The Next Batman Villains
Here is my take on a few ways they could go. I’ll speculate as to a couple of bad-guys that could be in the next movie and then make comments on how to combine them to make a good film. Lets note that Nolan is not just picking villains and making a movie where Batman stops them. There is a particular reason for the villain and they work into a cohesive theme. These films are also more realistic and tent to draw off of darker comic versions. I know the next one isn’t written, which is why I want my two cents out there. If you like what you read, spread the word, good writers will use good ideas, even if they came from a silly blog. The choices.
Joker- At the end of Dark Knight, he is hanging from that building but still alive. Obviously he has more to do, this is clear in his big speach about not being able to kill Batman because he is too much fun. The fact that Heath Ledger died will make him hard to put into the film. Either another actor will have to step up, which I doubt they will try, they will have to use existing footage creativley, or they will have to include the joker without including him on camera. Witch I think might be possible, but would have to be done well.
Two-Face- At the end of Dark Knight, he is laying on the ground presumed dead. I would like to note that earlier in the film Batman dropped a guy off of a three story building and he lived, and they made sure we knew he would live. Also, the coin Two-Face flipps to determine who lives and dies is good face up. I would say he is still alive. They did not use him as a villain in this film, but simply as a renegade that crosses the one line Batman won’t. They could keep going down that path and have him seek revenge on Batman, or even find out that Bruce is Batman and Rachel knew and blame Batman for her being in that situation.
Scarecrow- He is still alive and up to his old habbits. They have him in the Dark Knight, and could use him again.
Ra’s Al Ghul- He is immortal, but in this realistic film version, I doubt they will bring him back to life. It was never confirmed that he died though. I escaped just before the train fell is a horrible cliche, but they could creativley keep him alive or even just bring back the League of Shadows.
Catwoman- There is a lot of speculation abou this because of the comment regarding the new Batsuit protecting him from Cats. DC could also use a good Catwoman version after the last cat-astrophy. Nolan had once said he didn’t want to use her, but who knows… Since the Frank Millar versions are being used for these films, it is likley that a more realistic powerless, possibly even dominatrix like prostitute. That would get a lot of fans into a theatre.
Bane- He was butchered in Batman and Robin but could be used well. He would be a good character to be used in a presentation of the issues of drug addiction. They wouldn’t need to make him too big, just cast any roided up body builder.
Harley Quinn- This would be one way to continue the Joker theme. There is a lot of freedom here with how to put her on film. Obviously having her as the Jokers love interest wouldn’t work, beacuse this Joker doesn’t care about anything. Having her be the psychiatrist of Joker at Arkham who treats Joker then goes insane on her own might be one way to do it. They could show her at Arkham and show her going into appointments, but not the actual appointments. The big problem here is finding a girl that is crazy enough to play her. She has to be dark, insane and somewhat peppy.
Riddler- The Riddler is always a good villain, the biggest problem here would be the closeness of his character to the Joker. Once again, this could not be the Jim Carrey version but would have to be much darker. A continuation of Jokers forcing Batman to choose and solve riddles might make a good detective film if they wanted to get away from the gangster film type.
Poison Ivy- This would be possible if downgraded a lot. I like the idea of female villains. They could make her a greenpeace girl that goes up against Bruce Wane and company. Maybe the use of toxins from her greenhouse could be used. They would have to be very careful when using her to not go down the wrong path though.
People I doubt they will go with, Killer Croc, Clay Face, Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Man-Bat, King Tut. I don’t think any will translate well to film without taking us out of the Batman universe we know. I’ll post my possible plots soon.
This entry was posted on July 20, 2008 at 6:25 am and is filed under Coming Soon with tags Batman, Batman 3, Batman 7, Catwoman, Dark Knight, Joker, Next Batman Villain, Penguin, Poison Ivy, Possible Plot, Riddler. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 23, 2008 at 6:44 am
Poison Ivy- This would be possible if downgraded a lot. I like the idea of female villains. They could make her a greenpeace girl that goes up against Bruce Wane and company. Maybe the use of toxins from her greenhouse could be used. They would have to be very careful when using her to not go down the wrong path though.
I think they should go for her since all this talk of climate change and terrorism is going on. They are current issues. They now present Gotham as a real city in THIS world. Why wouldn’t it be affected by climate change and terrorism? As we all are. And that’s exactly who the REAL Poison ivy is, an eco-TERRORIST.
Think all those bio weapons, anthrax, poisons, viruses, bacteria, and fungi alongside the whole environment meltdown, chaos and anarchy. REALLY shake up the citizens of Gotham!
