DC Studios just revealed the unexpected villain of its upcoming Robin movie, Dynamic Duo. The animated film reimagines the early days of Batman's first two sidekicks, Dick Grayson and Jason Todd, through a one-of-a-kind mix of puppetry, stop-motion, and CGI from the New Orleans studio Swaybox. Specifics stayed scarce after its 2024 reveal, which left fans guessing about how DC would handle two Robins in a single story.
At the 2026 Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation and DC Studios pulled back the curtain, and the plot points to a grim turn for Jason Todd. According to these plot details revealed by DiscussingFilm, the story starts with Dick and Jason as teenage street kids who crown themselves the dynamic duo, but later take opposite paths. Dick signs on with Batman as his Robin while Jason drifts into the Red Hood gang, the criminal crew that drags him to the wrong side of Gotham's streets and casts him as the film's antagonist.
According to The Wrap, director Arthur Mintz, who co-founded Swaybox, described one test shot of the Red Hood walking through a subway car. When Jason stares into the reflective Red Hood helmet, he sees himself, but when Dick looks at the same helmet, he sees something else entirely. This effectively captures how different Dick and Jason are, two best friends staring at the same symbol and interpreting it in opposite ways.
The Red Hood gang's appearance in the Robin film is a deep cut. Long before Jason ever wore the mask, the Red Hood name belonged to a Gotham criminal outfit, and one of the early villains who took on the moniker fell into a vat of chemicals and crawled out as the Joker. Whether the Clown Prince of Crime factors into this version stays unconfirmed, but the gang's rich history gives the film a dark well to draw from.
The Comic Roots of Jason Todd's Red Hood
In the comics, Jason Todd took up the Robin mantle as the second boy to wear it, stepping in after Dick Grayson grew up and became Nightwing. Batman first crossed paths with him when he caught the kid stealing the tires off the Batmobile, then took him in and trained him. Jason ran hot from the start, more reckless and more willing to throw a hard punch than the Robin who came before him.
His story took its darkest turn in A Death in the Family, the 1988 arc where the Joker beat him with a crowbar and left him to die in an explosion. This choice resulted from a phone poll where DC readers voted to kill off Jason. Years later, writers brought him back as the Red Hood, a gun-carrying vigilante who kills the criminals Batman only ever puts in a cell. That version of Jason fights as often with the Bat-Family as he does beside them, which makes him one of DC's most slippery anti-heroes.
This history is why Jason, as the antagonist in Dynamic Duo, catches fans off guard. On the page, he was Robin before descending into villainy. Dynamic Duo flips the usual order. Instead of Jason replacing Dick, the two appear together at the same age, two 15-year-olds who start as partners and end as rivals.
Will Dick and Jason Enter the Canon DCU?
Here is the catch for anyone hoping this leads straight into James Gunn's main DC Universe. It does not. Gunn shot down the idea months ago, answering with a flat "nope" when a fan asked if Dynamic Duo was being rewritten into DCU canon. These puppet versions of Dick and Jason live in their own world, closer in spirit to a standalone DC Elseworlds tale than to the shared world that features Superman and the upcoming Supergirl.
However, this does not lock Dick and Jason out of the real DCU, though. Gunn's universe already plans for a Robin, just a different one. Damian Wayne, Bruce's son, will debut as the canon Boy Wonder in The Brave and the Bold, even if that film still lacks a release date or cast. Damian is the youngest of Batman's Robins, which makes it possible for the older two to appear. If Damian wears the Robin suit on screen, Dick has most likely already grown into Nightwing and Jason into the Red Hood by then.
When Dynamic Duo premieres in 2028, it will likely be a one-off story, free to break from canon and tell an unconventional, sadder story about two boys who choose opposite sides. The Dick and Jason of the canon DCU, when they arrive, will likely skip the Robin years and show up as adults.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
