Barbara Gordon Casting Thread

[Invader Joker]

Robin is a teenager with no superpowers. Having him in the movie would make Batman seem like a child abuser.

 

[David H.]

Robin is a teenager with no superpowers. Having him in the movie would make Batman seem like a child abuser.

Y’know the only logical end to this line of thinking is discarding Batman entirely as a concept for being an irresponsible, privileged brat who’d rather take out his frustration on the impoverished and mentally ill through violent means, right?

It’s no less problematic than having teenage sidekicks.

TL; DR: because comic books.

Counter-argument: Robin’s inclusion signals the greatest act of character development one can give Batman short of having all his enemies rehabilitated and him retiring happily ever after; being that by becoming a father himself, he’s triumphed over the initial trauma that inspired becoming Batman in the first place (the loss of his own parents.)

 

[Eddie Dean]

Graysons have a tendency of being grounded.

Damn son, that's just wrong!!!

 

[Invader Joker]

That "Batman is a rich dude that goes after the poor" is such an idiotic take but I'm not surprised someone as condescending as you mentioned it. Batman goes after ALL CRIME, no matter where it comes from. And he does use the Wayne foundation and his resources as Bruce Wayne to fix the city beyond his fists. The point is the city is so broken that's not enough, and he has to use more than that to effectively protect people.

That's not quite as jarring as him putting mentally scarred teenagers into dangerous and traumatizing life and death scenarios. It works in the comics because the stylized drawings makes you forget they're teenagers and you just see them as little fighting machines. However, in a movie with a "grounded and dark" take that's not the case.

It's even worse if you try to pass it off as a "Bruce Wayne learns fatherhood" thing. Would you put your son into life and death traumatizing scenarios? There's a reason why even comic book writers like Scott Snyder don't feel that comfortable writing the robins.

There's a reason Nolan avoided the Bat Family entirely.

 

[Marvel united]

I feel like I'm back in 2008.

 

[David H.]

Would you put your son into life and death traumatizing scenarios? There's a reason why even comic book writers like Scott Snyder don't feel that comfortable writing the robins.

There's a reason Nolan avoided the Bat Family entirely.

No, because I’m not a fictional character in a comic book/comic book based movie about people who put on Halloween costumes to punch criminals.

And that’s really the whole point here.

And, y’know, Nolan ended his trilogy with Bruce Wayne happily retiring and “learning [some] fatherhood.”

 

[Marvel united]

If audiences can accept a 15 year old kid being bribed by Tony Stark to take on a war hero

If they can accept a 14 year old Billy Batson. If IT (a horror film that features children being brutally murdered by a monster clown) can become the highest grossing horror film of all time

Then they can accept a 14 year old, orphaned Dick Grayson, being taken under Wayne's wing and trained to avenge his parents in the same way Bruce goes out every night to avenge his

And Joker, you never care about "problematic ideas". It's odd that you'd draw the line at Robin. So what, we're just never going to see the Batfamily in film because of some BS, easily disproven excuse about children?

 

[Invader Joker]

Billy Batson and Peter Parker has superpowers. Dick Grayson doesn't. That's the main thing at play here.

 

[Greenlite]

 

[TheGuy]

I doubt Barbara will show up in this film. The DC films are rumored to be back to being independent of each other. If they are planning on making a Batgirl film in the near future then they may not want to introduce another version of the character in this film.

Anyway Thandie Newton's daughter Nico Parker (from Disney's live action Dumbo film) would be my pick.

Like this casting. Someone who is actually young (not in their early 20s) and could conceivably look to Bruce as a paternal figure (not as a lover).

 

[Invader Joker]

That was a comedy..

 

[Invader Joker]

If they're going teenager, Isabella Moner:

If they're going young adult... maybe Vanessa Morgan? Gonna have to look more into young adult mixed actresses:

 

[Blind Bat]

If IT (a horror film that features children being brutally murdered by a monster clown) can become the highest grossing horror film of all time

Then they can accept a 14 year old, orphaned Dick Grayson, being taken under Wayne's wing and trained to avenge his parents in the same way Bruce goes out every night to avenge his

This kind of sums it up for me. I want teenage Robin. Not little kid Robin. Not 20-something Chris O'Donnell Robin. 14-16 years old. We haven't had a believably teenage Robin in decades, and that needs to change. Without Robin 1) We never see the father/mentor aspect of Bruce's character and 2) We never get Nightwing. I'm sorry, but you can't skip the Robin stage and go straight to Nightwing. It's part of Nightwing's character development. He stepped out of Batman's shadow to be his own man. He can't step out of a shadow he was never really in, can he?

This isn't real life, people. This is a movie, where a bunch of kids/teens can go and evade murderous thieves to find a mythical pirate treasure (Goonies) or, as mentioned above, a bunch of kids can battle a child-eating demon clown (It). Even so, imagine a 15 year old boy who's been trained as a circus acrobat since he was little (and who knows what other skills he happened to pick up along the way) training day and night with the world's greatest athlete and martial artist in order to avenge the deaths of his parents. Even the most ardent critic of Robin has to concede it's a little different than bringing some random kid out with you. Dick Grayson was prepped for this. He was trained to be Batman's heir. He NEEDS to show up, AS ROBIN, in this new trilogy.

Hell, you can even make that a point in a future film of why Jason Todd is Batman's greatest failure: he was kind of rushed into it and never given the kind of time to learn that Grayson got.

