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In the past I wrote about the time when Catalina Flores raped Nightwing. However this was not the only time a woman had taken advantage of him. In the comic Team Titans from 1992, a character from the future recongized him as being her lover, and decided to use deception to get what she wanted. So yes, Dick Grayson was in fact raped twice in comic history.
The rape issue in question was during the Total Chaos story arch. A team of heroes traveled back in time to stop Lord Chaos, the son of Donna Troy (Wonder Girl). One of these so-called heroes was called Mirage, who happened to be the lover of Nightwing. The trouble started In Deathstroke The Terminator issue 14 when Mirage began posing as Starfire. This was necessary so she could break in and save her captive friend.
Later we discover that Mirage also used the situation to have sex with Nightwing. Through deception, she successfully raped him while he thought she was Starfire. Naturally, Dick was still blamed immediately afterward for the incident. Because everything is a man’s fault, it seems.
The way this was all presented seems very bizarre to me. The nonchalant mention of sexual assault is sort of brushed off as a joke, as if a man being used or abused is of no serious nature. Because men are supposed to want it, right? This one-sided double standard thing turns this joke into something as tasteless as the McRib sandwich at McDonalds.
To read this story for yourself, you need to pick up (Affiliate Link) Team Titans issue 2. As previously mentioned, the story arch is called Total Chaos if you are interested in reading the entire thing. Leave a comment with your thoughts. Are rape jokes like this okay in comic books? Or anywhere, for that matter?