How would you introduce Robin in Matt Reves' trilogy

[Bad Witch]

There's a difference between a character not fitting a specific take and sucking. Batman wouldn't be where he is today in part due to the initial popularity that Robin helped boost, so he definitely doesn't suck despite Burton and Nolan turning their nose up at him (the former getting pretty campy on his own even without Robin).

I think both those clamoring for Robin to be in this and those saying he won't fit at all are jumping the gun either way. We don't know how this take will evolve or what Reeves' stance is either way, it could show the evolution of a more traditional superhero narrative/stable Batman or it could ramp up the darkness even further as it goes on. Forcing Robin into this and bemoaning his absence if the director genuinely doesn't have a story to tell with him would lead to badness, so if that's the case do not include him. But stuff like Year One took place in the same continuity as all his sidekicks, plant monsters and shape shifting mudmen, so it's not like there isn't precedent for starting with relative gritty realism and going into weirder territory.

Solo Batman has already had plenty of shots though, it wouldn't be the end of the world if we had a director who recognized there is more to this character than gritty darkness. Though if we have to have more of that, at least Reeves looks to be doing it very well and I don't want his vision to be messed with

Yeah no...robin sucks....Damien is cool but the others blow...but you know....that's like...just my opinion man...

[SiegePerilous02]

Yeah no...robin sucks....Damien is cool but the others blow...but you know....that's like...just my opinion man...

That's cool,
Solo edgy can Batman suck too (though this one looks pretty sweet if we have to have him)

Damian only really works at his best with Dick as his partner, so you kind of need to at least have those two. Not disagreeing on the rest though...

[Dr. Ellingham]

I think the fans who want sidekicks no matter what and those that don't want them no matter what are coming at this from extremes and projecting what they want onto what they think the general audience will go for.

No.

We're all comic fans - we want the live-action stuff to reflect the comics we love. But despite being a lifelong Green Lantern fan, I acknowledge that it might be near-impossible to do Green Lantern well in live-action. Animation? Totally.

Somewhat similar to teenage sidekicks; they are entirely a whimsical concept. In four colors, they can work with enough suspension of disbelief, and if you're in love with the lore of DC's canon.

But it's a risk to introduce silly things into live-action. Again, fans are all about - "translate everything I already love". But filmmakers are all about creating a believable story you invest in. Unless you're making a live-action cartoon (Batman & Robin), most directors are going to say - why bother? What do I gain?

That's the crux of it; sidekicks don't add much story potential to Batman, so why clutter the screen and plot with additional costumes?

[SiegePerilous02]

No.

We're all comic fans - we want the live-action stuff to reflect the comics we love. But despite being a lifelong Green Lantern fan, I acknowledge that it might be near-impossible to do Green Lantern well in live-action. Animation? Totally.

Somewhat similar to teenage sidekicks; they are entirely a whimsical concept. In four colors, they can work with enough suspension of disbelief, and if you're in love with the lore of DC's canon.

But it's a risk to introduce silly things into live-action. Again, fans are all about - "translate everything I already love". But filmmakers are all about creating a believable story you invest in. Unless you're making a live-action cartoon (Batman & Robin), most directors are going to say - why bother? What do I gain?

That's the crux of it; sidekicks don't add much story potential to Batman, so why clutter the screen and plot with additional costumes?

I'd find this easier to buy if a talking raccoon and tree weren't beloved by the mainstream and made a **** ton of money. Post-MCU, the notion that more comics accuracy or balance between fun and seriousness is automatically going to lead to a "Batman & Robin" scenario is a bit outdated don't you think? This isn't 2008 anymore. Nor did Tim Burton, who excluded Robin, succeed in creating very believable non-campy movies. They were great and I love them, but they are incredibly silly.

