Batman and Robin have become one of the most iconic superhero pairs in pop culture, but one of them won’t be getting the spotlight in DC Studios’ upcoming Dynamic Duo film. Instead, it will put the first two Robins — that’s Dick Grayson and Jason Todd, for the uninitiated — into focus, albeit with some twists of its own.
For starters, it features a mix of filmmaking styles, including stop-motion, CGI, and puppetry, often compared to the aesthetic of Sony’s Into the Spider-Verse franchise, and made possible with New Orleans-based animation studio Swaybox’s Momo Animation technology. The next, as revealed at this year’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival, is a change to their DC Comics lore, with the story following them as street rats who call themselves the Dynamic Duo (surprise!) and winding up as opposing forces in Gotham City. As detailed by DiscussingFilm, Dick ends up joining Batman, while Jason becomes part of the Red Hood gang.
In the comics, the former was a circus acrobat and was adopted by Batman after his parents died, before going on to take the mantle of the first Robin and Nightwing. The latter, meanwhile, is introduced as a street-kid-orphan-turned-Robin who resurfaces years later as the Red Hood after being killed by Joker, then a member of the criminal gang. It’d be interesting to see how Dynamic Duo goes down this new path, but there’s no need to fret over continuity issues — studio co-head James Gunn previously confirmed that it will be a standalone narrative.
The film is slated for release on 30 June 2028 and marks the first feature from Swaybox. Arthur Mintz, who founded and leads the studio, is directing based on a script by Matthew Aldrich, Scott Neustadter, and Michael H. Weber. Matt Reeves, who’s currently in the midst of filming The Batman Part II, serves as producer alongside Gunn and his other partner, Peter Safran. Similarly, the highly anticipated sequel won’t be part of the revamped DC Universe and will open in theatres on 1 October 2027.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
