Christopher Nolan has announced the title to his third Batman movie is “The Dark Knight Rises”, and has eliminated two villains from consideration. Nolan told Los Angeles Times reporter Geoff Boucher that Mr. Freeze and The Riddler won’t make appearances in the next movie installment.
So who will be the big bad? Someone we haven’t seen in films before? Someone who many thought was dead, but really isn’t (Harvey Dent)? Is Killer Croc still on the list? What about Hugo Strange?
While the villain will reveal a great deal about the direction Nolan will take in wrapping up his Batman trilogy, the title indicates Batman will find himself rising up from the hunted vigilante to a hero of Gotham City. We could speculate that in order for the Dark Knight to go from zero to hero, something big… something massive… is going to have to put the citizens in great peril to the point their only hope is Batman. In addition to a major villain, what if there was some natural catastrophe that hit, and Batman needed to fend off those who would prey on the weak?
Interestingly, TheDarkKnightRises.com and DarkKnightRises.com have not been claimed by Warner Bros. but it looks as those both domains have been parked.
16 Comments
penguin? he’s a major batman villian.. though i am not sure who in blazes could portray them
the return of the joker + Harley Quinn would rock.
poison ivy? nahhhh.
maybe catwoman, bu i can’t see her bringing gotham to its knees.
I really don’t care for the name. Couldn’t get The Dark Knight Returns? I liked hoped that the next movie would have been another one of Batman’s nicknames like Caped Crusader, Dark Detective, Worlds Greatest Detective, etc …
As for the villain, I still remember Nolan saying that he doesn’t like “super powers” for his Batman to fight. If Riddler is out, then I would hope that the next movie uses any of the following villains:
Mad Hatter
Catwoman
Hugo Strange
Hush
Firefly (as a minor character)
Killer Moth (as a minor character)
Deadshot
Scarface
Black Mask. All the way.
Somehow I’m guessing Hugo Strange will play a big part in this movie.
I can think of very few nonpowered Batman villains that could bring the city to its knees. Deacon Blackfire and the Penguin are the only two that haven’t been used, that I can think of which have the means of threatening the entire city.
All the other villains Batman has are better at threats on a small scale. I love Mad Hatter, but he was always nothing more than a very bizarre serial rapist.
Well, kind of a stupid name… but it’s not like the name will turn people away from seeing it. And if the movie is awesome no one will really care what the thing is called. But for now, it’s big news. As for the villain list, I’m kind of bummed that the Riddler is off the list, it could have been very cool. Don’t know much about Hugo Strange, but he seems to be leading in the polls now.
I think Simon Hurt, Talia, and Holiday could be good villains…that could tie in nicely to the previous films and bring Gotham to its knees. I think since the title is Dark Knight RISES…it has to be Talia….because a male villain certainly couldn’t make him rise.
You could also add the following to the list of non-super-powered baddie potentials:
-Black Mask*
-Victor Zsasz*
-Catman
-Calendar Man
-Cluemaster
-Firefly**
-Hush
-Killer Moth
-Maxie Zeus**
-Amygdala (technically not super)**
-Bane (also “technically” not super)*
-Calculator**
-Cavalier
-The Ventriloquist
-Jane Doe
-King Snake (Robin foe, I know, but…)
-Lady Shiva*
-Onomatopoeia
-Professor Milo
-Ragdoll
-Judson Caspian/Reaper (they could finally capitalize on having Rachel Caspian as a character)**
*Could easily be a main villain.
**Could easily be a secondary villain.
And let’s not forget that neither Rupert Thorne nor Anthony Zucco have entered the picture (although the Falcone family has already come and gone).
Now none of these characters have any real name recognition, of course (certainly they aren’t as well known as Joker, Riddler, Scarecrow, Penguin or Two Face), so chances are pretty good that none of them would be the main baddie.
I always see Bane as having Super Powers though. Crushing a car with his bare hands or punching though a brick wall just isn’t something that a normal person can do. And if Batman is at Peak human strength and can’t do it, then Bane is beyond peak human and into super-human.
Yeah. I think they’ve gone crazy with Banes abilities, but the way he was created was just as a guy on steroids. He’s supposed to be strong, but not “crushes a car with his hand” strong.
Nolan could also easily power Bane down the same way he didn’t dye Joker’s skin and hair.
Hush is my pick of a villain. his back story is intertwined with Bruce Wayne and Nolan loves that kind of intrigue but it cant be a Batman movie without a multitude of bad guys so it could include everyone in greyman24’s list
That’s a good point…but I don’t think a wide audience will be willing to buy the idea that here’s some doctor guy, who also happened to be Bruce Wayne’s childhood pal, AND NOW he’s screwing with Batman in his very own costumed persona! Rachel Dawes’ connection with Bruce Wayne throughout the films was established in those few scenes depicting Wayne’s childhood in “Batman Begins”, so that makes Thomas Elliot’s connection even more problematic…why didn’t we see him before? Sure we didn’t see every moment of Bruce Wayne’s life, but come on…the whole villain “connected to your past”is a bit gimmicky in general. Maybe this just comes from me not particularly caring for the “Hush” storyline, but I’m just not sure that Hush has enough going for him to be the antagonist of this film.
And then: The DarK Knight “Returns”
…and then he returns again.
Talia/Bane would be my preference and it’s looking likelier by the minute.
But regarding the female casting rumor, that could very well turn out to be a letdown (Vicki Vale) or instead the foreshadowed Catwoman.
I wish Nolan would do the Bane story. If not, I just hope its not Dr. Strange. I’d prefer The Ventriloquist or Clay Face’s stories 99% better.
The Mad Monk