How would you use robin in a batman movie that appeals to the movie going crowd AND fans of the comics?

1. Batman goes to a circus
2. Witnesses the death of the Graysons
3. Adopts Dick
4. Dick lives normally with Bruce
5. One day, Dick hears noises coming from behind a grandfather clock, and triggers the passage way
6. Dick goes in and sees Bruce as Batman
7. Bruce makes Dick promise to keep the Batman thing a secret
8. Dick practically begs Bruce to be his sidekick, but Bruce says no
9. Dick somehow proves himself and his usefulness
10. Batman swears Dick in as Robin and begins training
11. The rest is history

I'd probably make Dick older, around 14-16. Dick would also have a costume more akin to Damian's Robin costume.

Have the circus scene and the Grayson's deaths happen before the intro credits, with a young 11-12 year old Dick being taken in by Bruce. Then skip ahead 5 years or so to Robin being closer to 16, and therefore more believable. The movie should involve Robin, but not have him fit into typical sidekick cliches.

Make him older (say 16-ish), make him Dick Grayson, make it so he is somehow related to somebody Bruce actually cares about, who dies and makes Bruce swear to look after him, and get rid of the Robin name and costume, and do this:

I think something along the lines of the Nightwing Zero Issue would work well, it seems like it would translate to the screen nicely.

I'm a purist. I would like to see Robin's origins as close to the comics as possible. Dick Grayson's story is excellent and heart wrenching. Leave it be. The only thing I would adjust is that I would make Grayson older more like he is in the DCNU. To a certain extent, that is because it is difficult to believe an eleven and twelve year old could/should fight crime, but more importantly, you would have to deal with a crappy child actor, and that just wouldn't work.

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@deaditegonzo:

Why, "The Nightwing?" Sounds awkward.

Yeah, lets make Batman takes a poor kid and give him rats to eat.

@BatWatch said:

@deaditegonzo:

Why, "The Nightwing?" Sounds awkward.

Because of the images that the title Robin brings up to most people, a delicate little bird or the Robin from Adam Wests Batman saying "Holy ... Batman." Marketability is important if you want your favorite character make it.

Nightwing sounds awkward in the real world, but no worse than the "Batman".

Ironically, Batman created the fandom that made it so all Comic Book characters need to be dark, gritty, edgy, and thats what killed Robin in the DC movie U..

Tragedy. Give him the saddest, most hugsquezenuzzle-worthy story, but then make him awesome. Make the audience fall in love with Dick. I wouldn't introduce him as Robin in his first film appearence, either.

Me, I'd go super tragic with the whole reboot. I'd have Mr. Freeze commit suicide by removing his suit and walking into the sunset because theres no hope for Nora. I'd have Harley Quinn be a schitzo who's been halluecinating the Joker's influence, a depressing abusive relationship all in her head.

To be honest, it would need a Tv show to sell Robin to people and still i am sure people would never care for Robin as much as they care for Dick Grayson, Jason Todd and Tim Drake.

So there is no need for Robin, but a real need for the Batfamily.

@deaditegonzo said:

@BatWatch said:

@deaditegonzo:

Why, "The Nightwing?" Sounds awkward.

Because of the images that the title Robin brings up to most people, a delicate little bird or the Robin from Adam Wests Batman saying "Holy ... Batman." Marketability is important if you want your favorite character make it.

Nightwing sounds awkward in the real world, but no worse than the "Batman".

Ironically, Batman created the fandom that made it so all Comic Book characters need to be dark, gritty, edgy, and thats what killed Robin in the DC movie U..

Interesting idea that Batman killed Robin in that sense, but what I meant was why "The" Nightwing. That sounds ackward.

The most obvious thing for me would start just how Batman Begins began, introduce the basic characters in a very well rounded story that won't over power the audience. After the universe of the movie has been established the sequel would introduce a major villain as well as Dick Grayson. Now of course you don't want to overpower the people just like I think Batman Forever and Batman and Robin did, so just gradually introduce Dick and The Flying Grayson's in the first half of the movie and having Dick move in at the very center of the film. Would I go into Tony Zucco at first? Of course not. So after the very end of that movie Dick would have already donned the Robin outfit and I would probably end it with a clue to a future villain. At least that's how I would do it.

I know it wasn't very popular, but I loved the way Frank Miller introduced Robin. In the All-Star Batman and Robin comic. He turned the original Robin into more of a beast than Damian. I loved seeing Robin just destroy the Green Lantern in hand to hand combat. After the terrible GL movie- this would fun to see in a movie.

My second suggestion would be to just skip ahead and do a movie about the Red Hood with flashbacks to Grayson and Death in the family.

The flashback idea is maybe the best one, they work more as adults or almost adult, that as a that creppy kid that the Insane Batman uses as a human shield.

@batshrine said:

@DeathpooltheT1000: Sure a flashback would be fine, but I don't want any of the father son dynamic to be lost, I want Batman to really show how much he cares, even if it is at its most subtle.

Or you have him as Dick as Nightwing in a Batman movie with no origin, just the key basics ward of Batman who was trained as robin and now defected to be his own. And then you can do a Nightwing movie showing the evolution from circus, to robin, to Nightwing. And a cool artistic and different way to show it is cloud atlas style only far less confusing since its the same character only different times of his life. And showing how everything kind have come full circle for him. So it would still be a super hero story but the narrative would be far more engaging. And it would totally expand on his relationship with Batman from distant figure, to mentor, to the rift, to someone who he respects.

Well the flashback is that you could even have all the Robins in the movies,i mean i sick that only Dick gets mainstream recognition.

if they ever do have Robin in the movies I hope that the first place they look is at actual children acrobats

First we see Dick Grayson but he will be a side character. This is where we see moment with bruce. He will be anonymous that he will be Batman until nearly the end of the movie. He will find out in the end and we close the credits. He will be Robin in the next movie he will still be a side character. Robin is to be trilogy which should be in the third Batman movie. The third Batman needs to show that Batman is not alone. Dark knight rises was close but missed it.

Somehow movies the robin suit seems too bright and flashy or childish to directors. That is why red Nightwing was made in Batman and Robin. You know what I think in the fourth movie batman needs to wear the gray and blue. That is going to be risky as batman favored in the dark lore and people enjoy. However this going to be needed as he needs to save lives and looking scary does not help. That was the pint in new frontier made. I think they need to make two outfits for Batman.

@DeathpooltheT1000: Actually, I kind of like Robin as a creepy kid that Batman uses as a human shield. Ha! I enjoyed the story in the Tim Drake era "Robin" comic where it's pointed out that the reason Robin is so brightly colored as opposed to being dark like Batman, was to be a distraction to villains... It's a bit twisted, but it makes a certain kind of sense.

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