It’s been a couple of months since the Internet was last gripped by “Robin Panic,” the fear that the Boy Wonder will appear in the rebooted Batman movie franchise.
The last outbreak was triggered by rumors that the third film will rely heavily on the miniseries The Long Halloween and Dark Victory for its source material. Now fast-forward two months to this current round of sidekickophobia, sparked by a writer at JoBlo.com … reading a two-month-old rumor.
But, hey, it’s an evergreen topic, right? Much like Sturdy’s ages-old arguments against the character’s inclusion: Robin isn’t cool, the presumption of pedophilia, homoeroticism, Joel Schumacher, etc. It must strike a chord, though, because the comments thread is up to six pages, and the discussion has moved on to other sites.
At Cinematical, Erik Davis responds to Sturdy’s assertion that, “if you got together all of today’s best writers and filmmakers and locked them in a room, they wouldn’t be able to come up with a Robin storyline that worked”:
Really? Is Robin a franchise killer or is Sturdy missing the importance of his character?
See, the one thing I always liked about Robin as a character, and not the version that popped up on TV or in Schumacher’s films, was that he revealed another layer of Bruce Wayne. What happens when you take a guy who’s lived his entire life as a loner, a rebel, and gave him a young, pesky teenager to look after. Essentially, what happens when this kickass superhero is forced to become a dad.
I like the idea of Robin, if not always the execution of the character in comics and elsewhere. And I wonder whether Batman’s tutelage of an orphaned Dick Grayson wouldn’t provide a nice thematic bookend to Bruce Wayne’s training in Batman Begins by Ra’s al Ghul and the League of Shadows.
Meanwhile, Gary Oldman hints to MovieWeb who one of the villains might be in the third movie: The Riddler.
Update: Christian Bale says no to Robin: “If Robin crops up in one of the new Batman films, I’ll be chaining myself up somewhere and refusing to go to work.”
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Wow, I just wrote a blog about this last night.
Sturdy’s argument was utterly ridiculous. Robin adds so many layers to Batman, not to mention that Robin is Batman’s mirror.
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:26 pm
I think there isn’t anything wrong with Robin if handled right. Not as young adult “life partner” or just some kid-he-likes-to-dress-up-and-work-out-with. Robin is the opposite of Batman and should be everything Batman is not. Dick Grayson is a spunky wise-cracking kid who can take care of himself and represents the part of Batman that died that night when his parents were murdered (since Dick was able to deal with his parents death in some reasonable fashion without becoming an emotional retard). Batman is sort of a father figure to Dick, but just as much Robin is his protector as well. He keeps him from teetering off into the darkness forever and may even offer some salvation for Bruce’s soul.
There’s a reason why Robin’s lasted this long correct?
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:43 pm
You might want to add on to this article–Christian Bale just gave an interview where he said that he wouldn’t have any interest in taking part in a Batman movie that included Robin.
July 2nd, 2008 at 3:04 pm
I know how to do it without it being stupid. If I can figure it out, so can Goyer & Nolan.
July 2nd, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Frank Quitely can make ANYTHING look cool…are his finger’s magic?
July 2nd, 2008 at 4:40 pm
I think that having Dick Grayson as an orphan Bruce Wayne adopts would not hurt, but I’m thinking about this new Batman franchise, and it doesn’t feel like Batman would do such a thing as to put a boy in the face of danger like that. It feels like he would definitely train someone else in his ways, though.
If they can find a way to both bring in Dick Grayson and make it make enough sense, then I’m all for it. Robin doesn’t really need to be in there.
Anyway, in the (yech) previous two Batman movies, Chris O’Donnell was not exactly a Boy Wonder. If they could maybe wait for the Grayson to be older and watch him get more interested in becoming someone liked the Caped Crusader.
If we’re going with “real” Batman, then he’s not for child endangerment,
July 2nd, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Dean, I would pay good money to see you on a Robin comic.
July 2nd, 2008 at 8:15 pm
I’ve openly taken shots at the creepy nature of Robin in shortpants, etc.
But Robin, when in long pants or civilian clothes, is one of two things (the other is the way Alfred can see through him) that makes Batman seem less like a fascist lunatic on a powetrip.
Robin proves Batman/Bruce Wayne is trying to change, to not continue his life as a vigilante with no future but a random death in costume that everyone in Gotham will talk about for decades.
He is also his mirror, and serves a very obvious storytelling purpose: Batman is a strong silent type, he doesn’t pontificate like Superman, he doesn’t crack wise like Spider-Man, how the hell do you get exposition out there with a guy who can go hours without speaking?
Give him a motormouth wise acre sidekick kid.
In long pants.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:13 am
Yotaru Vegeta said:
“If we’re going with “real” Batman, then he’s not for child endangerment.”
To be fair, Batman is a guy who fights crime dressed as a flying mammal. So, there is a lot of room for suspension of disbelief.
Thus, I can accept Robin as Batman’s sidekick not only because he’s a good foil, but also because he taps into that desire by kids to battle supervillains alongside the superhero.
Let’s not project our own biases and issues (child endangerment, homoeroticism, etc.) on an escapist fantasy originally aimed at children.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:10 am
I have to agree. Dean Trippe was born to do a Robin comic. Too bad DC is pushing away from the animated look or whatever that B.S. was that Didio gave about not doing more work like the amazing Teen Titans Year One.
But no, Robin probably wouldn’t work in the new Batman movies since they are dreadfully serious and “realistic” and have surgically removed all of the elements of the character that are too comic booky.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:18 am
Robin as more of a Tim Drake or even Jason Todd character might work. In the sense of a street kid who really wants to be like Batman and it becomes evident that there’s no letting up so Batman takes him under his wing in an attempt to keep him away from danger. I really can’t see the whole Flying Grayson’s dying leading to Dick being adopted scenario working. This Batman is just too edgy and rough.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Doesn’t the picture above say it all?
Batman is a crimefighter who wears dark, functional clothing and stalks criminals in the night.
Robin is a crayola-sponsored circus performer in undescended-nut-hugging-short-shorts and some kind of renaissance faire tunic…
Also, no matter what, when Frank Quitely draws Batman, I just see Midnighter. Is all I’m saying.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:22 pm
justified text columns? gross.
July 6th, 2008 at 1:01 am
Aw thanks, dudes. Here’s a longer response to this whole idea that Robin can’t work in the movies:
http://dryponder.livejournal.com/151116.html