Not really.
Multiple articles announcing Brenton Thwaites' casting referred to him as being Robin, not Nightwing.
Also, there being an "embargo" on characters ceased being a 'thing' about 6 years ago now.
DC launching digital service with Titans and Young Justice
- Thread starter dahj
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Not really.
Multiple articles announcing Brenton Thwaites' casting referred to him as being Robin, not Nightwing.
Also, there being an "embargo" on characters ceased being a 'thing' about 6 years ago now.
"Multiple articles" means nothing, because usually most of those articles are just quoting the same single source. And as I recall, the actual press release only said he'd be playing Dick Grayson. When the reporters mentioned Robin, there was no way to tell if that was based on actual information or just the reporters' own assumptions (because most people know Dick Grayson only as Robin, not Nightwing). Now we know for a fact, but it wasn't unambiguous before now.
As far as I know, none of the "Hollywood Trades" use the same sources, and two of said trades - Variety and Deadline (as well as Deadline's 'sister site' TVLine) - specified that Thwaites was playing Robin.
Other sites, such as Slash Film, Den of Geek, and i09 also reported that Thwaites was playing Robin specifically.
Other sites, such as Slash Film, Den of Geek, and i09 also reported that Thwaites was playing Robin specifically.
Reporters are not infallible. Secondhand information is never as reliable as firsthand. Anyway, it's pointless to argue over this now when we finally have an actual answer.
That would be cool, but I imagine that storyline would have to involve Batman as well so I doubt we'll see it anytime soon.
That would be cool too.
In the comics, Batman had only a peripheral involvement in the storyline that led Robin to become Nightwing. Yes, one factor was that Dick was upset that Bruce had appointed a new Robin (Jason Todd), but that was just one of the things that set him on track to realize he needed to move on from his association with Batman and his kid-sidekick identity and decide who he wanted to be as an adult, as his own hero. For the most part, his decision was driven by events within the Titans storyline and interactions with his teammates. IIRC, Dick was getting edgier and angrier because he was insecure about his leadership, didn't trust his own judgment enough to be sure he could keep his team safe. And that was because he was still clinging to his identity as a sidekick, with a senior hero to fall back on for the decisions. So he realized he had to sever his ties to the Robin persona and define who he wanted to be as his own hero (although he ended up adopting the name of the Kryptonian equivalent of Batman, so that was a bit weird).
So a Titans series doesn't really need an onscreen Batman presence to show Dick coming to the decision that he needs to outgrow the Robin role. They could handle it like Supergirl's first season handled Superman, as an offscreen presence that the onscreen lead reacts to and thinks about. Heck, the storyline is more about how Dick reacts to the history and baggage of the Robin persona than how he reacts to Batman per se. It's a story of a young man being held back in his journey to adulthood because he's reluctant to let go of who he was as a teenager. It might even work better if Batman remains an abstract concept, a Macguffin catalyzing Dick's character arc, rather than an onscreen presence.
First Robin, now this. They certainly get the look of their characters right. Let's hope the show delivers on what the costume department promises.
Odd that they'd show us recurring characters like Hawk & Dove before showing us lead characters like Starfire, Beast Boy, and Raven. They really want to make this Hawk & Dove spinoff happen, don't they?
Oh, the recent trend is exactly the opposite of that. Try looking at '70s superhero shows sometime -- the heroes, if they had costumes at all, would rarely appear in them more than twice per episode, usually fairly briefly. In the '90s, the producers of Lois & Clark weren't able to execute their original plan to have Clark never appear as Superman on-camera, but there were a number of episodes where he appeared in costume only for one or two scenes. And of course we later got Smallville, where Clark went 8 years without any sort of costume and the last 2 with black t-shirts and leather jackets. Even Arrow started out with Oliver just in a hood and cloak; the Arrowverse shows then gradually eased into more and more costume use. Now we have Supergirl, in which Melissa Benoist frequently spends the majority of the episode in the cape and dress, and on at least two occasions (both the penultimate episodes of their respective seasons) she's spent an entire episode in costume. And then you have something like the climactic episode of the Arrowverse's Crisis on Earth-X miniseries, in which a whole slew of heroes assemble on the bridge of the Waverider and are all in full costume for absolutely no story reason, but purely because it makes for a cool visual to have them all together in costume.
So the overall trend in the past decade has been toward more costume use, not less. That's because the past decade has seen superhero fiction become immensely more popular and respectable, so shows don't have to be embarrassed about their comic-book roots anymore and are freer to embrace the tropes. When Smallville started at the turn of the century, it strove desperately to conceal the fact that it had anything to do with superheroes, but by its last few seasons it was piling on the costumes and masks, because superhero movies had become successful and mainstream by then.
Well, a combination of most superhero shows being mostly drama with a little bit of costumed stuff (with the DCCW shows being a rare exception), and this being a show where one of the leads is literally played by a 14 year old. Besides the fact that Raven should be an adult because outside of the shitty New 52/Rebirth stuff she's basically always been late teens to early 20s, you don't have teen characters on a live action superhero show in 2017 if its not a tween drama (even the DCCW shows don't have regular teen characters). Honestly, the show will be lucky if its only a shitty tween drama with costumes that would embarrass a high school production.
The show is being partially run by the hack who wrote Batman & Robin, so even if it didn't have a cast who are half way too old (29 year old Starfire actress? 28 year old Dick grayson actor? They could literally be the parents of the actress playing Raven) and one cast member way too young, its the man who created the Bat credit Card running a show with a focus on one really young teenager and her weirdly old teammates. One of the other people producing? The man responsible for CW's Felicity: Co-Starring green Arrow. They really have nothing to do but be a tween drama. Teen Titans Go will no longer be the worst Titans branded product, which is almost impressive.
Also, unconnected to my reply but talking about the show in general, its bullshit they're going for the Hank Hall and Dawn Granger version of Hawk/Dove. Either do hank and his brother or Dawn and her sister. Otherwise the whole thing makes no sense. Unless they introduce Don first, kill him off and then introduce Dawn its just a giant clusterfuck. Also, their costumes look like cheap, rejected costumes from a shitty mid nineties superhero project. Which isn't surprising, since the show is being run by the man who wrote the worst shitty 90s superhero project. I'm just surprised the Hawk/Dove costumes don't have nipples on them.
I doubt the platform and the show will be out before autumn, they're probably just staggering the reveals slowly to keep the interest simmering.
Also, Starfire and Beast Boy require make-up and/or CGI as well as the costumes, so maybe their designs haven't been finalized yet.
Yes, naturally, but that doesn't explain the order of the reveals.
They just need to be painted gold and green, respectively, unless they're planning on giving Gar a more bestial/furry look. And Raven doesn't need anything but a jewel on her forehead.
Be curious to see if they will have an excuse to keep them human looking for most of the time?
If they're good capitalists, the'll take a leaf out of CBS' book and have the cast appear in either Arrow/The Flash/DC's Legends or Supergirl (or Black Lightning?) to get people hooked and take out subscriptions for the service? Also do you think if the CW cancelled any of the Arrowverse shows they'd be 'saved' by this service?