Too many times have I overheard conversations among fans of Christopher Nolan's Batman movies about how much they don't want the Boy Wonder involved. Lucky enough for them, Nolan was pretentiousegotisticalstupiduninvolved in Batman as a whole organized and had his "realistic" story planned out, excluding Robin (and before anyone mentions John Blake, he was not Robin. That Robin thing was a crappy easter egg that just confused the masses). However, now that the franchise is rebooting, and possibly including Nightwing, Robin has the perfect chance to redeem himself in the eyes of the public, who still see him as Burt Ward or Chris O'Donnell.
Assuming this new universe already includes Dick Grayson as Nightwing, we can move right on to an even lesser-known Robin. Jason Todd is a big factor in Batman's life that rarely gets to be seen outside of comics, and he'll finally settle one of the biggest anti-Robin campaigns, that being that in a real-world environment, having kid go out with Batman and fight crime would be too dangerous for Batman to allow. With Batman re-entering the scene as a crime-fighter, he'll find that he misses having a partner, so one night he finds Jason Todd and recruits him. By the end of the film (or by the climax) we see the Joker beating Jason to death with a crowbar with Batman just out of reach. Of course, this is going to fuck Batman up.
By the next film, we see Batman getting gruesome. He's beating even petty criminals within an inch of their lives, and losing control on a dime. As Batman begins to be taken as a public menace rather than a hero, Nightwing returns to Gotham to talk. While they discuss, trouble strikes at an apartment building where {INSERT APPROPRIATE ONLY-CAMEO-WORTHY VILLAIN} has put the residence in danger, be it explosives, a hostage situation, what have you. Batman heads out, with Nightwing insisting he come along, where they save (among others) high school student Tim Drake. Tim watches them work up close, and after a few nights of extensive research comes to the conclusion that Nightwing is Dick Grayson and therefore Batman is Bruce Wayne. Tim tracks down Dick and tries to convince him to take on the role of Robin again, since Bats obviously needs someone there to keep from going over the edge. Dick declines, and Tim decides that he should take on the mantle himself. Dick supports him, and goes with him to the Batcave to talk to Bruce. Batman reluctantly agrees, knowing that Tim would do it anyway, and trains him to use a bo staff to make up for his lack of fighting skills. Batman gradually settles in, and all the while they're working to take down the Riddler.
Our third movie is going to be a loose adaptation of the Under the Hood storyline, with Jason returning as Red Hood and shooting up the Gotham underground. This one's going to answer that other question that most of the mainstream audience doesn't really understand; "Why doesn't he just kill the Joker?". This one's going to ride a lot on emotions, too. Honestly, I'm just gonna say, make this a live-action version of the animated Under the Red Hood and replace Nightwing with Robin. Done.
The next one can be much more Batman-centric, preferably with him going up against Mr. Freeze (another character in need of redeeming thanks to Schumacher). For most of this one, have Robin and Nightwing (and possibly Batgirl?) dispatched by Batman to handle some other things on the side.
Number five will introduce Damian as Batman tries to undo his killing nature. Ra's al Ghul serves as the secret main villain who we'll bring back to his genocidal roots by starting World War III. On the surface, though, Damian is seeking bloody revenge against Deathstroke who's supposedly murdered Ra's. I'm thinking that Ra's should be set up previously in a Tower of Babel-based Justice League movie. Tim becomes Red Robin and takes over leading the Teen Titans for Nightwing (hopefully I'll get to that story idea sometime, too, if you guys don't think this is too stupid. Probably despite that.) so Damian can take over the role of Robin.
The sixth movie is the tale of Damian's death. Once again, proving the point that the job is dangerous and risky, and once again Batman has lost a son. However, this one is different. Damian has changed, and become a true hero. His life is a bigger triumph than his death is a tragedy, and now Batman truly has a family to grieve with him. In a way, a happy ending for Batman.
A lot of those ideas are taken from big stories from the comics that I'm sure most of you are familiar with, but I think that's a better direction to go in. I think between Damian's introduction and death a Death of the Family movie would be nice, and would send off the Joker for awhile. I feel like I also need to mention that the potential audience is only going to get bigger with the inclusion of an attractive masked teenage boy who can kick ass. Of course, there isn't much in the way of detail here but, what do you think? Also, would you be interested in hearing my thoughts on how a Teen Titans movie could fit into this universe?
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