Marlon Wayans on Losing Out on Robin Role in 'Batman Returns': 'I Was Hurt'

Marlon Wayans has opened up about losing the role of Robin in the 1992 film Batman Returns and how that turned his career around for the better.

During his appearance on The School of Greatness, Wayans discussed how people can take lessons from losses and opened up about his own experiences. One of those experiences was when he was cast as Robin in Tim Burton's Batman Returns but ended up losing the role as producers wrote the character out of the script.

According to the 52-year-old, he was initially upset that the role was axed but later understood the lessons that came from it and opened up a new path to take his career to the next level.

"When I was 19, I got Batman," said Wayans. "I was going to be the first Black person besides Billy D [Williams] to be in one of these big movies. [It] was with Tim Burton, and I was going to be Robin, and I got a phone call from Tim Burton and Denise Denovi in a letter saying that I wasn't."

He continued, "I was going to be off to the races. Batman [and] Robin, you know what my career would have been? But it didn't happen, and immediately, I was like I was hurt. But I said no, I'm going to start writing these movies. I'm going to start creating my own show. I'm going to start doing things that that I know put the ball in my own hand. Had that Robin happened, I would have had a different career."

When asked where he thought his career would be now if the role wasn't removed from the script, Wayans stated he probably would've wasted his life away as he wouldn't know what to do with all the success and money that would've come from the film. He also stated that God placed him on a journey to create independently, and he had to learn things the longer way instead of taking shortcuts.

Even though producers took Robin out of the Batman Returns script, Wayans claimed he was paid for the role and still receives residual checks. In 2009, Wayans revealed Burton wanted him to have the role in the threequel film Batman Forever, but the director was replaced by Joel Schumacher, which changed the whole direction of the film.

Losing Robin's role led Wayans to make a name for himself and create his show with his brother Shawn, titled The Wayans Bros., which ran from 1995 to 1999. He also had a hand in writing several cult films such as Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, the first two Scary Movie films, White Chicks, and more.