Still sounds like you're projecting both onto the mainstream audience and onto the directors. The mainstream is neither clamoring for all the stuff fanboys slaver over, but they will still show up if a take gets good word of mouth. There is no bias there either way. And who says Robin or Batgirl need to be young teens? You can get away with an 18+ Robin, and Batgirl is usually at least that age if not a bit older when she starts, so that's half the problems gone immediately.

There is definitely is not much story potential with 20+ sidekicks/legacies in the movies (nor in the comics- I'm moderate in my views on a Bat-family, it is essential but less is more). But Gordon and Alfred don't have any more inherent story potential than Dick or Barbara. The only character you 100% need is Batman. The villain can be anybody, and any of the supporting characters can come and go as the plot demands.

[Badou]

I understand people not liking certain characters more than others, and even not wanting to read or watch things with characters they don't find entertaining, but what I don't understand is how some people look at a man running around in a bat costume throwing metal shaped bats and punching criminals while calling himself Batman is fine, but a teen or young adult running around in a black, red and maybe green costume punching criminals while calling himself Robin is a step too far. They are all still children's comic book characters. You can dress them up and make them as serious as you can, but they are still silly and ridiculous when viewed at face value. Which I actually like about them, but trying to delineate between them by saying one is more mature than the other is a pointless exercise, imo.

That being said I'd be surprised if Robin is introduced in the Reeves' Batman movies. From the tone and style he is going for it feels very Nolan-like and it is likely he goes down the same path of not wanting to give Batman any kind of partner or sidekick. Given that DC seems to be doing multiverse movies with other Batmans they might have a Robin or a Batgirl appear in something else down the road that is separate, but I just don't get the feeling that Reeves is interested in going in that direction with his set of movies. On the slight chance he does a Robin would likely be an adult already or at the least like 18 years old probably.

[Aahz]

I think if they wanted a Robin he should be there right from the start and not be introduced later on.

A pure Robin origin story/movie is not big enough for a multi million dollar movie, and if you kind of squish it into a bigger story, both stories will suffer.

An top of that this most movie incarnations of Batman will probably only last for 3 movies. So you basically end up with one Batman origin movie, one Robin origin movie, and only one Movie were they allready are Batman and Robin (and that might end up being a Batgirl origin movie).

[Fergus]

An 18 year old Robin is a very bad idea. We've seen it before in live action and that was awful.
Robin to most casuals is already something of a jokey lame sidekick. Mostly due to his name Robin [that's not a good hero id]

The only way robin works is if he is like badass like HitGirl or X-23. Damian A dangerous menacing kid who can mess you up might work next to today's already tried and tested sidekicks but a man in bright colours leaping around next to Batman is a joke.

That's my thoughts on Robins in Live action.

For the Reeves movie I'd rather he just do Batman alone and then the long planned stand alone Nightwing movie.

[SiegePerilous02]

I understand people not liking certain characters more than others, and even not wanting to read or watch things with characters they don't find entertaining, but what I don't understand is how some people look at a man running around in a bat costume throwing metal shaped bats and punching criminals while calling himself Batman is fine, but a teen or young adult running around in a black, red and maybe green costume punching criminals while calling himself Robin is a step too far. They are all still children's comic book characters. You can dress them up and make them as serious as you can, but they are still silly and ridiculous when viewed at face value. Which I actually like about them, but trying to delineate between them by saying one is more mature than the other is a pointless exercise, imo.

That being said I'd be surprised if Robin is introduced in the Reeves' Batman movies. From the tone and style he is going for it feels very Nolan-like and it is likely he goes down the same path of not wanting to give Batman any kind of partner or sidekick. Given that DC seems to be doing multiverse movies with other Batmans they might have a Robin or a Batgirl appear in something else down the road that is separate, but I just don't get the feeling that Reeves is interested in going in that direction with his set of movies. On the slight chance he does a Robin would likely be an adult already or at the least like 18 years old probably.

