**Spoilers for The Batman-ish.**
In The Batman‘s first beat-em-up scene where he’s taking down a group of painted criminals, one of the members, (*checks IMDB Credits*) “Train Gang Young Member,” seems awful familiar. That’s because it’s Jay Lycurgo, the actor who is currently playing Tim Drake on the HBO Max series Titans.
Lycurgo’s cameo is very prolonged in the scene, and we see during the altercation that he is reluctant to even get involved with the beating of an innocent man. When Batman arrives and takes out the others, Lycurgo’s nameless gang member is one of the few to be unharmed.
While this news has apparently been out for a while, I certainly wasn’t aware of it, and now, with the retroactive recognition of Lycurgo, I am hoping that since the comic book world has never been afraid to recast characters, this could lead to something bigger for the actor—namely, our first live-action movie version of another Robin: Jason Todd.
Todd starts off his story with Batman as a young man who is involved in street crimes and is eventually adopted by Bruce, but still struggles with his own trauma. With The Batman establishing that Bruce’s Batman needs to develop into a softer figure, able to give back and actual make a difference, I can see him actually wanting to help other lost kids channel their rage into something positive.
It is also possible to retool the relationship into a younger-brother dynamic, as well.
Why not Dick Grayson? Well, I think Grayson should be played by a Romani actor, finally, and I also feel like the world that Reeves has created would have a Jason Todd as a first Robin—the Robin who this incarnation of Batman fails, but also the one who inspires him to realize that there is a purpose to helping these young kids, even if he doesn’t always get it right.
Plus, we’ve had Batgirl and Dick’s Robin before in films, even if those versions were … very, very bad. Time for Jason to get his debut.
Also, who is gonna pass up the chance to have two different Robins under their IMDB credits? Gotta catch ’em all.
(image: HBO Max)
