The various live-action Batman adaptations often feature Robin in some form, adapting the iconic sidekick almost as often as Batman himself. Robin is one of the most important supporting characters in the Batman mythos, with Dick Grayson being the first to use the moniker before being succeeded by others like Jason Todd and Tim Drake. Batman and the many iterations of Robin are particularly malleable characters, even compared to other DC and Marvel superheroes, allowing filmmakers to drastically reimagine them (or adhere to the comic source material) as they see fit without sacrificing authenticity.
While there are numerous live-action iterations of Robin (Dick Grayson or otherwise), two Batman franchises notably came close to including their own versions of Batman’s sidekick. Both of Tim Burton’s Batman movies nearly included Robin in some form, with Batman Returns initially set to have Marlon Wayans as an all-new iteration. While the plans never came to pass, an original version of Robin, Drake Winston, uses Wayans’s likeness in the Batman ’89 comics, finally canonizing him. The DC Extended Universe had unrealized plans to introduce Carrie Kelley as the late Dick Grayson’s successor as well. Here are all 11 live-action actors who have played the various versions of Robin.
11 Douglas Croft (Dick Grayson)
Robin made his first live-action appearance not long after his 1940 comic debut, via the 1943 Batman serials. Here, Batman and Robin are reimagined as government agents who battle Axis forces during World War II – an unsurprising change, considering that Golden Age superhero comics often had their protagonists battling the Axis. While elements of the serials have certainly not aged well, the then-16-year-old Douglas Croft was notably the youngest actor to play Robin. While most iterations of Robin are played by adults, Croft’s casting was more fitting for the teenage superhero.
10 Johnny Duncan (Dick Grayson)
The 1949 Batman and Robin serials were technically set in the same continuity as their 1943 predecessors, but both Batman and Robin were played by different actors. In Robin’s case, Douglas Croft was replaced with Johnny Duncan. While lacking the now-problematic elements of the 1943 serials, 1949’s Batman and Robin is infamous for its cost-cutting production, resulting in movie serials that looked and felt “cheap” to viewers and critics.
9 Burt Ward (Dick Grayson)
William Dozier’s 1966 TV series Batman featured Dick Grayson’s Robin in a co-starring role once again, played by Burt Ward. The show was intentionally campy yet incredibly accurate to the Silver Age Batman comics, whose adventures were outlandish and colorful, a far cry from the violent and gritty tales of the early Golden Age. Despite the show’s intentional silliness, Burt Ward’s Robin was a competent crime fighter and detective, appearing in every episode to aid Batman in defeating their many costumed nemeses. Ward was the first actor to portray Robin on television and in a feature film, thanks to the 1966 movie, which premiered between the show’s first two seasons.
8 Chris O’Donnell (Dick Grayson)
Tim Burton’s two Batman films spawned three branching timelines, with the first leading into Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, the second including Sam Hamm and Joe Quinones’s Batman ’89 comics, and the third appearing in the altered “Flashpoint” timeline in the DCEU movie The Flash. While the Batman ’89 comics introduced Drake Winston as Robin with the likeness of Marlon Wayans, the Schumacher films cast Chris O’Donnell as Dick Grayson. While Schumacher’s films capture many aspects of Silver Age Batman comics, O’Donnell’s Robin is oddly portrayed as a young adult, making his adoption by Bruce Wayne in Batman Forever one of the film’s strangest elements.
7 Joseph Gordon-Levitt (John Blake)
Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, like Tim Burton’s Batman duology, was largely uninterested in introducing a new version of Robin. Unlike Burton, however, Nolan’s films did eventually include a loose adaptation of him via the original character John Blake in The Dark Knight Rises. Blake’s legal name is Robin, his characterization combines elements of Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Tim Drake, and he is set up to succeed Bruce Wayne as Gotham’s next masked vigilante protector.
6 Brenton Thwaites (Dick Grayson)
The live-action Teen Titans TV adaptation Titans, unsurprisingly, also features Dick Grayson in a starring role, played by Brenton Thwaites. While Grayson is initially Robin, Titans notably explores elements of his comics history not seen before in a live-action property. Not only is Grayson’s occupation as a police officer shown, but he also grows out of the Robin mantle and becomes the superhero Nightwing, making him the first live-action iteration of the famous hero.
5 Curran Walters (Jason Todd)
Titans also features the live-action debut of Jason Todd, the second hero to use the Robin moniker in the comics. Curran Walters’s version of Jason Todd, like his comic counterpart, is tragically murdered but later resurrected, leading him to take on a new and more antagonistic role. The resurrected Todd becomes Red Hood, who is initially an enemy of the Teen Titans but later becomes an ally of the team, once he breaks free from the corrupting influence of Scarecrow.
4 Jay Lycurgo (Tim Drake)
The first live-action incarnation of Tim Drake also appears in Titans, played by Jay Lycurgo. The live-action Tim Drake and his comic incarnation are both prodigies who demonstrate their ingenuity by deducing that Batman is Bruce Wayne before becoming the third user of the Robin mantle. Tim Drake was the latest official Robin by the time Titans was canceled, but the show revealed that Stephanie Brown, Carrie Kelley, Daxton Chill, and Duke Thomas were all potential Robin successors in the series.
3 Morgan Kohan (Stephanie Brown)
In DC’s comics, Stephanie Brown was the fourth Robin, succeeding Tim Drake and preceding Damian Wayne. In the 2019 Arrowverse TV series Batwoman, Brown appears in one episode, played by Morgan Kohan. Although Stephanie Brown does not become Robin in the series, it is the character’s live-action debut and Brown may have become Robin, had the series continued past its third season.
2 Navia Robinson (Carrie Kelley)
The short-lived 2023 TV series also features an iteration of Robin: Navia Robinson as Carrie Kelley, who is the show’s only user of the Robin moniker. Since the DCEU never had its chance to introduce its own version of Kelley and the character’s Titans cameo is uncredited, Robinson plays the first live-action iteration of the character. With Bruce Wayne dead, Carrie Kelley and other vigilantes protect Gotham City as the titular team, the Gotham Knights.
1 Anna Lore (Stephanie Brown)
Another version of Stephanie Brown, now played by Anna Lore, also appears in Gotham Knights as part of the show’s ensemble cast. Like the Batwoman iteration, Lore’s Stephanie Brown does not become Robin or her other superhero alter ego, Spoiler. Nevertheless, Brown might have succeeded Kelley as Robin or simply become Spoiler had Gotham Knights continued, giving two Batman sidekicks from the comics their live-action debuts as Robin.
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