DCU’s New Batman Movie Can Deliver On Canceled Nightwing Movie Plans

The demise of the DCEU came with a slew of canceled projects, with a movie about Batman protégé, Nightwing, among them – but that doesn’t mean the DCU can’t pick up where the previous cinematic universe left off with The Brave and the Bold. The DCEU managed to deliver cinematic debuts for less-represented characters like Aquaman, Blue Beetle, and Black Adam during its run. Unfortunately, plans for other characters, such as Dick Grayson, A.K.A. Nightwing, fell by the wayside until it was too late, consigning Nightwing to be yet another of several canceled DCEU movies.

Among these was a solo movie for Ben Affleck’s Batman, which was teased during the post credits scene of Justice League. While this means that “Batfleck” will never get his time in the limelight, the DCU’s upcoming slate of movies shows that Batman is still set to be a central part of the new era. Details surrounding The Brave and the Bold are still relatively scarce, though it is confirmed to be starring Bruce Wayne and his son Damian as Robin. It is with this movie that DC can finally bring its ill-fated plans regarding Nightwing to fruition.

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DC Has Tried To Make Nightwing More Than Once

The DCEU’s Nightwing movie was announced in 2017, around a year after Batman’s DCEU debut in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. This was to be a spin-off of Batman’s solo movie, which was set to depict an older Bruce Wayne going toe-to-toe with Joe Manganiello’s Slade Wilson, AKA Deathstroke. Given that Dick Grayson’s defaced Robin suit was shown in Bruce Wayne’s Batcave, heavily hinting at the character’s death and the subsequent embitterment of Affleck’s grizzled Batman, the spin-off would likely have been a prequel.

The movie sat in development hell, however, for several years. The details surrounding the movie included reports that it was to be helmed by The Lego BatmanMovie director, Chris McKay, but little else besides. The Nightwing movie then appeared to hit its first stumbling block following the lackluster response to Ben Affleck’s Batman following his Justice League appearance, with the character falling out of favor with Warner Bros. Studio heads and placing his solo movie and possible spin-offs in jeopardy.

The movie’s future lingered in uncertainty around the time that James Gunn and Peter Safran announced the DCU reboot in November 2022. However, it was later confirmed that it would not be among the DC projects persisting into the new DC Universe. This makes sense, given that Ben Affleck’s Batman was already closely tied to the DCEU’s version of Nightwing. It also matches up with the vision of the DCU, in which Batman’s first solo movie, The Brave and the Bold, will feature more than one member of the Bat Family.

Batman: The Brave & The Bold Can Bring An Older Dick Grayson

Dick Grayson is the first iteration of Robin to team up with Batman following the death of Grayson’s parents. Bruce Wayne takes the young Grayson under his wing to become his crime-fighting sidekick, acting like an adoptive father and leading to Grayson being commonly considered Batman’s “first son.” This would lead to Grayson establishing the Teen Titans, who have appeared in many media adaptations over the years. Eventually, he would go it alone and adopt the Nightwing moniker, leaving the door open for several successors, including Wayne’s biological son, Damian, to take the mantle of Robin.

Given that Damian Wayne’s Robin is already confirmed to appear in The Brave and the Bold, it stands to reason that his predecessor will also be a part of this narrative. This tracks with Gunn and Safran’s own comments that the movie will feature the Bat Family, and not just Batman and Robin. The Bat Family comprises the aforementioned, in addition to other characters like Barbra Gordon’s Batgirl, Jason Todd’s Red Hood, and Tim Drake’s Red Robin – among many others. The family also includes the more cinematically prolific Alfred Pennyworth and Catwoman.

While many characters comprise the Bat Family, Dick Grayson is one of the most prominent, and therefore most likely to appear. This means that the DCU’s Nightwing will probably be an older version of the character, with Bruce Wayne being older still, likely in the same age bracket as Affleck’s version. If that is the case, it opens the door wide for Grayson to take on a more central role in the DCU, which would necessitate a solo movie after his debut in The Brave and the Bold. This is a good thing for the DCU.

Why Nightwing Deserves His Own DCU Movie

Nightwing is a huge DC fan-favorite and someone who often follows only Superman and Batman in popular rankings. With that in mind, it is somewhat mind-boggling that Nightwing has yet to receive a live-action movie of his own, meaning the DCU has a unique opportunity to capitalize on his popularity. Given that Nightwing is often depicted as distinctly charismatic, upbeat, and with a penchant for pizzazz, this could work extremely well with a new version of DC’s cinematic universe that will likely distance itself from the darker tones of its predecessor.

Despite living in the shadow of his adoptive father and mentor, Nightwing is beloved mostly for his ability to counterbalance Batman’s signature dark and brooding approach to crime-fighting. With the DCU’s Batman set to join an incredibly long line of cinematic adaptations, the DCU is already under pressure to differentiate the character from previous iterations, which have most recently leaned into his more sullen persona. This means that Nightwing would be a breath of fresh air, standing in as a protector of the dystopian Gotham City without falling foul of the bleakness for which it is so well-known.

Ignoring the campier renditions of Batman that preceded the 00s and beyond, DC has been largely bereft of characters that exude the same kind of lightheartedness that the MCU’s most iconic characters, like Iron Man and Spider-Man, typify. While the DCEU admittedly began leaning into this trope more with the likes of The Flash and Aquaman, the DCU can hit the ground running by turning Nightwing into a previously underrepresented character that could instead become the DCU’s new figurehead. A solo Nightwing movie, therefore, is probably more likely than ever following the release of The Brave and the Bold.