IMDB has, occasionally, been known to provide early information that fuel casting rumors with regard to projects in development.

Today, the conversation has moved from who will play Captain America to the IMDB page for Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 and who might be cast in the game.

The page lists actor Vincent Martella as the voice of Robin in the upcoming game. Martella's other IMDB credits reveal that he's also voicing "Jason Todd / Young Robin" in the upcoming Batman: Under the Red Hood - a straight to DVD animated movie.

However, the intriguing casting rumor doesn't provide much information as to what form the "Boy Wonder" might take - as Robin has been portrayed three different times since his entry into the franchise.

Dick Grayson has long since been retired from Robin fame as Nightwing in the comic world, and Jason Todd has been dead for a few decades now (well, kinda). This leaves Tim Drake as the only viable choice for a Robin in a modern setting. That said, with both Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill doing vocal work in the Arkham Asylum franchise, it seems unlikely the WB would use one actor to voice multiple versions of a character from different incarnations/time periods - though it probably wouldn't be the first time.

The rumor should be taken with a grain of salt as Kotaku, after speaking with a Warner Bros. rep, received the following response:

"To our knowledge, what you asked about is inaccurate information. We are not yet discussing details for the sequel."

I respectfully disagree. Just because Robin is in the game doesn't mean he'll have a huge part, don a uniform, or be a playable character.

Dissecting the rumor bit by bit, I'm going to draw a couple conclusions about what the IMDB page and WB might be saying about the next iteration of Arkham Asylum.

The information on the IMDB page is inaccurate. Vincent Martella may very well be voicing a young Jason Todd in AA2, and as such the IMDB listing would indeed be inaccurate. If this is true then either AA2 takes place in the past, or there's likely to be a flashback sequence that takes Batman through the turmoil of one of his greatest failures: the death of Jason Todd at the hands of the Joker.

Now for further speculation.

A flashback sequence about Jason Todd would point to two likely scenarios. One is the return of the Scarecrow in AA2. The first game had Batman wrestle with the death of his parents in a similar way, so it's possible that Batman could again face his own past while under the influence of Scarecrow's toxin.

The possible scenario sees the rise of the Tim Drake Robin in the upcoming sequel. If Robin were to be in a life threatening situation, it's possible Batman could reflect on how he cannot fail another Robin.

Of course these two situations are not mutually exclusive, and it's easily possible both could be true in the sequel.

A Robin character, regardless of the interpretation, would be a great addition if for no other reason than it might increase the likelihood that Arkham Asylum will include co-op gameplay.

No release schedule has been announced for Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 but we'll keep you in the loop as concrete information becomes available.

What do you think this news could mean? How do you feel about the possibility of Robin joining the Arkham Asylum party?

Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 is scheduled for a tentative 2011 release.

Source: IMDB, Kotaku