Agreed. I don't believe in writing off Robin in the Reeves movies just yet because we don't 100% know how it will go. Even in the likelihood Reeves doesn't want him in the movie, it dosn't make sense to write him off in any serious movie altogether. Batman's an inherently silly and fantastical character no matter how much people try to dress it up as being serious adult fare. We literally have no Batman today without the addition of Robin and other iconic elements boosting his initial popularity.

An 18 year old Robin is a very bad idea. We've seen it before in live action and that was awful.
Robin to most casuals is already something of a jokey lame sidekick. Mostly due to his name Robin [that's not a good hero id]

That was awful because Bruce adopted a 25 year old man or whatever whose voice was deeper than his.
An 18 year old Robin who actually met Bruce at 13, like in BTAS, could work fine.

And Aquaman is just as much of a joke as Robin is considered to be, if not more so, and his movie made more than the last movie with the name "Batman" in the title.

[Light of Justice]

I understand people not liking certain characters more than others, and even not wanting to read or watch things with characters they don't find entertaining, but what I don't understand is how some people look at a man running around in a bat costume throwing metal shaped bats and punching criminals while calling himself Batman is fine, but a teen or young adult running around in a black, red and maybe green costume punching criminals while calling himself Robin is a step too far. They are all still children's comic book characters. You can dress them up and make them as serious as you can, but they are still silly and ridiculous when viewed at face value. Which I actually like about them, but trying to delineate between them by saying one is more mature than the other is a pointless exercise, imo.

That being said I'd be surprised if Robin is introduced in the Reeves' Batman movies. From the tone and style he is going for it feels very Nolan-like and it is likely he goes down the same path of not wanting to give Batman any kind of partner or sidekick. Given that DC seems to be doing multiverse movies with other Batmans they might have a Robin or a Batgirl appear in something else down the road that is separate, but I just don't get the feeling that Reeves is interested in going in that direction with his set of movies. On the slight chance he does a Robin would likely be an adult already or at the least like 18 years old probably.

In Bruce's defense, he didn't call himself Batman at first. It's Gotham citizen who gave him that nickname. I agree with the rest of your point, though.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

An adult Robin could work because we saw it in the Titans show. Both Dick and Jason are adults in that show so its not impossible. My concern is the father/son angle that i feel is inherit to their dynamic. Hence why i prefer Affleck to be the Batfamily guy instead of Pattinson.

[WonderScott]

I’d have a 13-year-old Robin enter the story via a stand-alone movie between The Batman and its sequel. And then release it a few months prior to releasing the sequel.

The Batman
Batman & Robin - stand-alone film
The Batman II - includes Robin
Batman: The Brave & the Bold - stand-alone film that introduces Batgirl
The Batman III - includes Robin and Batgirl
Batman: Gotham Knights - stand-alone film that introduces Jason Todd and Helena Bertinelli and sees Dick Grayson become Nightwing
The Batman IIII - includes Nightwing, Robin (Jason Todd), Batgirl, and Huntress
Batman: Family - stand-alone film that introduces Kate Kane, Bette Kane, Tim Drake, and Stephanie Brown
The Batman IIIII - stars everyone in a showdown against an alliance of Gotham’s villains

This of course requires that I have all budget that my creativity can imagine.

[Light of Justice]

I’d have a 13-year-old Robin enter the story via a stand-alone movie between The Batman and its sequel. And then release it a few months prior to releasing the sequel.

The Batman
Batman & Robin - stand-alone film
The Batman II - includes Robin
Batman: The Brave & the Bold - stand-alone film that introduces Batgirl
The Batman III - includes Robin and Batgirl
Batman: Gotham Knights - stand-alone film that introduces Jason Todd and Helena Bertinelli and sees Dick Grayson become Nightwing
The Batman IIII - includes Nightwing, Robin (Jason Todd), Batgirl, and Huntress
Batman: Family - stand-alone film that introduces Kate Kane, Bette Kane, Tim Drake, and Stephanie Brown
The Batman IIIII - stars everyone in a showdown against an alliance of Gotham’s villains

This of course requires that I have all budget that my creativity can imagine.

