| “ | Call me Flatline! Like the one you're about to have! | „ |
| ~ Flatline introducing herself to Robin. |
| “ | All my life I was drawn to death. Being born with the power to absorb the skills of people as they die might have had something to do with it. | „ |
| ~ Flatline revealing her past to Robin. |
| “ | I was trained by some of the greatest fighters to ever die. Absorbed their defeats and learned from them. And I predict that is your weakness. The word on the street is that Batman always wins. It's hard to be trained by someone who has never truly tasted defeat. | „ |
| ~ Flatline explaining why she was superior to Robin. |
Flatline, whose forename is Nika, is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe, appearing as the main tritagonist of the 2021 comic series Robin.
Nika was an adolescent Russian metahuman girl who was born with the power to permanently assimilate the skills and knowledge of anyone who died in her hands. She eventually entered the tutelage of the minor Tokyo-based supervillain Lord Death Man, whose regenerative powers allowed Flatline to hone her skills.
She first appeared in Detective Comics #1034 in March, 2021.
Appearance[]
Flatline's grey skin was the color of ash, her eyes were bright pink, and her short, messy hair was bone white. She wore black lipstick and had a white skull painted over her face. She wore primarily black and white clothing, consisting of black waist-high pants with bone patterns, a large waistline white belt with a white buckle, a black choker, white boots with a crossbones pattern on them, black fingerless glove that also sported white crossbones, and a black jacket with white bone patterns and spikes on the shoulders. On the back of her jacket was a red line reminiscent of a "flatline" that appears on medical machinery. Overall, her appearance was meant to evoke death.
History[]
Origins[]
| “ | I don't think you know the number one rule of the tournament! On Lazarus Island, we fight to the death. | „ |
| ~ Flatline ripping Robin's heart out. |
Nika witnessing her grandfather's horrifying memories.
She was a Russian girl, grew up in a seemingly normal family with her parents, grandfather and an elder sister. Nika was born with a metahuman gene that gave her the power to absorb the skills and knowledge of people who passed away while she was within close proximity to them. Her power caused Nika to have an obsession with death that reviled her family, as they were unaware of her unique ability and therefore couldn't understand her. As a young teenager, Nika visited her dying grandfather in the hospital. Although he was believed to be a kindly man, Nika witnessed horrific visions of her grandfather's past upon his death that revealed his prior occupation as a sadistic serial killer.
Although Nika tried to tell her family about her grandfather's secret, nobody would believe her. On the day of the funeral, Nika experienced an apparition of her grandfather that told her the truth of his past. The grandfather explained that he had gained powers similar to Nika's due to secret experiments conducted by the KGB, and that said powers had been passed down to her. He also warned her that dangerous people would be coming after Nika and her family, as those responsible for the experiments would want to silence anyone Nika's grandfather could've told about his powers.
Nika standing victorious after killing her attackers.
Sure enough, a trio of armed killers arrived on the scene and attempted to execute the family. Nika leapt into action with her grandfather's skills and killed the trio with her bare hands, assimilating their skills as a result. Instead of being thankful, Nika's family were terrified by her and fled the scene. She subsequently left her home in Moscow and went on a journey to absorb the skills of great warriors who had died. However, Nika soon discovered that she couldn't inherit the knowledge of the long dead, instead needing more freshly killed targets for her power to take affect.
Her travels eventually led to Tokyo, where Nika sought to learn from a minor supervillain and enemy of Batman named Lord Death Man. Although Death Man was initially hesitant to take her on as his sidekick, he ultimately agreed to. Now known as "Flatline," Nika trained in martial arts under Lord Death Man for some time. Her new mentor had the power to regenerate from any physical damage and essentially cheat death, meaning that Flatline was able to kill him over and over again and accumulate new skills and knowledge. Under Lord Death Man's tutelage, Flatline quickly became one of the most skilled martial artists in the world.
League of Lazarus[]
Preliminary Stages[]
On the day of the tournament, Flatline and the other combatants gathered on the Island and listened to the League's representative Mother Soul introduce the legendary event. However, Mother Soul was interrupted by Robin, the son of Batman, who arrogantly flaunted his belief that he would claim victory. He asked the fighters to step forward and face him, a request that Flatline fulfilled. After sustaining a single punch from Robin, Flatline explained why she was superior to him as she overwhelmed his defences and ripped out his heart. As Robin fell to the floor dead, Mother Soul explained the rules and intricacies of the island. Among the rules was that combatants could only fight while the sun was up.
The next morning, Flatline participated in the free-for-all battles on the beach of the island. She fought the English assassin Lady Vic, and awkwardly apologized after she impaled the supervillain with her own sword. Shortly thereafter, Flatline witnessed the revived Robin show off his skill by brutally executing several fighters simultaneously. Robin signalled Flatline to let her know that he would be watching her, although instead of taking his threat seriously she playfully winked at him. She later fought and defeated the martial artist Constantine Drakon. At night, Flatline decided to follow Robin, who was heading out of the base camp into the heart of the island. Her reason for doing so was because she wanted to become better acquainted with him. Robin noticed her presence and begrudgingly allowed her to follow him.
