Bale rejects Robin in Batman films (and fans rule out a female Robin)
BATMAN actor Christian Bale, who stars in this month's hotly anticipated sequel The Dark Knight, has said he will quit the franchise if the film-makers ever decided to introduce the caped crusader's sidekick Robin.
Bale told showbiz site Starpulse: "If Robin crops up in one of the new Batman films, I'll be chaining myself up somewhere and refusing to go to work."
Although the boy wonder has evolved considerably since the holy exclamations and unholy tights of Burt Ward's 60s TV series version, many fans still have a sour taste from the previous set of over-the-top Bat-movies which featured Chris O'Donnell's portrayal of Robin (pictured above).
Others believe the character has a rightful place in Batman's story but some believe that place isn't within the dark, self-absorbed world of director Christopher Nolan's current movies.
Some have been quick to point out Bale's statement is ironic considering one of his favourite Batman comicbooks is Dark Victory, in which Robin plays a major part.
Comicbook writer Jeph Loeb, who was behind Dark Victory, has now come to the defence of the boy wonder.
He says that after the events of his story The Long Halloween, which was a partial inspiration for The Dark Knight, the main characters are left alone and alienated and Robin's arrival could offer hope and humanity, creating a father-son dynamic that can mirror Bruce's relationship with his own father.
Loeb told MTV News: "There is a story of Dick Grayson and how he becomes Robin that is extremely moving and very helpful.
"It's all about building the relationship between Bruce and Dick. Dick hates Bruce. He doesn't understand why it is that he needs to do this and Bruce doesn't understand why he's doing it either because he's not a parent.
"He doesn't know how to be a parent. And together, they make each other better people. So that for me would be the next step."
"I wouldn't let him become Robin until the third act, if that. I think that's the other problem when you tell that story is that there's this rush to put him in a costume by the end of the first 20 minutes and in that case I think it's a disaster," Loeb said.
"So if you look at Dark Victory, [artist Tim Sale] and I went nine out of twelve chapters before you even started to talk about putting him in a costume and he doesn't put the costume on until the last chapter of that book."
Dick Grayson isn't the only character to have become Robin in the comicbooks. Three others have taken that name - Jason Todd, Tim Drake and also a girl, Stephanie Brown (pictured right).
But there's even more resistance to the idea of a female incarnation of the sidekick.
Empire magazine recently mentioned the idea that actress Ellen Page (who was Kitty Pryde in X-Men: The Last Stand) would make a good female Robin.
But only 23 per cent in a Superhero Hype poll want a female Robin in the current Batman franchise; 66 per cent are against the idea and the rest are unsure.
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