Yesterday, DC and Warner Bros. set the world on fire when they released the first full-length “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice†trailer. At three and a half minutes long, it’s definitely a bit longer than your average fare, and there’s a lot of stuff to break down. From Bruce Wayne’s motivation to take on the god-like Superman, to Superman’s questioning of what his place is on Earth, there really is no shortage of things to talk about.
But one of the biggest things atom bombs the trailer has dropped on fans was the not-so-subtle allusion it made to one of the Robins—namely Jason Todd.
If you don’t want to be spoiled on some of the “Batman†comics, I recommend you stop reading now.
SPOILER ALERT!
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We’ve already known for some time that Ben Affleck is portraying a very different Batman/Bruce Wayne than we’ve seen in the past. This Bruce Wayne has done his time as the Caped Crusader for years (decades, perhaps), and has since hung up his cowl and resumed a normal life. This idea is supported in the trailer when Bruce Wayne opens up a newspaper with the words “You Let Your Family Die†scrawled on it. This could be a message Jared Leto’s Joker, who thinks if Wayne was still Batman, he’d’ve been able to reduce the number of casualties in the final fight between Superman and Zod in “Man of Steel.” In short, the Joker is taunting Wayne in an attempt to get Batman back out on the streets again.
But that’s not even the juicy part. Yes, Affleck’s Bruce Wayne is war-torn and beaten, but there’s also evidence that in his years of service as the Batman, he was assisted by at least one version of his trusty sidekick, Robin.
Encased in glass, in what I assume is the Batcave, sits a beaten and battered suit with a very distinct “R†on its left breast (“R†for Robin). Written on the suit in spray paint are the words “HAHAHA Joke’s on you Batman.†The implication here is that this is the Joker’s handiwork, and it’s a very blatant reference to an iconic comic, “Batman: A Death in the Family.†In that comic, Jason Todd—who is the second incarnation of Robin (the first being Dick Grayson)—is beaten to death with a crowbar by the Joker.
All this indicates that Affleck’s incarnation of Batman may have suffered this very loss of Jason Todd, and that he’s kept the suit as a reminder of the fact that his actions have severe consequences. It’s unclear if this death of Todd is what led to him retiring as the Batman, but that’s one direction they can take with the character. If this is where they do take things, then the weight of Todd’s death could be a reason why Wayne is initially reticent to come back and take on Superman.
What do you think? Will Robin’s death factor in heavily into “Batman v Superman,†or is it just a throwaway Easter egg for fans? Let us know your thoughts below!
“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” hits theaters on March 25, 2016.