The Batman Gets New Director & Nightwing Movie In Development!
It had been rumoured for a while, but Warner Bros have officially announced Matt Reeves will step in to direct The Batman standalone movie, after Ben Affleck decided being on screen and behind the camera would be too much to handle. Initial reports said the negotiations with the director had broken down, but something seems to have pulled them back together again.
Reeves is a solid choice for the franchise, and someone who knows how to bring action and story together on screen. After working with JJ Abrams on Felicity, he went on to direct Cloverfield, Let Me In, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and the upcoming War for the Planet of the Apes. “I have loved the Batman story since I was a child,” the director commented. “He is such an iconic and compelling character, and one that resonates with me deeply. I am incredibly honoured and excited to be working with Warner Bros. to bring an epic and emotional new take on the Caped Crusader to the big screen.”
Batman isn’t the only Bat family member apparently getting his own film. Chris McKay, who recently bought us The Lego Batman Movie, is set to helm a Nightwing flick, with Bill Dubuque (The Accountant, The Judge) writing the script. For those who are not up on their Bat-trivia, Nightwing is the alterego of the original Robin, Dick Grayson, which he has been using since 1984 when he became leader of The New Teen Titans.
Nightwing is a really interesting choice for an addition to the DC movie line up, as he’s the first step in massively expanding the Batverse. It allows them to expand on the other various Robins, and tie into Barbara Gordon (aka Batgirl/Oracle) and the Birds Of Prey. I’ve seen a number of tweets lamenting “how can you do Nightwing when you haven’t introduced Robin?” Not true! They have introduced Robin… albeit a dead one…
It’s widely believed that the suit in Batman vs. Superman was of Robin number 2, Jason Todd, who was killed by the Joker in the comic books… then later resurrected as Red Hood (because no one stays dead in comics except for Spider-man’s Uncle Ben.) There have actually been 5 Robin’s in current continuity – Dick, Jason, Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown, and Bruce’s son Damian Wayne. BvS seems to be set between Jason being killed, and Tim convincing Bruce that Batman needs a Robin, so that means Nightwing is already out there somewhere. Relationships between Bruce and Dick have been somewhat fractious at times, so that could easily explain why we haven’t heard mention of him on screen yet.
Introducing Nightwing also gives WB/DC a nice parachute, should the rumours about Affleck no longer wanting to play Batman be true. When Bruce was ‘killed’ in the comics (naturally, he got better…), Dick took over the cowl, and became Batman, with Damian as his Robin. This would give them some decent continuity, rather than just switching Affleck directly for a new actor when the time comes.
We’ll keep you updated with more information as we get it, but for now, the next big DC movie will be Wonder Woman, which lands in UK cinemas on 2nd June 2017.
