Now that they've killed Rachel, severing Batman's connection to humanity, turned Harvey Dent evil and destroyed Gotham's hope and played the Joker card, using Batman's most threatening villain and thoroughly grounding him in reality...

What can they POSSIBLY do for the third film and not have it suck?

Nothing will be as dark as this one unless they totally revamp one of the villains like the Penguin. Basically, they screwed themselves over by entirely using up the best Batman villain in the second movie, so now everything else will feel like a let-down.

I can tell you who it won't be- Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy. Not saying they're bad villains. It's just that they've only ever really been in one show before, and they're not really very hardcore.

My guess is the Penguin though. But that would just be delaying the inevitable suck later on. In my opinion anyway. I actually don't know many villains.

Agreed, but Penguin is REALLY stupid... I mean he's a fat guy with trick umbrellas, he'd take A LOT of work.

Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy definately won't be in for a long time, too many bad memories from Batman & Robin, they're also a little too Super Powered for the new Batverse.

I was under the impression that Nolan has sworn that he will never make a Batman movie with the Penguin in it? Maybe my friends are lying dirtbags.......

Black Mask would be an interesting villain to have in a Batman movie.

He probably did, Penguin has no menace to him, he's not scary, deep or interesting.

Personally I think Hugo Strange is the best choice for their next Batman Villain. A mad psychiatrist who figures out Batman's Identity and is trying to take over the crusade himself... excellent!

EDIT: I'm not that familiar with Black Mask, but he certainly looks cool.

Actually, come to think of it, I'd love to see The Riddler. The only problem is he's a lot like Joker.

Stammer:
Actually, come to think of it, I'd love to see The Riddler. The only problem is he's a lot like Joker.

He's also not very menacing or threatening, the Joker REALLY upped the Ante on Menace, so the next villain definately has to pose some sort of threat to be interesting enough.

Helmet:
I was under the impression that Nolan has sworn that he will never make a Batman movie with the Penguin in it? Maybe my friends are lying dirtbags.......

I also read that somewhere, something about the penguin not being particularly realistic and more of a gimick villain

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mask_(comics)

Here is the Wiki on Black Mask. Read the bottom part.

The only one I can think of is Catwoman. Unfortunatly, they have to do it right to make it work.

Well then, Black Mask will likely be the next main Bat-Villian... maybe. They definately need to introduce some more Supporting Characters though, now that they've killed off Rachel and Harvey Dent.

Batman needs something he cares about so it can be threatened, otherwise the film won't be personable or impacting enough.

dude, the next batman villian should be Bane. Batman needs his arse handed to him, and Bane is the only villian that can do that. Bane can out think batman, knows who he is and best him in combat. plus, now that he's in the situation hes in at the end of the movie, the broken bat storyline would work really really well. (the premise, not the actual frame)

jim_doki:
dude, the next batman villian should be Bane. Batman needs his arse handed to him, and Bane is the only villian that can do that. Bane can out think batman, knows who he is and best him in combat. plus, now that he's in the situation hes in at the end of the movie, the broken bat storyline would work really really well. (the premise, not the actual frame)

I kind of agree especially if you mix him with Hugo Strange and add Robin or Catwoman as the new ally.

isn't harvey dent the alter ego of two face? is it out of line to think he'll be the next bad guy in that case?

Tread184:
isn't harvey dent the alter ego of two face? is it out of line to think he'll be the next bad guy in that case?

You didn't see the movie did you?

Tread184:
isn't harvey dent the alter ego of two face? is it out of line to think he'll be the next bad guy in that case?

You REALLY need to see the new film.....

One possibility is that they could re-cast the Joker. Not saying they will or should (he was brilliant and I'd rather leave the character as that performance), but it is an option nevertheless. Another one I'd be for would be giving the Riddler a darker edge - maybe the idea that someone has become a 'copycat' of the Joker or something along those lines.

This is one of the things i thought as I was leaving, that they've boxed themselves in. They've used Psychological villains 1, 2 and 3 already, and now they have very little else to turn to.

The Riddler could possibly work, but in a real iff situations. Say, they alter what he does slightly, and make his riddles that much deadlier. But then I'm really just changing him into a serial killer.

Or perhaps they can actually try to create an actual equal for Batman. I'm not talking about on the level of The Joker, I mean someone who is Proffesor Moriarty to his Sherlock Holmes, who is The Master to his The Doctor, who is the Liquid to his Solid. Someone who fights for anarchy with the same sense of purpose as Batman fights for peace - not for his own enjoyment, but because he feels that the world must be in anarchy. And fighting as alone as Batman. Screw the comic book canon at this point.

Thats exactly what I said. If they introduce a new villian it would have to be the Penguin or the Riddler. Cat woman, Poison Ivy, and Mr. Freeze are all minor villians, maybe they could be put in as a secondary villian like Two Face was. But I say the Riddler would be the best choice. Also my friend says they should put in Clay Face or Bane.

Quoting the guy we need: I'm Bane! I break people!

Really, they need to come up with something good because it really feels as if they have played out all their cards using the joker in the second one. Or maybe Nolan can do the smart thing for him and bow out from the franchise on top. That would suck but would be understandable.

IMHO, Bane is the way to go, the problem, would have to be the casting, though. Really, who CAN play Bane?

Abako:
Thats exactly what I said. If they introduce a new villian it would have to be the Penguin or the Riddler. Cat woman, Poison Ivy, and Mr. Freeze are all minor villians, maybe they could be put in as a secondary villian like Two Face was. But I say the Riddler would be the best choice. Also my friend says they should put in Clay Face or Bane.

