Top 10 comic book characters hardest to adapt to the big screen

4. Robin

The Past: Joel Schumacher’s take-over of the Batman universe after Tim Burton was the beginning of the end for the franchise until Christopher Nolan would revive it years later. So it’s natural that Robin’s big screen persona might be a little tainted having debuted in Batman Forever and then reappear in the even more laughable Batman and Robin. The character was “kind of” introduced in Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy as Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s John Blake, whose birth name is revealed to be Robin at the end of The Dark Knight Rises. More of a nod to fans than an actual Robin appearance, but the character was implied to be taking over the Bat-mantle by the film’s end.

Why He’s So Hard to Get Right: There is no Robin without Batman, and after the failure of Schumacher’s version, and just the fact that nobody wants to give Batman a sidekick, it’s tough to introduce him let alone accurately portray him. It’s a shame, because Dick Grayson is one of the best and most fleshed out characters DC has ever offered. But that’s not the only Robin…there have been numerous, which could also be another problem: which incarnation do you bring onto the screen?

The Future: Nothing official, but it’s quite obvious that Robin is a key aspect in Zack Snyder’s Batman story for Batman v Superman. The trailer shows a glimpse of Robin’s suit with what appears to be Joker writing all over it. With this Batman already a veteran in the crime fighting world by the time he’s introduced, it makes sense that maybe Robin has already met his end at the Joker’s hands. It remains to be seen if any flashbacks will take place.