My DC comic book knowledge is pretty limited, so please forgive my ignorance, but apparently the new animated Batman films, The Dark Knight Returns Pt. 1 and 2, are putting a new twist on the old storyline of Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson/Jason Todd/Tim Drake. That twist? Robin’s got some boobs now.
Returns is based on Frank Miller’s four-part series from 1986, which features the newest Robin as a 13-year old girl who helps a 55-year old Batman save Gotham from all the same-old-same-olds and you-know-who’s.
One of the most influential comics of all time, the Dark Knight Returns is set in a near future where Batman is retired and Gotham City has slid into a dystopian state ruled by a gang of hooligans called The Mutants. The 55-year old Bruce Wayne is forced to don the cape once more, this time partnering with a female Robin to not only stop the Joker but keep the peace when the city falls into chaos after being hit by an electromagnetic pulse. (Via the Hollywood Reporter, which also revealed some exclusive images)
As for the animated actors and roles, Batman is voiced by Peter “RoboCop” Weller and his new tween sidekick will be voiced by Modern Family’s Ariel Winter.
Winter says she prepared for the role by seeing other Batman movies and asking, “How can I make her different from the other Robins, other than just being female? She’s really tough and she needs to have an edge in her voice so I tried a lower register for her.”
Thank God Winter didn’t respond like most teenage girls and scream, “I MADE MY ROBIN A VAMPIRE BECAUSE SHE’S LIKE BELLA BUT SHE ALSO HAS A BOW AND ARROW BECAUSE SHE’S LIKE KATNISS AND SHE THINKS BOYFRIEND IS THE BEST SONG EVER BECAUSE BELIEBERS ARE THE SEXIEST!!!1!”
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What is this, Gamma Squad? Prepare for wedgie, dweeb!
the dark knight returns with worth reading. if for nothing else than it makes superman look like the enormous pussy he is. also the gang of mutants are neo-nazis. also bruce wayne has a nice elderly pedo-stache.
Burnsy also picked that picture of Ariel Winter while wearing his pedo-stache
Very ill advised move. Unless Batman wouldn’t mind all the dents, dings and lost gas caps for his batmobile.
Batman: No, the Bat-phone can not “text”, nor is it for personal calls no matter who is dating who now!
In the Dark Knight returns, Robin was a girl. It is set in the future.
Also, Nolan used Batman: Year One as his inspiration for Batman Begins. Same author, different part of the mythology.
Well, Nolan and Goyer used the BatTankMobileThing from ‘Returns’ as the basis for the Tumbler in ‘Begins’, and the Sons of the Batmen are in ‘The Dark Knight.’ Plus, with ‘Rises’ being set 8 years in the future, Bruce being in semi-retirement, and Bane bearing some physical similarities to the mutant leader… Yeah, I’m pretty confident there’s a healthy dose of ‘Returns’ in these films.
[Something about me being a nerd.]
Yeah, I didn’t mean the entire series was the basis.
Not only was Robin indeed a female in Frank Miller’s influential The Dark Knight Returns, but at one point Bruce Wayne fired Tim Drake as Robin and trained Tim’s girlfriend Stephanie Brown to be Robin. And that was IN CONTINUITY!
/Comic Book Guy voice
I thought Tim Drake died. Or did they fake that?
Drake quit because he pops found out he liked to dress up in tights and punch dudes in the face at night. Then his dad died, so he figured, “fuck it, guess I’ll go back to punching dudes.” Comics!
*his* pops. Goddammit there needs to be an ‘edit’ button.
Jason Todd died (and of course came back). Tim Drake was the Robin after him
That’s a pretty old, well known twist. The best kind of twist.
You people need to get your friggin’ facts straight before posting an article. What are you, Fox news? This is ridiculous. I know you said your Batman knowledge was limited but hell, at least look up what you’re reporting on before you report on it. Give me an article to write. I’d blow your minds away.
Here’s the pitch – you’re a dipshit. WRITE IT!
And you’re an asshole. BOOK IT!
I am an asshole, that’s never up for debate. But you go ahead and tell me what I wrote that was wrong except for a misleading reference to bits of the Return series being used in Nolan’s Batman.
Is Bruce Wayne not 55 in Returns? Is Robin not a girl? Is she not 13? Was it not published in 1986? Was it not 4 parts? Was it not written by Frank Miller? Did it not have Superman in it?
I mean, I don’t really care when I get trolled, but you tell me what I Fox Newsed up in this piece.
RAWR!!! FAKE INTERNET OUTRAGE OVER NOTHING RAWRRRRR!!!!
Well… you’re wearing that hat like an idiot.
I think the “fact” that Rated_R is referring to is the misconception that there will actually be a part 3, but Peter Weller will be replaced by Robert John Burke.
Yeah, Burnsy, why don’t you go back to Fox News!
What do you mean “You people”!?
So her utility belt is just crammed with tampons?
Phil Dunphy would be THRILLED to have a superhero for a daughter.
And Cameron and Mitchell will design her a batsuit that will make her look fab while busting heads.
Allow me to enlighten you with my feelings on this.
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Although there’s a helluva lot to cover in the 70 minutes or so these movies typically run.
Last time I checked they were going to split it up into 2 films so that wouldn’t be a problem. The only reason I’m not calling foul on this.
I’m a little disappointed in you, Burnsy. I expected better. I understand that not every knows (or cares) about The Dark Knight Returns. I’m not that big of a fan of it myself. But it doesn’t take much to Wikipedia the title and see that Robin was a girl then, as well. I probably wouldn’t even comment if it wasn’t for the fact that this was the title of the article and you are basically just trolling everyone.
