The Riddler: No fancy green costume. That, for me, should be replaced by body art in the form of tattoos. Tattoos of question marks. Johnny Depp is the actor to play this role. I'd have him as a biker-type, covered in cryptic art.

I couldn’t help but correct you, Spider-Man 3 is utter crap despised by purist and comic book fans alike, third movies in a series of films has plague 90% of all franchises in any medium but hey as you said the next Batman movie won’t be as good as the last I’m sure all comic book fans say that about the books that DC Comics publish well why bother making any more Batman books it won’t be as good as say The Dark Knight Returns (kudos David you actually reference it, you sound so much like you know what you’re talking about!) and Batman Year One.

Catwoman was covered with Tim Burton……….er no it wasn’t.

Selina isn’t as mentally unstable as Burton portrayed her in Batman Returns; Batman has always pursued Catwoman for other reasons than because she is a jewel thief, not because in essence she is a crazy Cat lady that Batman feels sorry for.

I think that comment undoes you the most David and shows your lack of understanding with Selina Kyle; she has never been portrayed correctly on the screen or was the section about where Halle Berry played her brilliant in the movie edited out by mistake in your article?

As I noticed you dismissed a lot of characters in there but liked the Penguin, why was that David? Was it because you have a fond memory for Burgess Meredith playing the part from the 60’s TV Show? What exactly is scary about someone with little man syndrome threatening people? How about someone with little man syndrome pretending to write an article about Batman that instead of being an impartial topic discussion decided to shoot down a movie that none of us know anything about?

I grant you that some of the villains in Bats Rogue gallery aren’t suitable for Nolan’s universe for Batman but the ones below are.

Bane (modified slightly yes) – Read Knightfall and don’t compare Bane to someone in pulp fiction, as that statement was the most pathetic line in your “article”.
Riddler – Done as in Hush, are you still with me David?
Catwoman – Done properly
Black Mask – A Goyer favourite and someone who hasn’t been done before.
Deadshot
Deathstroke – (modified)
Talia Al Ghul – I’m going to put Ra’s daughter as I’m not sure how familiar you are with comics David.
Returning villains.
Ra’s Al Ghul – “Death” is never final for Ra’s but you never saw him die.
Scarecrow – TDK cameo left a lot of people wanting more from him.
Two-Face – Maybe he will come back in flashbacks who were the other 2 people Gordon mentioned that Harvey had killed?
The Joker – there is some additional Ledger Joker footage floating around maybe they could digitise him for a scene in the third which if they can put it into the story that would be cool.

In conclusion David any movie has the potential to be worse or better than the last, but if anyone can do it I’m sure Nolan can.

That would break your spine or cause your heart to stop, something in that nature, and also note half his face was literaly burned off, so counting that, that kind of impact would kill him. Batman had armor, though that one scene where he jumped after rachel when joker dropped her.. He clearly should have died, thatw as easily 100-200 feet, even though he landed on the car and had armor, nothing broke his fall and that would be a instance death.

Anyway, lot of you are just ignorant about harvey, his character had a big purpose in the film. And he died, he will not be coming back… Hes DEAD, if he is alive they might as well cut off that entire ending, and remake the ending with joker. If you watched the ending, that was clearly a funeral for Harvey, the speech both batman and gordon made wouldnt have been made if Harvey was dead.. 2 key points were made at the end..

Harvey Dent, which was the white knight of Gotham, a true hero, Fell to the darkness when half his face was blown off and Rachel being killed. And he went mad, and on a massacre run. Second was that Batman broke his one rule, which was never to kill. He did, he killed Harvey to save Gordons son. Which brought his speech, and told gordon to blame harveys killings on batman.

And the part about Gotham deserves batman but not need him is true. In batman begins, Gotham badly needed batman. With league of shadows destroying gotham, and taking out the head of the mob. in TDK He wasn't needed, which caused Joker to appear to go after batman which caused many deaths.

Anyway… As long as Nolan is on for the third film and DONT decide to go.."Hey lets add some comedy to this!" Like the 4th Indiana jones..Blade Trinity, Tremors 3, TR3, those are just some examples. Then we see the ones that do badly.. If they can find someone for the riddler, and make him evil, and darker, as dark or darker then Joker with a good actor that would be great! However Jonny depp wouldnt be good for that.. Wanna know why? He isn't the scary type, hes more of a comedy, mid action type. We would need that can seem more darker.

