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Batman movie auction reveals a rare glimpse at the Robin that never was
A group of storyboards from the 1989 Tim Burton Batman movie show Robin and the Joker brawling - even though the Boy Wonder didn't actually appear in the finished movie
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Who knew that Robin was originally slated to appear in the 1989 Batman movie with Michael Keaton? Sure, we know that Marlon Wayans was cast as Robin for Batman Forever when he was 19 years old, but it's surprising to see Robin tussling with the Joker in storyboards from Batman '89 several years before.
A set of storyboards from Tim Burton's first Batman movie has gone up for auction at Heritage Auctions online, depicting a scene where the Joker and Robin brawl while Batman remains trapped beneath some debris. The description for the listing reads, "Robin struggles with the Joker in this spectacular set of four original storyboard drawings depicting an alternate scene from Tim Burton's Batman. Excitingly, this sequence offers an inside look at what might have been, as Robin ultimately never makes an appearance in the final film."
The drawings were made by artist David Russell, who worked on classic movies like Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Take a look at them below.
At this time of writing, the storyboards have a current bid of $130, and the listing will be up for the next 7 days. Considering that the boards have "preliminary storyboards" printed at the top of each page, it's likely that they were done using an early draft of the script as part of the previsualization process for the film. It's unclear when Robin was taken out of the equation of Batman '89, but hopefully, one day this mystery will no longer remain unsolved.
You can check out the listing for the storyboards at Heritage Auctions here.
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