Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson

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Pairing
Pairing: Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson
Alternative name(s): Robin/Batgirl, Nightwing/Batgirl, Nightwing/Oracle, DickBabs
Gender category: Het
Fandom: Batman, DC Comics, Batman: The Animated Series (DCAU), Young Justice,
Canonical?: Canon
Prevalence: Common
Archives:
Other:
"Illustration, in the foreground is Dick carrying Barbara bridal style, Dick is in a tuxedo and Barbara is in a wedding dress. In the background is Dick and Barbara embracing, and they are in their superhero costumes, Dick dressed a Nightwing and Barbara as Batgirl"
Batgirl x Nightwing Wedding colors by Ray-Snyder (line art) and Shuichi991 (color) (2018)
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Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson is the het pairing of Barbara Gordon (Batgirl/Oracle) and Dick Grayson (Robin/Nightwing) in the Batman fandom. In most universes they have a canonical relationship. They are a fairly common pairing in Batman fandom overall, and one of the more popular het ships.

Canon

Though comics canon tends to retcon characters and relationships regularly, Dick and Barbara are a common canon ship that appears in multiple incarnations. In the 90's Nightwing comics, in which Dick is fighting crime as Nightwing in Bludhaven and Barbara is working as Oracle in Gotham, Dick and Barbara have an on again, off again relationship which gradually becomes serious. They get engaged, but Barbara breaks off the engagement before the wedding because Dick has issues he needs to work out on his own. There is at least one canon alternate universe in which they go through with getting married.

In Young Justice, Dick and Barbara are a canon couple in season 3, again with Dick as Nightwing and Barbara as Oracle.

An ongoing theme is their easy banter, as well as their immense respect for each other and refusal to put up with each other's bad behavior.

Fandom

Fan Reaction/Appeal

Many fans are attracted to the ship because of their long running friendship, them being a team, and they feel that they push each other to do better.

The appeal with Dick and Barbara comes from the fact that there's a lot of history with the two of them together, and not just being romantically involved. They grew up together as Robin and Batgirl, so they have the same morals and code in regards to fighting crime. Their relationship is also deepened within their unmasked (uncowled?) lives. They're, like, best friends, dude. That's where a lot of writers get inspired to write them together. Dick and Barbara works well because it's not just Nightwing/Robin and Batgirl/Oracle. It's like dating your best friend, because you know so much about them, and vice versa, and it can work. (It doesn't always, but hey, that's life. Haha)

 [1]

Babs brings out the best in Dick and he does the same for her. They challenge each other in a way that Kory and him don't. Babs is super smart so Dick is always upping his interests and intellectual game to make her do the same, in turn Dick is really physical and charming in and out of costume, so Babs has to up her physically and charming game. Same as MJ drawing the more confident Peter out of his shell, I think Dick does the same for Babs, and she draws the quieter more introspective side out of Dick. Also great chemistry when written right and very cute too.

 [2]

Critical or Negative Reactions

Although, some of the same things that attract some shippers is a negative for others.

Well, for starters, the ship’s modern form feels like some kind of weird misplaced nostalgia to me. It’s the same vibe I get from the bizarre pod-person version of BB/Terra that’s in the New 52. Like someone behind the scenes suddenly said, “Hey, these two were a thing once weren’t they? Let’s get ‘em together again!” Well yeah they were a thing but uh… not like that. Not remotely like that...

Anyway, beyond very much Not Approving of the way various writers brought the modern version of Dick/Babs about, I just… don’t really find most variations of the ship all that interesting. Plus I just can’t really ship members of the Batfamily together.Familial relationships, even if the parties aren’t biologically related, are a big No Ship Zone for me. Like, the 2005 series The Batman preserved Dick and Bab’s age difference but also wrote them so ridiculously adorably siblingistic that yeah it kind of kills any potential for romance for me for that version.

To sum up: Terrible immature Die For Our Ship retconny writing by DC basically completely ruined my feelings towards the ship and now I can’t like it anymore.[3]

Common Tropes in Fanworks

  • Domestic Fic: concentrating on their day to day lives as a couple in an established relationship
  • Kidfic or BabyFic: either they have a child of their own, or they raise one of the younger Robins
  • Hurt/Comfort: usually with Dick comforting Barbara, sometimes connected to the time when she became confined to a wheelchair and first became Oracle
  • Disability Fic: if fanworks take place during Barbara's time as Orcale there is often some exploration of her disability, and the accommodations that may occur so they can have a sexual relationship
  • Mundane AU: where they are not superheroes and meet under more conventional means, sometimes in meet-cute type scenarios
  • Side Pairing: they are sometimes a featured secondary pairing in fics focused on other members of the Batfamily

Awards

Challenges

Fanworks

Fan Art

Fanfiction

Fan Vids

Comics

Batman: TAS/BTNA

The Batman

Young Justice

Meta

Archives and Communities

Recs:

Tumblr:

Resources and Further Reading

References

  1. ^ Comment on Can someone explain the appeal of Dick & Barbara relationship?, posted to r/DCcomics, Apirl 20, 2018
  2. ^ Comment on The Appeal Of Dick/Babs, posted to community.cbr.com/threads, Oct 15, 2021
  3. ^ "why do you dislike dick/babs. not antagonizing. like genuinely curious since i dont read the comics and ive seen people ship them hard?". Archived from the original on 2024-10--25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |archivedate= (help)
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