Zack Snyder Has Clarified What His Robin Plans Were For Batman V Superman

Bruce Wayne looking at Robin costume in Batman v Superman

In the two years since its release, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is still generating a lot of conversation among fans, and Zack Snyder has helped with that in recent months. The director has been taking to his Vero account to talk with fans about his time in the DC Extended Universe, including calling into question the identity of the dead Robin. Jason Todd is the one who is killed by The Joker in the comics, but recently Snyder revealed that as he saw it, Dick Grayson was the one who died. Snyder let his followers know about this by simply writing:

Richard

This revelation came after a fan posted about a Suicide Squad deleted scene where Batman, having just captured Harley Quinn, says, "Joker took something important from me, now I'm gonna take something from him." The fan wondered if Batman was referring to Jason Todd, but Zack Snyder later responded that (at least in his mind), it's Richard Grayson, a.k.a. the first Robin, who was taken away from Bruce Wayne, not Jason Todd, the second Robin. It's worth noting this isn't the first time this twist has been brought up, as during Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice's shoot, a gravestone was spotted that read 'Richard John Grayson." However, it remained uncertain whether this was a legit story element or was just a prop thrown onto the set as a joke. Of course, given that a Nightwing movie is in development, that means that if that project goes forward, Dick needs to stay alive. So I suspect that as far as the Warner Bros and DC brass are concerned, Dick is still out fighting crime and Jason is the one buried six feet under.

But Zack Snyder wasn't done with the Robin talk on Vero. Later on, when another fan asked if there was a plan to bring Dick back to life or would he just have stayed dead, the director responded:

stay dead...till Carrie

Longtime DC Comics fans know that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was heavily influenced by The Dark Knight Returns, particularly by showing the eponymous heroes coming to blows. While the rumors claiming that Jena Malone was playing Carrie Kelley, the new Robin introduced in The Dark Knight Returns, proved to be false (Malone actually played Jenet Klyburn in the Ultimate Edition), now we know that Zack Snyder did plan on pairing Ben Affleck's Bruce Wayne at some point in the future. No doubt this was part of Snyder's original five movie plan, but given the new direction the DCEU is now going in, as well as Snyder not expected to helm another DC film, who knows if we'll ever see Carrie in a live action theatrical setting.

The DCEU continues with the release of Aquaman on December 21, and don't forget to check out our DC movies guide to find out what else is in development for the franchise.

Adam Holmes
Senior Content Producer

Connoisseur of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, John Wick, MonsterVerse and Doctor Who lore, Adam is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He started working for the site back in late 2014 writing exclusively comic book movie and TV-related articles, and along with branching out into other genres, he also made the jump to editing. Along with his writing and editing duties, as well as interviewing creative talent from time to time, he also oversees the assignment of movie-related features. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Journalism, and he’s been sourced numerous times on Wikipedia. He's aware he looks like Harry Potter and Clark Kent.