Do You Think Robin Could Work In A Live-Action Batman Movie?

[Detective Conan]

I’m a big Robin fan, and I’m sad we still haven’t had a great live action movie with the Batman and Robin relationship. The Batman movies as of late have focused on loner Batman, and while that’s all fine and dandy I do think Robin is an integral part of the mythos the movies have failed to cover. The last Batman and Robin movie we got was in ‘97 which was 23 years ago. Form time to time, I’ve seen some pushback to Robin. Some say he’s too cheesy and it’s too unrealistic for a loner like Batman to have a child tag along with him. And while they may be true, I also think it can still work in movies with the right modifications. What say you?

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

I'm sure they could get Robin to work, but I don't want him. I like brooding, loner Batman/Bruce. I was so pleased when Burton and Nolan went with that.

 

[Herofan]

No, Batman should not have a child sidekick and probably shouldn't even have an older-teen sidekick. The point of the character was to make Batman and the overall stories lighter and more kid-oriented with humor, that was and can be OK for animated series (when they still also had to be kind of for kids and when the episodes can have a good deal of variety in tone) but films should be PG-13, the characters and overall tones are better not being washed down to being mostly or primarily for younger kids, Robin really wouldn't work with the rest being as dark as it should be.

Robin in Forever was I think OK (the overall tone also OK though disappointing) but most purists don't like that he was as old as he was there but I think that's pretty much the only way he can work so at best we would get a retread.

 

[The Lazarus Pit]

He’s my favorite character. Of course he can work. The MCU has made way sillier characters work.

 

[Gothamsknight]

Yes and judging by the way Matt Reeves answered a question about us ever seeing Robin, I think it's likely we see him in a sequel to The Batman.

 

[Primal Slayer]

Of course. Not as a child and more as a late teen-young adult. With so many Batman movies, they need to start changing it up by introducing the extended Bat family because....solo Batman is a little stale.

 

[Chip Chipperson]

With all the ridiculous nonsense we accept in these comic book movies, it would be very dumb to draw the line at kid/teen sidekicks being too unrealistic. I definitely feel like past directors thought they couldn’t make it work, and that’s just not true.

hopefully Reeves bucks the trend, because Grayson is one of, if not the most pivotal person in Bruce’s life that keeps him from going down that dark road. He’s out there in the trenches with him every night, and is one of the only people who really knows Bruce.

 

[Fincher]

The more grounded or gritty or whatever a Batman movie is, the harder it is to accept him recruiting a child soldier in a colorful circus outfit with a cute bird name. Robin is all right in Batman Forever, but that's because of the sort of movie it is. That's why I'm in favor of having him be Nightwing if they use him.

 

[Primal Slayer]

The more grounded or gritty or whatever a Batman movie is, the harder it is to accept him recruiting a child soldier in a colorful circus outfit with a cute bird name. Robin is all right in Batman Forever, but that's because of the sort of movie it is. That's why I'm in favor of having him be Nightwing if they use him.

How is him entering as Nightwing anymore believable than him entering as Robin? Being Robin isnt an automatic child, he can be any age. It's just his first step into being a vigilante with a guy named BATman.

 

[Fincher]

How is him entering as Nightwing anymore believable than him entering as Robin? Being Robin isnt an automatic child, he can be any age. It's just his first step into being a vigilante with a guy named BATman.

It's not just about believability, it's also about style and tone. However, Robin isn't a practical accompaniment to Batman because dressing up like a bat is about intimidation, and Robin just undercuts that.

 

[Primal Slayer]

It's not just about believability, it's also about style and tone. However, Robin isn't a practical accompaniment to Batman because dressing up like a bat is about intimidation, and Robin just undercuts that.

How is this

So much less than

 

[Captain Tired]

For all its faults, I think Titans did a great job of adapting the Robin costume for live-action and making it look badass. Aesthetically, I've honestly always thought the Nightwing look was a little bland.

 

[Fincher]

How is this

I don't think any of those would work for the Reeves series, but I think Nightwing could be adapted to work, whereas at a certain point you're just not really doing Robin anymore. Plus the name Robin doesn't exactly strike fear into the heart of criminals.

 

[Airwings]

These pics show that it can atleast work aesthetically.
Old superheroes has proven to work well in live action during the last ten years, no matter how dorky their suits are: Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Captain America. It's not only about how the character is written. We must praise the design crew. They manage to transfer the classic costumes from page to screen in a great way. With just a slight adjustment.
Next we'll get cinematic Hawkman!!!!!! Can you believe it??!!!
Sure Robin can work!!!!!!

To make the character believable in the story is a different challenge. The right writers can do it.

 

[Airwings]

The more grounded or gritty or whatever a Batman movie is, the harder it is to accept him recruiting a child soldier in a colorful circus outfit with a cute bird name.

That's a problem the writers have to solve.
The Titans live action showed that it can work visually. Never mind that the series is bad in terms of story.
How about having a gritty Batman that also has an element of something that feels like realism? But it's still not actually grounded in reality. Then it can work with Robin.

We can look at it this way: How grounded can Batman actually be? There's always going to be some fantastical about a man dressing up as a bat, wielding gadgets and fighting these weird villains/misfits. Not even Nolan could avoid that.

