Batman's Pet Boy In Arkham 2

And here was I thinking that all the non-comics Batman spin-offs were doing their damndest to pretend that the dark knight detective wasn't in the habit of dragging a boy along to his late-night soirees with angry street thugs. Robin has been resolutely absent from Christopher Nolan's Batman movies and went without mention in the solid, tight Arkham Asylum. But the Boy Wonder has found his way into upcoming sequel Batman: Arkham City after all. How're they going to reconcile the wee lad's bright costume and cheery demeanour with something so grim? Let's take a look...

Here he is, the tyke, via fansite Arkham City:

Looks a bit like he spends his evenings stealing hubcaps, to be honest. Of course, Arkham City's monochrome marketing art means we can't tell just how much red, green and yellow this Boy Wonder will bear, but so far he looks fairly in keeping with the game's general style.

Whether or not we'll get to play him is a very different matter. Thug-Robin is pre-order DLC, so far only confirmed for purchases from Best Buy in the US. However, the PC version will, uh, enjoy him - which makes a nice change from the usual console-only pre-order exclusive gubbins.

So what will Robin do? Well, he'll have his own Challenge Maps as well as being playable in the ones aimed at Batwoman and Catman. Wait, I got something wrong there. Also, Robin will have distinct abilities from his more leathery peers. Well done, Robin. Clever boy.

Oh, comics readers will like to know that this is the Tim Drake Robin, rather than the original Boy Wonder Dick Grayson (who later became Nightwing, and then a new Batman when Grant Morrison wrote an incomprehensible story about Bruce Wayne getting lost in time). Wot, no stroppy Jason Todd?