Riddler would be the best to me, not some of these other pathetic villians.. We need realistic popular ones we can twist to a darker version.

Where to go from here: next up is the Catwoman. But not the obvious choices like Angelina Jolie… oh no. I want to see Reese Witherspoon be nice and nasty. She is so happy go lucky typically but when you see the few glimpses of her devious side it's enough to make you fear her and fall for her. She is such a talented actress and could really play out the prostitute side of Miller's idea or just be the classic jewel thief. Either way Nolan has some wiggle room to play with the moral dilemma of the sweet and innocent type of girl turning down right nasty when given the opportunity. Reese is the only actress out their in my opinion who is talented enough to give the Catwoman something she hasn't had before: the girl next door who just might have to hurt you if you cross her.

Likewise the only real choice from there is the Riddler (film Four). I say film four because the Riddler would seem redundant after the Joker, however with a little time and space he could be different enough not to seem like a knock off. But ONLY played by the charmingly psychotic Johnny Depp. Less cartoonish than Carrey and certainly has the playful yet sadistic side that we only slightly saw in Willie Wonka. Throw that in with the fore mentioned Spacey from Se7en sort of twisted puzzle resulting in death and you've got someone that might even surpass Ledger.

The people of Gotham already want batmans blood, he placed all the blame on himself over the deaths of the men Harvey brutally murdered. Why not have Riddler be dangerous in the next film in a different way (this is going to sound similar to Batman Forever, just not as cheesy). Have him know Batmans identity. The Riddler was always highly intelligent, so make him appear a hero to Gotham by handing over Batman to the people, toying with Bruce Wayne all the way. I don't mean let him expose Batman in the beginning but have him discover Mr. Waynes terrible secret and blow his antics wide open and outta proportion (making it seem a lot worse than it really is). Batman would need to fight for his place within Gotham, make people see The Riddler for who he really is: a manipulative, cunning, and evil criminal mastermind. Can Batman stop the false belief that Riddler is clouding Gotham under or will Gotham itself be Batmans reaper?
…I hope not :-SS

Have Riddler dress in a silk-emerald suit (darker greens) and gold custom '?' cufflinks. Have him with a trademark cane and to be a lot older than Bruce Wayne.

(Riddler knows who Batman is in this scene but Bruce Wayne doesn't know this. They are also at a public gathering (to make things worse) and Batman is about to be exposed…)
RIDDLER: "No, no, no… Realise Mr. Wayne, I see the problem, and the problem is about to be put to rest… This thing, it's been staring us all in the face for far too long… The people of Gotham deserve to know the truth, they deserve to know when they've been betrayed, they deserve fair treatment and no more lies, no more riddles. That's what they deserve…"
BRUCE WAYNE: "…what they deserve is a chance to find truth themselves, no smoke and mirrors standing in their way. You could never understand because you'll only ever find the truth in every lie you've ever told. In every question and riddle you claim truth but are only ever lying to yourself and that makes you a hypocrite."
(angered Riddler leans closer to Bruce and whispers)
RIDDLER: "…everything dark and light or black and white hey Bruce? No shades of grey here? That simple really? Well guess what?"
(quieter now)
RIDDLER: "…I know what you are…"
(Bruce backs off and looks in shock at Riddler, Riddler looks at him confused. Tension building as people look on)
RIDDLER: "Something I said must have startled Mr. Wayne. My apologies… (puts his hand out to shake, Bruce doesn't want to) …where was I? Oh yes… Citizens! Gotham will no longer live in terror of this Batman! The time has come for him to pay for his crimes."
(Bruce starts walking back keeping a close watch on Riddler while still being cautious of people around him watching)
RIDDLER: "TONIGHT! We will witness the birth of a new Gotham! One free of masked monsters cowering in the dark… Tonight Gotham is reborn! Now I do hate building suspense but… I must… I have been advised to 'milk' this ceremony! (everyone laughs nervously, awaiting the news) so keep watching… you may be as suprised as Mr. Wayne here, knowing what I know………. I know who The Batman is… and you soon will too! (everyone shocked)"

Or this even, how good would these sound?
Quotes that Riddler could say:

"I have a question for you, no actually more of a riddle. Why are the skies over Gotham so… dark?"

"[to Batman] I've always wanted to know something… if everything has at least one meaning behind it. Is there a meaning in what I call your 'maddness'?"

"[to Batman] Ask yourself something and riddle away your existence"

"[to Batman] I want to know one thing, how do you feel? How do you feel now you are Gothams villian?"

