Robin is a tough one. I am a HUGE fan of the character though, so I'll post bits of what I said in another thread bout how they could adapt Robin without really taking away the realism as seen so far in the new "Nolanverse".
The two movies featuring Robin in the nineties were an unfortunate mistake and were not approached correctly. In my opinion, they cast the character far too old and was horribly written (not to say the rest of the characters were written well either, the movies were horrible examples of what not to do, ever.). I think within the Begins mythos that there are one needs to approach the Robin issue more realistic. Granted, a time skip is needed of course, since the first two movies take place in Batman's relative, well, beginnings.
When the time is appropriate, one could go the classic Richard Dick Grayson loosing his parents due to the mob (or whoever). Whether or not he jumps right into the Robin role, I am quite hesitant to say, but I think it would be interesting dynamic to have the brooding playboy find a literal mini-me, NOT the "gee whiz" ball of energy and hotpants we peg him as in real life. I think this series Robin should be a lot like Bruce, not angry and cocky, but kinda withdrawn and sullen but has the capacity to be charming as we all know Dick eventually turns into quite the ladies man, if not man****e of DC.
But, thats just me. I have tons of ideas, not saying they're any good or obviously useful, but it needs to be thought out. This is where they need to write the story well, since the original sudden adoption of Dick in the comics eventually brought accusations of homosexuality, (hence the creation of Batwoman and the first Batgirl) and the idea that Bruce would, within short notice, take care of the boy out of the blue, is something that can be seen as somewhat perverse and ridiculous and needs to be treated just as careful as the character itself. Its hard to imagine anyone let an adolescent or teenager fight unless they do so without any disregard to what their elders think or tell them to do.
Now, to move around this, they could do a few things, such as tinkering with the mythos and perhaps merging various aspects of the multiple Robins as seen in the animated series, where they had blended the characters of Jason Todd and the current DC Robin, Tim Drake, together underneath the identity of the latter and omitting the former completely. Im not saying to change Dicks character all the way, but perhaps alter how he ends up under Bruces care, or as Robin. Either or, or both.
In past incarnations, Bruce Wayne has always been present at the Flying Graysons deadly circus performance (pretty sure he was), and I think perhaps by creating a scenario where he isnt present could be an interesting way to go. Perhaps it is the classic scenario; a double murder/accident, but is more something that is all over the news due to speculation of mob involved sabotage and assassination. From there, the newly orphaned Dick could appear into Bruces life in some other way. Here I imagine a far more realistic route would be to humanize the relationship far more. Have them meet and form a bond far before any "Robin" would manifest. I had the idea that Dr. Leslie Thompkins, being the benevolent person that she is within the Bat family and associates, could perhaps have ended up fostering Dick by coincidence since the boy is under eighteen. As a side note, within the new movie mythos, I would imagine the best age frame for Robin would be anywhere between thirteen to fifteen, but nothing older than that as it seems fitting and is closer to when a lot of people actually do encounter that teenage "angst" or undergo a personality change. The age though is more or less an estimate to when all Robins in canon and non-canon take up the mask, it's probably younger *shudder*.
Anyway, by being under the care of Leslie, at her office, etc, he would eventually meet Bruce Wayne through association, perhaps a day visit or demi-Batman related visit for discreet medical treatment. There Bruce could see himself in the distant Dick. Leslie, noticing the similarities as well, would push Bruce to attempt to talk to Dick about his own experience in loosing parents, and the relationship between the two could start from there maybe?
Maybe Dick would then on his own pull a mini Bruce and tryto thwart small crime to draw the presses (and Batman's attention, to ultimately help him prove that his parents death was NOT an accident) since I would assume any orphaned child would want attention as well. His antics could possibly cause more (major) trouble than the crime he attempts to foil. I'm imagining causing a large traffic accident in particular, being caught dangling from a grapling hook swaying in traffic, nearly getting hit by a car, both somewhat funny, but serious in a " Oh don't go and do that!" kinda pathetic way. They make grapling from building to building look far to easy, I'd love to see them poke fun at that. Batman was not perfect in Begins, so a boy should be even more inept, despite his unusual acrobatic skills for his age.... so yeah maybe his antics ultimately then DOES catch Batmans attention, who corners the scrappy boy after a slew of botched attempts to be a hero. It could be edgier and poke fun at the ridiculous idea that a teenager could fight crime the way Robin is portrayed to do. It then gets really serious when the boy attempts to follow Batman somewhere and actually meddles in affairs. I dunno, just a suggestion.
I wouldn't mind a costume change, same colors, just darker maybe? More cloth, less skintight, I dunno. I have a hard time imagining any of the Robin costumes except maybe a variation of the red and black one from the animated series and in the current DC mainstream. I do like the idea of a really quiet and sullen Dick, ever more reason to make Robin a complete personality opposite, exuberant and scrappy.
I liked the Tim Drake Robin from the later seasons of the first animated series ( the teeny tiny Robin) and how he ended up under the domino mask (totally disobeying Batman, of course). I'm not sure how well that would translate to the "Nolanverse" but I like that particular version's personality and wouldn't mind if that they could inject a little of that in the Begins version of Dick when he's in the costume as opposed to the shy and depressed teenager in real life. It's a total performance, just like how he was in the circus. A dual act just like Bruce, just a bit different.
) but in BB the only reason Batman has a cape is to glide around. If Robin copies this trick it will make Batman less distinctive - while Robin could rely on a more unique mode of transport (freerunning!)
