Last October, the news broke that DC Studios is teaming up with Swaybox Studios for Dynamic Duo, a movie blending animation with puppetry, which revolves around Robin and Robin: Dick Grayson and Jason Todd.
The trades have reported that the story will explore how Grayson and Todd's friendship as youths becomes tested by their diverging ideas for their future (reports that the characters will begin as a pair of thieves were quickly debunked).
The prospect of the two Robins teaming up in their youth is odd. In the comics, Dick was the first one to hold that mantle before leaving Batman's side to become Nightwing. He was taken in as Bruce Wayne's ward after his parents, acrobats the Flying Graysons, were killed by gangsters.
As for Jason, Batman found him attempting to steal one of the Batmobile's wheels and took the boy under his wing. Jason was never the obedient son Dick was and ended up being killed by The Joker. However, he'd later rise from the dead as the violent vigilante Red Hood. They were never Robin at the same time.
Concept art for the movie appears to have leaked online today, showcasing the costume designs for the Robins. Dick looks like the classic Robin we've come to expect, while Jason has undergone a somewhat punk-inspired redesign that, thematically, has some similarities to his eventual Red Hood disguise.
We also see a very stylised Batman standing in the doorway of Dick and Jason's shared bedroom, and a shot of Gotham City and Wayne Enterprises with the duo now in their Nightwing and Red Hood guises. Jason may still be Robin in that shot (it's hard to say), but if he is Red Hood, we'd imagine this movie will gloss over his death and resurrection.
Visually, Dyanamic Duo looks unique and stands a chance of being DC's version of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Dynamic Duo's place in the wider DCU isn't clear. Earlier this year, DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn suggested there may be a way to make the animated movie "canon" somewhere down the line.
"There might be a way it might fit into the DCU," he teased. "I would love for this animated puppet movie to be a part of the DCU. That's really appealing to me, but the story is unique, and so it may not work within our universe."
Arthur Mintz is directing Dynamic Duo, while Matthew Aldrich (Coco) penned the script. Swaybox Studios uses an innovative "Momo animation" that blends CGI, practical stop-motion elements, and live-action performances to create a new style of animation that's vastly different from what we're used to seeing on screen.
Dynamic Duo is set to be released in theaters on June 30, 2028.