The Pullbox

Ever since way back when Batman Begins hit theatres, people have been talking about Robin appearing in the new and amazing Christopher Nolan helmed Batman movies, which I refer to as the “Nolanverse.” Mr. Nolan has made his stance on Robin abundantly clear.

“As long as I (Nolan) am directing Batman movies, there will be no Robin. This is the beginning of Batman. Robin is in a crib somewhere.”

But has he been completely honest with us? Or is this another ace he has up his sleeve? Nolan tends to play things pretty close to the chest, after all. And who’s to say the years haven’t changed his mind? Lord knows the man has dropped enough hints about Robin in the two films he’s done so far. Maybe they’re not hints, maybe they’re teases. Or maybe they’re nothing at all?

After the jump, I’ll discuss those little tid-bits he’s slipped into his films that make me wonder if Robin will be making an appearance in the next film. And I’ll also discuss how Nolan would have to handle the Boy Wonder, in order to make him work in the Nolanverse. Of course, these are just my opinions, I’m sure Mr. Nolan needs no help in making a great film, or adapting characters to work in his very realistic Gotham.

Oh, by the way… Beware a few few teeny weeny light spoilers from both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight in the following article. If you haven’t seen these two movies yet, you should go see them immediately, (and be punched in the head).

Okay. Nolan said we’ll get no Robin. But lets pretend he had never said that. Could Robin work in the Nolanverse? My original opinion was “No.” Since watching TDK, I’ve changed my tune. I still honestly don’t wantto see Robin in the Nolanverse, but I wouldn’t think it was the worst thing in the world if Nolan did introduce him. And if we can trust anyone to make Robin work on screen, its Nolan.

NOLAN DROPS HINTS:

As mentioned, I’ve seen Nolan tease us a little with the Robin situation. In Begins, we saw a young boy encounter the Batman when he was investigating the Scarecrow’s apartment drug stash. The boy was not frightened by the Batman, and he intended on bragging about it to his friends. Later in the flick, this same boy is put through a pretty traumatic experience. He’s caught in the Narrows when Ra’s Al Ghul releases Crane’s gas, and eventually is face to face with the Scarecrow himself, on what he sees as a giant horse that breathes fire.

In TDK, Commissioner Gordon’s son Jimmy is kidnapped by Two-Face, along with the rest of the Gordon family. He’s singled out by Two-Face, and a gun was held to his head as Dent flipped his coin to determine whether the boy would live or die. Little Jimmy also looks to the Batman with admiration, like the boy in Begins.

Now, the boy in the first film was never identified as Dick Grayson, who in comic continuity is the original Robin. And of course, little Jimmy Gordon never becomes Robin in the comics. Its Jimmy’s sister Barbara who becomes Batman’s crime fighting partner Batgirl, in the comics. However, part of Dick Grayson’s origin in the comics is his witnessing of his parent’s murder, mirroring Bruce Wayne’s own traumatic childhood experience. But it is, in essence, a traumatic childhood experience that causes Grayson to take up the mantle of Robin, and here Nolan has already given us two children who’ve gone through a traumatic enough experience to push either one closer to the Bat.

But whether one of these two boys someday decides to become Robin, or if Dick Grayson himself is introduced in the Nolanverse, would Bale’s Batman ever accept a young 12, 13, 14, or 15 year old kid as a sidekick? Well, I like to think “No.” … But to be honest, I’m not entirely sure. The whole point of Batman, is that he puts his life on the line, in hopes that he’ll prevent the tragedy that happened to him from happening to anyone else. Robin, would basically be a child put in harms way, and Batman’s very mission statement would completely contradict Robin’s very existence. The point is driven a little deeper by a line from Batman: Gotham Knight (which according to producers, takes place in the Nolanverse) where the Batman says “I’m willing to put my life on the line to do what I have to. But its got to be mine, no one else’s.” Again, this negates Robin’s very existence.

Then again, in TDK, Harvey Dent points out that the Batman doesn’t want to do this forever. He’s looking for someone to take up his mantle. Now, in the context of the film, Dent was talking about himself, fighting crime from within the system, instead of from without like Batman. But when that dream is dead at the creation of Two-Face, doesn’t that bring Batman back to square one? Needing a replacement lined up for the future? And couldn’t that be Robin?

There’s also the fact that Robin basically grounds the Batman a little. Keeps him in check. Prevents the Batman from going over the edge and doing something drastic. We saw in TDK how close Batman came to breaking his one rule. Its pretty safe to say, with Robin around, the Batman would DEFINITELY never break his one rule.

ORIGIN STORY?

Lets talk about how the creation of Robin could work in the Nolanverse. The Batman would never decide to pick up some kid, train him, and take him out every night, putting him in harm’s way to fight crime. But if there was suddenly a mysterious new vigilante in Gotham, beating up criminals in the same way the Batman does, this would catch the Bat’s attention. We’ve seen in TDK two different kinds of “escalation” in Gotham. There are more “freaks,” and we can probably blame Batman for that. The Joker and the Scarecrow are just the beginning. More and more criminals will begin wearing costumes and having gimmicks. But we’ve also seen more “do-gooders” surface. Batman copycats are out there, and the real Batman takes them down like he does the criminals.

