Bat Experts chime in on BATMAN 3 villains
Posted by Matt Holmes
So we’ve already discussed at length the pro’s and cons of who the next villain should be in the inevitable sequel to the $614 million worldwide (and still growing) biggest comic book film of all time The Dark Knight, where hopefully Christopher Nolan will still have enough interest in the Batman character to tell us one more story.
Personally on reflection of seeing The Dark Knight, I would probably go for The Penguin as a heightened version of the kind of supporting character that both Eric Roberts and Tom Wilkinson played in the previous two movies. I would possibly bring back both Maroni & Falcone… and maybe have a three gang warefare as taken from the story arc in The Long Halloween.
I would certainly look at bringing in Talia Al Ghul, I think the next movie really does call for her presence. Bruce you have to believe will be needy in this time of Batman being more of an outcast than ever before… he would more likely be seduced by the femme fatale, you have to believe it will be either her or Catwoman.
Two-Face seems a big possibility, if he ain’t dead there is still a lot of room for the character to maneuver.
I love The Riddler character and I really think they could do a great job with a serial killing movie in the vein of Se7en but Nolan has certainly left himself with the problem of how do you top The Joker?
MTV spoke to some of the most well respected Batman and comic book writers in the industry who all gave their two cent on which villain they would like to see in the next movie…
Grant Morrison (Arkham Asylum)…
“Ideally, you want another movie with Heath. Without him, Catwoman, but really think that one through. Give her a new take.”
Mark Waid (Infinite Crisis)…
“Catwoman needs to be part of it, that’s even more obvious now that he’s living on the other side of life. What a great parallel to Batman’s situation as a fugitive. But it would have to be something we haven’t seen before. The jewel thief thing was interesting, but it’s hard to relate to a jewel thief. It’s even harder to relate to a prostitute.
“It would be fun to see them put a spin on a less obvious one like they did with Ra’s Al Ghul. I’d be hankering for the Mad Hatter. Granted, crimes about hats are a specialized field, but if you take it back to ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ and give it a weird, almost psychedelic worldview from that, it could be cool in their hands.”
Tim Sale (The Long Halloween)…
“[Catwoman]’s such a powerful and sexual and strong woman, and I like that. But god, I hope not as Frank Miller’s version of her as a prostitute. That’s the worst part of ‘Year One.’ That’s just Frank trying to be outrageous. It didn’t ring remotely true to me.”
Steve Niles (30 Days of Night)…
“I’d like to see Catwoman over the Penguin. Not as a prostitute, and not as the Tim Burton version — what, cats sniffed her back to life? — but perhaps the Adam Hughes design, with the goggles. That’s very realistic. I can imagine her in street clothes that are designed just right. I also like the idea of them creating villains just for the movies.”
Jeph Loeb (The Long Halloween)…
“There’s a great story to be told of the triangle between Bruce/Batman and Selena/Catwoman. I love writing her. She plays with him like a ball of yarn. She’s the only one that makes him all rigid when he talks to her.”
Claudio Sanchez (The Armory Wars)…
“I would pick the Calendar Man (Julian Gregory Day). ‘Long Halloween’ and ‘Dark Victory’ happen to be my favorite collections. He’s not an iconic character, but he means a lot to me. I’m called the Calender Man on the Coheed and Cambria tour bus, because I’m always on time. But he’s more like a Hannibal Lector figure.”
Geoff Johns (Green Lantern: Rebirth)…
“At one point, Batman had a therapist, Hugo Strange, who was actually a great villain.”
Dan DiDio (DC Comics Executive Editor)…
“When Hugo Strange found out about Batman’s identity through analysis, he drugs him and takes over his identity. But realistically, there are limits to what villains can play. You can’t have Killer Croc …
Characters like Catwoman, Riddler, and Hugo Strange make sense, because they’re counterpoints to Batman’s psychosis and fears. The Joker creates chaos. Two-Face shows the duality of the Batman-Bruce Wayne relationship, and how Batman’s found peace with that duality. Batman searches for answers, and the Riddler has questions. Batman is driven, and Catwoman is sexual. They play well against each other and challenge aspects of what makes a hero.”
“At one point, Batman had a therapist, Hugo Strange, who was actually a great villain.”
If history tells us anything, I would expect to hear very little on a potential Batman 3 until the end of next summer, possibly at the San Diego Comic Con. It may even be a little later than that because I think this movie took more out of Chris Nolan than the previous one did, so he might need a longer time to rest.
I would think no later than October we should hear about what his next project is, which like The Prestige is likely to be a smaller more personal effort but by no means any less interesting.
categories - Batman 3, Movie News, The Dark Knight
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I think we should have EGGHEAD and KING TUTT as the villians in the next film.
I wouldn’t like to be Chris Nolan right now!…the dreaded no 3 is looming.
I think Catwoman would be a horrible idea. Since Nolan has said he’d like to film another villain that hasn’t been on screen before (like the Scarecrow in Batman Begins). I’ve heard rumors of Hush perhaps being an enemy, and that Johnny Depp maybe in the talks for being the Riddler.
And Claudio, I love you, the music, and the comics, but Calendar Man? Did you say that with a straight face? Then again, if it’s played as seriously as the other characters, perhaps.
But still. *Calendar Man*?
How about The Ventriloquist ?
Could be an interesting idea.
Yeah, I don’t think we’ll be seeing Catwoman since Goyer talked about how they’re interested in people we haven’t seen in live-action before. And I think Catwoman as a love interest might not be a good idea at this point in Bruce’s life. Maybe it’ll depend on how much time they say has passed by between TDK and Batman 3.
Hey! What about EGGHEAD and KING TUT?
