Major 'Batman' Spinoff Movie 'Dead' at Warner Bros.

Batman fans had the last shred of hope torn away this week when it comes to the proposed Nightwing movie. The future of DC Comics adaptations on the big screen has been changing rapidly over the last few months, but so far the Nightwing movie from director Chris McKay hasn't officially been canceled. However, on Monday trade reporter Umberto Gonzalez wrote that the "project is dead" on social media, signaling the final nail in the coffin as far as most are concerned.

In October of 2022, Warner Bros. hired filmmakers James Gunn and Peter Safran to overhaul their screen adaptations of DC Comics superhero stories, with a "soft reboot" transition from the "DCEU" to the new "DCU." Since then fans have seen belated DCEU movies premiere with mixed results while others were canceled – especially if they were still in the pre-production phases. However, McKay continued giving fans hope for his Nightwing movie as recently as March of 2023, so many were still expecting to see Dick Grayson grace the screen in the DCU.

that project is dead

— Umberto Gonzalez (@elmayimbe) August 22, 2023

McKay made his feature directorial debut with The Lego Batman Movie and recently directed the hit comedy Renfield as well. Warner Bros. announced that they had hired McKay to develop and direct a Nightwing movie back in 2017, but it never got a firm premiere date. Still, as recently as March of 2023 McKay told SFX Magazine that he was still hoping to make this movie as part of the new DCU continuity under Gunn and Safran.

"Look, I am still hoping to do something with it," he said at the time. "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."

Nightwing is the alias for Dick Grayson, the first character to become Batman's sidekick Robin. In comics and other media, Nightwing fights crime on his own after outgrowing Batman's shadow, and is a member of some DC's biggest superhero teams. He has already been successfully portrayed on screen by Brenton Thwaites in the live-action series Titans, which is still streaming on Max. That show exists outside of the film continuity, however.

Safran and Gunn have not commented directly on the fate of Nightwing, but the DCU slate is filling up fast with other projects. The "soft reboot" will officially begin with Superman: Legacy, premiering in July of 2025.