"Murder tastes awfully sweet… but, I'm more into the act of understanding… understanding a reason behind why I enjoy the desire to see people fail at getting away with it…"

The Riddler: Only if he were to be portrayed in the way that Spacey's character was played out in Se7en. He would have to be very keen, cunning, manipulative and most of all calm. He would be the exact opposite of the Joker in his approach, but just as scheming and dangerous as him at the same time. It's all about the approach and who he's going to target. The Joker made it clear that he was like a "dog chasing after a car," whereas the Riddler has something in mind and even though it may be planned everyone will still be left stunned and traumatized.

Hush is a definite contender along with Black Mask.

Aside from Harley I would like to see Catwoman, b/c she iconic to the Batman universe and would be a great leading lady. Even though most people do not seem to think kindly of this femme fatal I think with the proper writing and direction Poison Ivy could definitely be pulled off. Like I said it is a matter of good writing and direction, and I have faith that Nolan with his writing crew could introduce her effectively. Maybe not as the main villain, but a cohort of sorts. In a way she resembles the philosophy of Ra's Al Ghul in that they are both to a certain extent environmentalist. However, with Ra's he prefer to only extinguish societies that appear to not be functioning, whereas Ivy would like to eliminate society on a greater scale. To a certain extent she is far more dangerous than Ra's. Honestly I would not necessarily portray her in that complete manner. I would feed off of the storyline in which she took care of Gotham's orphans. In the original story there was an earthquake and she transformed Gotham's largest park, that was once a place filled with trash (literally, figuratively, metaphorically, etc), into a safe haven for teh children that had no where else to go. To compliment Nolan's universe I would have Ivy be a well known scientist that was making breakthroughs with botany in terms of developing new medicines that could rebuild cells and whatnot. Since the hospital has been demolished by the Joker, Ivy would volunteer to serve at the hospital. While she's there she discovers that some of her serums might be able to aide a lot of these people with their ailments when all of a sudden another scientist by the name of Dr. Jason Woodrue decides to take credit for her discovery. At first she is able to maintain her stability, until she finds out that he has decided to bank off of her serum. Cost was never a concern for her, all she wanted was to help people, and now the good that she has created has become tainted by greed. Later she finds out that the good doctor has been altering her serum to kill people, a sort of anti-Dr. Kevorkian, and this drives her a bit mad. She decides to play dumb and share with him another serum that she is developing and without him realizing it he becomes the first test subject and then she begins to target all of his predecessors. I don't know … I'm just throwing something out there for others to consider and stem from this.

chewbaca69 said: SPOILERS BELOW

dont get me wrong the movie was amazing but think about this idea. they end it with the joker hanging his head out of the car window, dent in the hospital and the final shot is batman standing in the rubble. then we open up part 3 with the hospital scene.

That sounds like a great end and start for a third. I was a bit surprised when the film didn't end after

–SPOILERS—

Rachel's death. If they had gone from the rubble scene to the last confrontation between Batman and Joker in the building and ended the film at the hospital, with the last scene between Gordon and Harvey where we see his burned face for the first time, and Harvey makes Gordon say Two-Face, it would have been amazing. Saved all the scenes of Two-Face going around killing for the beginning of the third and have Two-Face as the main antagonist. But then we wouldn't had had the "Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now…and so we'll hunt him, because he can take it. Because he's not a hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector…a dark knight." Maybe Nolan has already an idea of what he will do in a third film where Batman will be the hunted.

–SPOILER END—

chewbaca69 said: dont get me wrong the movie was amazing but think about this idea. they end it with the joker hanging his head out of the car window, dent in the hospital and the final shot is batman standing in the rubble. then we open up part 3 with the hospital scene.

That would have been fantastic, however it's a bit too dark and would have never happened. Fun to think about that idea though, it would have made it epic.

ckybltz said:

I also think they MAY have alluded to Catwoman…
The conversation about his new armor, about if it would hold back a dog, to which Alfred said, "Maybe a cat…"

Just a thought…

that is a very good point and observation. i agree, nolan should do a catwoman story…but should be very very careful to pick the actress to play such a key role such as they did with Ledger.

Harvey can be dead all he wants, but that still leaves room for the Two-Face persona to remain.