The Riddler makes the most sense, because, as Matt mentioned, you could easily turn him into a SEVEN-style villain that fits the redesigned universe. Catwoman, the Penguin, and others have these ridiculous stories behind them that would make a retro-fit seem ludicrous.
Fuck the Riddler he’s crap,need something cool like clayface…or EGGHEAD.
I’d like to see Hugo Strange or Black Mask.
My ideal choices for number 3 would be Talia Al Ghul and Black Mask. Talia would bring the series full circle and Black Mask would not only work in Nolan’s universe but he would work great as the new enforcer of a re-established league of shadows.
This is me in wishful thinking mode:
Hush or Black Glove.
They’re both really enigmatic AND unknown to the mainstream (especially those who are not really into the comicbook scene).
But then, if you’ve been following the recent R.I.P. issues as I have been, we comicbook readers can only speculate the real identity of both Hush and Black Glove.
[...] Ray on the potential villains for Batman 3 [...]
Personally, I don’t care who the villain is as long as they keep the serious tone. Burton managed two movies before the studio interfered. While the success of TDK means there’s more creative leverage with the next one, it could go either way if Nolan doesn’t direct (or even if he does - Spiderman 3?).
I agree that Catwoman shouldn’t be used, and maybe some more obscure characters used. I was unfamiliar with the Scarecrow before Batman Begins, and that was fantastic. I’d prefer more “second tier” villains re-imagined, preferably those not used in the Schumacher movies, although a serious Mr. Freeze or truly psychotic Ridder could work. What about the Phantasm from the animated movie?
I’m supprised no-one has mentioned Bane at all in this, obviously he wouldn’t work in a solo villain role. Batman I feel really needs to be in a fight that he will lose. Badly. any thoughts?
They talked about a Superman reboot too…
http://splashpage.mtv.com/2008/08/11/how-to-reboot-the-superman-movie-franchise-comic-writers-chime-in/
i think they should bring back two face and scarecrow and have them team up
I’ll be straight. I believe Hush is an excellent fit with the Nolan universe. He is a childhood friend of Bruce’s who detests Bruce. I won’t give away spoilers involving people caught in explosions, but events in the Dark Knight would be an excellent reason for Hush to appear in the third movie. They can even add the Riddler- if the Riddler figures out who Batman is, as Mr. Reese supposedly knows, and Hush is informed, it’s going to be one very bad day for Batman.
I personally don’t want to see any of the usual Batman villains. They’ve all been done to death and that it’s going to be one of them is too predictable.
The logical progression from TDK is that Batman is going to be cast as the bad guy (in the eyes of Gotham).
The lie will get out of the control of Gordon and Batman. Fuelled by the press, more and more stuff will get pinned on him, criminals will start to dress up like him, and all manner of crimes will be attributed to him, tapping into a theme from Julius Ceasar (who was mentioned in TDK) that the mob likes only one thing more than building up a hero, and that is destroying a hero.
Eventually, the citizens of Gotham will call for the nuclear option - the ultimate response (the big theme), and that nuclear option in the DC universe is Superman, the most powerful being and weapon in the universe.
Cue a shocking and titanic battle, with Superman initially buying the press rubbish, and Batman seeing Superman rather like the monster in Cloverfield, as something alien and out of this world, that doesn’t belong in it, and needs to be destroyed. Remember Fox saying that no one man should have that much power in TDK about Batmans machine? That’s what Batman is going to see in Superman - one man who has too much power - something that like the machine should not exist.
Seeing something as out there as Superman in the relatively realistic Nolan&Goyer Batman universe will be shocking, and as long as Nolan&Goyer can put their twist on Superman without destroying his essence, that shock value will be helpful to them. (Not an easy task and no one has been able to do it, except in some of the comics, which will be known to those to whom elements of this storyline will be familiar.)
It won’t be hard for them to portray Superman as the ‘bad guy’ to us, because he could embody that blind do gooder attitude, that sees everything at face value, and rushes in all guns blazing, with more power than he seems to know what to do with.
The resolution of the film will be that Batman comes to see that Superman is not just a powerful being, but an extraordinary human being - someone worthy of being trusted with the power he has, but contrary to most peoples expectations Batman will win the fight because he will discover Superman’s Achillies heel - kryptonite.
Goyer asked in his recent interview how they could top TDK, well I think this would do the trick, assuming they could overcome the considerable challenges, most obviously: How to handle Superman in the Goyer&Nolan Batman universe and who would you get to play Superman who could put in a performance to equal Heath Ledgers?
bring on the riddler,and have him talking to joker that is locked up in gotham asylum and happens to meet scarecrow as a cameo.joker and riddler could talk about ideas of hurting the batman.
the superman idea is interesting, but i don’t think it’ll work in this universe. ideally i’d liked to have seen catwoman in the third film with ledger(rip)’s joker, possibly competing for batman’s attention (although this too may have been inappropriate). talia could be good, hugo would be interesting. any of the stock gimmick villains would be lame. fanboy’s always insist on being catered to in these films, but then you get spider-man 3. all of the characters so far have been a little removed from the comic origins. nobody bitched that the joker didn’t wind up in a vat of chemicals or that two-face wasn’t acid scarred. trust the nolan.
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I would like to see Poison Ivy done right. Make her an Eco-terrorist who finds a means of sabotaging equipment and unmanned facilities. It has been documented that “Eco-terrorists” have used various means of proving their points such as “embedding metal spikes in trees.” Reference the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and how environmentalists have challenged corporations such as Exxon Mobil, McDonald’s, etc. Ivy is a definite contender in terms of maintaining realism in the Batman universe. Instead of having her declare war against Exxon Mobil, she would/could be challenging Wayne Industries along w/ other major corporations in Gotham - and potentially the world. With her intelligence and persuasiveness she could prove a worthy adversary.