Many of the on-screen Batmen have had a Robin of sorts, going back to the Adam West days — even The Dark Knight Rises, with Christian Bale's baritone Bruce Wayne, ended with a tease implying that Joseph Gordon-Levitt's cop Batman protégé would take up the Robin title. Now, during a special panel event that Collider attended in Los Angeles, new Batman Robert Pattinson opened up on whether he'd like to see a Robin added to the roster in a prospective — not confirmed — sequel to The Batman.
"Yeah, but he has to be 13," the star said in response to the idea of Robin joinign the fray. "That's the only way I'll accept it. No, I love Death in the Family and stuff, but I think it'd be so cool. Also people are so scared of it, but it's kind of exciting. I think it would be a really fun addition."
He's referring, of course, to the infamous 1988 comic book storyline which saw then Robin, Jason Todd, the second character to take up the persona, murdered at the hands of The Joker. At first, Matt Reeves joked that they wouldn't add a Robin to the franchise, before conceding that he agreed with Pattinson.
He went on to expand on the welcome pressures of making a Batman movie — why it's scary, and how every single fan has a different vision for the Caped Crusader in their head. He said:
"Yeah, there's no way. We won't do that. No, I'm kidding. Yeah, totally, I agree with that. The thing about doing a Batman movie is it's scary to do a Batman movie. Because, first of all, there've been great ones, and also every single one of you has a vision of Batman in your head. And so we're competing with the vision that... I mean, one of the things I was doing when I was writing, I was walking down the street one day, and I suddenly noticed, I was like, "Oh my God, Batman sweatshirt. Oh my God, Batman cap." You literally, if you just notice it, I mean I was talking to some round tables today, people have their Batman shirts on."
Reeves notes that he too, like Pattinson, "likes Death in the Family," further expanding that he follows the idea of "approaching some of those stories, and [thinking], how can we do this in a way that feels fresh and grounded in a way... look at that scary thing and see if there's a way to do it". The question, he says, is whether they'll be too scared. He concludes: "But I think we should try."
If The Batman is successful at the box office the possibilities are endless for what Reeves could do in a sequel or sequels. We'll know soon enough whether he'll get that chance.
The Batman hits theaters on March 4 and also stars Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin, John Turturro as Carmine Falcone, Jeffrey Wright as polic commissioner James Gordon, and Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth.