News & Notes

From around the web:

• That Cher as Catwoman rumor was shot down quickly.


• There's a top 25 Batman villains poll on the CBR forums. Submit your top 10 to Tigereyes.


• The Dark Knight Returns came in at number 107 on the USA Today bestseller list the week of August 24th.


• And some good old fashioned random villain speculation

Only a couple days left on the Riddler poll to the right, it's a tight race between Johnny Depp and David Tennant, but my personal favorite isn't far behind (and someone actually voted for Cher!).

Amygdala

Aaron Helzinger had some serious anger management issues, so a doctor removed his amygdala, a part of the brain that controls emotional responses. But the surgery resulted in him becoming easily manipulated, and just as prone to fits of rage. Until somewhat recently, when he became largely cured and an ally of Dick Grayson, nearly every one of Amygdala's appearances have involved another villain convincing Amygdala to attack Batman.

Pros: A medical treatment gone awry could work in the movie universe, realism-wise, and Batman really hasn't dealt with an opponent who was purely a physical threat yet.

Cons: He's kind of a poor man's Hulk. Childlike mind, anger issues, freakishly strong (though I've never been clear how strong Amygdala is, relative to Bane or Killer Croc or anything). And you certainly can't have a whole movie based around him as the villain, since he's just a strong, not very bright guy.

How I'd do it: You'd have to have another villain calling the shots.

Casting Guesses: Some huge wrestler? I have no idea. Or Dalip Sing, the huge guy from Get Smart and The Longest Yard remake, who I just learned is also a wrestler.

Verdict: I'm tempted to say no chance, but he's the kind of guy who could get a tiny background appearance like Zsasz had in the first movie.

Zeiss

Not only did Phil Zeiss's parents die when he was a boy, but so did any other relative that might take care of him. So a Sicilian mobster took him under his wing, and decided the boy was cut out to be a hitman for the mob. In addition to regular old training on how to kill people, Zeiss underwent surgery to have his nervous system enhanced with cybernetics. His reflexes and vision have been enhanced, and he wears special goggles wired into his brain that let him see the world as if it's in slow motion.

Zeiss's most notable personality trait is his obsession with being the best fighter in the world, which has proven problematic. On one occasion, he was hired as a bodyguard to protect an aging Gotham mobster. Zeiss spotted Batman, also there to protect the mobster, and engaged him in hand to hand combat in order to prove himself superior. With the two protectors occupied, Deadshot waltzed in and shot the guy.

Pros: With the exception of the cybernetics, his origin and his abilities fit with the realism levels. And Batman pissing off organized crime in the first two movies makes bringing in assassins very likely.

Cons: He's a lesser-known comics assassin, and much of his appeal (and design) is based around the goggles and enhanced reflexes.

How I'd do it: I guess just eliminate the cybernetics. And just to be sure he still looks like Zeiss, give him weird looking sunglasses.

Casting Guesses: Zeiss is Swiss. I don't know of any Swiss actors, but there might be some out there. By looks alone (and Zeiss has changed his look a few times, most recently with a shaved head), I might go with someone like Jason Statham, but I'm not sure he can sound like anything but a Londoner.

Verdict: It's possible, but there are lots of assassins to choose from, and Zeiss wouldn't be at the top of my list.

News & Notes

From around the web:

• The Dark Knight script is available as a giant pdf.


• The Dark Knight is a study in game theory. If you're at least slightly math-nerdy, it's a great read.


• And the Hollywood Reporter has more on how Christopher Nolan may or may not be back for a third movie:
  

  And Warners and Legendary are both interested in doing a third in the series, but all involved say it will be up to Nolan to come to them with a story and a plan.
  
  "There are a lot of us who emotionally would love to do it," [producer Charles] Roven says. "But it's really Chris' call. Chris is the kind of filmmaker who just doesn't think about the next movie before he has completely finished the movie he is working on."
  
  For now, Nolan is taking a well-earned vacation.
  
  Says Roven, "When he comes back, we will see how he feels."

Abattoir

Arnold Etchison is a regular old crazy person. A serial killer. The twist is that his victims are people he's related to, believing that he gains their strength when he kills them. I don't think he eats their brains or hearts or anything, but there's a limit to the gore you can have in all-ages Batman comics, so I bet they at least wanted him to. While acting as Batman, Jean-Paul Valley allowed Abattoir to fall to his death (which became part of the reason for Bruce Wayne to become Batman again). Etchison came back as a ghost in a later Batman storyline that's probably best forgotten.

Pros: No supernatural stuff (not counting the ghost part).

Cons: He's not all that interesting.

How I'd do it: You don't really have to change the character, except come up with some way for the audience to be frightened by him.

Casting Guesses: James Spader. I have no idea why, but I feel like he'd be a good crazy Abattoir.

Verdict: Nah. If you're going to have a regular crazy murderer, Zsasz is the best choice.

Azrael

Jean-Paul Valley's story is pretty complicated, but here's the quick version. His father was a super assassin type guy for the Order of St. Dumas. His father secretly trained Jean-Paul from birth with subconscious commands, called "The System," on how to be a super assassin too. When his father dies, Jean-Paul becomes Azrael. On one of his first tasks, Azrael runs across Batman, and decides to ditch the assassin gig and join Batman with the superheroics. Batman grows to trust Azrael so much that when Bane breaks his back, Batman asks Jean-Paul to take over. The only problem is that The System is constantly fighting for control of Jean-Paul's mind, and he becomes more and more violent, violating all of Batman's principles. Eventually, Bruce recovers and has to take back what they constantly referred to as "the mantle of the Bat" by force. Not long after, Azrael was presumed dead in the comics and Jean-Paul Valley hasn't been seen since, but I keep hearing rumors of his imminent return.

Pros: Personally, I hated the character and every story he was involved in. Drop a comment if you liked him and why, please, cause I'm stumped.

Cons: He was very 90s-comics. Big muscles, mental anguish, fonts meant to imply spooky/scary voice, giant fireballs, stuff like that. He didn't have pouches strapped everywhere though, maybe that could go in the "Pros" section.

How I'd do it: You have to ditch the costume (or modify it so radically that it's unrecognizable) and ditch The System. There's a super secret organization called the Order of St. Dumas that doesn't like the whole Batman thing, so they send their best assassin, codenamed Azrael. But that's awfully close to the League of Shadows being pissed at Batman for killing Ra's al Ghul and having Talia send their best assassin, Lady Shiva. And the League of Shadows/Talia/Shiva story is much better, I think.

Casting Guesses: Jean-Paul's supposed to be European, I think (Swiss?), and in good shape. Karl Urban isn't European, but he's good at faking it. I think I suggested him for some other part, too, but oh well. Thomas Kretschmann is German but looks the part a little.

Verdict: I can't imagine any reason it would happen. I just didn't find him to be a character who was in any way interesting. Any Azrael-related story could be better handled by another existing Batman character.

News & Notes

From around the web:

• In hopefully the stupidest casting rumor we'll see, the Sunday Mirror claims that Cher is "in talks" to play Catwoman. But don't worry, we're still in the phase where the rumors are all made up. Or at least we'd better be


• From chrisp85, apparently the same guy who brought us this fake poster featuring the Riddler, comes another good one, this time featuring Deadshot:
  
  

The Catwoman poll closed, with "someone else" winning at 35%. Angelina Jolie and Rosario Dawson tied for 2nd at 28% ,and Carla Gugino and Maggie Gyllenhaal basically got no love at all. Now we're moving on to the Riddler. Vote early, vote often.

Holiday

The identity of the Holiday killer was the central mystery of The Long Halloween, so there are lots of spoilers ahead. And it's a good read, so don't spoil it for yourself if you haven't read it already.

Holiday was the name of a serial killer who struck only on holidays. Holday's targets were mobsters, at first members of the Falcone family, but later targeting the rival Maronis (you may remember Tom Wilkinson as Carmine Falcone in Batman Begins, or Eric Roberts as Sal Maroni in The Dark Knight). Holiday struck with a .22 caliber pistol, the serial number filed off, and a baby bottle's nipple used as a silencer. At each crime scene, Holiday would leave behind a holiday-appropriate item as a calling card (a jack-o-lantern on Halloween, a snow globe on Christmas, etc).

The initial suspects were all mobsters. Calendar Man was obviously questioned, since it's his kind of crime, but he was locked up in Arkham the whole time. Eventually, Alberto Falcone, the somewhat neglected son of Carmine who had been Holiday's New Year's Eve victim, reappeared, very much alive, and confessed to the crimes. But later, as Two-Face is being arrested for a separate crime, he says to Batman and Gordon, "You both know, don't you? There were two Holiday killers." Batman assumes it's a side effect of Two-Face's obsession with duality, but we're then shown a scene of Gilda, Harvey Dent's wife, disposing of evidence and confessing to the first three murders to herself. Harvey had told her once the Falcones were taken down, he would have time to start a family, so she'd decided to hurry that process along. When someone else started committing Holiday murders, she assumed Harvey had realized what she was up to and taken over, but in fact it was Alberto Falcone.

Or at least that's how I read it. This guy claims that Alberto was the killer the whole time, but I don't buy it.

Pros: The Long Halloween was a big influence on both of the first two movies, and Holiday targeting gangsters fits with the movies making everything mob-related.

Cons: There's no Gilda Dent in the movies. And the Holiday thing fits better in an episodic format (monthly comic books, a tv series, etc) than a single movie.

How I'd do it: You could have Alberto Falcone kill some people over the course of a year. Have Batman be the initial suspect. Call in The Riddler, private investigator, to figure out who did it. A fun time would be had by all, but it would be missing something, I think.

Casting Guesses: Alberto Falcone is kind of nerdy -- the kid who goes to Harvard is the black sheep in a family of gangsters -- but he's also angry and bitter. Ryan Phillipe could pull it off. Zachary Quinto too, but after playing Sylar, people might just automatically assume he's the murderer.

Verdict: I doubt it, but it's not impossible. There's been some talk about an animated adaptation of The Long Halloween, and doing that would present a more fun version of Holiday (see this and scroll way down for a mention of the animation possibilities).

News & Notes

Squat for news, so instead today's all about fan art.

EDIT: Some late actual news, Warner Bros hopes to have Batman 3 out by 2011, according to IGN.

First, some guy decided Harley Quinn should be played by Kristen Bell (a good choice), and then designed a cool costume and photoshopped her into it:


He did the same for a David Tennant Riddler and a Marion Cotillard Catwoman. You can check them all out on his deviantart page.

I don't know who did this one, but I saw it here, but I thought it was funny:



Then there's a guy who makes amazing etch-a-sketch art who did a great Joker:



And finally, Spippo on deviant art makes unusual mods of My Little Pony, including plenty of Batman character versions, so check that out. Here's the Joker:

Clayface

Probably the last big name, Clayface is usually a shape shifting man who looks like a pile of mud in his unaltered state. In addition to being able to look like other people, he can change his shape almost Reed Richards-style, enabling him to be a physical threat to Batman.

But there have been, by wikipedia's count seven Clayfaces, with a few differences. The two most notably different are the original Clayface, Basil Karlo (far left, above), and the third, Preston Payne (far right). Karlo was the star of a classic horror film where he played a villain called Clayface, but when he found out they were remaking it, went nuts, put on the costume from the movie, and started killing people. Payne was a scientist with a disfiguring medical condition and tried to adapt one of the shapeshifting Clayface's powers to cure his own condition, but the experiment resulted in his skin melting when exposed to air and will melt anyone else he touches. Payne builds a suit with what looks like a hood made of plastic wrap to keep himself from melting or touching anyone else, and goes somewhat understandably nuts from the isolation.

Pros: Clayface is a classic villain, visually interesting, and (even though between Founders, Skrulls, and Cylons its becoming a little cliche) not being able to tell your enemies from your friends is both fun and socially relevant.

Cons: The shapeshifting. I love Clayface, but the movies have skipped almost every science fiction element of Batman stories. Suddenly introducing a shapeshifter (or a melting skin dude) doesn't work very well.

How I'd do it: Use Basil Karlo. A guy in a movie costume calling himself Clayface works just fine.

Casting Guesses: Between Ed Wood and Entourage, Martin Landau has shown a tremendous ability to play a has-been, which would be perfect for Basil Karlo.

Verdict: Having a Clayface who isn't at all clay-like would be weird for casual fans of the comics, so it's not very likely, but it could happen.

The Red Hood

The Red Hood was the original Joker origin story. Similar to the Jack Nicholson origin in Batman, The Red Hood was cornered by Batman, dove into a vat of chemicals to avoid capture, and came out of it with green hair, white skin, and went completely insane.

In The Killing Joke, Alan Moore changed the story a little (major Killing Joke spoilers ahead...). First, the future Joker wasn't the only one to wear the Red Hood. A couple of thieves would recruit an inside man for each job and have him wear the hood, so that if they were caught people would assume the Red Hood was the mastermind. It worked perfectly, Batman walks up to the first time criminal under the hood and says "we meet again," causing a terrified future Joker to flee into a vat of chemicals. The best touch of The Killing Joke was that after all the flashbacks supposedly telling his origin, the Joker notes that every time he remembers the story it's different ("If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!"), an element of the character that got incorporated wonderfully into The Dark Knight.

Another Red Hood appeared more recently, in one of the stupidest retcons ever. Jason Todd was the second Robin. In a controversial storyline, readers were asked to call a 1-900 number to vote whether or not Jason, who had grown somewhat unpopular, should be killed off. In a close vote, readers gave Robin a thumbs down, and the Joker beat him to death with a crowbar, and then I think blew up the building he was in. It was kind of an ugly moment in Batman history, but the third Robin turned out to be a much better character (I think), so it was best to move on and forget about it. But then about 15 years later, and there's no way to put this that doesn't sound stupid, Superboy Prime punched the walls of reality, causing a ripple effect that changed all sorts of events in the DC universe, including Jason Todd being suddenly alive again. He put on the Red Hood and it brought back unpleasant memories of the 1-900 thing and, in my opinion, was generally pretty dumb.

Pros: The Killing Joke was great.

Cons: The Joker is best without an origin (or with multiple choice origins), and bringing in the first Red Hood would require not only a new Joker story without Heath Ledger, but flashing back to an origin. For the other Red Hood, we likely won't be seeing any Robins any time soon, so that's not going to happen.

How I'd do it: I guess if you had to flash back to some time around Batman Begins, you could have Batman beat down on a criminal in a red hood as a little easter egg for fans, but anything more than that would be a mistake.

Casting Guesses: I'm going to say none.

Verdict: Not going to happen. But given the significance of the character I thought he was worth mentioning here. Plus, that's a pretty cool image up top, stolen from Matt Wagner.

News & Notes

Only one news item today, but it's a big one:

When it comes to Batman, the future of the franchise is in Christopher Nolan's hands. That's what a successful reboot with "Batman Begins" and breaking records with "The Dark Knight" will do.

There's a deal for the director to helm a third pic, but he has yet to decide on whether to tackle it yet.

"We have no idea where Chris is going with this," Horn says. "We haven't had any conversations with him about it."

Personally, the idea of a Batman 3 with anyone else is scary. I doubt they'd pick anyone Joel Schumacher bad (IGN has a few decent suggeststions, although David Cronenberg would figure out a way to make Batman boring), but I'm so attached to Christopher Nolan's version that I'd consider anyone else a step down. And I get that Nolan has other interests, and I wouldn't expect him to keep doing Batman movies forever, but I just really want a third one, damnit.

Matches Malone

Matches Malone was a small time crook who was actually a decent human being. Batman, learning of Malone's nature, approached him for help tracking Ra's al Ghul. But Matches wanted no part of it, and while attempting to shoot Batman, accidentally killed himself with a ricochet. Not wanting Malone's death to be a total waste, Batman donned a fake mustache, plaid suit, and goofy Jersey accent and began impersonating Matches to infiltrate Gotham's gangs.

