New Batman Movie Gets Name

[Atekimogus]

The butler did it of course!

Seriously, Aflred needs to become evil!

[SolkaTruesilver]

Hmmm...

Alfred as the villain?

Alfred as the Pinguin?

You know, there are crazier ideas out there which are a lot worse than this, and they still get their movie.

[Mark]

With proper CGI, they could use some of the middle tier Batman gusy to great effect. Like Killer Croc? Seriously, in a dark world, how awsome would he be?

Penguin was originally a "gentlemen" thief who got hooked by the thrill seeking of crime. Going back to basics like that would be doable. Lose the insane umbrellas, except maybe for a sword hidden inside, or a gun or something.

Don't make him a freak. Just yoru average "dumpy" looking blueblood, with a deadly sword fighting skill and there ya go.

[SolkaTruesilver]

Don't make him a freak. Just yoru average "dumpy" looking blueblood, with a deadly sword fighting skill and there ya go.

Agreed 100%. Make him the complete opposite of the Joker. Make him a villain so suave and "civilized" that it's hard to hate him.

That is, until he REALLY punches the viewer by committing an act extremely despicable. And then make him act just even more suave.


You will have there a very, very controversial villain that some people will actually support, others will reject. This is the basis for $$$!

Proof: Adrian Veidt

[mwhittington]

You know, I'm kinda surprised they didn't do a Batman movie with Clayface yet. I mean, if they wanted the special effects CGI type movie, that would be the villain to use. For a better story though, I agree with the Penguin as the villain.

[mwhittington]

Or another great villain would be Deathstroke. He's beaten Batman on several occasions with little effort. THAT would be something to see.

[Sonic Glitch]

Pardon the necro but apparently, Anne Hathaway is catwoman (or is she?)

Anne Hathaway Is Your New Catwoman

by: Will Leitch

[Your new Catwoman, maybe, probably.] Your new Catwoman, maybe, probably. Sandy Young/Getty Images Crazy rumors about the cast for "The Dark Knight Rises," the third of director Christopher Nolan's Batman films, have been going on for so long that Vulture's Lane Brown gleefully made fun of the phenomenon seven months ago. At that point, the following human beings had been connected to the sequel: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Johnny Depp, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Cher, Eddie Murphy, Rachel Weisz, Miley Cyrus, Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox. This is a natural by-product of the Internet and of the massive success of "The Dark Knight," which Nolan turned into one of the biggest hits of all time, in some effect, through the casting of the late Heath Ledger as The Joker. This is the most prestigous, profitable franchise in Hollywood, and everyone wants a part.

And today, for the first time, after all the rumors have dissipated, we know who the villains in "The Dark Knight Rises" will be. Warner Bros just announced that Anne Hathaway will play Selina Kyle, and that Tom Hardy, of Nolan's "Inception," will play Bane. Christian Bale will be back as Batman, and Nolan has said this will be his final Batman film.

Hathaway was one of the many actresses rumored to be auditioning for the film last week (a group that reportedly included Jessica Biel and Keira Knightley), and apparently she won over Nolan. (That she's at the apex of her career, with her Oscar co-hosting duties next month, doesn't hurt either.) This is the first time we've learned that Selina Kyle -- who is more commonly known as "Catwoman" -- will be a part of the film. It is definitely worth noting that the Warner Bros. release never says the word "Catwoman." That could mean that Hathaway will be playing Kyle before she turns into Catwoman, or that they're trying to establish some distance from Halle Berry's widely panned performance in her "Catwoman" spinoff in 2004, or that the studio is trying to play a little coy with the announcement of an iconic Batman love-interest-cum-villain.

Of course, Berry's not even the most famous movie Catwoman: That would be Michelle Pfeiffer, who was the highlight of the underrated "Batman Returns, Tim Burton's last film in the franchise, back in 1992. In that version, Kyle, a sheepish secretary, becomes Catwoman by being brought back to life -- after being murdered by Christopher Walken -- by an alley-full of stray cats. But in the comics, she's a street criminal with a tragic past similar to Batman's, a Robin Hood sort who steals from the city's wealthy and gives it to the destitute. That seems a more likely direction for Nolan's morally ambiguous Batman universe. And, obviously, the notion of Anne Hathaway in a Catwoman suit is not necessarily a negative one either.

This isn't the first time Hardy's Bane has been in a Batman film, though his appearance was far less memorable. In 1997's much-mocked "Batman & Robin," Bane was played by the late wrestler Jeep Swenson. In that film, he was Poison Ivy's bodyguard, but did little more than grunt and flex. The DC Comics version of Bane is far more layered. There, Bane is another Batman character who was doomed from birth. He was born and raised in a South American prison -- the law there required his father's life sentence for murder to be served by his son, which hardly seems fair -- he becomes a body-building strongman, along with a superior intelligence wrought in the prison library, simply to survive behind bars. He ended up running the prison's inmates, which led the threatened warden to force him to become a test subject on an experiment with a substance called "Venom." The venom makes him supernaturally strong, but he's required to take it every 12 hours, or he'll die. Eventually he escapes prison and wreaks doomed havoc on the streets of Gotham. In a way, this character is not all that different from the character Hardy played in "Bronson," Nicolas Winding Refn's 2008 film about England's most notorious prison inmate. This is certainly what Nolan had in mind by casting him.

It's not known whether the rest of the "Dark Knight" cast -- Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman -- will return for the film, but they are expected to. It will be released in June 2012, which should give everyone plenty of time to come up with a whole new roll call of rumors, now that this news dispenses with all the old ones.

[stitch626]

Bane could be amazing for this, as a final chapter in the Batman series of movies (for now at least). He is the one villain in the DC comics who truly broke Batman. And, if they do him as the comic version (not the one from B&R) then he could be a very deep character.

[Tsukiyumi]

I agree completely. Bane is a layered villain; one with a real reason to be vindictive and insane (not toward Batman in particular, but against anyone who stands in his way), and he's a threat Batman simply cannot defeat physically. After seeing Tom Hardy in Inception, I know the guy really can act; he was just misused in Nemesis.

I have to confess, I've never seen Anne Hathaway in anything (her movies are the sort I avoid without exception), but I trust Nolan's judgment on casting, again from Inception, Memento, and the first two Batman films.

I hope Joseph Gordon-Levitt is actually in this new one as well.

[Mikey]

her movies are the sort I avoid without exception

Obviously you're considering her pop-movie drivel and not her work in Rachel Getting Married, which was phenomenal.

I hope Joseph Gordon-Levitt is actually in this new one as well.

Meh. I could take him or leave him.

[Tyyr]

Ha! There was some Anne Hathaway movie on last night as we were flipping channels. She was out in the rain and I said to my wife, "Mmmm, wet Anne Hathaway." I certainly won't object to seeing her in skin tight leather or latex.

[Mark]

Lol, she's done some nude stuff too. I googled Anne Hathaway nudes, and.....yummy

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

(In passing I wonder, if Bruce Wayne just openly donated that much to the police force every year, would it actually have more impact on crime than Batman does?)

That actually comes up a lot when talking about Batman. Some people see what he does as treating the symptoms, not the disease.

[Nickswitz]

(In passing I wonder, if Bruce Wayne just openly donated that much to the police force every year, would it actually have more impact on crime than Batman does?)

That actually comes up a lot when talking about Batman. Some people see what he does as treating the symptoms, not the disease.

Doesn't he regularly donate to the force though? I think that was stated in a couple comics.

[stitch626]

The thing is, half of Gotham's police/legal force is corrupt, so just donating to them won't improve things.