Director Chris McKay, who has long been attached to a potential Nightwing movie, gave an update on the project.
A Nightwing movie has been quite a long time coming. Word first broke that Warner Bros. and DC were developing a solo movie based on Batman’s one-time sidekick back in 2017.
At the time, it was said that Chris McKay, who helmed The Lego Batman Movie, was attached to Nightwing as its director. But since then, the live-action DC Universe has seen a lot of ups and downs.
Now, with James Gunn and Peter Safran on the verge of revamping DC movies, McKay offered an update on a Dick Grayson solo movie.
Chris McKay Still Hoping for Nightwing Film
In the latest issue of SFX Magazine (via GamesRadar) Chris McKay gave an update on his Nightwing film, which has long languished in development hell. The director expressed optimism that something could still be worked out with the new DC leadership so the film can be produced:
“Look, I am still hoping to do something with it. Now that James Gunn is involved… I haven’t had any conversations with him or anybody over there, but I love that character. I hope I can do something with him. That would be amazing.”
Long before the changing of the guard at DC in 2021, McKay was singing much the same tune (via CinemaBlend):
“I hope it’s still a reality. I hope that we still get to make that movie. As far as I’m concerned, it’s not lost yet. It is obviously something that… they’ve had other priorities, they’ve had other challenges. They’d had things that they needed to do, and I think that they found their way. I think their recent successes, and the stuff that they are planning on doing now, I think it opens the door for us to still be able to do a Nightwing movie.”
At the time, he posited that the movie could take place on a different earth in the DC Multiverse, perhaps alluding to the fact that in the canon that Zack Snyder established, Dick Grayson is dead:
“Whether you call it ‘in an alternate universe’ or you pick in their multiverse version which universe it’s part of, there are different ways into it. But Nightwing is a big, action-packed, emotional movie. It may not, budgetarily, be similar to what we do with The Tomorrow War. But from a scope and scale standpoint, as far as the kind of action and the kind of heart, that’s what Nightwing is going to be all about.”
The fact that nothing seems to have changed for Nightwing in almost two years could be interpreted as a bad sign, but hopefully, Chris McKay’s optimism hasn’t been misplaced.
What Other DC Projects Could Nightwing Appear In?
In the unfortunate but possible instance that a Nightwing film isn’t made, fans shouldn’t lose hope in the slightest.
After all, there are plenty of places where Dick Grayson could crop up in the new DCU. Consider this: in the upcoming Batman: The Brave and the Bold movie, Bruce’s extended Bat-Family seems like it’ll already be more or less fully formed since he’s already onto Damian Wayne as his Robin.
This could likely mean that Dick’s time as Robin has long come and gone, and he’s already moved to Bludhaven to be his own hero.
Not only that, but Nightwing already being an established character in the new DC slate could mean that it’s even more probable that he’ll be the recipient of a solo project, maybe even a series. And it’s basically a given that Grayson will have a role in The Brave and the Bold as well.
The first Chapter of the new DCU slate (titled Gods and Monsters) kicks off in earnest with the release of Superman: Legacy, which soars into theaters on July 11, 2025.
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