The Batman introduced viewers to a dark and noir-steeped vision of Gotham. So imagining a world where Batman’s most famed sidekicks—the Robins—appear might be hard. But many of the most bleak Batman comics feature the brightly attired youth helping Batman save his city and anchoring him to his humanity. And, according to Robert Pattinson and Matt Reeves, it might not be too far out of the realm of possibility. During a Q&A at Warner Bros. Studio that Nerdist attended, both Pattinson and Reeves shared their thoughts on whether Robin will be in The Batman universe.
When asked if the team behind the movie was open to expanding the Bat-Family, and specifically whether or not Rob wanted a “Little Rob… Robin,” the actor replied, “Yeah, but he has to be 13. That’s the only way I’ll accept it,” he laughed. “I love A Death in the Family and stuff, and I think it’d be so cool. And also people are so scared of it so I think it would be kind of exciting. I think it’d be a really fun addition.”
After joking that there was “no way we will do that,” Reeves concurred. “Yeah, totally. I agree with that. The thing about doing a Batman movie is, it’s scary to do a Batman movie. Because, first of all, there have been great ones. And also every single one of you has a vision of Batman in your head. One of the things I was doing when I was writing, I was walking down the street one day and I suddenly noticed, I was like, ‘Oh my god, Batman sweatshirt. Oh my god, Batman cap.’ It means so much to people and [there’s] 80 years of it. It’s an incredible thing.”
Reeves also revealed he too is a fan of Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo’s iconic Batman arc. “I also like A Death in the Family. And I think the idea of being able to approach some of these stories and think how can we do this in a way that feels fresh and grounded—to look at the scary thing and see if there’s a way to do it—the question is, will we be too scared? But I think we should try.”
So what would that look like for Reeves?
Could we see Robin in @mattreevesLA’ BATMAN films?
— Josh Horowitz (@joshuahorowitz) March 7, 2022
Listen to his answer.
My short answer based on his response: I bet we will and soon. pic.twitter.com/B8JlHVH1tG
On his Twitter, the host of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Joshua Horowitz, shared the above clip asking the director about the likelihood of Robin appearing. While Reeves didn’t confirm anything, he did give this insight. “I don’t want that character to become a cypher,” Reeves explained. “I don’t want to be like, ‘Okay, so we saw it wasn’t an origin tale, but you know what, that was kind of [Batman’s] origins and now he’s just perfect.’ No, you need to test the character again and again and again. And for me, yeah, there might be something in that. I don’t know. There’s a deep dive that already happened at the beginning and now I’m gonna have to deep dive again if we have the chance to make another one and so we shall see.”
Unsurprisingly, it sounds like Reeves is taking the idea of introducing Robin into the world of The Batman very seriously. And as huge Bat-Family fans we cannot wait to see what he does with the character if he pursues it. After watching The Batman, a Reeves and Pattinson take on A Death in the Family sounds heartbreakingly brilliant.
Featured Image: Warner Bros./DC Comics