In yet another sign that the current incarnation of the Batman franchise is the best it could possibly get, fans around the world have been reassured that there will be no little kid in elf booties tagging along after The Dark Knight. Bruce Wayne himself, Christian Bale, has made it unequivocally clear that Robin has no place in Christopher Nolan's Gotham City.
"If Robin crops up in one of the new Batman films, I'll be chaining myself up somewhere and refusing to go to work."
Let's face it. For as well-known as Robin is, he's not a character that makes any sense anymore. Batman is a sullen loner on a crusade, and he would never have a brightly colored moppet bouncing around him, no matter how good a trapeze artist he is. You can't make the costume cool, you can't make the name cool. The only way it could possibly work is introducing the adult Dick Grayson as Nightwing, his current incarnation in the comics. A cooler suit, a better name, and he doesn't even live in Gotham City anymore. But even that would necessitate the prior existence of Robin, and Robin is just ridiculous.
Besides, nobody named Richard born after 1974 has ever gone by Dick. At least not intentionally.
