Why Is It So Difficult For Batman Movies To Get Robin Right?

Batman has been adapted to film numerous times over since his 1939 debut, yet his movies have consistently struggled to get a live-action Robin right. With the announcement of the new DCU projects, the upcoming Batman movie, The Brave and the Bold, looks to try once more to deliver a proper movie version of Robin. This will be the first time since the notorious flop of Batman & Robin that the movies have embraced Robin (aside from The Dark Knight Rises borderline use of the character). This speaks to the poor track record or the previous live-action Robin attempts.

Robin has existed in Batman comics for almost as long as Batman himself and is as important to the mythos as other Batman characters like Alfred and Commissioner Gordon. Off the page, Robin has featured in numerous media adaptations, from animated Batman TV shows to video games. The live-action Batman movies, however, have always struggled to depict the Boy Wonder. Some adaptations have come close to getting live-action Robin right, while others have failed to understand Robin and his importance to Batman. Here’s why, and how The Brave and the Bold can finally create a good live-action Robin.

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Who Is Robin? The Boy Wonder’s Comic Book & Cinematic History Explained

Dick Grayson, the first Robin, debuted in 1940, just under a year after Batman’s first adventure in Detective Comics. Dick Grayson was a young circus acrobat whose parents were murdered by a mobster to intimidate the circus owner. Bruce Wayne witnessed the death of Grayson’s parents and adopted the young boy, revealing his superhero identity of Batman to him and training him as a protégé. As Batman’s adopted son, Dick Grayson became Robin, who carried an identical arsenal of gadgetry to Batman and whose martial arts and detective skills nearly equaled those of the Caped Crusader. Not only did Bruce Wayne see himself in the orphaned Grayson but raising a crime-fighter son helped save Batman from succumbing to the grief and rage of losing his own parents.

Although Dick Grayson is the most well-known Robin, he eventually grew to adulthood and became an independent superhero, Nightwing. Since then, the Robin costume and moniker has become a mantle, passed down to other teen protégés of the Dark Knight. Though the Bat-Family contains more heroes than just Batman and the Robins, Dick Grayson’s title was passed down to Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown, and even Batman’s son Damian Wayne who will be the Robin featured in The Brave and the Bold. In the alternate timeline featured in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Carrie Kelley succeeded Dick Grayson and Jason Todd as Robin. With such a vital and storied history in the Batman comics, it’s unfortunate that most Batman films have struggled to properly portray a live-action Robin.

Every Version Of Robin In Batman Movies

Robin’s live-action debut came shortly after his first appearance in the comics. In 1943 and 1949, Robin appeared in the Batman and Batman and Robin serials, played by Douglas Croft and Johnny Duncan, respectively. Robin was famously played by Burt Ward in the 1960s Batman television series, which featured the Boy Wonder in every episode and a theatrical film that was released between the first and second seasons. Robin was intended to appear in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman film but was ultimately cut to keep the film from becoming overcrowded. A new version of Robin, played by Marlon Wayans, was meant to appear in Batman Returns. but was similarly cut due to the cast and crew’s lack of interest in giving Batman a sidekick. Though not depicted on film, Burton’s Batman finally got a canonical Robin, Drake Winston, in the Batman ’89 comic series.

Robin’s first true cinematic debut was in Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever, with Chris O’Donnell playing the live-action Dick Grayson in the 1995 film and its 1997 sequel, Batman & Robin. Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy never featured Robin in the traditional sense, but the young policeman John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) assists Batman throughout The Dark Knight Rises, eventually succeeding him as Gotham’s protector, where his legal first name is revealed to be Robin. The DCU would have had two live-action Robins if Zack Snyder had the opportunity to follow through with his plans. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice features the damaged Robin outfit of a deceased Dick Grayson, though Carrie Kelley would have succeeded him in Batman’s solo film and Justice League sequels. Now the DCU will be introducing the latest live-action Robin in the newly announced The Brave and the Bold within the DCU.

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Why Batman Movies Have Never Done Robin Justice

For such an important character from the Batman comics, it’s unfortunate that Robin is so rarely included in Batman films and seldom depicted correctly. The reason for this seems to be that most filmmakers misunderstand Robin’s role in Batman’s supporting cast. Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan were vocally uninterested in including Robin in their films, feeling that Batman is more of a loner. This isn’t the case in the comics, which featured Robin as Batman’s partner for most of his history along with Batgirl, characterizing Bruce Wayne as eager to take protégés under his wing, whether they’re his adopted child or simply a young potential crime-fighter. Joel Schumacher’s Batman films were well-intentioned, but Chris O’Donnell’s age in both movies made Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson’s father-son dynamic impossible to properly depict.

There were only two cinematic iterations of Batman that truly understood Robin’s role in the Batman mythos since the excellently-written Drake Winston Robin of the Tim Burton universe has only appeared in comics thus far. The 60s Batman TV series included Robin in every episode, depicting him as both Batman’s adopted son and a highly capable crime-fighter. The DCU’s Dick Grayson was murdered by The Joker before Ben Affleck’s first Batman outing, but the franchise acknowledges Robin’s importance by having his death directly contribute to Batman’s near-turn to villainy in Dawn of Justice. Considering how accurate the DCU is to DC’s comics, Carrie Kelley would have been the first truly authentic cinematic Robin if Zack Snyder’s planned Batman and Justice League films made it to the big screen. However, there is now hope that The Brave and the Bold could finally deliver the live-action Robin that fans have been waiting for.

Batman: The Brave and The Bold Can Get Robin Right

Though Damian Wayne has never been featured as a live-action Robin before, The Brave and the Bold can use him to finally get Batman’s sidekick right in the movies. Announced as part of DCU’s Chapter 1 – “Gods and Monsters,” The Brave and the Bold is being described as a father and son story with Batman meeting the son he never knew about. The movie will be based on Grant Morrison’s comic book run and James Gunn has confirmed that this will be the beginning of the Bat Family in the DCU. Gunn has also stated that Damian Wayne is his favorite Robin, showing a real love for the character that previous filmmakers might have been lacking.

While the father-son dynamic has existed with many of the Batman and Robin relationships in the comics, Damian Wayne also represents something different for Batman. The movie can explore this in ways no other Batman movie has, drawing parallels between the death of Bruce Wayne’s parents effectively ending his childhood, and the struggles of raising another troubled young man in the midst of the crime-fighting world. Damian could also fix the common misconception that Robin is too goofy or lame to work with a darker take on Batman. Gunn has called Damian a “little assassin,” hinting that this will be a much more violent and less clean-cut Robin than fans have seen in the movies. The Brave and the Bold is still a long way off, but along with introducing a new Batman, it could finally do justice to Robin after so many failed attempts.

NEXT: Casting Batman For DCU’s The Brave & The Bold