14 Comments

• Posted by Jon Stephens on February 24th, 2009 at 3:59 PM

  As soon as I finished watching Slumdog, I knew it’d win just about every award it was nominated for. It was an amazing film.

  But what I’m the most excited about from the show, was Heath Ledger winning for The Joker. That performance changed the way we will look at comic villains, and villains in general, for years to come. It was instantly iconic, and honestly, that performance made that movie what it was. Ledger stole every scene he was in; without that performance, the movie would not have been half as good as it was. He was truly deserving. I’m just disappointed that he was taken from the world too soon. It was pretty clear that Nolan wanted to see the Joker on the big screen again, as the character was not killed.

  Maybe we will see him again, maybe we won’t. But you can bet if we do, the poor sap pegged to play him will have to live up to ridiculously high expectations, and more likely than not, he will fail miserably.

• Posted by RyanSquid on February 24th, 2009 at 4:29 PM

  I completely agree with on the Joker, Jon, it was just one of those performances that was utterly captivating.

  I get the feeling, from what I’ve read here and there from Chris Nolan, that he’d leave the Joker be if there’s anymore Batman films from him… but you never know. If it did happen though, you’re so right, the amount of scrutiny the actor would go through would be smothering.

• Posted by Jon Stephens on February 24th, 2009 at 10:06 PM

  I hope he leaves it alone. The only thing I based that comment on was the fact that the Joker did not die in the end, and the villain was so well done that it seemed like the most logical choice, were it not for Heath’s tragic death.

  I’d rather see them do the Riddler. I’ve actually left this comment on other sites before, but I haven’t been able to improve on this idea, so I’ll just repost it here:

  I hope if they do make it, it’s only because they have a good story to tell. If they do, then great. As far as villains are concerned, I’d love to see the Riddler included. I think it could be cool AND fit into Nolan’s Gotham city. Here’s my little take on it:

  There is a comic storyline involving the Riddler where Riddler is a good guy, a detective, hired by Gotham PD. He became obsessed with finding out who the Batman was. Now, I’ve never read the story, so I could be wrong on the details. Batman fans, I’m sorry! Anyway, since Batman assumed the role of the hated man in Gotham at the end of TDK, we could include a modified version of the Riddler storyline. Namely, Gordon’s superiors and or the public, call for Batman to be brought to justice. Edward Nigma (The Riddler) is the brilliant yet odd detective hired to track down the Bat so they could bring him to justice. Trying to solve this riddle proves to be too difficult for Nigma, and he starts to go insane. He sets up test/riddles for the bat to solve in order to stop something bad from happening (Public building exploding, innocent people dying) All the while he observes the bat and tries to deduce who he is. The city does not know Nigma is behind all of this. In the end, Nigma’s falls into the depths of complete and total insanity, and exposes himself as the Riddler, in a last ditch plot to catch/kill the bat so he could ultimately find out who he is. Nigma puts innocent lives in the line of fire. Batman comes in, cue climatic battle, Batman saves the day and redeems himself in the eyes of Gotham.

  They could also twist it to have Nigma discover Wayne is the Bat, but I don’t have any good ideas for how to do that and keep the plot interesting. They should probably have a minor villain in the beginning, keeping Batman busy until Nigma goes insane, so maybe Black Mask, Deadshot, or Victor Zsasz.

  Any thoughts?

• Posted by RyanSquid on February 24th, 2009 at 10:25 PM

  Yes, Riddler would be dope. The way I see it, Dark Knight is such an epic film, anda sequel will no doubt be measured against it, an almost impossible film to trump. So what needs to be done, is to completely change the tone of the next film. I think Riddler could facilitate that. A smart villain, attacking batman via the mind. It could bring out the real detective Batman which is something I’ve always wanted to see more of in the films.

  I would recommend the Batman story Broken City by Brian Azzarello – it has a fantastic noir feel that could work well for a Nolan-verse film. I would also love to see a realistic take on Deathstroke, I think he could fare well against Bale’s Batman… though perhaps he’d be better suited for a Flash film, or Green Arrow (I have the Supermax script but pretty sure he ain’t in it.

  OR what… what if.. oh man… what if the scarecrow was the main villain? It could be the scarecrow trilogy lol

• Posted by Jon Stephens on February 24th, 2009 at 10:46 PM

  I’ve read Broken City, it’s great. And it would definitely work for Nolan’s bat-world. Riddler would be awesome, and I’ve always wanted to see a good take on Deathstroke, but I’m hoping they save it for The Flash. The Flash should have Deathstroke and Captain Cold or Mirror Master. That would be sweet.

