Nightstar

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Nightstar
Nightstar by Wolf Pasticcio
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Kingdom Come #1
Created by	Mark Waid Alex Ross
In story information
Alter ego	Mar'i Grayson
Team affiliations	Teen Titans (Kingdom Come continuity) Outsiders (Kingdom Come continuity)
Abilities	She can assimilate a being's language through physical contact. By solar absorption, Nightstar is able to fire "starbolts" and fly. Also possesses super strength.

Nightstar is a fictional character, the daughter of Starfire and Red Robin aka Dick Grayson, who was also the first Robin and Nightwing. Her superhero name is a play on those of her parents (NIGHT-wing, STAR-fire) but her civilian identity is that of Mar'i Grayson.

Nightstar features in Kingdom Come and The Kingdom comic book miniseries by DC Comics. These describe an alternative future of the world of DC superheroes. In the regular continuity Starfire and Grayson were engaged to be married but did not go through with the wedding.^[1] This version of the future assumes that they did get together at some stage and that Mar'i, aka Nightstar, was the result.

Contents 1 Personality 2 Kingdom Come 3 The Kingdom 4 Powers 5 Friends/Allies 6 References

[edit] Personality

The flying, starbolt-firing young woman with the rich, flowing hair and green eyes seems to show more of the superhuman/alien side of her parentage. The half-human, half-Tamaranian child of longtime Titans couple Starfire and Nightwing is a prime example in Kingdom Come of the generational divide between the classic super-heroes and their children: while most of the former Titans join the Justice League led by Superman, their children turn to a rival group led by Batman and his Outsiders.

[edit] Kingdom Come

Nightstar first appears in Kingdom Come #1 (May 1996) when she is seen in a street battle with other "heroes". Most of the supervillains of the world have been eliminated so the new generation of heroes "fight simply to fight, their only foes each other".^[2] Nightstar and others are battling it out, causing destruction in the neighbourhood and getting innocents caught in the crossfire. They only pause to learn of a major disaster in the state of Kansas in which a similar battle has led to the deaths of one million people.

Superman, who has been in self-imposed exile, returns to reform the Justice League and restore order. Among his recruits is Nightstar's father Dick Grayson who adopts the identity of Red Robin. Nightstar is at first very dismissive of this move.

She is next seen in conversation with Avia, daughter of Mister Miracle and Big Barda in what appears to an inter-dimensional bar.^[3] Superman appears and makes a powerful recruitment speech for the Justice League. Nightstar is impressed but, unlike Avia, she does not fall in with Superman.

Instead she throws in with Batman who, through Grayson, is her adopted grandfather. So do many other proginy of the Leaguers, including the daughters of Speedy, Aqualad and Flash.

Batman, who no longer uses the cover of his alter-ego Bruce Wayne, has formed an alliance with Lex Luthor's Mankind Liberation Front in order to counter what they see as the overbearing might of the Justice League. During a meeting between their groups, Nightstar encounters Ibn Al Xu'ffasch, Batman's son but also the heir to the Dark Knight's enemy Ra's al Ghul. The moment they meet, Nightstar and Ibn have an undisguised mutual attraction for one another.[2]

Batman's real agenda however is to expose Luthor and his schemes to cause more chaos to the world. Just as Luthor is about to unleash this chaos, Batman and his followers overpower him and his associates — with the notable exception of Ibn who is later seen arm-in-arm with Nightstar.

The League has built a special prison to hold rebellious superhumans, but the prison is breached and an all-out battle ensues between the prisoners and the Leaguers. Batman's Outsiders join in the fight during which Grayson is seriously injured by an enemy called 666. Nightstar, who has been fighting Green Lantern, can be seen gasping in horror as this happens,^[4] screams in agony as she cradles her father's bloodied face, and then flies him off to safety.

Wayne Manor is later converted into a hospital where the victims from the battle are treated. Nightstar oversees a reconciliation between her father and grandfather.

(On the cover of a paperback edition of Kingdom Come, father and daughter can be seen lashing out, in their own ways, at a common opponent, Trix.)

[edit] The Kingdom

In The Kingdom, the mini-series that serves as a sequel to Kingdom Come, her name is revealed to be Mar'i, perhaps a Tamaranian equivalent to Mary, which is the name of her paternal grandmother, Mary Loyd Grayson.

In The Kingdom she is shown to be a leader of her generation, an active Titan whom others look to for inspiration and solution, a role filled by her father Dick Grayson both as Robin and as Nightwing.

In The Kingdom: Nightstar, it's revealed that she has an interest in botany, a fear of death, and works with security at Green Lantern Alan Scott's space station The Green.

[edit] Powers

Like her mother, Nightstar is capable of atmospheric flight, and can fire starbolts from her hands. Her eyes are green and pupil-less

[edit] Friends/Allies

Friends include Olivia Queen (Black Canary III, daughter of Dinah Lance and Oliver Queen), Avia (daughter of Mister Miracle and Big Barda), and Manotaur.

She is also romantically involved with Ibn al Xu'ffasch, son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul. Her father disapproves of this relationship since, as Wayne's adopted son, it means that his daughter is involved with a man who is, to all intents and purposes, her uncle, even if it is not by blood.[3]

[edit] References