In his Dark Knight Trilogy, arguably the best Batman film series till date, Christopher Nolan avoided using the popular Batman sidekick Robin – we haven't forgotten the homage with Robin John Blake in The Dark Knight Rises but he wasn't a costumed incarnation of the character. But, we are more than sure that the Boy Wonder (might also be Girl Wonder) exists in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), as the Comic Con trailer of their upcoming flick Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice offers us glimpses of his suit in a Batcave sequence.
So, after nineteen long years, the Batman sidekick is set to return to the silver screen and since the last time we saw him was with those controversial "˜rubber nipples' in Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin, the wait might seem longer than that. And it seems like everyone is super-excited about Robin's return to the big-screen, as the web is over-flooded with so many rumors, so many speculations and fan theories circling the Robin story arc in the second installment of DCEU.
It seems like if you ask five different persons, you may end up hearing five different theories on what BVS has in store for Robin. Whether it will be Dick Grayson, or Jason Todd, or Carrie Kelley that the movie will introduce is still unclear - and we have different rumors that back the appearance of each of these versions of the Batman sidekick.
Here we are not going to come up with another new theory, but would simply try to find out the answer to this question – can we have more than one Robin in Batman V Superman? Let's, at first, look back at each of the popular rumors circling Robin of the Zack Snyder venture. And ah"¦! Forgot to mention that the following content may contain possible SPOILERS for BVS - so be WARNED, people!
On the next page - a rumor about Dick Grayson version of Robin!
Dick Grayson Is Dead Before The Movie Begins!
The heavily graffiti-ed suit that we've seen in the second trailer of BVS weights in on the death of Robin before the events of the movie. We can be so sure that it is none but Robin's suit by the big R mark on its chest. And we can be so sure about the death of the character from the look of Ben Affleck's Bruce Wayne staring at the suit. And, around a month ago, one of the producers of the movie Charles Roven made this statement while talking Batman of BVS:
"He has lost those near and dear to him, and not necessarily from old age or disease"¦"
One of the many rumors on the Robin story arc in BVS suggests that dead Robin is the original one – Dick Grayson. The rumor prevailed strongly for around a year from the time when the below spy image surfaced online.
But the Comic Con trailer has almost debunked this theory as a graveyard sequence of Thomas and Martha Wayne's death clarifies that the grave must have been that of Dick Grayson's father or any relative.
However, that doesn't also confirm Dick is alive! So, you cannot say that this theory has been debunked entirely.
But what if he is alive? Hit 3!
Dick Grayson Appears As Nightwing In The Movie!
In the comics, Dick Grayson leaves being Batman sidekick and upgrades into Nightwing to start operating alone. That is when Jason Todd takes up the mantle of Robin. And we've been hearing about the possibility of Nightwing's appearance in BVS ever since the Comic Con trailer launched. If he isn't dead in the movie already, he would appear and chances of us seeing him as Nightwing aren't negligible.
On the next page - a rumor related to Jason Todd's version of the Boy Wonder!
Jason Todd Death Scene Appears In Flashback!
Well, the words painted on the Robin suit in Batman V Superman seem to be of none other than The Joker's - who else would write "˜HAHAHA! THE JOKE'S ON YOU BATMAN'? And if that's true, he might have killed Robin. And if Dick Grayson is alive, chances of Jason Todd being murdered by the Clown Prince of Crime cannot be rejected.
And The Joker did kill Todd in the comics - the popular "˜A Death in the Family' story arc. A rumor suggests that the flashback sequence of his death would appear in BVS, or at least Suicide Squad.
What if The Joker's torture didn't kill Jason Todd? Hit 5!
Jason Todd Transforms Into The New Joker!
Well, if they follow the comics, Jason Todd might actually not be dead after all. He returns as the Batman nemesis Red Hood later in the comics. Again, there's another thing that might happen to Robin as an after-effect of The Joker's brutal torture. He might end up into a new Joker - which has happened in the animation Batman Beyond: The Return of the Joker. The new Joker kills the old one and he is the one Jared Leto plays in DCEU.
The psychotic appearance of Leto's Joker is something that adds some weight to this theory. And this infamous Batman quote from the trailer, "Twenty years in Gotham, how many good guys are left? How many stayed that way?" - can't we consider the last question as something referring to Jason Todd's turning into The Joker or Red Hood?
On the next page - rumor related the Girl Wonder!
Carrie Kelly Appears In Batman V Superman!
Jena Malone is a cast member for BVS but it hasn't been announced yet as to what role she will be playing in the movie. That helps the rumor to flourish that the actress would play Carrie Kelley - the female Robin - in the movie. We know that BVS has heavily drawn from the graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns.
Carrie Kelley appears in it - so chances of Snyder introducing the female Robin for the first time on big-screen aren't insignificant as well!
Hit 7 to analyze the chances of having multiple Robin in BVS!
Why We May Have Multiple Robin In BVS?
Shouldn't the answer to the above question be YES? Can't we have each of Dick Grayson, Jason Todd and Carrie Kelley in Batman V Superman, or at least in the DCEU? The fact that we have so many rumors on web and neither of them really contradicting each other pushes us to think that there might be more than one Robin in the movie.
Let's just say that we would get to see Dick Grayson as Nightwing, Jason Todd being killed or transformed to a Bat-villain and Carrie Kelley joining Batman as the new sidekick - is that unlikely? Nolan excluded Robin from his Dark Knight Trilogy - so DCEU might as well make this character a bit more significant in their story arc than we assumed!
Hit 8 to check out why this might not work!
Why Is It Unlikely To Have Multiple Robin?
Batman V Superman isn't a Batman movie after all and neither a set-up for a Batman movie. Dawn of Justice - this part of the movie's title might help us realize that there's a whole lot of responsibility shouldered on Snyder for this movie. It has to set-up the Justice League - introduce likes of Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Cyborg - where do you get time to play so much with the Robin story arc? It's a two and half hour movie after all! If you think this way - it doesn't work at all!
However, if you play a little with the Robin story arc in BVS and leave out the remainder for the upcoming movies like Suicide Squad and the untitled Batman solo flick, it might work!
What do you think? How many Robin might exist in the DCEU? Share your thoughts via comments!
