You read it correctly! Stephanie Brown, the spunky college student who donned the fabulous egg-plant Batgirl suit just prior to Barbara Gordon’s well timed Deus Ex Machina event, is coming back to a regular series by DC Comics this August! Unfortunately, she will not be returning in the way most fans had hoped.
Instead of Stephanie appearing again in the DCnU, former Batgirl writer Bryan Q. Miller has announced Stephanie will be returning as Nightwing in the new Smallville series! When questioned about his decision, Miller responded with,
“Bruce can be somewhat of an angry man. Stephanie’s personality is so can-do and unsinkable and bright, so it’s very much on purpose on Bruce’s part that he has a good cop going out on patrol with him every night.”
Stephanie Brown fans are no doubt excited to see her return to comics, even if it isn’t in the proper DC universe. Sadly, this will have to do for Brown fans as Batman head editor Mike Marts has gone on record stating Stephanie Brown will not be appearing any time soon in the DCnU. You can see why Stephanie Brown will don the cowl as Nightwing instead of Batgirl this August during Smallville’s Detective arc.
Unfortunately though, they used Barbara Gordon as Nightwing.