Christopher Nolan catapulted his and Batman's reputation into the high ranks with the Dark Knight trilogy. But he was against a Robin spin-off show.
Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy is still one of his finest works. While previous entries in the franchise were more comedic, this trilogy was dark and gritty. It was grounded in realism and made the villains believable to a certain extent. Especially Heath Ledger embodied the Joker so well that he will forever be remembered as one of the best villains of all time.
The Dark Knight Rises marked the end of Nolan's trilogy. While the movie's ending closed the book on Batman himself, it was still left ambiguous for other characters. During the final act, the policeman John Blake – played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt – receives an inheritance by Bruce Wayne and has to use his legal name "Robin". He then gets coordinates to the Batcave and upon finding it and all the equipment inside, the movie fades to black.
DC Report Revealed Plans For Robin
The ending of The Dark Knight Rises left fans hopeful for more. During the 2010s, the DC movies were mostly box office successes, but they never reached the heights of Marvel and weren't well received. Warner needed a new hero and while The Dark Knight trilogy was a huge success, it didn't feature any other heroes they could use for later projects. Or did it?
The ambiguous ending to The Dark Knight Rises definitely set up a Robin origin story. Warner reportedly wanted to create a spin-off show of the fan favorite Boy Wonder, but were stopped by Nolan. Even though his trilogy was done, he was adamant about his control of everything Batman. He didn't set up the ending with a sequel or spin-off in mind and reportedly made Warner cancel it.
Almost No Live-Action Robins
Robin is one of the most beloved comic book characters of all time. Funnily enough, the character is also the most liked hero inside the DC comics. It's no surprise then that Warner wanted to create a spin-off show, especially since Robin had been gone for a while in terms of live-action adaptations.
After the critical and commercial failure of Batman and Robin in 1997, the Boy Wonder vanished from the big screen. And when Nolan revived the Batman franchise eight years later, Robin wasn't part of the bigger story. In 2018, the character was brought back to live-action with the show Titans, but while it enjoyed critical success, most fans had mixed feelings about the show.
Now James Gunn plans to bring Robin back. His DCU movies are set to introduce Damian Wayne, who is not only Batman's son, but also the latest comic iteration of Robin. The character will return in Andy Muschietti's The Brave And The Bold, which has no release date yet and remains in development. The Boy Wonder's live-action renaissance may still be possible after all.