He's used this identity many times over the years, most notably in the War Games storyline. Batman had developed a plan in an emergency to take over Gotham's underworld by uniting the crime families under Matches. Stephanie Brown, the 4th Robin, was desperate to make a good impression on Batman, found the plan and set it in motion without telling Batman. But when Matches Malone failed to show, it ignited a massive gang war that nearly destroyed Gotham.

Pros: Matches Malone's organized crime career makes him a good fit.

Cons: Giving him any kind of backstory is probably pointless, since as an alias of Batman, he's not really a villain.

How I'd do it: Probably just come up with an excuse for Batman to go undercover.

Casting Guesses: Christian Bale.

Verdict: Not out of the question, but he won't be a major player. But if Batman does have to go undercover, it would be a nice touch to use the Matches Malone alias. But without the plaid suit.

News & Notes

Not much today:

• Tiny Gods runs down some villains and favors Deadshot, Deathstroke, and Black Mask


• Springfield Punx Simpson-ized a bunch of DC characters a while back, including some Batman villains, in this post.

Catwoman poll's about to wrap up, I'll have a new one up soon.

Hush

Hush was the main villain in Batman: Hush, a very popular comic book storyline from 2002, and since the mystery of his identity was a main element of the story, many Hush spoilers will follow...

The Elliots were close family friends of the Waynes, and Tommy Elliot was young Bruce Wayne's best friend. But while Bruce adored his parents, Tommy wanted to be free of parental control and to have access to his family fortune. So Tommy attempted to murder his parents by cutting the brake line on their car. Though his father was killed, Dr. Thomas Wayne was able to save Tommy's mother. Not only would he not inherit their money, but Tommy was now forced to help care for his mother, a situation he blamed on Thomas Wayne. Later, when Thomas and Martha Wayne were murdered, Bruce had everything Tommy had ever wanted, so Tommy redirected his anger at Bruce.

Despite his many childhood issues, he somehow managed to become a relatively productive person, becoming an accomplished surgeon. He came to treat the Riddler, who had just deduced Batman's secret identity. Learning that they shared a common enemy, Elliot wrapped his head in bandages, started calling himself Hush, and he and Riddler hatched an elaborate plan to get at Batman. Obviously it didn't work, but Hush has returned a few times since, still armed with the knowledge of Bruce's double life, and is able to cause a lot of trouble in Gotham.

Pros: His origins are tied with Bruce Wayne's, so digging through Tommy Elliot's origins would allow for some good scenes with young Bruce. He has no supernatural powers, so he fits with the movies' realism.

Cons: It's a bit of a stretch to buy an angry surgeon as a real threat to Batman, even if he does know Batman's identity. Hush in the comics relies on manipulating a number of Batman's costumed enemies so that they can actually hurt him, but the movie Batman only has a few enemies still alive to do anything with.

How I'd do it: Tommy Elliot would have to hook up with Coleman Reese. Learning Batman's identity is hugely important for turning Elliot into Hush, and Reese is the only one who might possibly let it slip. Then I guess you'd have him attack Batman through Bruce's friends, who at this point seem to only be Jim Gordon, Alfred, and Lucius Fox.

Casting Guesses: Under the bandages, Tommy Elliot's a redhead, so Damian Lewis (the TV series Life) is the first name that came to mind. Not just because he'd be good for the role (which he would be), but because I'm blanking on other red haired actors of appropriate age.

Verdict: It could happen, and though technically he should probably be considered a good fit, I just don't like him that much as a villain. I got most of the way through the Hush storyline without realizing Hush was a person. And then they started running a campaign to have people guess who Hush's identity was, and I hadn't realized I was supposed to be guessing. That left me somewhat unhappy with the character. I'm warming to him a little through the current storyline in Detective Comics, so maybe as that progresses I might change my mind, but for now I'll just say he's a possibility.

News & Notes

Lots of news today from around the web:

• The above is a really sweet Batman 3 poster, but it's fake..


• The Dark Knight spoilers aplenty, but this link addresses what really happens to Harvey Dent.


• The Riddler and Superman villain Lex Luthor will appear in Supermax, a movie from Batman Begins writer David Goyer. I have no idea if that makes the Riddler a more likely villain for the next Batman movie or not.