But the tone in a Batman film can be dark and moody, that's true.
And that's where the challenge is regarding Robin, the difficulty. Someone must come along and prove that the Boy Wonder can work in this kind of setting, that the character somehow makes sense. And make sure that we, the audience, buy this.

Yeah, Bruce takes a circus kid with him but that's a big part of the Batman mythos.
Maybe Matt Reeves is the right guy to handle the young sidekick character?

Having Robin doesn't mean it going to be 1966 again, but that's overall the best version of the character so far, though. This was more than 50 years ago, it's really time to move out of Burt Ward's shadow and get the new live action Dick Grayson
Brenton Thwaites was a step in the right direction. But we need someone much much younger who has the age to play the role for some time and grow with the character.
It doesn't mean we actually should have the actor in a bunch of films. What I mean is that he should be young enough to return to the role and still work.

How is him entering as Nightwing anymore believable than him entering as Robin? Being Robin isnt an automatic child, he can be any age. It's just his first step into being a vigilante with a guy named BATman.

Sorry but no. Dick Grayson can't be "any age". He has to be young when he joins Batman for the first time. Like a teenager.
Grayson is not meant to be close to Batman's age. Can you imagine having an actor almost as old as Pattinson? That would be so strange, don't you agree?

 

[Primal Slayer]

Sorry but no. Dick Grayson can't be "any age". He has to be young when he joins Batman for the first time. Like a teenager.
Grayson is not meant to be close to Batman's age. Can you imagine having an actor almost as old as Pattinson? That would be so strange, don't you agree?

Sure, having him be younger is better but there's nothing that really states he HAS to be X age. Ideally in a movie he's 17/18 when he becomes Robin, and after a falling out with batman he becomes Nightwing.

 

[Awest66]

Absolutely. Robin is way overdue for a good live-action adaptation and I'm all for it. The assumptions people have that he's two "silly" to work in a live-action/serious setting is utterly ridiculous.

If were doing a Robin origin story, I have two requirements for it A) Involve Tony Zucco in the death of Dick's parents B) Make Dick an actual character with agency and not just a plot device for Bruce's sake (Don't have him just putter around Wayne Manor for basically the entire movie and have him ask Bruce to train him right before the credits role)

 

[Joeyjojo72]

So no love for Damien? It would negate much of the creep factor Though it would magnify the child endangerment factor. Maybe a 16-17 yo Damien?

 

[Boy Scout]

Of course. Iron Man and Iron Boy have already shown us it can be done.

 

[The Lazarus Pit]

Superman and Lois has handled the child endangerment issue very well.

 

[Erzengel]

I always felt Robin fell under the Stranger Things conundrum when kids grow up. I think Holland being 19, probably 18 when filming for Civil War still passed for a teenager. The issue is usually the 3 year time difference between movies that we usually see.

 

[Airwings]

Sure, having him be younger is better but there's nothing that really states he HAS to be X age. Ideally in a movie he's 17/18 when he becomes Robin, and after a falling out with batman he becomes Nightwing.

When Dick Grayson becomes Robin, it IS important that he's at that X age.
What X is can be debatable, but in a film the character can be somewhere around 16 - 17/18. (He could even start out as 15, but that's the youngest they should go).

So, X is mid to late teens.
What I mean is that's the age the character will have. The actor doesn't need to be exactly the same but +1 year or so above that.
The exact age number for the character will affect who they cast in the role and what the actor looks like (the actor himself can be between 17 and 19 when he gets the role). So they will hire someone who looks the age Robin has in the story, which is already written before the casting process.

There has to be something youthful about Grayson when he joins Batman out on the street. We can't remove that element.
If Warner Bros changes him to an adult, it wouldn't be right. It won't be the real Robin. He's called Boy Wonder for a reason. Not "Man Wonder".

There's also a possibility that the character returns in a sequel. Here's why I suggest they should get someone young enough so that he can play the role again 2-3 years later and still be believable as Robin.
If he's ever Nightwing and breaks up from Batman, that can happen in a third film. Let Robin stick around for a while first and grow as a character. It's about time we finally get a great cinematic Robin (which Chris O'Donnell wasn't!!). Give the character an amazing treatment that sticks with the audience for a long time (like Nolanverse did). It's long overdue.
And please, don't rush Nightwing!!

 

[The Lazarus Pit]

I’m of the unpopular opinion that Chris O’Donnell and Burt Ward’s Robins were great. Titans is one of the worst superhero shows in years. And JGL Robin reveal was cool at first and then infuriating the more I thought about it. It’s high time for a proper Robin on film, but I’d argue he’s been done well on film already.

 

[Herofan]

With all the ridiculous nonsense we accept in these comic book movies

I think there will be a lot of viewers getting tired and backlash pretty soon.

 

[metaphysician]

I think there will be a lot of viewers getting tired and backlash pretty soon.

Yes, superhero movie fatigue will totally set in this year. Sure, Avengers was big, but its been down hill from there, and all we have next year are a Cap sequel and some movie about a raccoon. . .

Oh, wait, I'm sorry, its *not* 2013, its 2021. I forgot. Though its easy to get confused about the year, given the near ubiquity of "superhero fatigue" arguments over the past decade. Though hey, if people keep making the same predictions despite being consistently wrong, then surely they will *eventually* get some circumstances that they can plausibly claim means they are "right" by chance. All that matters then is making sure no one remembers the years and years of false predictions that came before.