And plus they need a female villain!
July 28, 2008 at 2:46 pm
i’ve read that christopher nolan isn’t going to start another film for a while, but it says that Penguin looks hard to do so he doesn’t fancy that, killercroc in gotham night is defeated and if he was to be put in to a movie he’d hav to meantion meeting him previously and ppl would b confused by this i feel, so thats made him hard. and also with all the already used villians they want to use some one new like and different, but i think manbat would b most likley choice.
also Aaron eckhart said he’s willing to do a sequal film so that suggest twoface ent dead, otherwise they just killed off a super-batman-villian within ten minutes.
August 4, 2008 at 10:25 am
I really don’t see why Penguin would be so tough. I say he fits perfectly in the much darker Nolan world. You don’t have to have him as the slobbery overweight Danny DeVito character. I say have him as a suave half-decent looking intellectual type. He can still have slight deformaties like three fingers and things like that, and the umbrella thing could work. I’m just saying that he could be reinvented just as easily as the Joker was.
August 8, 2008 at 1:13 pm
i feel that we are going about this all wrong, there is alot of potential for great films here for every well known villian batman has faced, it’s just a matter how C. Nolan will present it , personally i always felt the penquin was just under the joker next in line, but there are many loose ends so far in Nolan’s current story telling ….such as..watever happended to the rutger hauer character ?,will he be the next villian?, did dent die at the end? the swat team that showed up after batman left the joker hanging were they cops?,the employee who was going to announce who batman’s identity was ,so…with all this left undone for me its hard to move to a new storyline with a new villian .
June 9, 2009 at 2:57 pm
While I agree with you that certain characters could be really well done in Nolan’s version – I don’t think he left any loose ends. The employee who was going to expose Bruce – is rescued by him. Fully aware that he is now indebted to Bruce – we’re led to believe, through the nod of acknowledgment Bruce gives him, that he will not reveal Batman’s identity. Was there at any point an indication that the swat teams were engaged in foul play? either with the Joker or the Russians and Italians? not at all – and considering Gamble’s grisly demise (why so serious) it’s safe to assume that the African Americans were not gonna be helping him out. So Joker = Arkham Asylum. Dent is another story – and this is not so much a loose end as a cliff hanger. if he’s dead or alive… we’ll see.
August 22, 2008 at 3:07 pm
I have heard that the riddler and the penguin will be in the next movie but I don’t know if this is true.
August 22, 2008 at 9:07 pm
The reason that the penguin is hard to do is the fact that well… HOW CAN YOU TAKE HIM SERIOUSLY!!! He’s call the fricken’ penguin! And plus, after a confrontation with the Joker, I don’t think many Nolan fans will be excited about Batman going against… “The Penguin”… geese everytime I say that name it says RIDICULOUS. Catwoman would be a good addition because of the realistic role she could take. A cat thief who is a thorn in Batman’s side but at the same time is a love interest( Selina Kyle). I would like to see Poison Ivy… but not in a movie. I think I would be more interested to see how Nolan would make her look (so far his characters have a darker more real look to them.) Poison Ivy in the movie though… not going to happen. Even though I love her character from TAS I don’t think she fits Nolan’s vision; o well :) The Riddler could be interesting, I just don’t want him to be the goofy Jim Carrey kind… bad, very bad. BUt yeh, all in all I totally and completely trust Nolan. I know that he will choose the right characters AND equally important: the actor who plays the character. And, if anyone would like to spread the word about this(maybe SOMEHOW Nolan or his crew will hear about it) I think it would be really cool if Nolan did a… scrapbook.. hmm maybe not the right word but anyway… a scrap book showing all the characters(how they look in his batman universe) and also places like arkham and stuff. I WOULD LOVE THAT…. whew, I am out of breath, time to get something to eat! :D
August 23, 2008 at 4:52 pm
There is a lot of rumors going around at the minute about a new film.
I thought The Dark Knight was amazing.
People are saying Johnny Depp might play the The Riddler.
August 24, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I think Poison Ivy would be a great villain in the next movie and would create a lot of interest. I think she could be translated as a professional scientist that studies plants but loses her boyfriend in a car crash which puts in her in a major depression. She eventually loses her job and in order to make money and fill the hole in her heart from her boyfriend passing, she becomes a hooker. During this she comes across criminal men that hurt her and dont care which prompts her anger. The anger and the depression causes her to use her previous study on plants to take the toxins from them and kill the men. One of the men she slept with and killed could be someome batman was after which would cause him to go after poison ivy.
August 25, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Poison Ivy is a bit more recent.
