible scenarios where Daredevil could've pulled off the win. But more times than not, Nightwing takes this thanks to his athletic skill, detective training, and high-tech gadgets. All he had to do... was dare to wing it.
We cut to the "Winner" card.
Wiz: The winner is Nightwing.
==Original Track==
===Composition===
The track for this fight is "Devil of the Night" by Brandon Yates. It is primarily an orchestral piece with an emphasis on violins and brass similar to how fight scenes in live-action movies (such as the Dark Knight Trilogy) are scored. Most of the track is a remix of the title theme of the Daredevil television series.
===Title===
The title is a combination of the combatants' names (Daredevil and Nightwing), as well as a reference to their status as protectors of the streets at night.
===Cover Art===
The cover art done by Luis Cruz depicts Nightwing's escrima sticks crossed in an X-formation while emitting electricity to form his symbol (similar to his victory animation in Injustice: Gods Among Us) behind Daredevil's mask.
==Trivia==
===Production===
*The core connections between Nightwing and Daredevil are that they are both peak-conditioned, acrobatic, street-level comic book superheroes that specialize in close-quarters combat, have dual escrima sticks as signature weapons, and mainly operate during the night. In addition:
**Both saw their parent(s) killed by mafia bosses when they were children.
**Both have had expert martial artists as their mentors (Batman and Stick, respectively).
**The live-action fight was produced in collaboration with Ismahawk, who are best known for their live-action versus series Minute Match-Ups and Nightwing: The Series.
*According to the commentary for this episode, the crew originally wanted the fight to take place on a rooftop, but the idea was scrapped since Ismahawk would have difficulty filming it with the quality of the rooftops of Las Vegas.Nightwing VS Daredevil W/ Commentary They also planned on killing Daredevil by having a car in the auto shop fall on him.Nightwing VS Daredevil W/ Commentary
*An extensive behind-the-scenes video for this episode was made by Ismahawk.
*This is the first live-action episode, with the next one being Winter Soldier VS Red Hood.
**Prior to working with Death Battle, several of their Minute Match-Ups episodes wound up being fights shared with Death Battle, being Green Arrow VS Hawkeye, Flash VS Quicksilver, Power Rangers VS Voltron, and Thor VS Wonder Woman.
**Ismahawk had originally planned to use Daredevil on an episode of Minute Match-Ups, but production on the episode wound up becoming indefinitely delayed until they wound up working with Death Battle to have a live-action Daredevil fight there instead.
*According to the 96th episode of DEATH BATTLE Cast, the suitcase in the car trunk at the beginning contained Nightwing's porn.Nightwing vs Daredevil Q&A + Behind the Scenes with Ismahawk | DEATH BATTLE Cast
*The original thumbnail for this episode used an uncredited fan edit of Netflix's Daredevil (note the initials on the front of his chest, which aren't on the actual show's suit) by MayDayPayDay on DeviantArt. As a result, it was changed years later.
**This makes it the 14th episode where at least one of its thumbnails uses fan art, after Zitz VS Leonardo, Kratos VS Spawn, Bomberman VS Dig Dug, Vegeta VS Shadow, Chun-Li VS Mai Shiranui, Ivy VS Orchid, Fulgore VS Sektor, Godzilla VS Gamera, Deadpool VS Pinkie Pie, Metal Sonic VS Zero, Lucario VS Renamon, Raven VS Twilight Sparkle, and Leon Kennedy VS Frank West, and with the next nine being All Might VS Might Guy, Black Canary VS Sindel, Beerus VS Sailor Galaxia, Zuko VS Shoto Todoroki, Blake VS Mikasa, Steven Universe VS Star Butterfly, Sauron VS Lich King, Frieza VS Megatron, and Rick Sanchez VS The Doctor.
*This was the last episode to not have any cutaways in an episode until Omni-Man VS Bardock.
===Other===
*This is the 14th Marvel VS DC-themed episode, after Rogue VS Wonder Woman, Batman VS Spider-Man, Batman VS Captain America, Deadpool VS Deathstroke, Iron Man VS Lex Luthor, Green Arrow VS Hawkeye, Flash VS Quicksilver, Hulk VS Doomsday, Venom VS Bane, Thor VS Wonder Woman, Batman Beyond VS Spider-Man 2099, Black Panther VS Batman, and Doctor Strange VS Doctor Fate, and with the next 15 being Thanos VS Darkseid, Aquaman VS Namor, Captain Marvel VS Shazam, Ghost Rider VS Lobo, Miles Morales VS Static, Cable VS Booster Gold, Winter Soldier VS Red Hood, Batgirl VS Spider-Gwen, Lex Luthor VS Doctor Doom, Batman VS Iron Man, Scarlet Witch VS Zatanna, Black Adam VS Apocalypse, Ant-Man VS Atom, Phoenix VS Raven, and Martian Manhunter VS Silver Surfer.
**This is the seventh time that DC wins, after Batman VS Captain America, Flash VS Quicksilver, Hulk VS Doomsday, Thor VS Wonder Woman, Batman Beyond VS Spider-Man 2099, and Doctor Strange VS Doctor Fate, and with the next seven being Thanos VS Darkseid, Aquaman VS Namor, Captain Marvel VS Shazam, Miles Morales VS Static, Cable VS Booster Gold, Scarlet Witch VS Zatanna, and Phoenix VS Raven.
**This episode marks the first time in Death Battle history that Marvel does not outnumber DC in Marvel VS DC-themed victories.
Category:Death Battles
Category:Season 5 episodes
Category:DC episodes
Category:Batman episodes
Category:Teen Titans episodes
Category:Marvel episodes
Category:Live Action Death Battles
Category:'Marvel VS DC' themed Death Battles
Category:'Disney VS Warner Bros.' themed Death Battles
Category:'Comic Book' themed Death Battles
Category:'Protagonists' themed Death Battles
Category:'Heroes' themed Death Battles
Category:'Vigilantes' themed Death Battles