James Gunn's Superman Includes A Deep Cut Nightwing Easter Egg

James Gunn's "Superman" has reintroduced the Man of Steel to a new generation, and kicked off the new DC Universe in earnest. The film contains several hints about what we can expect from Gunn's interconnected cinematic world — some more subtle than others. For example, "Superman" confirmed the DC Universe features a weird Justice League "addiction" in the form of Choco's cookies, a longtime favorite of Martian Manhunter (just one of several things you probably didn't know about the character). It also contained a similarly hard-to-spot easter egg that hints at the impending appearance of Nightwing.

During Superman and the Justice Gang's fight against the Kaiju in the heart of Metropolis, we see several billboards, one of which is for something called Zesti Cola. Eagle-eyed fans might also have spotted a can of the soft drink in Lex Luthor's (Nicholas Hoult) command center. Why is that significant? Well, aside from being a deep cut from DC comics lore, it also happens to be the favorite drink of Dick Grayson, the original Robin who eventually takes on the name Nightwing.

Appearing mostly in comics written by Chuck Dixon, Zesti Cola was introduced in "Detective Comics" #645 back in 1992, when Batman and Robin can be seen hanging out on a Gotham rooftop with a Zesti billboard visible in the background. In subsequent comics, it's established that Dick Grayson is a big fan of the brand, alongside the third Robin, Tim Drake, and, coincidentally, Scarface — the dummy used by Batman rogue Ventriloquist. Does this mean a Nightwing movie is imminent? Well, not exactly, since Gunn has already confirmed an animated movie focused on Dick Grayson and Jason Todd is in the works. But it does bode well for fans of the character.

In DC Comics, Zesti Cola is the competitor of Soder Cola, which debuted in Action Comics #663 back in 1991. But while Soder is more closely associated with the character of Resurrection Man, Zesti is much more known for being Dick Grayson's choice of soda. That alone makes its inclusion in a Superman movie all the more intriguing. There's also the fact that the other ads peppered throughout "Superman" are much more associated with the Man of Steel and his comic book universe.

During the big Kaiju fight, we also see billboards for Big Belly Burger, which made its debut back in "Adventures of Superman" #441 in June, 1988, and Chocos cookies, which as we know is a favorite of the Martian Manhunter. Zesti, meanwhile, immediately conjures images of Dick Grayson/Nightwing.

This, of course, doesn't mean that Nightwing is going to be showing up in the recently-announced "Superman" sequel, "Man of Tomorrow" (which is set to feature the same villain as Henry Cavill's canceled "Man of Steel 2"). We've also known for some time that Gunn's DC Universe will feature a "Brave and the Bold" movie, currently still set to be directed by "The Flash" director Andy Muscietti. In this film, Batman will be working alongside the Damian Wayne version of Robin, so once again Dick Grayson seems out of the question for that particular DC Studios installment. Still, based on the Zesti easter eggs in "Superman," fans are hopeful, as one TikTok video in particular shows. But before we get a solo Nightwing movie, we'll have to see how the upcoming "Dynamic Duo" animated film plays out.

We've yet to see a real full-fledged "Nightwing" project from DC, but that is set to change very soon. Brenton Thwaites played Dick Grayson/Nightwing in "Titans" (which also featured a pre-"Reacher" Alan Ritchson), but it seems likely the DCU will be the first time the character will get his own show/movie. In 2023, Gunn responded to an online poll regarding which characters fans wanted to see in the DCU, which resulted in Dick Grayson taking the top spot. While he didn't confirm the character would appear in his shared universe, Gunn did repost the results with the caption "Will 5 of 10 do?"

Since then, there has been plenty of speculation about who might play the role in the DCU. Back in May 2024, actor Asher Angel, who played Billy Batson in "Shazam!", posted a Nightwing GIF to X (formerly Twitter), stirring rumors that he was up for the role, and several other performers have expressed interest. As of yet, however, we haven't gotten any confirmation of who might play a live-action version of Grayson. 

In October 2024, Gunn did confirm that DC Studios was working on an animated "Dynamic Duo" movie which would feature Dick Grayson and Jason Todd, giving Batman's two most popular Robins their own movie. The project, which Gunn touted as "a mix of animation, puppetry, and CGI," comes from Swaybox Studios and will be DC Studios' first theatrical animated feature. The latest reports suggest "Dynamic Duo" is undergoing rewrites, which may or may not be a bad thing. If the movie does materialize, however, it looks like it will mark the first time we see Dick Grayson show up in the DC Universe.

Whether he's voiced by the same actor who'll play him in live-action hasn't yet been confirmed, but when Gunn and DC Studios co-head Peter Safran announced the first slate of DCU movies, a big part of the pitch was that voice actors would also be playing the live-action versions of their characters and vice versa (which might be bad news for animation voice actors). As such, we're almost certain the "Dynamic Duo" movie will introduce us to the actor playing Dick Grayson/Nightwing in Gunn's interconnected cinematic world.