How Old is Robin supposed to be?

[The Batker]

So I'm watching the purr-fect crime episode and It brought up an issue I've always seemed to have with the Batman 1966 episode.


We see in the Joker classroom that Dick is in High School... But in the episode with Catwoman we see Batman tell Robin to put his bat belt on and they go into how Robin will be of age to get his license soon. He's clearly over the age of 16.. Even at the age of say 7 to 10 I had issues with this because I had a 16 year old cousin with his license. Therefore I felt Robin was older maybe he could pass for 18 in the series..

So is there anywhere in the show where they give him an exact age? Just curious

[chetchumley]

tween...15 -16....believe the VIEWMASTER set states he is 15...but he did get his drivers
license in season 3 of BATMAN which would have made him same age 15 - 16 at time show began !! BUT !!!!!!!!!!!!! actually BURT WARD{ROBIN} was 19 !!! at time show began !

[dell]

Maybe you had to be 18 to get a driver's license in Gotham City.

[AndyFish]

In the comics of the 40s Robin was eight-- in the fifties he aged to about 13. The only time he's been played by an actor who was the actual age they're claiming him to be was Doug Croft in the 1943 serial-- he was 14.

The Robin in the '49 serial was 26 and looked like he was pushing 40. Don't get me started on Chris O'Donnell needing to be adopted by Val Kilmer in Batman Forever.

Burt was close enough to pass as 16-- as a kid I hated Robin because I thought he was annoying. Today I can appreciate him for what he is, and I'm glad they changed course from the tone of the pilot where Robin was the brains of the team and Batman was a bit slower.

[Gernot]

Andy, I remember a reviewer saying in 1989 (the year I first bought and viewed the two serials) that Croft would have been a perfect Nightwing.

As far as O'Donnell went, I can only imagine the movie makers wanted someone who'd get teenage girls into the theater seats.

[Bat-Brony92]

It's funny how people who are 22 like me seem to always look we're still in our teen years, but yeah I think Robin is supposed to be 15 even though his actor was older than that!

(I just joined this forum btw, *waves*)

[Gernot]

Welcome to the boards, Bat-Brony92!

[Lou Szabo]

interestingly, he drives the batmobile in the first episode, suggesting he is 16 and has his license. Surely Batman would not let him drive the car without it, even just to move it.
In the 66 movie, he's a passenger with Alfred at the wheel.

So I'd go with 15 to 16 during the three year run.

[kennetzel]

I always felt that early on they tried to make him younger with all the "golly gee's" and stuff like that. Not to mention when he is coming down the stairs with Aunt Harriet in the first episode, he's carrying a toy airplane like he was just in his room zooming that thing around. But then, as mentioned above, he was driving the Batmobile in the same episode. I don't see how you go from playing with toy airplanes to driving something as complicated as the Batmobile in the same day. So his age always confused me.

[Progress Pigment]

It's funny how people who are 22 like me seem to always look we're still in our teen years, but yeah I think Robin is supposed to be 15 even though his actor was older than that!

(I just joined this forum btw, *waves*)

Not in my experience, not really. It varies. I see people 22 who look 30, and some who look like kids. It varies person to person. Lindsay Lohan looks 40. For example, Sean Connery looked too old to play James Bond at 41 in "Diamonds are Forever", but Roger Moore who was 44 when he did "Live and Let Die" looked about 35 years old. However, Connery didn't age noticeably for the next 15 years. As I said, it varies.

[WhatsMyCrime]

Robin's also allowed to pilot the Batcopter in the movie, which presumably takes more training than driving a car, so who knows. Verisimilitude not a top priority in this series anyway.

[Jesusismysuperhero]

interestingly, he drives the batmobile in the first episode, suggesting he is 16 and has his license. Surely Batman would not let him drive the car without it, even just to move it.
In the 66 movie, he's a passenger with Alfred at the wheel.

So I'd go with 15 to 16 during the three year run.

Does he actually drive the batmobile in the first episode? I seriously don't remember... If he does, that is really really odd because I distinctly remember him getting his license in the first Batgirl episode which was in season 3...

[Batman65]

interestingly, he drives the batmobile in the first episode, suggesting he is 16 and has his license. Surely Batman would not let him drive the car without it, even just to move it.
In the 66 movie, he's a passenger with Alfred at the wheel.

So I'd go with 15 to 16 during the three year run.

Does he actually drive the batmobile in the first episode? I seriously don't remember... If he does, that is really really odd because I distinctly remember him getting his license in the first Batgirl episode which was in season 3...

He moves it in the parking lot.

[Progress Pigment]

It's funny how people who are 22 like me seem to always look we're still in our teen years, but yeah I think Robin is supposed to be 15 even though his actor was older than that!

(I just joined this forum btw, *waves*)

No 22 years olds like you really don't! No more that 40-something year olds like me look like we're 30. They look like people in their 20's! Or older. Unless you're small. By the second season I thought Burt Ward had aged noticibly. He looked like a young adult. Angus T. Jones from "2 And a Half Men' is 22 and does not look like a teenager. Being small certainly helps. Like the tenager from that show "The Middle". With enough makeup, he can pull it off. But no, any teenager in school could tell a 22 year old is not a teenager. He's a substitute teacher!

[Chuck Williams]

In researching the 40's serials, I found it was noted that seeing a grown man punch a young kid in the '43 serial was unsettling to the audience and producers alike and changed the casting on future "Robins" to an older look.

An interesting observation and theory.