From various things I’ve read, it sounds like they’re dismissing out of hand the possibility of introducing Robin. I think this is unfortunate. While a 1940’s-style chipper ten-year-old obviously wouldn’t fit into the universe Nolan has created, there’s a lot you could do with Batman mentoring a young vigilante.
Dick Grayson’s backstory is too flamboyant to really work in the Nolanverse, but why not do a take on Tim Drake? Rather than fourteen or fifteen, you could have a 19-20 year old who decides to become a vigilante himself and single-handedly figures out that Bruce Wayne is Batman. Bruce, seeing talent and potential in need of direction, decides to take the young vigilante under his wing (perhaps after mobsters have killed Tim’s family or something).
You could do some cool stuff with his costume, too. Keep in mind that the “Robin” motif is supposed to be a reference to Robin Hood rather than the bird, and I think there’s a lot of potential there.
I’d be really surprised if the next movie didn’t feature Catwoman. After the Joker, you really need a character to grab audiences’ attention, and Catwoman certainly fits the bill. I hope they don’t give her Frank Miller’s stupid “former prostitute” origin, although I imagine they will.
I think Bane would actually work wonderfully for a fourth movie, wherein they could basically do a take on Knightfall. It wouldn’t work so much with the “Batman as hunted criminal” thing they’ve got going on after DK, but assuming that the third movie restores Batman’s good standing in the community, a fourth movie in which Bane sets free the inmates of Arkham and weakens Batman mentally and physically before finally confronting him, beating the shit out of him, and crippling him would be pretty awesome, and then a fifth movie could continue from there.
And while he’s really not interesting enough to carry a movie himself, I’d love to see Killer Croc as a minor character (maybe just the big enforcer of a more important villain). He’d be fantastically creepy if they just went with his original schtick of being a circus strongman with a disfiguring skin condition.
[QUOTE=Simplicio]
Isn’t catwoman just a catburgler? Seems that after defeating a demented terrorist’s attempts to blow up hundreds of people, uber-powerful mob families , and a team of ninja’s planning to nuke a city, having Batman go after someone whose worst crime is stealing some paintings and jewelry is going to be a bit of an anti-climactic third act.
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I imagine that they’ll do more to play up her “rival vigilante” thing. That’s what they did in Batman Returns, in which I don’t think she’s a burgler at all (she breaks into a department store, but I don’t remember if she steals anything).
You could start the whole thing with the GCPD finding bodies of criminals torn to shreds and then move on from there.
[QUOTE=shy guy]
And while he’s really not interesting enough to carry a movie himself, I’d love to see Killer Croc as a minor character (maybe just the big enforcer of a more important villain). He’d be fantastically creepy if they just went with his original schtick of being a circus strongman with a disfiguring skin condition.
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Doesn’t Killer Croc figure into Jason Todd’s backstory, actually?
[QUOTE=jayjay]
Doesn’t Killer Croc figure into Jason Todd’s backstory, actually?
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Hey, good catch. I didn’t remember that at all, but according to Wikipedia, Killer Croc is the one who originally killed Jason Todd’s parents in that Robin’s first origin (which was a straight-up ripoff of Dick Grayson’s; after Crisis on Infinite Earths, Jason got his more well-known “caught trying to steal the tires off the Batmobile” origin).
I could totally see something like -
Extremely smart, athletic Tim Drake is inspired by Batman to become an urban vigilante. He has a few brushes with the Dark Knight which convince Batman that this kid has a great deal of potential and could do with some guidance. Due to his inexperience and lack of resources, Tim’s identity is uncovered by the mafia and the enforcer known as “Killer Croc” is set to kill him. Croc shows up at the Drake household while Tim is out and brutally murders his parents. Tim shows up to find his family dead and is almost killed himself before Batman shows up, saves him, and decides to take Tim under his wing, at which point he begins his apprenticeship and assumes the codename “Robin.”
fitting into the Nolanverse. My only worry would be that the Bruce Wayne character might be too young to pull off the maturity and experience he’d need to plausibly train an apprentice.
It’s also worth noting that in Batman: The Animated Series, it was Two-Face who was responsible for the deaths of Robin’s parents.
[QUOTE=shy guy]
It’s also worth noting that in Batman: The Animated Series, it was Two-Face who was responsible for the deaths of Robin’s parents.
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Two-Face is responsible for the deaths of Robin’s parents in Batman Forever.
In Batman: The Animated Series it’s mobster Tony Zucco.
[QUOTE=Jragon]
I don’t understand why everyone says the Riddler is so campy. He, at his core (not his overall persona, just the fundamental idea) is a big time criminal with an odd compulsion (which in the comics is actually explained as OCD I think) to leave clues to his crimes. In fact he’s probably one of the most easily “convertible” villains to the universe, realistically you could make him pretty damn dark, playing very disturbing mind games with the other characters, he could make a good lead villain, he certainly would have the elaborate planning for magnificent plots. >snip<
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late to the party with this one, but i literally just read that david tennant has allegedly put out feelers about playing the riddler in nolan’s next go-round.
as white hot as he is right now, it’s not out of the realm of possibility. my only question is, while i’d be quite happy to pay a premium price just to watch him read from a phone book on a blank stage, he already plays a character waaaay out there on the manic side.
After much thought, and watching it again, I’ll have to say Clayface. I also like the Riddler. However, it might prove too difficult to put a plot together that wasn’t super campy.
Most of us have seen by now that an anonymous studio exec says it will be Cher as Catwoman I don’t know how much verification the Telgrapgh uses to run with something like that and so don’t know how much stock to put in it - FWIW they also report Depp as Riddler
