The Return of "Robin"

Remember all the buzz after "The Dark Knight Rises" when Batman "retires" and bequeaths the mantle of the Bat to the character of John Blake and we all wondered aloud, "Is Joseph Gordon Levitt going to be the next Batman?"

OK, it wasn't just "wonder" it was a frenzy of speculation as Bat fans in general were starved for more now that their beloved franchise had come to an end.  In the movie we learn that Blake's real name is Robin and if you follow the comics, we all know that the Dick Grayson Robin takes on the role of the Batman as Bruce Wayne is indisposed for various reasons and for more than once.

It seems only fitting that a Robin should take over for Batman in the movie franchise world and the movie was fairly explicit towards this conclusion at it's end.  Levitt was besieged with media inquires as to this possibility which he deftly deflected with good humor but little information.

Now we have this stunning announcement via Hitfix.com that Gordon-Levitt not only will appear in the Justice League movie as Batman but quite possibly in a cameo in next summer's Superman movie!  (Read more of that announcement here.)    There has been no formal announcement but the tea leave read very well.

The "announcement" when on to say that one of Gordon-Levitt's co-stars from "TDKR" might join him for the JL movie.  This piqued my interest and my mind began to race as to who this might be.

One obvious contender would be Michael Caine as Alfred.  Caine could reprise his role as the "semi-retired" man servant who feels he needs to shepherd the neophyte super hero in his new role of Gotham's protector.  There's nothing like an ill considered leap from building to building resulting in a nasty face plant for Alfred to take pity on the new Caped Crusader.

However, my money is on Juno Temple.  She played "Jen" in "TDKR" and she could easily slide into the same role in any Batman related flick.  Jen was the sidekick to Selina Kyle and as Selina was never identified as Catwoman, Jen was never called, "Catgirl" but, again, if you follow the comics, Catgirl is the companion to Catwoman and it seemed pretty obvious the same role was reprised in "The Dark Knight Rises". 

Catgirl could be a constant thorn in any future Batman movies or she could be an ally much as Selina was to Batman.  Or, she could be both.  Juno is a woman in much demand.  Check out her IMDB page to see how crazy busy she is. 

If you really want to go a little crazy with this speculation, you could have Temple take on the role of Catgirl from Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" stories and she could even play the Carrie Kelly Robin.  Of course this would mean the return of Christian Bale as Batman ala The Dark Knight Returns.  Bale would return as the aged Batman Juno Temple would be his Robin.

Be still my Bat-cave heart, wouldn't that be amazing.

Of course, it didn't take long for representatives of the movie franchises and presumably Gordon Levitt to deny all these announcements and speculation.  As Germain Lussier of SlashFilm noted, they always say that.  In fact they were denying speculation as to Gordon Levitt's role in "The Dark Knight Rises" right up until the end.

*Update*

I should note the Angie Han of Slashfilm has also done an excellent job of following this story.  Follow the link to check out her work.

We'll see what the future holds, but as of now the rumor mill is in high gear!