• Brian Austin Green wants to play the Riddler. Good luck with that, buddy.


• Some speculation on Batman 3 here, and some casting guesses here.


• Chris Sims has a lot to say about the Joker


• Nothing to do with Batman, but if any of you visit comic book conventions, you should read this and be outraged.

Things are starting to slow down here, with most of the big names out of the way, but I'll still be covering at least one villain a day during the week for at least a month, plus regular updates with rumors and links and things every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Solomon Grundy

A body is dumped into a Gotham City swamp, then fifty years later the body arises, disfigured, super-strong, and with no memory of his former life. Basically a big hulking zombie, Solomon Grundy has varied in strength and intelligence over the years. In The Long Halloween (pictured), where he strikes up an unusual friendship with Harvey Dent, Grundy is barely able to say more than "Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday," and though he's very strong, Batman is able to defeat him in combat. In other versions, he's not exactly smart but he can carry on conversations, and he's sometimes so strong that Superman has trouble with him.

Pros: Batman hasn't fought anyone freakishly strong in the movies yet. And many people have fond memories of Grundy, either from the comics or from being part of the Legion of Doom on The Superfriends cartoons. And visually, he's pretty cool looking.

Cons: Zombies are a stretch, realism-wise. The movies have favored the psychological over the physical, and Grundy's lack of intelligence doesn't fit well with that. Finally, Solomon Grundy has faced off against many other DC superheroes, so Warner Bros. bosses might want to save Grundy for a Green Lantern movie, where his supernatural origins might fit perfectly.

How I'd do it: I guess the best way to do it is to have a very big and very strong guy beaten to a pulp and left for dead. He survives, but with massive brain damage he can't even remember his own name. One of his origin stories has him only remembering that he was born on a Monday, and someone suggests Solomon Grundy as a name, referencing a nursery rhyme that I'd never heard of before reading it in the comics. So you could go with that. You're left with a big strong guy who's angry at the world because he can't remember it, which might be enough to fill a TV episode, but I don't think you can stretch two hours of plot from that.

Casting Guesses: The usual actors I suggest for big guy roles: Michael Clarke Duncan, The Rock, etc.

Verdict: Nah. Like about half of Batman's villains, they're quality characters, but the movie franchise's choice of realism makes it hard to do supernatural bad guys.

Man-Bat

Dr. Kirk Langstrom is losing his hearing. As a geneticist, he thinks he can give bats' heightened sense of hearing to people, curing not only his own ailment, but deafness entirely. He thinks he's close to completion, but his obsession with the project begins to cause problems with his marriage and eventually the funding for his research is cut off. Like most every other tragic/mad scientist in fiction, he decides the only way to prove himself right is to dangerously test his experiment on himself. It works perfectly at first, but obviously from the image above, he ends up turning into a half-man, half-bat monster. The beast still retains some of Langstrom, particularly his affection for his wife, but he mostly likes flies around Gotham, scares the crap out of people, and occasionally gets blamed for (but is not usually guilty of) murders.

Pros: Villains that reflect aspects of Batman work very well, and Langstrom's transformation into a bat-monster does a good job of that. I also have a personal connection to the character, since the first comic book I ever read featured Man-Bat.

Cons: Like Mr. Freeze, the science fiction aspects that won't work in a realistic movie are integral to the character.

How I'd do it: There have been some good Man-Bat stories over the years, but I don't think you can do the Man-Bat transformation, so I don't think you can do any version of the Man-Bat.

Casting Guesses: My initial instinct was Steve Buscemi, since the actor would have to be a little bit nerdy. But he also has to be sympathetic, and Buscemi usually excels more at being a little creepy. Maybe Alan Tudyk? He's slightly nerdy, sympathetic, and a great actor.

Verdict: I wish it could happen, and again if the movies had chosen a different style it really could have, but the Man-Bat just doesn't fit.

News & Notes

From around the web:

• SciFi lists essential reading for Dark Knight fans. I'd skip Dark Victory, though. Unless you want to basically read The Long Halloween a second time, but with Robin.


