This Look At Dylan O'Brien As Nightwing Is Straight-Up Amazing
2022 is set to become the year of Batman. Matt Reeves' highly-anticipated "The Batman" starring Robert Pattinson comes out this Friday, Michael Keaton will officially return to don the cowl in Ezra Miller's solo "Flash" movie (via The Wrap), and Ben Affleck will return to his version of Bruce Wayne as well (via Vanity Fair). This means that there will be three actors playing three different versions of Batman in the same year, a feat "Spider-Man: No Way Home" was able to achieve in one movie this past December.
Either way, we're about to get a lot of Batman content very soon, especially with the HBO Max release of "Batgirl" coming sometime in the future. We were introduced to the first image of Leslie Grace's Barbara Gordon in full Batgirl gear back in January via her Twitter post, and after the confirmation of Keaton's Batman again appearing in this, there have been plenty of rumors about other DC characters that could show up — specifically more from the Bat-family. It has been rumored since a Twitter post from Big Screen Leaks in January that "Maze Runner" actor Dylan O'Brien had been approached for the role of Dick Grayson's Nightwing in "Batgirl" and the DC Extended Universe.
Although Brenton Thwaites notably plays the character in HBO Max's "Titans" series, Dick has yet to appear anywhere in the DCEU, and many fans support the possible casting of O'Brien as the first Boy Wonder, including one fan who made some concept art of him as the famed character.
This concept art may give an idea of what Dylan O'Brien's Nightwing would look like
In a recent Instagram post from savagecomics, fans got a look at what Dylan O'Brien's could look like in a Nightwing suit if he's cast as the character. The art features O'Brien with Nightwing's signature long hair, a blue mask, a relatively lightweight body armor, and the Nightwing symbol in blue across the chest and shoulders. The costume also features a blue pattern on the boots. From what we've seen in recent Batman costumes and the current Nightwing suit for Brenton Thwaites' Dick Grayson, this probably isn't too far off from what the costuming designers might create. However, based on Leslie Grace's Batgirl suit, designers may draw more directly from the DC Rebirth uniforms given how distinctly similar Grace's Batgirl suit is to Barbara Gordon's in the DC Rebirth comics.
Therefore, the Nightwing costume may be incredibly simple and lightweight, especially since Dick is an acrobat — he needs lightweight material to assist his heightened agility when moving and flipping around Gotham or Bludhaven's rooftops. If they were to draw directly from DC Rebirth, we would probably see something similar to the fan art, minus the yellow trim on the outside of the blue sections of the suit.
Only time will tell if O'Brien will actually appear as Dick Grayson's Nightwing in "Batgirl" or any upcoming DCEU project, although with "The Flash" seemingly opening up DC's own multiverse — anything is possible.