Together they discovered Mother Soul speaking with other League members at the base of a large Lazarus Pit, a mystical pool of liquid that could rejuvenate or resurrect those that bathed in it. Flatline went to ask Robin what he thought the League were up to, although he had already vanished. She then headed down to the beach where the tournament participants were socialising and having a good time while the night time truce was still in affect. Eventually Robin entered the gathering with the mercenary Ravager in tow. Flatline approached him and asked him why he had ditched her, although he ignored her and performed a knife trick that impressed the gathered combatants. The fighters began regaling each other about their experiences with Batman which prompted the dejected Robin to leave, as he didn't enjoy living in his father's shadow.
The next morning, Flatline was basking on the beach next to Connor Hawke when Ravager approached the pair and asked them if they had seen Robin anywhere. Flatline reported that to her knowledge no one, including herself, had seen him since he had left the party the previous night. During Robin's supposed disappearance, Flatline stole a romance manga from the martial artist XXL that had originally belonged to Robin.
The True Tournament[]
Shortly thereafter Ravager was killed by Respawn, marking her as the final combatant to die for the first time. With everyone having died at least once, the League of Lazarus began using their magic to build an arena where the true tournament would commence. As the priests erected the structure, Flatline had to break up a fight between the disgruntled Ravager and Respawn. As the sun came up, Robin returned and declared that he would defeat those who had bested him. The fighting then commenced, during which Flatline ripped the heart out of the Hasaraguan interrogator Brutale. After defeating Brutale, Flatline sat by Robin on the bleachers and spoke with him about the other fighters and the state of the tournament in general. She returned Robin's romance manga to him and briefly told him about her personal history.
Flatline moved under the bleachers with Robin where they met with Ravager and the son of Green Arrow Connor Hawke to speculate on the true purpose of the tournament and what Mother Soul and the League of Lazarus may be planning. They were then interrupted by Respawn, who threatened the group and boasted that he would be the tournament's sole victor as he was not afraid of dying. Later, the final eight competitors, including Flatline, met one another in the arena for the final round. Flatline personally duelled Drenched, a young man who could channel electricity.
Powers & Abilities[]
Powers[]
- Post-Mortem Skill Absorption: Flatline's metahuman gene was inherited from her grandfather, who had gained his power after being experimented on by the KGB during his life. Although she had a life-long obsession with death, Nika's metahuman ability didn't awaken until the death of her grandfather during her adolescent years. Flatline's power allowed her to witness the memories and experiences of the dead. The deceased individual in question had to be within close proximity to Flatline and had to have died recently for her power to take affect. Upon the activation of her power, all of the victim's life-long memories would uncontrollably flood into Flatline's mind in an instant. As a result, Flatline gained access to any valuable knowledge a corpse was privy to. She also absorbed the muscle memory and skills of a target, meaning she gained access to the martial arts techniques of those who died around her.
- Spiritual Communication: People with powerful enough wills, such as Ra's al Ghul, are able to maintain their individuality and sentience after being absorbed, so can communicate with her like ghosts that are only visible to her.
Abilities[]
- Bilingualism: Nika was fluent in her native Russian as well as English.
- Death Prevention: Flatline can also learn from other people's death and how they died and can prevent it from happening to her, as shown when fighting Damian at the last minute and blocking his attack, then proceeding to rip his heart out from his body in their first fight instantly. Her death based abilities allow her to not die the same way somebody else did, which can also allow her to learn more about their flaws and how they were defeated so it doesn't happen to her. She was also able to survive more than other players did in the tournament for a long time.
- Master Martial Artist: Flatline was trained by some of the greatest martial artists to ever fail. By learning from those who had failed, she gained a deep understanding of how to win by not making the same mistakes as her masters. Because of her unique tutorage, Flatline was an unorthodox, yet impressive hand-to-hand combatant who was able to defeat the likes of Damian Wayne, Constantine Drakon, and Lady Vic. Flatline was even able to rip a person's heart out with her bare hands.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Flatline was created by Joshua Williamson and designed by Gleb Melnikov.
- Prior to her introduction, Flatline's design was well received by fans and generated excitement for her character and role in the Robin comic book series.
- Before her first full appearance in Robin #1, Flatline had a cameo appearance in Detective Comics #1034 wherein she appeared on a computer screen picturing some of the fighters that were to partake in the tournament held by the League of Lazarus.
- She was not the first DC Comics character to bear the moniker "Flatline." The original was an enemy of Steel who, with the exception of his name and a flatline emblazoned on his costume, was completely unrelated to the current version.
- Her first significant interaction with Damian was in the fight in which she took his heart. By the end of the storyline, they had developed crushes for each other, so technically she took his heart again.
