Batman v Superman's Dead Robin Is Dick Grayson, Zack Snyder Implies

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Zack Snyder Implies Batman v Superman's Dead Robin Is Dick Grayson

By Kevin Melrose

Published Apr 6, 2018

While it's widely been believed the fallen Robin memorialized in Batman v Superman is Jason Todd, director Zack Snyder now calls that into question.

Fans have long assumed the fallen Robin memorialized in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is Jason Todd, killed by The Joker in a nod to the DC comic book storyline "A Death in the Family." It's a theory supported by the graffiti spray-painted on the sidekick's empty costume, and confirmed by Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood. However, Zack Snyder now calls that into question.

The director has revisiting the divisive 2016 film on the social-media platform Vero, explaining the deeper meaning behind some elements, and even why Wayne Manor stands abandoned. While those comments have drawn the attention of fans and detractors alike, few will spur debate like his latest remark, which implies it wasn't Jason Todd, the second Robin, who was killed, but rather Dick Grayson.

Asked by a Vero user about the scene in Batman v Superman in which Ben Affleck's Bruce Wayne gazes at the Robin costume -- widely believed to be Jason Todd's -- on display in the Batcave, Snyder replied, "What makes you think that's Jason Todd?"

When a fan said the death of Dick Grayson, the original Robin, "would really add to Bruce's plunge into darkness," Snyder responded, "It would make Bruce even darker." He added, "20 years in Gotham we know what promises are worth," a nod to Bruce Wayne's remark to Alfred Pennyworth in Batman v Superman.

The fan site Batman-News, which spotted the exchange, points out that would seem to complicate Chris McKay's plans for Nightwing, no such film was in development when Batman v Superman was being made. Beyond that, it's not actually stated in BvS that it is Dick Grayson, leaving plenty of a room for a workaround -- if DC Extended Universe continuity even requires one. The circumstances surrounding the Robin's death were already called in to question in 2016's Suicide Squad, which contains an Easter egg implicating Harley Quinn in the sidekick's murder.