My question is, will they be able to present the equivalent of the moral struggle that Bruce went through? I'd hate to see them simply recycle it, or do without. It was a large part of the movie from where I was sitting, so they need something similar in a third.

davidfrank said: When Gordan and Batman are on the ground next to Two-Face's body, Gordon says everything died with Harvey Dent. I don't think there is any question on whether Two-Face survived.

I actually think its possible that Harvey is alive. If he's dead, I'm cool with that too, but Nolan could've made it certain that he died by showing an actual coffin of actually saying it. He chose not too. Maybe just to get us talking about it, but he did show Batman throwing Maroni off of like 3 stories, about the same height Harvey fell, and all that happened to him was a broken ankle or something like that. I think he showed that on purpose. It's possible that the fall didn't kill Harvey. That's all I'm saying.

Also, I think that interview with Nolan talking about Penguin was fake. Hoffman would be an awesome Penguin. And the Riddler would be great in a Nolan world. He could be a serial killer like the Zodiac. He could leave clues or riddles so Batman and the police can catch him.

But what about Deadshot. He could be cool cause Batman is not a fan of weapons and that is all Deadshot uses. It could be an interesting game of cat and mouse with him.

I would also be interested in seeing Nolan's take (a realistic take) on The Riddler as well as The Penguin as long as it doesn't involve massive brain wave machines sponsored by Nielsen or penguins with rockets on their backs.

Good idea? or not?

vanny said: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is the best of the franchise and thats the third film

Not a comic-book film, my friend. Yeah and I'd love to see Clayface, but I just don't see him working whatsoever in Nolan's world.

ckybltz said: I gotta disagree with that.
If you notice, no coffin is shown at the funeral. Also the decision remains the same. They dont want Harvey Dent to be a bad guy, essentially. If hes dead, then he can die a hero, in the public eye. If he survived, and is put away in Arkham in his own little private cell, then the decision has the same impact, as far as the citizens of Gotham are concerned…then they can have the inevitable escape….

I also think they MAY have alluded to Catwoman…
The conversation about his new armor, about if it would hold back a dog, to which Alfred said, "Maybe a cat…"

Just a thought…

When Gordan and Batman are on the ground next to Two-Face's body, Gordon says everything died with Harvey Dent. I don't think there is any question on whether Two-Face survived.

Good catch on the Catwoman reference. I didn't realize that until now.

davidfrank said: To answer your spoiler question. Yes, [SPOILER]Two-Face is dead. Gordon was speaking at what looked like a public funeral. Plus the decision at the end doesn't have as much ummph or make as sense if Harvey Dent survived the fall.[/SPOILER]

I gotta disagree with that.
If you notice, no coffin is shown at the funeral. Also the decision remains the same. They dont want Harvey Dent to be a bad guy, essentially. If hes dead, then he can die a hero, in the public eye. If he survived, and is put away in Arkham in his own little private cell, then the decision has the same impact, as far as the citizens of Gotham are concerned…then they can have the inevitable escape….

I also think they MAY have alluded to Catwoman…
The conversation about his new armor, about if it would hold back a dog, to which Alfred said, "Maybe a cat…"

Just a thought…

Bishop said: !!!!Spoiler Warning!!!

And what about Hush??? he might be great and it will fit in, in Nolan's Batman world

I thought about mentioning Hush…and he definitely would fit in Nolan's world…but he's sort of a weak follow-up to the Joker. Yet, who knows? It could work.

davidfrank said: To answer your spoiler question. Yes, [SPOILER]Two-Face is dead. Gordon was speaking at what looked like a public funeral. Plus the decision at the end doesn't have as much ummph or make as sense if Harvey Dent survived the fall.[/SPOILER]

I think Batman Begins explores all the themes that the Scarecrow represents. It'd be redundant..

Harley Quinn would feel like Joker-lite/retread if she was a stand-alone villain.

You're probably right, but I think it's going to be hard to top the Joker, it WAS best to introduce him in the second film.

People are speculating that it will be the Riddler because he was in the Dark Knight. I guess we'll have to trust Nolan, if he does a third one.

Sadly two face is dead but batman has a list of great villians (in my opinion)

the villians they can go with is problay Catwoman since there is no leading lady anymore since she rachel dies

The Riddler is an option probly another re-invented version and it might blow everybodies expectation away (look how everybody backlash when Heath ledger was signed in to be the joker then everybody praise him since its a different type of joker)

The Penguin aslong as they get Hoffman it'll be great

And what about Hush??? he might be great and it will fit in, in Nolan's Batman world

I agree No Robin or Batgirl