Warner Bros. announced today that a film centered around Dick Grayson is in the works with Chris McKay, the director behind the recently acclaimed The Lego Batman Movie, in talks to helm the adaptation. Bill Dubuque, who wrote The Accountant, is writing the script.
This announcement comes on the heels of the success of McKay’s directorial debut with which currently has a 91% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes (the highest rating of any recent DC movie) and has grossed $182.4 million dollars worldwide over two weekends. McKay recently expressed interest to helm a live-action DC movie on Twitter claiming he had plans to pitch a movie to Warner Bros. executives.
Dick Grayson is one of the oldest characters in the Batman family, debuting back in “Detective Comics” #38 back in 1940. Created by Batman creators Bob Kane and Bill Finger and artist Jerry Robinson, Grayson was the original Robin. As time went on, Dick Grayson joined the Teen Titans, and took on the persona of Nightwing, cementing his status as his own hero and making way for a legacy of Robins like Jason Todd and Tim Drake. As Nightwing, Dick Grayson fully established himself as different from Batman, while sharing that same tragic origin of being orphaned, Nightwing overcame his tragedy, moving forward in a healthier way than Bruce and finding the fun at the center of being a hero. That level of humor and fun is desperately needed in the DCEU following the grim outings of Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad.
Nightwing comes on the announcement of other planned DC movies with no release dates such as, David Ayer’s Gotham City Sirens, Matt Reeves’ The Batman, a sequel to Suicide Squad (perhaps to be directed by Mel Gibson), and directorless movies The Flash, Shazam!, Justice League Dark, and Cyborg. Currently the only movies from DC’s original ten movie plan revealed in 2014 with release dates are the upcoming Wonder Woman (June 2), Justice League (November 17), and Aquaman (October 5, 2018).
How Dick Grayson will be introduced into the DCEU is currently unknown. Although we know there has been at least one Robin in the DCEU, killed by the Joker before the events of Batman v Superman, it is unlikely this was Dick Grayson, and more than likely was Jason Todd. Still, Michael Cera’s Dick Grayson from Lego Batman stole the show with the optimism and awe that defines the character. If McKay and Dubuque can bring any of that portrayal to DC’s live action world, perhaps the future of the DC universe on film won’t be so bleak after all.