 

[Invader Joker]

This kind of sums it up for me. I want teenage Robin. Not little kid Robin. Not 20-something Chris O'Donnell Robin. 14-16 years old. We haven't had a believably teenage Robin in decades, and that needs to change. Without Robin 1) We never see the father/mentor aspect of Bruce's character and 2) We never get Nightwing. I'm sorry, but you can't skip the Robin stage and go straight to Nightwing. It's part of Nightwing's character development. He stepped out of Batman's shadow to be his own man. He can't step out of a shadow he was never really in, can he?

This isn't real life, people. This is a movie, where a bunch of kids/teens can go and evade murderous thieves to find a mythical pirate treasure (Goonies) or, as mentioned above, a bunch of kids can battle a child-eating demon clown (It). Even so, imagine a 15 year old boy who's been trained as a circus acrobat since he was little (and who knows what other skills he happened to pick up along the way) training day and night with the world's greatest athlete and martial artist in order to avenge the deaths of his parents. Even the most ardent critic of Robin has to concede it's a little different than bringing some random kid out with you. Dick Grayson was prepped for this. He was trained to be Batman's heir. He NEEDS to show up, AS ROBIN, in this new trilogy.

Hell, you can even make that a point in a future film of why Jason Todd is Batman's greatest failure: he was kind of rushed into it and never given the kind of time to learn that Grayson got.

No matter which way you frame it, Batman will still look like a child abuser especially if it's a "grounded" take again, which it seems like it'll be.

 

[fan4stic]

No matter which way you frame it, Batman will still look like a child abuser especially if it's a "grounded" take again, which it seems like it'll be.

Who cares what he looks like? Why not tell the story to develop the situation? But with the supposed seeming more villains being involved, I don't see it being that grounded.

This kind of sums it up for me. I want teenage Robin. Not little kid Robin. Not 20-something Chris O'Donnell Robin. 14-16 years old. We haven't had a believably teenage Robin in decades, and that needs to change. Without Robin 1) We never see the father/mentor aspect of Bruce's character and 2) We never get Nightwing. I'm sorry, but you can't skip the Robin stage and go straight to Nightwing. It's part of Nightwing's character development. He stepped out of Batman's shadow to be his own man. He can't step out of a shadow he was never really in, can he?

I don't see why Dick can't be be 18 or a little older.

 

[Greenlite]

That was a comedy..

Were you in Japan? Because I saw you moving the goal post, unsuccessfully at one of the rugby world cup games =)

 

[DeadlyWest]

Ah yes, that movie where an 11 year old has to watch her father burn to death in front of her.

100% a comedy, deeeeeeeeeefinitely.

 

[fan4stic]

Ah yes, that movie where an 11 year old has to watch her father burn to death in front of her.

100% a comedy, deeeeeeeeeefinitely.

That movie also had her gunning down goons.

I think a comedy can have serious, darker, dramatic elements.

 

[DeadlyWest]

That movie also had her gunning down goons.

I think a comedy can have serious, darker, dramatic elements.

It had comedic elements, definitely. But it was more a drama with said comedic elements, rather than a strict comedy. It's about as much of a comedy as Spider-Man 1 or 2, in my opinion. It isn't the main point of the movie, it isn't necessarily just trying to make you laugh. Some scenes are, but not the movie as a whole.

 

[fan4stic]

It had comedic elements, definitely. But it was more a drama with said comedic elements, rather than a strict comedy. It's about as much of a comedy as Spider-Man 1 or 2, in my opinion. It isn't the main point of the movie, it isn't necessarily just trying to make you laugh. Some scenes are, but not the movie as a whole.

I think it was more comedy aimed. I thinl Nic Cage's performance is a showcase of that. But I also wouldn't say that this movie is a showcase of non negative vigilante child raising.

 

[DeadlyWest]

I think it was more comedy aimed. I thinl Nic Cage's performance is a showcase of that. But I also wouldn't say that this movie is a showcase of non negative vigilante child raising.

I never said it was, I just said that I don't believe Kick Ass is 100% a comedy

 

[Blind Bat]

No matter which way you frame it, Batman will still look like a child abuser especially if it's a "grounded" take again, which it seems like it'll be.

Honestly if people are that bent out of shape about it then I don't know what to say. It's a movie set in a world where mythological gods exist, humanoid aliens shoot laser beams from their eyes, there's an entire underwater civilization and a billionaire punches gangsters dressed as a giant demon bat. I guarantee that 90% of the audience wouldn't sit there and go "Eew, Batman is, like, such a child abuser..." they would go "Oh ok it's Robin"

Robin is one of my favorite characters and a very important one to the Batman mythos and it's about time he actually got a live action film adaptation that didn't suck.

 

[TheGuy]

Reeves has picked two "unconventional" choices already in Pattinson and Wright. The conventional choices for Barbara are those aged 19-23. I say there's a good chance he'll cast an actual teenager (below 19).

 

[Greenlite]

Reeves has picked two "unconventional" choices already in Pattinson and Wright. The conventional choices for Barbara are those aged 19-23. I say there's a good chance he'll cast an actual teenager (below 19).

Make sure you cast her younger than Nightwing, or someone is gonna have a meltdown

 

[TheGuy]

Make sure you cast her younger than Nightwing, or someone is gonna have a meltdown

My fan cast for Barbara (Amiah Miller) is younger than Dick (Finn Wolfhard). Come at me.

I'll never understand the love for casting 20-ish actresses for Barbara's first outing. I'm walking out of the theater immediately when a romance is implied between Bruce and Barbara.