Even if you’re familiar with the rift between Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson by way of comic books and/or animation, there’s still a very good chance you were taken aback by the latter’s now infamous “f–k Batman” line witnessed in the first trailer promoting the upcoming live action Titans series. To some, it felt like a deliberate attempt to be edgy, though I’ll still go in with an open mind.
Chiming in recently was our new Robin himself, actor Brenton Thwaites, who had this to say to Entertainment Weekly when they inquired about the expletive, admitting it was added in reshoots:
“We’d already shot that alley fight scene before, and there was no punch to it. There was no real exclamation mark. I think the producers wanted something that would kind of set the tone for the whole show.”
As Thwaites continued, he revealed how he thought the bit of dialogue became quite essential to the series as a whole, for it may force some viewers to rethink their expectations:
“It’s a show that isn’t about Batman, and I think it’s important for people to know that and maybe not be disappointed that they’re not going to see Batman jumping from the ceiling and beating up a hundred guys, because it’s not Batman, it’s a story about the Titans, essentially. I feel like ‘F— Batman’ says that in two words.”
To be fair, we’ve already learned that this show will explore the Batman-Robin split, but it’s becoming clearer that we’re going to be seeing things from Dick’s perspective. In all honesty, that may be a good thing since he’s been largely absent from the live action realm for quite some time.
Speaking of which, Brenton drove home his point with the next quote we’ll take a look at:
“The whole point of [the show] is to tell the story of Robin breaking away from Batman and a life of fighting crime that he didn’t exactly agree with, and beginning the search for his own identity and his own moral center.”
Personally, I’m very much interested to see how Dick will deal with knowing the Dark Knight has found a new Robin in the form of Jason Todd. To me, it’s somewhat odd that we’ll have two Robins running around, but here’s hoping that this’ll be Dick’s incentive for taking up the Nightwing mantle.
Titans premieres on Friday, October 12 on DC Universe.