Zack Snyder reveals how Robin's tragic fate shaped Ben Affleck's Batman

The Bruce Wayne we meet in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is very different to previous live action iterations of the character. For one thing, this Dark Knight has already been on the job for 20 years, and in that time his trusted sidekick Robin was killed by the Joker. Director Zack Snyder recently spoke with IGN about including Robin's tragic backstory in the film:

"In my mind, it was that Robin had died 10 years earlier, during some run in with a young Joker (Jared Leto). To me, it was a fun backstory there to play with. The whole idea was that there had been loss and sacrifice. In a weird way, he sacrificed everything to be Batman, right? He doesn’t really have a life outside of the cave. I thought by including Robin — a dead Robin — it would help us understand he’s been on quite a little journey." Check out the video below...

Robin's death gives us a little more insight into Batman's state of mind - there's a good chance it had a lot to do with Batman's homicidal actions in Batman v Superman - and should Warner Bros. green light Ben Affleck's solo film, a prequel showing why Bruce broke bad could be really interesting.

Directed by Zack Snyder and starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jason Mamoa, Ezra Miller, and Ray Fisher, Justice League: Part 1 is currently scheduled for a November 17, 2017 release.

Images: Warner Bros.

Amon Warmann

Amon is a contributing editor and columnist for Empire magazine, but is also a Film and TV writer for GamesRadar+, Total Film, and others. He has also written for NME, Composer Mag, and more, along with being a film critic for TalkSport. He is also the co-host of the Fade to Black Podcast, and a video mashup creator. Can also do a pretty good Bane impersonation.