Fire up the rumor wheel, fanboy nation. A juicy Batman-Superman item’s dropping over at Latino-Review, which suggests (in the above clip) that Dick Grayson and his costumed alter ego Nightwing will be part of Zack Snyder’s 2015 sequel.
Holy sidekick scoop, Batman! Grayson, as you know, is the adopted son of Bruce Wayne who assumed the identity of Robin so he could fight crime alongside of Batman. As Dick grew older, he dropped the Robin moniker and assumed the mantle of Nightwing, fighting with the Teen Titans, the Outsiders and – in certain storylines – stepping in to fight as Batman while Bruce healed from wounds.
Latino-Review, in putting the feelers out to Batman sources, reports that the team behind Snyder’s epic are on the lookout for "a young John Hawkes type." Fascinating! I didn’t know the grizzled character actor ever looked young:
The site also notes that in this treatment of the script, we’ll have a tired and broken version of Batman (whom we know will be played by Ben Affleck), and that he and Dick "haven’t spoken in years."
That explains, to a certain extent, why the movie is skipping right over Robin as a character. If Affleck’s playing an older, grizzled (and possibly retired) version of the Dark Knight, then Grayson likely will have graduated to Nightwing status. I wonder if Nightwing will be Gotham’s protector in the wake of Batman’s "retirement," with Wayne having to step back into the cape and cowl because of the threat that Superman might bring to Metropolis.
There are so many different places that Snyder can go, with the possible introductions of Nightwing and Wonder Woman (as was rumored earlier this week). At the very least, it sounds like DC/Warner is ramping up the addition of characters to its universe so that it can get to a Justice League of America movie sooner rather than later. Maybe heroes like Nightwing and Wonder Woman don’t need their own standalone movie. Maybe they can be introduced the way Hawkeye and Black Widow appeared first in other Marvel movies before getting in on the action in The Avengers. Either way, treat it all as speculation until the studio confirms, but do you want Nightwing to play a part in Batman-Superman, and whom do you think should play him? (Don’t say Joseph Gordon-Levitt.)