For example this year the Joker was used and the Joker was in the first movie.
Maybe you could use characters from the first three movies.
Penguin and Riddler would be amazing but Christopher Nolan said that Penguin was to hard.
You could use Poison Ivy with The Riddler and Two – Face as the main villian.
In Batman Forever Two – Face was funny sort of but in The Dark Knight he was more serious.
It’s hard to choose.
What do you all think?
August 25, 2008 at 12:29 pm
If nolan can make the riddler darker and look as though hes from the real world and not all goofy like jim carrey and non realistic then the riddler would be a great villain and one to look forward to like we all looked forward to the Joker (Heath Ledger r.i.p) even tho wat ever villain he chooses now i dont think could top the joker but thats my opinion.
September 9, 2008 at 8:49 pm
I have an idea of how the penguin can play in… In the end of DK all of the mob bosses are either in jail, or scattered and powerless. Then a European mod boss comes to Gotham with hopes to bring the city to it’s knees.
September 9, 2008 at 8:59 pm
the coolest thing about that is, the penguin could be a political official from another country who has large social & political power, but also has under the table power(so he could get Gotham to reduce it’s defenses, then attack it with his army of criminals) Harley Quinn is another character that could be played out, along side the penguin, she could have been twisted by working in arkham, which was accelerated by her new patient “The Joker” I think these twowork well because, at the end of DK Batman is begining to loose the boundaries between Batman and Bruce (the scene where he saves that guy’s life with the car) Harley quinn is like Bruce in the sense that she have almost been “sucked in” to this person that is not who she really is. The penguin (absurd as he sounds) can show an exact parralell to batman that the writers can clearly work off of ‘ Batman is a good guy who looks evil’ ‘the penguin is an evil guy who looks good (in a not sexy way).
September 15, 2008 at 10:35 am
Lets look at who left and knows what:
Scarecrow – both movies, still playing with the mind-altering drugs. Weakest possibility of all of them.
Joker – Ledger is dead, but could be replaced. His is the alter-ego to the Batman.
Two-Face – the coin is the give-away. Revenge has always been a good story plot.
Mr. Reese – there is a reason behind allowing someelse to “believe” they know who Batman is.
Who comes along:
Catwoman – the prositute direction is a good flow, but need some one seductive and sinister at the same time (Sharon Stone might fit).
Penguin – Not actual deformed, but short statured. Knickname. Business man ruined by Wane enterprises. (maybe Mr. Reese)
Poisen Ivy – Eco-terroist line is being traveled. Might work but very weak.
Bane – too many saw the Batman & Robin campy flick.
Riddler – The problem here is the simularity between the Joker and the Riddler. This individual who have a hard time getting out of the shadow of Ledger (one possiblity is that he learns from the Joker and then the Joker is killed escaping , solves alot of problems)
Mostly Likely parings IMHO:
Catwoman – need a female villian.
Two-Face – Again revenge is best when served cold.
Joker/Riddler – I like the passing of the hat type story.
September 27, 2008 at 4:18 pm
First of all, Chris Nolan already said Two-Face was dead. But in the comic books there was another Two-Face. He was an actor that was doing the movie on Harvey’s Dent’s life that ends up getting into an accident on set on is deformed like Harvey Dent. I can see that working. With the Joker, all they have to do with that is keep him out a couple of movies until they forget about Heath Ledger and have Harley Quinn help him escape. You can even use the love angle with them with just the Joker making her think that they were in love so she would break him out. Most of the Dark Knight characters are coming from Frank Millars comics so they are darker. I highly doubt you’ll see characters like Killer Croc, Man-Bat, and Clayface. Though the other Two-Face did team up with Clayface since they were both fellow actors. They can keep the mobster theme going with the Penguin in the next one if they wanted to. In the origional comics the Pengiun was rich like Bruce Wayne but his parents lost all their money and Cobblepot (obsessed with birds, more so Pengiuns) turned into a bank robber to gain the money back.
October 11, 2008 at 12:57 pm
I don’t get this whole this of “batman is a too much fun to kill”
If so why would he go after Harvey Dent in the back of the police van, after confessing to being the batman? He was out to kill Harvey and who he thought to be the batman
It doesn’t make sense… its a mistake if you ask me…
I think it is more
May 22, 2009 at 1:20 pm
True!
they’ve made batman into a pussy
by everyone finding out he won’t kill anyone
batman is suppost to be like a myth
a creature of the night
ur unsure whether he’s human
October 18, 2008 at 3:48 am
A possible angle for Poison Ivy could be a tie-in to Batman Begins. As a botanist she could have had a hand in studying and propagating the ‘rare blue flower’ that was used in Bruce’s final test and then later to manufacture the ‘crazy gas’.