  Damn, I’m such a comic nerd.

• Posted by RyanSquid on February 24th, 2009 at 10:58 PM

  You’re in good company then

• Posted by 790 on March 2nd, 2009 at 1:09 AM

  There is a strong rumor that Nolan has Arkam footage with Ledger that was never used.

  Ok ,,,,, go!

• Posted by Metallicat79 on March 2nd, 2009 at 9:36 AM

  So here is my whole take on the whole Batman, joker, Blah Blah Blah debate that seems to be going on around the web.

  Personally, I would love to see The Joker return, it would great to seem him continually wreaking chaos in Gotham, the disspointing thing it is Ledger’s creation and seeing someone else step into those shoes would be, IMO, hard to watch. Unless the actor completely lost himself in the role,as Ledger had, and studies every apect of how Ledger interpreted the role. To me that would be a pretty daunting task. If Nolan does in fact have Arkahm footage, as you said 790, and i have heard that rumor as well, I blieve Nolan has plans fdor, as he is known for not wasting footage, or leave very much on the cutting room floor. I see one of two things happening if said footage exsists. 1) He uses it in #3, as a homage to the late Ledger. or 2) He includes it in an extended cut of TDK. BOth are very likely, however, being a fan of Nolans work, I would wager he would do the extended TDK, over Bat 3, simply because TDK was owned by Ledger, and including footage of Ledger in Bat 3, though it would be awesome, may take the focus off whatever plot and story will take place in Bat 3.

  Speaking of Bat 3, I really enjoy your idea Jon for the Riddler and it really fits into the Nolanverse. My only problem with casting The Riddler is that, even though I really Love the Riddler (my personal fav of all the Bat villians) and would love to see another incarnation and inetrpretation, he has already has been used in film before, and I really think that in order for Bat 3 to succeed, it needs to intorduce something different, and never used Villain from the Villian canon. I would love to see Deadshot as a side villian, but to be honest I do not know who could be the main villian, or one that could carry that part of the film.

  And finally, I really believer we will see Scarcrow in the third, mind you its nothing more than and inkiling of feeling. I think Nolan really enjoys the character as well as the actor, How bog a role, i can’t say, but we will see him again.

• Posted by Jon Stephens on March 2nd, 2009 at 9:37 AM

  Are you serious?!?!? That would be freaking amazing! If they could just add a couple of scenes for him, they could use him in the beginning to set up the villain for the next film.

  Oh man, I’ve got to track that story down.

• Posted by Jon Stephens on March 2nd, 2009 at 9:40 AM

  If you think we need to have a new villain, then they better not have scarecrow come back. He’s been in the first two films, he’s played out.

  I’m all for adding a new villain, but quite frankly the best bat villains capable of fitting in Nolan’s universe AND being deep enough to be the #1 villain have already been done on film before. I say they add a fresh villain as the secondary guy.

• Posted by Metallicat79 on March 2nd, 2009 at 10:11 AM

  I don’t think Scarecrow will be hige in Bat 3, i think it will something similiar to his cameo in TDK. I don’t think he is played out, not yet anyways.

  If we go with the a villain thats has previosly been done and new fresh villain as a side. I really think a pairing of The Riddler and Deadshot would be something that would work very well.

• Posted by Metallicat79 on March 2nd, 2009 at 10:13 AM

  Ithink the Arkam footage will be put to good use, reagrdless of how Nolan uses it, I think both are very strong possibilties.

• Posted by Jon Stephens on March 2nd, 2009 at 1:31 PM

  Scarecrow was beaten down like a little punk, bound and gagged. I know it’s possible they could bring him back, but why? He’s been done before, any more would feel like overkill.

  And, as much as I like Deadshot, I don’t think he has a shot (pun intended) at being in the third film. He was in the animated one btwn Begins and TDK. I don’t think Nolan would bring him back. But I will agree that they really would work well together, and I’d love to see it, I just don’t see it happening.

  I really can’t wait to see what they finally end up doing.

• Posted by Metallicat79 on March 2nd, 2009 at 1:55 PM

  Me either. I remember when all this type speculation was going on for TDK, those were the days