If Robin were one of these copycats, not dressing up as Batman, but doing his own thing, Batman would eventually encounter him, and try to stop him. When he can’t convince him to stop, and he realizes Robin’s reasons for doing this are very similar to his own, maybe he pity’s the boy. And if he can’t talk him out of it, nor can he lock him up for good because the kid’s a minor, then maybe he decides to train him, if for no other reason than to give the kid a better chance for survival. If he’s going to be out fighting crime, he might as well be good at it!

I was thinking to myself today that if Nolan wanted to introduce Robin into him movies, he could do it in similar fashion to how he introduced Two-Face. Don’t make it the movie’s main plot. Don’t take the spotlight off the Batman. But just have it happen in the movie as a result of everything else going on in the story. The idea reminded me of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s sequel to their “The Long Halloween”, called “Dark Victory.” That particular graphic novel/comic book storyline was a murder mystery that just so happened to be wrapped around Robin’s origin story. What character was a major part of that story? Two-Face himself. And then I looked through the book and found so many connections to the Nolanverse.

Batman blames himself for Dent’s change into Two-Face, much like he does in TDK. The Batman has worked alone thus far, but tragedy seems to follow him. At the end of TDK the law is after him, while at the beginning of Dark Victory, a new District Attorney is making things difficult for the Bat using the law. Many characters specifically showcased in the two Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale books are key characters in the Nolanverse, including Commissioner Loeb, Crooked Cop Det. Flass, Falcone, Maroni, and the rest of the mob. Even Dent’s origin story takes place in The Long Halloween.

Could Robin’s origin take place in Batman 3? I think it just could. If it does, we’d have a Batman trilogy, each film showcasing the origin of a major character, and each one paying tribute to Loeb and Sales work on both The Long Halloween, and Dark Victory. I think with Batman Begins being Nolan’s Superhero Origin movie, and The Dark Knight being pretty much a Crime Drama, a murder mystery would be an interesting third film. Each one would be very different, while still happening in the same universe, and again, the basic concept of Dark Victory would really work. A murder mystery (a new one) wrapped around Robin’s origin. We wouldn’t even see Robin until the very end of the film, like Two-Face in the latest movie.

COSTUMES:

One of the major reasons why Robin is hard to sell in live action is his costume. Lets face it, the original costume is about as politically incorrect as you can get. Its bad enough the Batman is spending his time running around with a little boy, but on top of that the kid is dressed in pretty bright colors and a speedo? No. Push the image of that costume right out of your head because you’ll never see it.

The Batman would never in his right mind dress his sidekick in that thing. He’s vulnerable enough being so much younger and inexperienced. He needs all the covering and armor he can get.

In the comics, we’ve gotten several Robins. Dick Grayson wore the original suit until he grew up and went solo as Nightwing. He was replaced by Jason Todd, who also wore the original costume. That suit was finally retired when Todd died at the hands of the Joker. The third Robin in main continuity (that means i’m not counting the girl in THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS) is a kid by the name of Tim Drake. He’s my favorite Robin, and he’s worn at least 2 different versions of the Robin suit.

His first one is pictured to the right. The inside of the cape is still yellow, while the outside is now black, allowing him, when wrapped in it, to hide in the shadows like the Batman. That’s a must. The cape, if Robin ever appears on screen, has to be black, at least on the outside. He’s also got a more practical costume. Full pant legs are a must! Heheh. The only problem I have with this costume is that its still too colorful. Too much yellow, too much green, and I know his name is “Robin” so he needs to have a red chest, but we can loose the rest. If this costume were used in the films, I wouldn’t hate it. It wouldn’t be my first choice, but it could be done right. Some armor plating, darker tones to the colors, the combat rod… its pretty functional.

My first choice for the movie Robin suit would be the new one currently used in the comics pictured to the left. This suit is my favorite Robin suit so far. The inside of the cape is still yellow, and the outside is still black. That would work for the reasons I’ve already mentioned, but then the “Batcape-like” end of the cape give Robin a more Batman look that would be nice to see on screen. Likewise, the suit is one solid color, with the exception of the gloves, boots, and superhero-undies we all love to hate so much. I wouldn’t want to see that on screen, but a variation of this suit would really work. There’s no exposed part of the wearer, so you could make the entire suit out of the same armor the Batman wears. Also his gloves or “gauntlets” have those 3 spikes on the sides we’re so used to seeing on Batman. If the torso remained Red and his ”pants” were done in black, this suit would really work, and we’d get rid of those goofy undies, while making him look more like a real robin, because ONLY his chest would be red. The utility belt is a must as well.

For a visual representation of what I mean, here’s the resurrected Jason Todd’s new “Red Robin” costume (picture to the right.) My ideal Nolanverse Robin suit would be a cross between this one and the new Tim Drake suit. I prefer the eye mask Robin wears to the cowl Red Robin wears, but in the Nolanverse, we’re more likely to get the cowl. Remember though, we’re talking about a young boy in his early teens for these movies.

He needs to be light, athletic, agile, and acrobatic.

Will we see Robin in Nolan’s Batman 3? Probably not. In fact, if Nolan was being honest, then we already know for a fact that we’re not. But its always fun to speculate like this isn’t it? There’s been fanboy talk about maybe doing Robin’s origin in spinoff movies. A trilogy that would show Dick Grayson’s journey from circus acrobat, to Robin, to Nightwing. But I find that to be highly unlikely.

I want to state again for the record: I like Robin. I’m a Robin fan. Specifically a Tim Drake/Robin fan. And a Nightwing fan as well. I just don’t know if it would all work in Nolan’s movies. But… I don’t doubt he could prove me wrong.