I just pray that whichever villain they go with they choose someone who can actually act, not just a big name. As much as I like Johnny Depp I wouldn’t want to see him or any other A-lister that we get over-saturated with.
November 5, 2008 at 10:02 am
Nolan said “that he ain’t set to doing another
and that he’s been saying he’s not emotionly set to do another
and that in a series how many 3rd’s have been great…”
i thought this was going to happen, think about it
The Dark Knight topped all batman films
and is fourth highest grossing film in the world,
i think Nolan is thinking well if i do another
i ent gonna beat my previous one,
best to quit whilst ur at the top instead of fading away.
also if someone else does joker in this series he’s gonna have to
repeat Ledgers mannerisms, and whomever does it
will be slated at, by people who like heath.
not saying joker has to be in the next one but he does have to return.
it’s a hard one to call tbh
that about Depp i disagree with, i think someone less big as depp should be the riddler Depps charicters are all the same, with a few exceptions
don’t get me wrong i like him
but wouldn’t want an edward scissorhands/willy wonka/Sweeney Todd (without the singing) / Sleepy Hollow Johnny depp Riddler
i think he’d be best playing mad hatter, as kind of a spin off cos he’s playing mad hatter in the new alice in wonderland film
David tennent said he wanted to play riddler i could see that.
also all charicters in this film series are still alive
Ra’s al ghul (Ducard is dead but not Ra’s),
twoface (like the tommy lee charicter the coin landed on the good heads),
scarecrow, joker, Zsasz, killercroc all alive
December 27, 2008 at 9:06 pm
I read something about possibly the riddler being part of the investigation to find the batman. I think that’s the most realistic option for the riddler (if they use him). He could be some sort of forensics expert brought in to find him. As he digs deeper into finding batman, he gets scorned/insulted by Batman and then turns everything he has against him, even if it means alienating the police…which would then allow him to team up with someone else to go after batman (similarly to the craptastic Batman and Robin version only done darker and more realistic). WE have to remember that Nolan pretty much set the tone of the third movie, Batman starts out as a fugitive and probably will have to focus his energy on someone/something to restore his name.
January 29, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Hi i have seen all the Batmans & the new twist that you are doing to the batman is sensational, it brings a new realistic theme instead of the old cartoon version but what i’m emailing you about is my idea of the joker.
I dressed up as the joker for halloween this year & when I went out & everyone that saw me they was amazed, hell even I was amazed when I looked in the mirror. I read the idea about Harley Quin & I think that would be a great idea just that you want to have the joker in the movie but it will be hard to find a person to be the joker, well I think I’m your man. Just look on facebook, I have some photos of me as the joker that I think you will find to be very interesting. Now if I had the kind of make-up team that Heath Ledger had I think that I would make a great Joker for you. plus I have a number of great ideas that you would possible want to hear because I myself am kind of an idealist. well get on to facebook & see for yourself. Trust me you must check out those photos, very one who has seen them has told me that I should be the next Joker no lies. Really the only reason that I am writing this is because I was told many time that I look like the joker & to just set it aside & act like it doesn’t matter because I know, you know that if heath ledger was still alive the joker would still be in the movie & I’m just can’t sit back & watch that happen because everybody want the joker to keep going on in the series. well this is my option hope that you are impressed.
May 22, 2009 at 1:22 pm
huh i wonder if celebrities are this easily convinced lol
and this easy to find…
June 21, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Part of the new film will definatly have to deal with the fact that Batman is now being hunted down, thanks to his willingness to take on Two-Faces crimes.
I think that Joker in the film could work. What if he was doing his evil through somebody, an apprentice of his. We see Joker in his cell, in the shadows, so that his face isn’t visible.
As far as what the main villian is I’m really shooting for the ones that are most belivable. Joker was believable, Two-face was believable. I think Penquin could be believable if done right, and what about Riddler. That villian is totally a believable set up if done right.
That’s my thoughts right there.
September 12, 2009 at 1:38 pm
I hope they do NOT go with a female villian. I too would vote for Peguin.
November 9, 2009 at 4:25 am
I hope that Nolan would introduce Black Mask in the next film. With all of the persecuted mobster that Harvey put behind bars there is going to be open season in Gotham city. I could well imagine Black Mask setting up an even bigger crime syndicate than his predecessors and perhaps with help from the Penguin.
I don’t know, I just think the next movie should be about the rising of the organised crimes of the super-villains.