Main hero in the next Batman film will be Romani - "Nightwing" to call attention to the rights of Romani people

Warner Bros announced in February that they will be releasing "Nightwing", a
film that not only tells the story of the most popular characters in the Batman
family, but also sheds light on Romani human rights issues through its title
character. "Nightwing" (the superhero formerly known as “Robin”) could serve as
one of the first times the Romani identity will be shown to the mainstream in a
positive light.

The Romani people constitute the biggest ethnic minority in Europe but remain
socially segregated in the countries they inhabit. "Nightwing" could serve to
change their image.

Vicente Rodriguez is an organizer of the Romani advocacy group RomaPop, an
international alliance working for social justice specifically in the narratives
of popular culture vehicles such as comic books and the movies and television
series based on them. The group has made presentations about the inclusiveness
of the characters developed by popular franchises during various Comic Con
meetings, sometimes facing antigypsyism themselves in the process, according to
their Facebook profile.

In an interview with Comics Alliance, a website that is part of the
TownSquare Media portfolio of sites covering the entertainment industry,
Rodriguez said "Nightwing" could potentially change how the world perceives the
historically oppressed Romani population. "This… could be an advancement for
the rights of people of color in comic book narratives in Hollywood; and it
could mark the way forward for the industry,” he said.

Chris McKay, director of the 2017 "Lego Batman Movie", is heading the project,
a live-action film that will tell the story of Dick Grayson, an extremely
likeable, attractive and strong superhero — a stark contrast to the unfortunate
stereotype of Romani people as lazy, loud and unintelligent. The Nightwing
character has previously been featured in movies like "Batman: Under the Red
Hood" and television shows such as "Teen Titans" and "Batman Beyond", but in
those productions the connection to his Romani identity, which has been
established over the last 20 years of Batman comic books, was never part of the
story.

This could be a chance for a major Hollywood production company to tell the
story of the Roma the right way. Although the film is still under negotiations,
a concern among many fans is how accurately the Romani identity will be
portrayed in the film.

The production team will be tasked with authentically telling his story and
staying true to the Romani experience. How successful the film is could have
broader implications for how Romani people are viewed by future generations.

“Representation matters; it’s not a Romani issue, it’s a human rights issue,”
Rodriguez said in his interview with Comics Alliance. “So far, nobody has had
the courage to represent us in any positive light, in a human light; if it
happens just once, we could have a precedent, a small light at the end of a very
dark tunnel.”