With Warner Bros. sharing updates for so many of its DCEU films at this past month’s Comic-Con, you’d be forgiven for overlooking the in-production films that were absent from the presentations. Films like Chris McKay‘s Nightwing. Earlier this year, McKay explained that his Nightwing movie would serve as a kind of counter to the traditional Batman films - exploring what it’s like to come from nothing instead of a life of privilege - and fans who loved The LEGO Batman Movie were cautiously optimistic about a standalone Dick Grayson film. So it came as a bit of a surprise, then, when the DCEU executives remained silent on their latest project.
I’m going to confess something: I don’t really understand the logic behind a Nightwing movie. It’s not that I don’t like the character. As a teenager, I was fascinated with the strained relationships that Dick Grayson and Tim Drake had with their mentor Bruce Wayne, and any Batman comic where the past and present Robins fought crime together without Batman’s involvement was a must-own in my book. As a 13-year-old, Grayson seemed like the cool camp counselor who would talk to you like you were already an adult.
In yet another sign that Warner Bros. has learned almost nothing from its recent misfires, the studio has reportedly added a Nightwing project to its upcoming DCEU slate, with The LEGO Batman Movie director Chris McKay in final negotiations to helm. Although the studio recently hit some speed bumps with Ben Affleck’s Batman film, and there are still clearly some (fairly significant) wrinkles being worked out with their superhero universe, it seems that WB is determined to keep plowing through this thing one way or another.