In the grand scheme of things, Robin is a pretty stupid character to have in the Batman universe. The Dark Knight is interesting as a brooding loner who single-handedly works to protect Gotham City from the forces of evil and having the Boy Wonder present really screws all of that up. Hell, it even has a bad track record in the movie world. Say what you will about Batman Returns, the franchise cratered when Robin was introduced in Batman Forever. For years director Christopher Nolan has said that he wouldn't be including Robin in his Batman trilogy, but that's not stopping him from hinting at it.
A trick first spotted by @STYDNews on Twitter, if you freeze frame 12 seconds into the new trailer, you'll see a group of football fans cheering and holding signs for the Gotham Rogues. But do you notice something a bit strange about that "R"? Check it out below side-by-side with the Robin logo from the comics.
Is Nolan just messing with us, or is he actually hinting at something here? Some have been saying that the use of Hines Ward is another hint about Robin (Burt Ward played the character in the old Batman television series with Adam West), but it's more likely that Nolan just recognized Ward as one of the Pittsburgh Steelers' better players and chose him for the shot. There's been rampant speculation for months about whether or not the new movie will include Robin as a character, and those rumors only got worse when Joseph Gordon-Levitt joined the cast earlier this year. Because Nolan has the incredible ability to talk a lot without saying anything, we may not know about the future of Robin until the movie comes out on July 20th, but we actually kind of prefer it that way.
To learn more about The Dark Knight Rises, head on over to our Blend Film Database.