You really can't show Bane without showing the knee to the spinal cord move, and the only reason they'd do that is for a lame "I'll never be Batman again" plotline. I really think they want to stay away from that. As for the Penguin - the guy has fucking umbrellas. Most of which are a lot more lame than some of the umbrellas you can buy online (ranging from the cattle prod to the single-shell shotgun).

Yeah and I think Clay Face would be cool to see but hes WAY too minor for a full movie. I dunno maybe they could put in a bunch of the minor villians. I mean seeing cool, well played versions of Poison Ivy, the Penguin, Clay Face, the Riddler, Mr. Freeze all in one movie might be cool. Then again it might be a clusterfuck.

If we're gonna list people who could be made better by a reimagining, like the Riddler and the Penquin

- The Ten-Fingered Man
- Scarface and Puppeteer.
- Man-Bat

Want to know what these 5 have in common?

....Y'know, thinking about it, if we need to show a good substitute for The Joker, there is Harley.

Too bad she is more of a secondary villain really. You can't have Harley Quinn without the Joker somewhere in there.

PedroSteckecilo:
I kind of agree especially if you mix him with Hugo Strange and add Robin or Catwoman as the new ally.

I've read that Christian Bale said that he would quit if they tried to re-introduce Robin into the series.

I hate robin. Always have since the phrase Jiminy-Jillickers Batman! (spelling?)

juandonde:
Too bad she is more of a secondary villain really. You can't have Harley Quinn without the Joker somewhere in there.

Hmm. See, looking at her character, she seems to portray all the symptoms of a beaten housewife. I'm guessing in this instance she'd display that same loyalty even after death (Here I'm just guessing that his death was implied, because people might be uncomfortable with the film predicting him dying). Thus, we see a villian going up against Batman whose only goal is his death. No ends to speak of, and no scruples about the means. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and what would scorn her worse than the death of her love?

But they'll need to reimagine her costume

Abako:
I hate robin. Always have since the phrase Jiminy-Jillickers Batman! (spelling?)

Wasn't that Fallout Boy?

see, this is what i was saying about Broken Bat.

Abako:
Yeah and I think Clay Face would be cool to see but hes WAY too minor for a full movie. I dunno maybe they could put in a bunch of the minor villians. I mean seeing cool, well played versions of Poison Ivy, the Penguin, Clay Face, the Riddler, Mr. Freeze all in one movie might be cool. Then again it might be a clusterfuck.

see, Broken bat is essentially about Bane freeing all the villians from Arkham, wearing batman down, then snapping his spine. which is awesome. it lets them use tonnes of 2nd tiers and introduces a new bigbad, and if Bale doesn't want to do it anymore, we get a new batman *read the book*

Abako:
I hate robin. Always have since the phrase Jiminy-Jillickers Batman! (spelling?)

He's pretty rotten, but I did laugh at the "Holy rusted metal, Batman" line from Batman Forever.

sma_warrior:
One possibility is that they could re-cast the Joker. Not saying they will or should (he was brilliant and I'd rather leave the character as that performance), but it is an option nevertheless. Another one I'd be for would be giving the Riddler a darker edge - maybe the idea that someone has become a 'copycat' of the Joker or something along those lines.

I actually seriously considered this possibility - until I saw the film. I think that any effort to duplicate what Heath Ledger did will be doomed to failure and be a serious detractor from the new film. It's feasible as the Joker costume could probably be replicated by the right actor, but between the deserved hype of his own performance and the fact that the replacement's vetting process will get more media scrutiny than the Democractic primary, I think they'll steer clear of it.

So to replace him, they need a new villain. Scarecrow and Two-Face have already been used, Riddler and Penguin are a little too cartoonish for Nolan's vision (and have already been filmed), and if Catwoman/Poison Ivy/Bane/Catwoman wind up in the film it will damn the franchise before it gets out of the gate. With Ra's Al-Ghul as the villain in the first one there's certainly more room for obscure villains: Clayface and Killer Croc would be great for the effects and brute force, Maxie Zeus or the Mad Hatter would create fine surrealist worlds.

Personally, I vote for either Man-Bat or Scarface. Man-Bat because it'd be a perfect battle between Batman and his darker side, showing what he could become (as the third film needs some sort of redemption plot to follow the arc); while Scarface is such a bizarre villain (and my personal favorite lesser one) that the acting opportunities would be endless.-

Of course, from my point of view it's all a moot point since no superhero franchise has ever been good after it was bled for a third movie (Batman Forever, Spider-Man 3, X-men: The Last Stand, Superman III) and a fourth leads to levels of shittiness that reek like flayed ghouls (Superman: The Quest for Peace and Batman & Robin). Nolan has earned more faith than most for saving the Batman franchise, but there's nothing that makes me think he can follow this successfully.

LesIsMore:
Of course, from my point of view it's all a moot point since no superhero franchise has ever been good after it was bled for a third movie (Batman Forever, Spider-Man 3, X-men: The Last Stand, Superman III) and a fourth leads to levels of shittiness that reek like flayed ghouls (Superman: The Quest for Peace and Batman & Robin). Nolan has earned more faith than most for saving the Batman franchise, but there's nothing that makes me think he can follow this successfully.

While true, none of those had a sequel that far outdid the original, and was easily considered the best movie of the year, and best Superhero movie ever, hands down. We are dealing with a unique phenomena here.

Indigo_Dingo:

Abako:
I hate robin. Always have since the phrase Jiminy-Jillickers Batman! (spelling?)

Wasn't that Fallout Boy?

I have no clue as I detest Fallout Boy. Maybe it is and I heard that from a friend but that phrase just sticks in my head. I hated all of robins little 'Holy shit'-esque phrases

I figured it was gonna be Two-face.