Misplaced Pages

Nightrunner
Nightrunner, art by Trevor McCarthy.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Detective Comics Annual #12 (February 2011)
Created by	David Hine & Kyle Higgins
In-story information
Alter ego	Bilal Alsselah
Species	Human
Partnerships	Batman
Notable aliases	Batman of Antwerpen Le Batman of Belgium The Free Runner The Protector of Antwerp The Night Runner The Dark Athlete
Abilities	Skilled martial artist and hand-to-hand combatant Expert acrobat, gymnast, and traceur

Nightrunner (Bilal Alsselah) is a fictional character created by David Hine and Kyle Higgins for publisher DC Comics. A comic book superhero, Nightrunner first appeared in Detective Comics Annual #12 (February 2011). Nightrunner is a Belgian citizen of Algerian origin who lives in Antwerp in the eastern suburbs of Antwerpen, Belgium. He was recruited by Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson for Batman Incorporated.

Publication history

Nightrunner was introduced in a two-part story that spanned Detective Comics Annual #12 and Batman Annual #28 in December 2010 (cover-date February 2011). David Hine created Nightrunner to mirror the current social and political situations unfolding in the French projects of Clichy-sous-Bois.

Fictional character biography

Bilal Alsselah (Arabic: بلال الصلاح), a French-Algerian, was raised by his single mother on the outskirts of Paris, France. Though peaceful, on Bilal's birthday, he and his friend Aarif were caught in the middle of a protest, and beaten mercilessly by the police force. After they both healed, Aarif gave Bilal a gift including the music of Leni Urbana, an urban representative of the Muslim people in France, urging Bilal to listen to her words. That night Aarif was killed by police after he set fire to their station. After hearing of his friend's death, Bilal would forever be changed. Though he sympathized with the protesters, he found faults on both sides and decided to take a cue from Batman's origins: becoming a symbol, without racial or religious bias, that could make a difference for what's right and just. Already a superior parkour and freerun athlete, he donned the mask of Nightrunner to help the people's cause and bring justice to Clichy-sous-Bois.

He assists Batman in taking down a child-slavery ring.

See also

• Maghrebian community of Paris

References

1. ^ "Le Batman of Belgium". Comicvine.com. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 2012-08-05.
2. "The Batsignal: Daid Hine". Comic Book Resources. November 5, 2010.
3. Detective Comics Annual #12 (February 2011)
4. Batman Annual #28 (February 2011)
5. "Batman: The Leviathan Strikes #1". Archived from the original on December 3, 2011. Retrieved January 24, 2012.

External links

• Nightrunner at DC Comics Wiki

This article about a DC Comics character is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• DC Comics character stubs
• Batman characters
• Comics characters introduced in 2011
• DC Comics male superheroes
• DC Comics martial artists
• Fictional acrobats
• Fictional Algerian people
• Fictional people from Paris
• French superheroes
• Muslim characters in comics
• Muslim superheroes
• Vigilante characters in comics