To everyone’s surprise, Warner Bros announced this week that The LEGO Batman Movie director Chris McKay would helm a Nightwing solo movie for the DCEU, focused on the adventures of Batman’s first and former Robin, Dick Grayson. Seriously, who saw this coming? It’s exciting, of course, because Warner Bros could go literally anywhere with it; on his own, Grayson doesn’t have as many iconic villains or storylines as his mentor, so there’s plenty of room to play around. With that in mind, we have to fan-cast a pretty wide net as to who might appear in this movie... although there are some pretty obvious characters to start with.
Dick Grayson

Personally, I would love it if Warner Bros took a chance on an unknown actor of Romani background, as that’s an oft overlooked aspect of Dick Grayson’s comic book origins. Unfortunately that’s very unlikely to happen, because if Dick’s gonna lead his own movie, the WB’s probably gonna want somebody we’ve heard of before. So why not one of these guys?
- Steven Yeun. The entirety of my Twitter feed is obsessed with this rumor, and for good reason, because the dude is perfect. After all, supervillains can’t be that much harder to take down than zombies, right? Bonus points if they can get Jeffrey Dean Morgan in there as Midnighter for a cameo, because that would really blow some nerds' minds.
- Steven R. McQueen. The Vampire Diaries actor was once rumored to be in the running for the role of Nightwing in TNT’s Teen Titans series, and he’s also joked about wanting to play the character on Arrow. It’s only fair that he get a shot at this point, because he seems super into the idea.
- Oscar Isaac. Listen. I know this is a long shot. I know that Oscar is very busy being in Star Wars, and Disney probably has a lock on him for some kind of upcoming Marvel project because that's how they roll. But he is the Internet’s Boyfriend and that makes him singularly worthy to play Dick, the most handsome man in the DC universe.
Helena Bertinelli


- Ruth Negga. She looks exactly like the New 52 version of Helena. Like, seriously. Look back and forth at these two pictures—it’s uncanny. Plus, thanks to Preacher, she’s no stranger to comic book adaptations, or to being a total badass.
- Naya Rivera. Helena has to be completely immune to Dick Grayson’s charms and willing to knock him around to get what she wants, and I fully believe that Naya is up to that. Besides, we all know how casting Glee alumni has worked out for the DC TV universe (hint: it’s worked extremely well!)
- Lyndie Greenwood. Sleepy Hollow might be coming back for a fourth season… someday. But we’re sure that Lyndie could make time in her schedule to show off her demon-hunting skills as the literal Huntress.
Barbara Gordon


- Gina Rodriguez. Why not follow in the footsteps of The LEGO Batman Movie and cast a Latina actress as Babs? Rosario Dawson’s pretty busy these days, but Gina’s time on Jane the Virgin has proved she’s got the grit and pep that a good Barbara Gordon needs.
- Jena Malone. Yes, it’s a relief that all those rumors turned out to be false and Malone wasn’t playing a post-Killing Joke Barbara Gordon in Batman V Superman. But on the other hand, Jena would be an amazing Barbara.
- Alexa Vega. Girl’s been starring in action movies basically all her life as part of the Spy Kids franchise, and I, for one, would love to see how she handles a meatier role.
Villains and Supporting Characters







Images: DC Comics/AMC/ The CW/Lucasfilm/Fox/Amazon Studios/Triumph Films/VEVO/Warner Brothers/HBO/Universal/Momentum Pictures
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