The Friday Question - Batman’s Next Villain
This article and the comments associated with it can and probably will contain spoilers to The Dark Knight. If you have not seen the movie and do not wish to know anything that happened please come back and read it later.
With The Dark Knight breaking box office records faster than anyone can keep up and the film well on its way to being the highest grossing movie of the year (and one of the highest grossing ever), there’s little doubt that a third Batman film from Christopher Nolan and company is forthcoming.
Speculation has run rampant concerning what plans the filmmakers may have for the next film. With Heath Ledger’s Joker receiving so many accolades and acclaim it seems unlikely that the studio wouldn’t have asked him to come back for a third film had he lived. I personally think it would have been a mistake because I think his performance in The Dark Knight could only be hurt be another film. The objection is moot, however, since Heath Ledger is no longer with us and his Joker shoes are too now too big for anyone else to fill. So the Friday question this week is this:
Who should be Batman’s next villain(s)?
Yesterday Mike brought up some interesting rumors concerning who the villain in the next Batman film could be. The rumors seem to suggest that it might be Catwoman or even Two Face/Havey Dent. However, there are just as much information suggesting that the filmmakers have no desire to utilize Catwoman since the character was used in both Batman Returns and the film Catwoman. Of course, if you’ve seen The Dark Knight, you know the issues with Two Face.
Batman, however, has been around a long time. There are a ton of possible enemies and villains for him to face in the next film. The question is, which one of the many choices would be best? Which has the potential for making as great of a film as The Dark Knight?
To help you make your decision I have found a few links of listings of past Batman villains for you to peruse and sort through:
- List of Batman Family enemies - Wikipedia
- Batman’s Greatest Villains
- The Best & Worst Batman Villains - IGN
- Batman’s Ultimate Villains - Spill
Who would I choose? It’s a tough call, but I think I would stay away from a lot of the more obvious but less interesting choices (The Penguin, Poison Ivy, Catwoman, Mr. Freeze - mostly because of the other Batman films).
I think the next film should keep the same tone and continue the theme of The Dark Knight. With Batman now on the run I think the film could be called something like Batman: Redemption (is that name taken?). I envision a film on par in tone with David Fincher’s Seven. For that I think some good villain choices might be The Reaper, The Hangman, or possibly The Riddler (if the character is overhauled ala Heath Ledger’s Joker).
The basic story for any of these characters would be that they are going around killing people in the dark of night and the killings are being blamed on Batman. The parallel story would have the cops looking for the killer while Batman does the same (while the villain leaves clues behind). I’m no comic book expert so I don’t know all the details of the storylines, but I’m thinking The Hangman might be a nice choice because he goes around killing all the cops that helped Harvey Dent rise to the position of District Attorney…although I’m not certain how they could work it in.
So, who do you think should be Batman’s next villain?
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