Ah, unsubstantiated rumors. The bread and butter of superhero movie news. What would we do without our nation’s “trusted sources” and “unidentified insiders”? They’re the real superheroes in all of this. Anyway, the latest hot scoop that may or may not end up being totally bullshit is that Jena Malone—who plays Johanna Mason in the Hunger Games movies—will be appearing in Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice as none other than Robin, the Boy Wonder. Now, Malone happens to be a girl, so that means this could be the Carrie Kelley version of Robin who first appeared in Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns—the comic miniseries that seems to have inspired big chunks of what we know about Batman V. Superman.
Robin being a girl in the new movie seems like it would be a big deal, so it makes sense that Warner Bros. and director Zack Snyder would want to hold off on any announcements about it until a big Comic-Con-style event, but it’s also the sort of information that someone could easily just make up and pass off as real. Luckily, this comes from a pretty reputable source: An NBC affiliate in Detroit, where Batman V. Superman is currently filming (via The Hollywood Reporter). Despite everyone on set apparently being threatened with multimillion-dollar lawsuits if they break their non-disclosure agreements, a reporter for the network was somehow able to convince a guy working on the movie to divulge some of its secrets. In addition to claiming that Malone will be playing a female Robin, the man—who requested that his voice be altered and his face hidden—says the crew is filming a scene where Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor get into some kind of special effects-filled fight at a fancy party. Presumably, the special effects will be used to convince the audience that this guy wouldn’t totally destroy this guy if they got into a fight.
Anyway, we like to skew toward cautious optimism here at The A.V. Club, so while it would be very easy to just dismiss this rumor as being totally bullshit, we’re actually going to trust this mysterious man with the high-pitched voice and accept that Jena Malone from The Hunger Games is playing Robin in Batman V. Superman. After all, it would be nice for the movie to get another female hero other than Wonder Woman, and we’ll look really smart if the rumor turns out to be true. Of course, if it turns out to be wrong, we’ll just say we were being sarcastic. “Yeah, she’s tooootally a girl Robin. Psh, as if we’d ever really believe that.”
Check out a video of the report below, and then decide for yourself if you think we’re #ReallySmart or #JustSarcastic. Honestly, it’s hard for us to tell, but at least we’ll be right either way.