According to Mike Fleming, Christopher Nolan has selected Inception star Tom Hardy for a “lead role” in the third Batman film. According to Deadline, Warner Bros. is keeping Hardy’s role in the film a tight secret, and won’t even say if he is a villain or a hero.
The Major Spoilers Poll of the Week has readers leaning toward The Riddler as the villain, but several have mentioned having Black Mask as the big bad might be a better choice for the Nolan Batman Universe. So, Dear Reader, who will Hardy be playing in the movie?
14 Comments
I smell side-kick.
For the love of God I hope not, the last think I want to see in the current Batman is Robin. It’s the same reason I don’t think Hush would be a good idea, Bruce Wayne hasn’t been fleshed out enough in the first two movies to add the “dark mirror” or to have another main protagonist cut his screen time.
Both Riddler and Black Mask are a nice fit, hopefully not Black Mask we already did the “bad guy has fire related disfigurement” thing.
Would have loved David Tennant as the Riddler thou…
Catman. For reals.
obvious choice of coure!
Alberto Falcone.
Reckon he visually plays a good counterpoint to Eric Roberts’ Sal Maroni. I reckon they could do a “Dark Victory” joint, though not sure how they’d pull it off sans Harvey Dent.
If you think about it you see a plausible introduction of Robin, Catwoman and the Riddler. (Fan favorites and three characters whom one would consider essential to include before Nolan wraps up the world he’s created.) Det. Flass from “Begins” can return as well as one of Nolan’s favorites, Scarecrow.
I just reckon that particular storyline plays very close to Nolan’s style and elements of Dark Knight can be used to posit a “Long Halloween” styled backstory.
Also worth noting that after Dark Knight it was revealed according to wikipedia, “Dark Victory, along with its predecessor The Long Halloween, is also a personal favorite of current Batman star Christian Bale.”
Nolan is going to introduce Chandell and his criminal twin brother Harry in Batman 3! You remember, from the Adam West show:
http://www.bobsliberace.com/decades/1960s/1960s.6.html
I jest, I jest. Tom Hardy looks like a young Riddler or an old Robin.
I believe I read somewhere where Nolan said he would never have Robin in one of his Batman movies.
I think Hardy could work as either Riddler or Black Mask. Normally, I would discount Black Mask b/c that would seem to cancel out Hardy’s good looks, but Ledger’s good looks weren’t really evident in his Joker’s guise…. Still, I lean towards the Riddler. I think that Nolan could really work the psychological angle, pitting the intellects of the two against each other.
I’m only familiar with Hardy from “Inception” but he was great in that, so I’m happy about this casting news.
Knight, of Knight and Squire fame.
j/k
I think Nolan is going to move more towards ‘super’ villains in the next film. You know DC wants to set Batman/Superman up to challenge Marvel and the Avenger film. And I’m sure Nolan is tired of strictly adhering to the whole gritty realism writing.
So I’m going to say Clayface.
Nolan has gone on record saying that his trilogy is supposed to be a beginning to the Batman legend. So with that in mind there is no chance Robin is going to be included. I personally would love to see him as Deacon Blackfire, the charismatic leader who seeks to take Batman’s place as Gotham’s protector. It fits very well with the way Nolan has been setting up the Batman mythos.
Bane, Bane, Bane … It’s most likely the last Nolan flick. So we need a big villain for a big finale. And who can really stand besides Ra’s and Joker but Bane.
I first saw Hardy in “Bronson”. So I KNOW he could pull off Bane. But what I really want to know though is if Alfred (after the long ordeal the third movie will be) Will recommend “Master Bruce” to take some time off….and got to the circus.
You know for a quiet evening.
Ok. Here’s who i think and why:
Riddler – he’s got a great Riddler face and after Jim Carey’s horrid performance, Nolan can showcase just how great that character can be written.
Deadshot – he looks like he could be Flint too. However I think this is less likely since Deadshot already exists in the Nolan-verse in Batman: Gotham Knights (which was continuity).
Hush – It would be great to see an obscure character like that make it to a movie but with the setting of the film I doubt it’ll happen.
Hugo Strange/Jerimiah Arkham – could be a younger version of either one. Louisana has a lot of Asylum looking buildings so I’m thinking that’s why they chose that state to film.
Having seen Hardy in Bronson I’d also guess Bane. However, it would certainly be wierd to have an english guy play a Spanish dude. I wonder if they’d change it.
Really, though, Hardy is an amazingly versatile actor. I think he could be cast as almost any villain.
Every Nolan Batman film has a pairing of two excellent villains, one who acts in a self-motivated way (Scarecrow & Twoface), and one who has some sort of overriding purpose (Ra’s and Mr J). So we need a good pairing to make this one work.
My secret hope has been for Hush/Killer Croc. The problem is, both have problems with origin stories that are too tied to the comics.
I suppose Riddler/Bane (Not Riddler/Penguin, penguin doesn’t have clear enough motivation on either end of the lawful/chaotic evil spectrum), because the pairing does have a weird chemistry (Logical Joker who needs to structure the world/Supersmart druggie who enjoys punching things).
Also, Black mask Zsasz (we saw him in Batman Begins, he could have stayed out of Arkham…), Poison Ivy/Clayface (though both have actual powers, with makes them stick out in the Nolanverse), Calendar man or Deadshot for realistic foes, Prometheus/Mr Freeze/Solomon Grundy/Maxie Zeus if you want to go nuts).
Hardy should definitely be the more intelligent/motivated one in any pairing, as long as he isn’t poison Ivy.
Oooh, Deadshot, nice. Didn’t think of that. Does the fact he was on that Gotham Knight animated compilation make him more or less likely to appear in a Nolan film?
Him paired with Maxie Zeus gets my Nerdthusiasm rising!