While the DCU and Snyderverse have deprived audiences of Batman's famous sidekicks, James Gunn's DCU may be the best opportunity to see Nightwing appear on film. The DCU has surely made a great deal of effort to showcase as many DC heroes and villains as possible, but there is still a litany of popular characters that still have yet to make their debut in the franchise. Now director James Gunn plans on instilling a new film franchise more akin to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there could be a very good chance that audiences will get to see a lot more of what DC has to offer.
The most recent Batman films and shows have only ever teased the existence of a Robin without explicitly showing them or any of their grown-up hero identities, with the most popular version definitively being the first Robin, Dick Grayson, who later became the hero Nightwing. In fact, the last fully-realized Robin to be seen in a film was Chris O'Donnell's portrayal of Grayson, in both Batman Forever and Batman and Robin in 1995 and 1997 respectively. However, this fact could possibly change with the introduction of the DCU, as the events that James Gunn writes up could very well add Nightwing to the ranks after his striking absence in Zack Snyder's DCEU.
Batman V Superman Killed Off Dick Grayson
The most recent Batman film to feature any kind of reference to a Robin was Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, in which there is a scene where Bruce Wayne (played by Ben Affleck) solemnly looks upon the suit of an assumedly-deceased Robin. This scene had audiences speculate on which Robin this suit belonged to, with the majority believing that it belonged to the second Robin, Jason Todd. Within the comics, Todd was also killed by the Clown Prince of Crime, but was eventually resurrected later as the gun-toting vigilante known as the Red Hood. While this was a good guess, director Zack Snyder had revealed that the fandom's speculation was incorrect.
Snyder confirmed that the suit in question did not belong to Jason Todd, despite the strong evidence supporting it. In actuality, the suit belonged to Dick Grayson. This revelation was completely jarring for multiple reasons, the main one being that it absolutely ruined the chances of a Nightwing appearance. While this served to establish Batman's lone wolf tendencies, and make it impactful when he finally worked with the Justice League team, it still didn't change the fact that Dick Grayson was killed off-screen, dashing chances of an appearance unless radical changes were made.
The Flash Can Bring Dick Grayson Back To Life
The biggest (and possibly only) way for Nightwing to finally show up in a blockbuster film is through possibly the most important movie of the entire franchise, The Flash. While there is still not much information about the film, the story is said to feature a litany of situations involving time travel and alternate timelines/dimensions as it is to loosely follow the ever-famous 2011 comic story Flashpoint. This story depicts Barry Allen distorting his original timeline by changing the outcome of an event in his past, specifically the murder of his mother and his father's false imprisonment.
This kind of misuse of time travel is sure to result in severe consequences, but that does not mean it couldn't prove useful in the case of Dick Grayson. Due to the Flashpoint story and its emphasis on opposite/changed outcomes after messing with the past, there is a great possibility that the Flash's skewing of the timeline could actually prevent Grayson's death at the hands of the Joker. As a result, his and Bruce's story could continue where it originally left off and possibly blossom into the birth of Nightwing, which would be even better if the character was actually pictured on screen.
Another Nightwing Can Enter The DCU Through The Multiverse
Not only will The Flash feature one of the biggest DC stories of all time, it will also be the movie to introduce their multiverse. This raises a whole hostof potential, both in bringing in characters from other universes, and reprising roles for certain characters. As such, the film intends on bringing back major actors and actresses that played DC heroes in the past, namely previous Batman actor Michael Keaton, who is to reprise his legendary role as the Dark Knight.
This would be the perfect opportunity to finally include Nightwing (and a great deal of other characters) in a DC film after his unfortunate honorable mention in Batman v Superman, without retconning the previous Dick Grayson fully. If Nightwing were to be introduced in this manner, then there could be the high possibility of the multiverse extending to television/streaming, which would work to expand the current DCU substantially. Brenton Thwaites' portrayal of Dick Grayson from the 2018 series Titans could be very likely to make an appearance, given the series is ongoing, which would potentially allow him to takeover officially as the main DCU Nightwing.
The DCU Can Change BvS' Dead Robin To Jason Todd
The DCU can also introduce Robins back to the franchise by retconning Batman v Superman's dead sidekick to be Jason Todd. Zack Snyder's confirmation that Dick Grayson died before the events of the movie was surely a bold choice from a bold director - potentially one that the franchise now doesn't wish to follow up on. Although retcons are certainly frowned upon no matter which fandom it happens in, if the DCU is to bring Nightwing into its ever-growing roster of heroes, then perhaps a change should be made to the lore behind the Robin suit scene.
If this were to be done, not only would the events of the film's lore further line up with the comic book source material, but it would also imply that Dick Grayson is still alive and is somewhere in the world beating up bad guys as Nightwing. This retcon would also be an opportunity to introduce Jason as the very first live action Red Hood to grace the screen of a blockbuster film, possibly in a retelling of another famous DC comic tale, Under The Red Hood - meaning his storylines wouldn't be wasted, given his canon comic revival is a fundamental part of his character anyhow.