Not even animation movie can afford including all Robins on one series (Young Justice doesn't count because Jason is dead most of times, Damian is baby and Tim is near invisible on that series). I doubt they can afford that on live-action movie.

[godisawesome]

The way I see it, the key dramatic beats that you’d have to hit for a Robin story would be to justify why he’s willing to put a younger person in the field and to then justify his perspective in the world of the movie, and, importantly, tackle the new headspace that Batman has to be in to embrace training Robin - training Robin kind of represents acknowledging that he’s going to be in the “game” for the long haul, and that he needs help sometimes, and that there is a possibility that more warriors like him is a good thing.

Basically, you can’t remain at a static “Lone Wolf Freak” version of a Bruce, and you need to be willing to make a Batman who can play a mentor and partner role - it’s a Batman who arguably works better in alliances with Catwoman and Gordon, for instance, because he knows he’s not enough for Gotham in the most extreme circumstances.

And you have to make sure you sell Robin in the suspension of disbelief category - BTAS and Dark Tomorrow both did that part pretty well, all things considered.

[Arsenal]

The only Robin origins that I could see really working is Jason’s or (to a lesser extent) Dick’s. Damian and Tim require a lot ore set up where Jason & Dick’s could potentially be done within the first 10-15 minutes fairly easily.

[Light of Justice]

So I thought about it, and here's how I'd do it. Bruce has just witnessed the murder of the Flying Grayson's and is trying to get the paperwork done to either adopt him or take him in as a foster kid, but while no one is watching Dick he runs off still wearing his circus clothes, looking for revenge on the man who killed his family. So Dick is running from rooftop to rooftop, but because there's no net to catch him he falls when he fails to leap far enough to reach one roof. Meanwhile Jason Todd is stealing the tires off a car in Crime Alley. Also meanwhile Tim Drake is walking past Crime Alley when he spots Jason stealing tires and goes to try to get the older boy to stop. So Dick lands on Jason at the end of his fall and they both die horribly yet instantly and a terrified Tim runs in terror from the sight into oncoming traffic and also dies horribly yet instantly. So Dick, Jason, and Tim have all died in one fell swoop.

Then at the end of the trilogy we see Talia waiting in some clinic to get an abortion.

And that's how I think I would go about introducing Robin to this new Batman trilogy.


True talk, I'd rather not have Robin in these particular films. It looks like we're going back to a more grounded Nolan type take and Robin wouldn't fit. I'd rather we just get a Teen Titans or Young Justice movie either in the DCEU or another new continuity.

My idea is more or less similar than yours, but minus the dead things. On movie they can introduce Dick with narration of his background at circus, put Tim and his parent get photo together with the Graysons. To emphasis how good and famous Flying Graysons is so the Bruce Wayne come to see them, they can put a scene when Jason's dad steals some strangers's ticket so him and little Jason can watch the show. On Dick's parents fall scene, they can included Tim and Jason's shocked reaction. Then Bruce adopt Dick, Dick created Robin to commemorate his parents, and newly orphan street kid Jason can be someone whom Dick saved on his first mission. They can add some random scene when Tim sneakily follow Dick and Bruce in action and take their picture. On other movie, Batman will have Ra's as villain, on his investigation meets Talia and get attracted to her, have some make out scene as scene service, then in the end of the movie there's scene with Ra's get angry or frustrated because he can't defeat Batman, and Talia reassured him and say that Batman already gave her a 'gift' that they will raise him as new Alexander the Great or even weapon for Batman (Sorry for Talia fans, but to be fair on The Dark Knight Rises movie she's downright evil character, not borderline grey character like on comic).

Yes, in the end, the one who carry Robin title is just Dick. The purpose of my idea is just to show common audience that there's Jason, Tim, and Damian character on Batman's world (and to give fans of those characters some crumbs )