In the wake of all the excitement clearing the question on every fan’s lips is: who should play Dick Grayson? The character comes with athletic prowess, being a trained acrobat from birth, along with requisite charm that not only makes him a thorn in the side of the Dark Knight, but probably the DC Universe’s biggest playboy. On top of that he has to have a good old fashioned trustworthy face that will make every member of the audience trust this guy in tights with our lives instead of whoever is playing in the next movie theater over.
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On top of that, this incarnation of Dick Grayson has the responsibility of giving the Robin image a facelift. In the past Grayson has been seen as a sillier character when he was played by Burt Ward and Chris O’Donnell. Even his portrayal by Michael Cera in the recent LEGO Batman Movie was more joke-y and less man-who-will-lead-The-Justice-League.
Now the very same director directed The LEGO Batman Movie – Chris McKay – will helm the Nightwing solo movie, and it should prove interesting to see how he will interpret Dick Grayson in a more serious light and in the world of live action. But who will be the man under the tights? Will we believe that he could have romanced a computer genius, an alien princess and any number of his other teammates? There are plenty of fan favourite picks, but here we have curated a list of…
The Top 10 Actors Who Should Play Nightwing
Top Photo: DC Comics
The Top 10 Actors Who Should Play Nightwing
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10. Wes Bentley
Maybe he’s a little bit on the older end of the scale right off the bat, but with Ben Affleck’s Batman in his 40s, then it stands to reason Dick Grayson could be in his 30s. Bentley brings a star pedigree to the role as well as a proclivity towards dark performances. He could highlight some of Nightwing’s darker story beats with ease. Plus, he has a great chin.
Photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage
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9. Sung Kang
You probably recognize him from the The Fast and the Furious movies, even if you don’t recognize Sung Kang’s name right off the bat. He has proved that he can handle the demands of an action-adventure franchise with a heavy focus on stunts. Just imagine him driving around the Batmobile - or the Redbird (even though that technically belongs to Tim Drake) - pulling up to a crazy short stop and then hopping out of the vehicle with deft ease.
Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
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8. Garrett Hedlund
Not a completely original choice. Hedlund has been bandied around by fans as their choice for the past couple years. Maybe Pan didn’t turn out that well for him in the leading role, but Hedlund got off a couple cool fight scenes that would suggest he could handle the physical demands that would be made of the man playing Nightwing. At 32 years old he is the perfect age to have done his duty as Robin alongside Batfleck before graduating to an identity of his very own.
Photo: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic
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7. Taron Edgerton
Another completely obvious, fan-favorite choice for Dick Grayson since he broke onto the scene in a big way with Kingsman: The Secret Service in 2014. There was even a popular Reddit rumor that that he had been cast as Jason Todd/Red Hood in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice that turned out to not be true. Egerton executed some pretty amazing fight choreography as well as some highly delicate fan kicks that are a staple of Nightwing during his comic book altercations. He also shot off a few zingers at Colin Firth; that same attitude would play great against Batman.
Photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage
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6. Steven Yeun
The current fan casting choice for Nightwing, fresh off his character Glenn’s death in The Walking Dead. Besides some awesome fanart that has been circulating of Yeun in the black-and-blue costume it should be remembered that in an early episode of The Walking Dead he rescued Rick Grimes pretty spectacularly. Dick Grayson has had to come to the rescue of Bruce Wayne - and Batman - numerous times over the years and that could make a great introduction to his character in the DCEU.
Photo: Theo Wargo/Getty Images
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5. Ryan Potter
The youngest person on this list. You’ve likely most recently seen Ryan Potter execute some badass bow staff moves in an audition tape he put together to audition for the part of Robin. Why not elevate him directly to Nightwing? He's an incredibly capable hand-to-hand combatant and based off his video there’s no reason why he couldn’t handle Dick Grayson’s classic escrima. Besides, he’s already been the lead of a superhero movie in Big Hero 6!
Photo: Greg DeGuire/WireImage
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4. Gael Garcia Bernal
The most celebrated actor on this list, including a recent Golden Globes win for his lead role in Mozart in the Jungle. Gael Garcia Bernal would be another actor who could delve deep into the psyche of Dick Grayson and emerge with a nuanced performance that really reveals what compels someone to take up a vigilante mantle. His accent would lend an interesting credence to Nightwing’s early life travelling the world as a member of The Flying Graysons, so there would be no need to have him hide it. Plus, he’s probably got the best chin on the list.
Photo: Jenny Anderson/WireImage
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3. Tristan Wilds
Wilds has been working in television since his childhood and is primed to make a big move into being the leading man of a feature film. He is probably most known for his role as Michael Lee on The Wire, one of the darkest shows ever made. Gotham City is probably the most corrupt fictional city around and if Wilds can slip into the dark underbelly of The Wire’s Baltimore, then Gotham City (or Bludhaven!), seems right up his alley.
Photo: David Livingston/Getty Images
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2. Harry Shum Jr.
You might know Harry Shum Jr. from his recurring role on Glee or Netflix’s Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny. He makes it so high up on this list because he is a highly trained dancer and choreographer. More than perhaps any of the other actors on this list, Shum knows how to tell a story with his body, and with acrobatics being so integral to who Dick Grayson is as a man and who Nightwing is as a superhero, it would be nice to cast an actor that could perform as much of the physical feats as possible (like Stephen Amell on Arrow). His recent experience with wushu wouldn’t hurt either.
Photo: Mike Windle/Getty Images
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1. Matthew Bomer
The actor everyone has suggested for the past decade is now almost too old for the part. Of everyone (maybe in the world), Matt Bomer actually looks like the way Dick Grayson has been drawn in the comic books, down to the way his hair flops over. It’s kind of crazy how much he resembles classic Nightwing. White Collar has proven that he can play quippy and irreverent, run through a heist and tear his shirt off at the end of a scene for absolutely no good reason... in short, all the elements that make up a good Nightwing issue. Recently, Bomer has made a move into movies and headlining a DCEU movie could cement him as one of Hollywood’s hottest leading men.
Photo: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
