The last two cinematic Dark Knights have protected Gotham alone, but all the signs are pointing to Robert Pattinson’s Caped Crusader being joined by a sidekick in The Batman universe. With Warner Bros. looking to expand the franchise with various spinoffs and offshoots, it’s likely it won’t be long before we get to meet Robin and, given the tone of Matt Reeves’ DC directorial debut, there’s a good chance this version will be tougher than the regular Boy Wonders.
According to our sources, in fact – the same ones who previously told us that Luke Skywalker would return in The Mandalorian season 2 – this universe’s Robin will be darker than the character is traditionally depicted and, from what we’re hearing, portrayed as “a crazy kid.” Seeing as the trailers have already made clear that Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne definitely has some rage issues, it’s not surprising that his protégé will be much the same.
Though we didn’t have this categorically confirmed, presumably The Batman‘s Robin will be Dick Grayson, though this crazed iteration of the hero would better fit Jason Todd. In any case, this will be the first time the Bat’s right-hand man has been presented in a grittier way on the big screen, after Burt Ward (Batman: The Movie), Chris O’Donnell (Batman Forever, Batman & Robin) and Michael Cera (The LEGO Batman Movie) were all varying degrees of campy.
It sounds like Reeves might be looking to do something similar with the character to TV’s Titans here, which made a splash with its first trailer showing Grayson brutally beating up a thug and decreeing “F**k Batman!” That infamous line received a lot of flak online at the time, but it’s probably impossible to portray Bats and Robin as an old-fashioned dynamic duo these days, hence why Reeves is apparently looking to make the teen dark and troubled in his films, too.
No word yet on who could play Robin opposite Pattinson, but he may cameo in The Batman, which swoops into cinemas on March 4th.
