The demise of the DCEU got here with a slew of canceled tasks, with a film about Batman protégé, Nightwing, amongst them – however that does not imply the DCU cannot choose up the place the earlier cinematic universe left off with The Courageous and the Daring. The DCEU managed to ship cinematic debuts for less-represented characters like Aquaman, Blue Beetle, and Black Adam throughout its run. Sadly, plans for different characters, resembling Dick Grayson, A.Okay.A. Nightwing, fell by the wayside till it was too late, consigning Nightwing to be yet one more of a number of canceled DCEU motion pictures.

Amongst these was a solo film for Ben Affleck’s Batman, which was teased through the put up credit scene of Justice League. Whereas which means “Batfleck” won’t ever get his time within the limelight, the DCU’s upcoming slate of flicks reveals that Batman remains to be set to be a central a part of the brand new period. Particulars surrounding The Courageous and the Daring are nonetheless comparatively scarce, although it’s confirmed to be starring Bruce Wayne and his son Damian as Robin. It’s with this film that DC can lastly carry its ill-fated plans concerning Nightwing to fruition.

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DC Has Tried To Make Nightwing Extra Than As soon as

The DCEU’s Nightwing film was introduced in 2017, round a yr after Batman’s DCEU debut in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Daybreak of Justice. This was to be a spin-off of Batman’s solo film, which was set to depict an older Bruce Wayne going toe-to-toe with Joe Manganiello’s Slade Wilson, AKA Deathstroke. On condition that Dick Grayson’s defaced Robin go well with was proven in Bruce Wayne’s Batcave, closely hinting on the character’s loss of life and the next embitterment of Affleck’s grizzled Batman, the spin-off would possible have been a prequel.

The film sat in growth hell, nonetheless, for a number of years. The small print surrounding the film included reviews that it was to be helmed by The Lego BatmanFilm director, Chris McKay, however little else in addition to. The Nightwing film then appeared to hit its first stumbling block following the lackluster response to Ben Affleck’s Batman following his Justice League look, with the character falling out of favor with Warner Bros. Studio heads and putting his solo film and doable spin-offs in jeopardy.

The film’s future lingered in uncertainty across the time that James Gunn and Peter Safran introduced the DCU reboot in November 2022. Nevertheless, it was later confirmed that it might not be among the many DC tasks persisting into the brand new DC Universe. This is smart, provided that Ben Affleck’s Batman was already intently tied to the DCEU’s model of Nightwing. It additionally matches up with the imaginative and prescient of the DCU, during which Batman’s first solo film, The Courageous and the Daring, will characteristic a couple of member of the Bat Household.

Batman: The Courageous & The Daring Can Convey An Older Dick Grayson

Dick Grayson is the primary iteration of Robin to staff up with Batman following the loss of life of Grayson’s mother and father. Bruce Wayne takes the younger Grayson underneath his wing to turn out to be his crime-fighting sidekick, performing like an adoptive father and resulting in Grayson being generally thought of Batman’s “first son.” This might result in Grayson establishing the Teen Titans, who’ve appeared in lots of media variations through the years. Ultimately, he would go it alone and undertake the Nightwing moniker, leaving the door open for a number of successors, together with Wayne’s organic son, Damian, to take the mantle of Robin.

On condition that Damian Wayne’s Robin is already confirmed to look in The Courageous and the Daring, it stands to cause that his predecessor may also be part of this narrative. This tracks with Gunn and Safran’s personal feedback that the film will characteristic the Bat Household, and never simply Batman and Robin. The Bat Household includes the aforementioned, along with different characters like Barbra Gordon’s Batgirl, Jason Todd’s Crimson Hood, and Tim Drake’s Crimson Robin – amongst many others. The household additionally consists of the extra cinematically prolific Alfred Pennyworth and Catwoman.

Whereas many characters comprise the Bat Household, Dick Grayson is without doubt one of the most distinguished, and due to this fact most definitely to look. Which means that the DCU’s Nightwing will in all probability be an older model of the character, with Bruce Wayne being older nonetheless, possible in the identical age bracket as Affleck’s model. If that’s the case, it opens the door large for Grayson to tackle a extra central function within the DCU, which might necessitate a solo film after his debut in The Courageous and the Daring. This can be a good factor for the DCU.

Why Nightwing Deserves His Personal DCU Film

Nightwing is a large DC fan-favorite and somebody who typically follows solely Superman and Batman in well-liked rankings. With that in thoughts, it’s considerably mind-boggling that Nightwing has but to obtain a live-action film of his personal, that means the DCU has a singular alternative to capitalize on his recognition. On condition that Nightwing is usually depicted as distinctly charismatic, upbeat, and with a penchant for pizzazz, this might work extraordinarily nicely with a brand new model of DC’s cinematic universe that can possible distance itself from the darker tones of its predecessor.

Regardless of residing within the shadow of his adoptive father and mentor, Nightwing is beloved largely for his means to counterbalance Batman’s signature darkish and brooding method to crime-fighting. With the DCU’s Batman set to hitch an extremely lengthy line of cinematic variations, the DCU is already underneath stress to distinguish the character from earlier iterations, which have most lately leaned into his extra sullen persona. Which means that Nightwing could be a breath of recent air, standing in as a protector of the dystopian Gotham Metropolis with out falling foul of the bleakness for which it’s so well-known.

Ignoring the campier renditions of Batman that preceded the 00s and past, DC has been largely bereft of characters that exude the identical sort of lightheartedness that the MCU’s most iconic characters, like Iron Man and Spider-Man, typify. Whereas the DCEU admittedly started leaning into this trope extra with the likes of The Flash and Aquaman, the DCU can hit the bottom operating by turning Nightwing right into a beforehand underrepresented character that would as a substitute turn out to be the DCU’s new figurehead. A solo Nightwing film, due to this fact, might be extra possible than ever following the discharge of The Courageous and the Daring.