Batman’s former sidekick Bludhaven as neutral ground, naively believing keeping the villains and heroes out would make the city safer. His real mistake was not continuing to infiltrate the Secret Society where he could have anticipated their plans earlier. Unfortunately, this decision cost him his city and countless innocent lives.
After spending years both patrolling the city as a police officer by day and as Nightwing in the evening, Dick Grayson saw no end to Bludhaven’s corruption both from criminal organizations and evil superhumans. He eventually concocted a multi-tiered plan that involved him appearing to have gone bad, operating under a criminal alias called Renegade. With the help of Deathstroke’s daughter Rose Wilson, Dick was able to work an agreement with Bludhaven’s crime families while also convincing individuals like Superman or Deathstroke that Bludhaven was off limits to them.
During the events of Infinite Crisis, the meticulously coordinated attack from Alexander Luthor and his compatriots included the Secret Society of Villains employing the Brotherhood of Evil. In Infinite Crisis #4 by Geoff Johns, Phil Jimenez, George Pérez, and Ivan Reis, the villains with Deathstroke in attendance drop the gigantic radioactive villain called Chemo onto Bludhaven. Chemo’s toxic waste manages to kill hundreds of thousands of people before Superman, immune to Chemo’s radioactivity, removes the threat by throwing him into deep space. While heroes unaffected by Chemo’s waste attempt to help any survivors, Nightwing attempts to do what he can as the city is placed under quarantine.
This devastation came as a shock to fans but in the context of Nightwing’s previous storyline, there is a strong possibility that some blame falls on Dick Grayson’s shoulders. In Nightwing# 115 by Devin Grayson and Phil Hester, Dick's temporary truce with Deathstroke ends with him declaring Slade and his Secret Society are also no longer welcome, using leverage involving Rose to force Deathstroke into compliance which proves to be his folly. Instead of using this new identity to go even deeper into the Secret Society, Dick continued to see his plan through, satisfied with accomplishing his genius plan that an issue later amounts to patrolling Bludhaven’s toxic remains. As Renegade he could have learned of the Secret Society’s plans and tried to alert the Justice League or other heroes, but he underestimated Slade and thus underplayed his hand, allowing him commit what could be considered one of his greatest cruelties as revenge against his long-standing enemy.
Although Nightwing could never completely protect Bludhaven from the variety of dangers that exist within the DC Universe which could strike at any moment.
