The Dark Knight Rises a Prequel to NightWing?

If you’ve not seen the very latest “The Dark Knight Rises” trailer, check it out…but watch Joseph Gordon Levitt’s character.  Enjoy.

  • At 42-ish seconds he’s seemingly a witness.  The following scene is of the borough bridges being destroyed, followed by other people apparently witnessing it as well.
  • At 55 seconds he’s asking Selina Kyle if they’ve killed “him.”  Him is Bruce?  Batman?
  • At 1:08-ish he’s commiserating with a boy, wondering if Batman will return.  Clearly they both miss him.
  • At 1:17 we hear him asking Selina Kyle “Why would you run, Bane?”  Selina responds, “You should just as afraid of him as I am, ” which clearly he isn’t.
  • We last see him at 1:40 and it’s unclear whether he’s at gunpoint, praying, or both.

Nothing conclusive, for sure…but from everything we see in this clip it’s clear that Joseph Gordon Levitt isn’t simply playing a “brave cop” role.

This trailer established that John Blake knows Selina Kyle and Commissioner Gordon, but Nolan has been careful not to show Levitt’s character, John Blake, with Batman, Bruce Wayne or Alfred.  Perhaps those scenes would give away more than is warranted in a trailer.

In the comics Batman’s sidekick Robin becomes NightWing when he reaches adulthood.  I mentioned it must be NightWing only because Robin is a sidekick, which requires a side (Batman) to kick from and Bale said he was done, and Nolan wrote this film to be a conclusion to the Batman story.

Could NightWing actually become a successful movie franchise?  With all due respect, NightWing isn’t even among the most popular comic series related to Batman.  Would a grittier take, much like Nolan brought to Batman, bring audiences into a NightWing movie?

0 comments

  1. This is all very cool, been trying to persuade this for ages. One thing that may also be a good clue for nightwing is the symbol the kid draws on the curb, whilst it may be the bat symbol, i think it looks more like the nightwing symbol and that may used as another influence for the Eagle symbol!
    He also drops the cowl, which could be used to show the take over!

  2. The teaser trailer for TDKR also shows commissioner gordon laying in a hospital bed. It is far more likely that Selina Kyle and Joseph Gordon Levitts character are referring to him when asking, “is he dead” sense JGLs character is suppose to be a policeman.

  3. Nightwing has always been in the shadows but that is what makes him interesting . If they make a movie for him about where he first choices to become robin and how he’s now nightwing that would be awesome but it wouldn’t make as much money as batman movies

  4. …***SPOILERS!!!!*******

    Officer Robin Blake is pretty much assuredly meant to be Nightwing. He shared many similarities with Bruce Wayne’s backstory, wasn’t afraid to stand up to the badguys, but could also play the intrigue game. He essentially becomes batmans sidekick in the movie, leading up to the climax of his personal story, where he gets fed up of people letting the rules override whats right and quits the force. The final shot of the movie is of him walking into the abandoned Batcave and it coming back to life.
    So, either Nightwing, or Batman 2 (which, in the comic was also Nightwing).
    I really hope they do a Nightwing movie, as I love how his character was portrayed. It was probably my favorite part of the movie. Also, if they did a Nightwing movie, they could dispense with the bulky, rubber costumes that Batman movies seem to be obsessed with, and just go with an X-Men style black leather jumpsuit. That would lead to much cooler fight scenes.

  5. If they make a “Nightwing” movie with Joseph Gordon-Levitt in about 3 years as a continuity of the TDK series it will make about a billion dollars. It’s not like nobody will realize it’s a TDK spinoff. The franchise is a cash cow of the first order.

  6. Honestly, Nightwing wouldn’t be that sweet. Gordon-Levitt is great, but Christian Bale was an awesome batman and I think this franchise is done without him.

  7. Well if we figure in that Robin became Nightwing after talking to Clark Kent (superman) and the fact that Nolan is making a Superman movie next summer would all fit perfectly. Also, the studio behind Mortal Kombat announced nightwing to be a playable character. Could be coincidence, but maybe all of this was planned out.

  8. I think they will make another movie with NightWing as the main character. In the last few minutes of The Dark Knight Rises, you see Robin Blake enter the Bat Cave, suggesting that he will most likley end up being the main character in the next movie.

  9. The name “Nightwing” originates from a crime fighting vigilante from Superman’s home planet–Krypton. The vigilante adopted the name with inspiration from a certain crime fighter(Batman) from Earth who dons its equivalent of Kryptons “nightwing”, a bat. Nightwings first official appearance comes in a Superman comic and not in a Batman comic. All of this coupled with the fact that Dark Knight Rises is considered(by a significant amount of people) to be a sort of prequel to a Nightwing movie and the convenient release of the Man of Steel teaser trailer, points to a possible cross over between Man of Steel and a future Nightwing film.

  10. A Nightwing would be good. Have some of the original Nolan chatracters as supporting characters. Nightwing measuring stick of course would be Batman. A story like the comic books: he tries to be the next Batman but realize he’s not a the Nightwing character is created. After TDKR there are many criminal elements that would like the capitalize on the poor state of Gotham………….the saga continues………….just a thought.

  11. Thanks for all the great comments.

    It should be noted that this post was made before the movie was released and I had not seen the movie when I wrote the article.

    Now we’ve just got to wait and see if the fulfill what they’ve teased at. Can you also imagine if it’s NOT alluding to Nightwing, but to the Red Hood!

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