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Robin fans, it's your favorite character's – or, should I say, favorite characters' – time to shine, because a dual Robin-starring movie is in active development at DC Studios.
Announced by studio co-chief James Gunn yesterday (October 1), the movie, titled Dynamic Duo, will bring the two most famous Robins – Dick Grayson and Jason Todd – together for an origins story team-up film on the big screen. It's the first collaboration between DC Studios and Warner Bros. Pictures Animation since the former was set up in the wake of the now-defunct DC Extended Universe (DCEU).
Per Gunn's Instagram post (see below), Dynamic Duo will be an animated flick that'll curiously combine animation, puppetry, and computer generated imagery (CGI) to deliver a striking visual style to audiences when the movie is eventually released.
Swaybox, a visionary animation studio based in New Orleans, is leading development on Dynamic Duo. A company that's quickly earning a reputation for its ground-breaking technology, Swaybox pioneered a visual style known as 'Momo animation', which blends puppetry with CGI, stop-motion animation, and live-action real-time performance. Matt Aldritch, who penned the scripts for Pixar movies Coco and Lightyear, is writing its screenplay, while Swaybox's co-founder Arthur Mintz is on directing duties.
Interestingly, Matt Reeves, who co-wrote and directed The Batman, and who executively produced that movie's TV spin-off The Penguin, is producing Dynamic Duo through his 6th & Idaho production company. However, as reported by Deadline, Dynamic Duo won't be part of Reeves' Bat-Verse, which is now known as The Batman Epic Crime Saga. So, Dynamc Duo's iteration of Grayson and Todd won't cross paths with Robert Pattinson's Dark Knight on the big screen, nor Colin Farrell's Oz Cobb in The Penguin, which is currently airing on Max and HBO (US), Sky and Now TV (UK), and Binge (Australia).
According to Variety, it'll tell the tale of Grayson and Todd, whose seemingly unbreakable friendship is tested when their contrasting ideals of the future butt heads as they grow and mature. It's unclear if the film will be set in Gotham City, feature Batman in a supporting or cameo role, or see Grayson and Todd become the vigilantes Nightwing and Red Hood as they do in the comics.
Is Dynamic Duo part of the DCU, DC Elseworlds, or a standalone movie?
I really think this will be an adaptation of nightwing year one. With it being the origin of nightwing and the origin of Jason as robin. Especially since that article removed the “orphan thieves” bit. Dick even calls them a dynamic duo in the story. https://t.co/4C7Rcop4Xe pic.twitter.com/N3dIjFGLRKOctober 1, 2024
I've got plenty of questions about Dynamic Duo since I learned about its existence, three of which are based around what I wrote in the final sentence of the previous paragraph. However, the biggest question that I – and, judging by what I've seen online since Dynamic Duo was officially unveiled, many other DC fans – have is whether it's part of Gunn and Peter Safran's new-look DC Cinematic Universe (DCU) or not.
Indeed, a cursory glance at numerous social media platforms and forums – including Reddit, X/Twitter, Instagram, and ResetEra – suggests I'm not the only one who's confused about Dynamic Duo's place in DC Studios' increasingly convoluted lineup of movies and TV shows. We know it won't be part of The Batman Epic Crime Saga, but is a DCU project and, if so, will it be added to DCU Chapter One's schedule? If the answer is no, will it fall under DC Studios' Elseworlds banner? Or, because it isn't a live-action property, will it be a standalone production that sits independent of everything else being developed at the Warner Bros. Pictures-owned company?
Without word from Gunn, Safran, Reeves, or anyone else involved in its development, my initial reaction is that it'll be an Elseworlds project. The Batman Epic Crime Saga and Todd Phillips' Joker film universe have been classed as Elseworlds franchises, so logic dictates that Dynamic Duo will do likewise. I've reached out to Warner for an official comment on this and I'll report back if I receive a response. Until then, we're still none the wiser about how Dynamic Duo will fit into the ever-expanding slate of DC Studios productions.