According to James Gunn, In the DCU, the big cities found in our own real world don’t exist. So no New York City, no Los Angeles, no Chicago, etc. In their place are Metropolis, Coast City, and yes, Gotham City. But Peacemaker name-dropped another prominent DC Comics city in season two, one that heavily hints toward one of DC Comics’ most famous heroes. The city is Blüdhaven and that hero is Nightwing. When Peacemaker finds the door to the alt-reality where his brother is still alive, he says “Aren’t you supposed to be in Blüdhaven?” If this city exists in the alt-reality, then it surely does in our Peacemaker’s world.
So what exactly is the significance of a Blüdhaven mention in the DCU? Writer Chuck Dixon created this Gotham-adjacent city as the home base of one of DC’s most popular heroes, Nightwing. So does this namedrop confirm this very popular character’s existence in the new DCU? We think it just might.
Blüdhaven first appeared in Nightwing #1 in 1996. This is where the now-adult Dick Grayson, Batman’s original Robin sidekick, relocated to get out of the shadow of his mentor. The city was said to be located in the State of New Jersey, between Gotham and Atlantic City. It was originally a whaling town, founded mainly by German immigrants. On Peacemaker, they pronounce the city’s name by using Germanic phonetics, so “blewd-hayven.” However, most DC fans pronounce it as “Blood-haven.” Which honestly just sounds cooler and more ominous. The other sounds like a beverage you’d drink at Oktoberfest.
Many Gotham City criminals who were run out of town by Batman went on to set up shop in Blüdhaven, most famously, the brute known as Blockbuster. In many ways, Blüdhaven is ever more crime-ridden than Gotham. Even if the criminal element is a little more low-rent. Still, so many criminals usually means Nightwing often has his work cut out for him. It was in Blüdhaven that Dick Grayson became a beat cop, and most recently, once he inherited billions from Alfred Pennyworth, it is where he created a foundation to help the city’s less fortunate. He also made it home base for his own superhero team, the Titans.
Does this automatically mean Nightwing is part of the DCU already? And does Blüdhaven already have its own superhero protector on patrol? We don’t know, but now it’s definitely not out of the question. The proposed Batman: The Brave and the Bold movie is about the Dark Knight taking on his young son Damian Wayne as the new Robin. Early comments Gunn made about the film suggest the Bat family would play a role in the film. So it might include Nightwing, too. If Bruce Wayne is old enough to have a teenage son, then he’s old enough to have adopted Dick Grayson as his first Robin, who could now be old enough to be Nightwing.
The upcoming animated film, Dynamic Duo, is all about Dick Grayson and Jason Todd, the first two heroes named Robin. It’s unclear if that movie takes place in the DCU or not. But if it does, that’s another indication that Nightwing may already exist in the DCU. Here’s hoping this namedrop of Blüdhaven means that the former Boy Wonder will appear soon in James Gunn’s new DCU. Remember, the last time we saw a version of Dick Grayson on the big screen was in Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin. So we think it’s high time this iconic character got some form of cinematic redemption.
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