Um, that’s the whole point of this. It’s a new movie based on that series. I haven’t read the series, so I’m reacting to it as someone who watched movies. There has never been a Batman movie with Robin as a girl, hence the idea of that is new to motion pictures. I’m sorry that this is a well known plot point, but next time I’ll make it clearer that I’m not familiar with the source material on which a movie is being based.
Well, to be fair, Chris O’Donnell was Robin.
Nipple suit and everything :D
I mean, I wrote the post, so maybe it just reads clearer to me. I’m pointing out that there’s a new Batman animated film and in it, Robin is a girl. Then I pull up the source material to explain it.
That makes sense. I don’t think I even would have questioned it if not for the title which makes it sound like Robin wasn’t a girl in the original comic that this movie is directly based off of, and was also never a girl in the regular comics continuity. I understand the point of “Robin is a girl in an animated movie for the first time ever” if you don’t include the Batman: The Animated Series episode where they did a little Frank Miller tribute.
Basically, I like all the articles you write and I was saddened to find that you had written this one but I understand how you were approaching the whole thing and, in reality, I will probably forget all about it after I finish eating this delicious apple crisp that was made for me.
That does sound tasty.
What were we talking about, again?
I think it was how Peach Cobbler is in every way superior to apple crisp.
They are all delicious provided someone else makes them.
What!? We need to take our country back!
The real strange thing is not that Robin is a girl, but just how hipster as shit Frank Miller managed to make her look even in 1986.
It’s not surprising that the average person doesn’t know this. It IS surprising that the guy who keeps shouting “INFINITY GAUNTLET IN AVENGERS 2!!!!1!!!” doesn’t, though.
I only read Marvel comics as a kid.
Makes sense. I mean, HOW DARE YOU NOT KNOW THE SAME COMIC TRIVIA THAT I DO! GAWD!
While I was surprised that Burnsy didn’t know that Robin was girl in Dark Knight Returns, I was not at all disappointed by the Nerd Rage that I knew was to follow in the comments. Oh, Internet, don’t ever change!
Burnsy! Spank yourself immediately!
No, I mean your backside.
Dark Knight Returns really was good. Makes me want to go back and pinpoint the exact moment that Frank Miller turned into a hack. He was a god when that came out. And I still have my copies of the 4 issues. Problem is, so does every collector, so it’s not easy to cash in on.
Somewhere after all the praise he got for the first arc of Sin City, he became incredibly indulgent, to the point where he just focused entirely on his bizarro fetishes and just figured everything that rolled out of his brain was a good idea, and since he’d been told he was a genius for a decade, I imagine that had an effect on his ability to edit himself.
It fascinates me, because his older comics, like YEAR ONE and his run with Mazuchelli on Daredevil, he tried to convincingly realize people with distinct voices, and his touch was actually kind of subtle and sobering, even optimistic at times. Frank Miller has spent so long now writing that bone crunching tough guy polemic that you’d never think he was capable of something as quiet and understated as some of his early work. The Dark Knight Returns felt so different than Year One, and he was capable of different modes of narrative and storytelling. Now all he can do is write terse, borderline psychotic nonsense. At least in my opinion anyways. ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN, after DK2, was when my faith in his work disappeared. And now… fuck. He’s completely off the rails.
Personally I think the last good thing Frank Miller did was That Yellow Bastard.
Also: Cocaine.
The point people tend to think he went bonkers (at least from what I’ve seen) is 9/11. He was writing the sequel to TDKR at the time. After that his sanity went downhill.
I have a lot of excitement for this.
Having just recently read Dark Knight Strikes Again for the first time recently, I can honestly say I’ll set myself on fire in protest if that ever comes out in any film iteration. Shit blew.
Robin was a boy?
I have a lot of things to consider….
A 13 year old girl? C’mon, do you know how easy it is to over power a 13 year old girl?
-Roman Polanski–
I think, Burnsy, that you are being critiqued because for some reason at first the article reads like you’re saying “Can you believe this? Isn’t it crazy?” when many people who follow Batman (and I understand that you do not) know that there was a female Robin at one point. So, basically……mostly unwarranted Nerd Rage®.
It’s basically just your headline and the fact that we, as voracious consumers of pop culture, (wrongly) expect the people that hand our buzz down to us to be at least as knowledgeable as we are about every little thing. Basically, your cool, I’m cool, C-Tates is the bomb, and terrorism sucks. USA!!!
1) *wink wink* I chose that headline for a reason.
2) God bless your user name.
Holy shit, what happened here? Comic book geeks and cartoon nerds are at each other’s throats! It’s like the great Dorkwad-Gaywad Truce of ’82 never happened.
Now where’s that wholesome Burt Ward biography I bought? Ah, here it is.
so… much… neck… beard…
The Dark Knight Returns was ok, but it started the horrible trend of Bat-God that was reinforced with Morrison’s work on JLA and later Batman.
/runs out of inhaler-juice
//passes out
Returns is bullshit. It’s Charles Bronson in Death Wish with a batmobile. Miller has been a hack for longer than most people admit.
Year One was dope though.
It’s goofy as shit, but it’s a fun read.
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its not animated Batman unless it’s Kevin Conroy’s voice
Amen.
Truer words have never been spoken
Get the best voice for the situation. Bader was PERFECT for the *mostly* lighter, Silver Agey TBatB.
And the image above looks very similar to a Conroy-voiced episode from the Batman Animated Series…hell…it was one of the Bat-Mite *alternate realities* takes…Maybe they’re recycling footage,ala The Flintstones…
*after much chagrins and shenanigans,Bruce Wayne comes home to a completely wrecked Wayne Manor,walls complete with Bieber and tween vampire and werewolf posters…*
*Best Peter Weller gruff Batman voice*
“RRRRRROBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB-INNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!”