#just know that stealing a mantle from a female character to facilitate your m/m ship is misogynist as hell

[bitterrobin]

Alright, let's make one thing clear.

The only Flamebird on Earth is Bette Kane and it's NOT a mantle that you can slap on to whoever you ship Dick Grayson with. I don't care if you think Geoff John's 2009 retcon of Nightwing/Flamebird being romantically reincarnated gods is poetic or fitting. Please stop using Flamebird in name only because you want a character to be "closer" to Dick.

Wally West is the Flash. Keep him as the Flash, a mantle that ALREADY holds a ton of meaning to him. He doesn't need a different name to be shipped with Dick. The exact same goes for everyone else: Kory is Starfire, Barbara is Oracle, Roy is Arsenal/Red Arrow, etc.

There's absolutely no reason that they need a new name just to be paired with Dick. They are perfectly great characters ON THEIR OWN WITH THEIR OWN NAMES AND HISTORIES ATTACHED TO THOSE NAMES. (If you read any Nightwing or Titans comics, then you'd also know that someone's hero name has zero bearing on their relationship with Dick.)

In fact, the Nightwing/Flamebird retcon doesn't even fit Dick's version of Nightwing. Clark gave Dick the name and history of Nightwing pre-retcon, when the name was of a Kryptonian hero - not a god. It has meaning to Dick as the name of a vigilante who operated similarly to him on Krypton, the meaning of an independent hero - which is what he wanted when Clark gave him the name. If you really want to go there, then the Nightwing and Flamebird of Krypton/Kandor were more like the Batman and Robin of their planet and thus, would not work well romantically.

I hate to say it, but Flamebird ALSO doesn't work as a vigilante mantle to pass on to a potential sidekick/partner to Nightwing. You cannot give it to Tim or Damian or Jason because Bette still exists.

Bette Kane has held the name since 1989. She's still using it as of 2023. By now, the identity of Flamebird is just as intrinsically tied to Titans West as it is tied to Superman. The mantle of Flamebird on Earth is tied to Los Angeles-California, to Titans West, to the history of Bette's character. She is her own independent vigilante, and Flamebird is a SOLO hero who has historically only ever teamed up with either Titans West or Beast Boy.

You wanna argue that Bette taking Flamebird as a name was a joke by the writers because she had a crush on him? Then also take in the fact that Bette has made the name her own since then.

You want to make someone else Flamebird? Then write something where Bette gives the name to them. It's her mantle to give. And if you really don't like her, then write Clark or Kara giving it to them.

Every single mantle, every name, in a comic has its own meaning. There's going to be someone out there, a character, that took that name and made its identity their own. Just as you cannot throw the Robin name onto any child/teen character, you cannot throw the Flamebird name onto anyone who's in any way connected to Dick.