• The latest rumor is that Angelina Jolie asked adult film star Tera Patrick for advice on how to play Catwoman.


• Should The Dark Knight be nominated for Best Picture? Sure, I say. But I'd probably nominate Iron Man too.

I realized I spaced on the Catwoman poll on Monday, so that went up today. Vote early, and vote often!

Mr. Freeze

Mr. Freeze, until the 1990s, was a silly gimmick villain who carried a freeze gun and committed ice-related crimes. If you ever saw Otto Preminger play Mr. Freeze on the Adam West Batman TV show, that's pretty much it. Then the animated Batman series reinvented the character completely. Victor Fries is a scientist specializing in cryogenics whose wife is terminally ill. He puts her in cryo-statis until they can find a cure, but badly damages himself in an experiment. As a result of the accident, his body requires sub-zero temperatures to survive. He builds a suit that keeps him cold (which runs on diamonds, a call back to the "ice" heists he used to pull in his gimmicky days), makes him strong, and has a gun that allows him to shoot freeze rays.

Pros: Still trying to save his wife and willing to do anything for her, he's a tragic villain who makes for some great stories.

Cons: The freeze gun, the cryo-suit, and the need to stay at sub-zero temperatures don't fit the movies at all. Plus, the public still associates the character with the awful Arnold Schwarzenegger portrayal in Batman & Robin.

How I'd do it: It's very, very tough. He can't do most of the freeze-related things. A man willing to rob and murder to save his wife is compelling, but is that Mr. Freeze anymore?

Casting Guesses: Patrick Stewart would be great. Great.

Verdict: In a more fantastical Batman film universe, a well-done Mr. Freeze would make for a wonderful movie, but in the universe Christopher Nolan and friends have established, I just don't think Mr. Freeze fits.

Two-Face

Heavy Dark Knight spoilers ahead...

As anyone who's reading this should already know, Harvey Dent was a crusading Gotham City District Attorney, but when half his face was badly scarred in an accident he lost it. His physical deformity and the randomness of it all made him obsessed with duality and with chance, as evidenced by his ever-present coin, which he uses to make important decisions.

In the comics, Dent is often presented as mentally unstable even before becoming Two-Face. The Long Halloween, a storyline that the people behind the current movies have cited as a strong influence, has Harvey violent enough that he might be a murderer. The accident itself is also very different from the movie version, Dent is in the middle of a courtroom questioning when his mob witness pulls out a vial of acid and throws it at Harvey, badly scarring just one side of him.

The movie version is, of course, driven mad only by his own accident, the death of Rachel Dawes, and his scarring is from burns of the non-acidic variety received while being rescued. His apparent death would seem to rule him out for a subsequent movie, but...

Pros: Technically, no one ever took a pulse or anything, and in comic book stories that always leaves an opening, so Two-Face could still be very much alive. And he's an awesome villain. Harvey Dent's downfall was brilliantly portrayed in The Dark Knight, but I felt like Two-Face didn't get enough of his own story.

Cons: I find fake deaths to be infuriating. If Dent can surprisingly turn out to be alive, then so could Rachel or Ra's al Ghul or even Bruce's parents. Or whoever dies next. So, as a viewer, the drama is removed when someone is in a dangerous situation, since I know that even if they appear to die, it could be written away and the character would turn out fine.

How I'd do it: I guess if I had to, I'd flashback to Batman running away. Gordon checks Harvey's pulse to find that he's still alive. At first unsure what to do, Jim remembers that Harvey Dent is the hero that Gotham needs. He arranges for Two-Face to be secretly admitted to Arkham (and this is already suspending disbelief, since half of the guy is a local celebrity) where he would be cared for anonymously. But he breaks out, and then... I'd have him flip his coin and get the good side. He goes to the media and tells about his accident and how he was incarcerated without trial. He blames Batman and the culture of lawlessness he represents. Of course a later coin flip would be scarred side up and we'd get some fun violence.

Casting Guesses: Aaron Eckhart, obviously.

Verdict: Batman stopping him would help to redeem him in the city, and it would make for a pretty good story, but I would still feel cheated by bringing him back after his death scene. I guess it's possible, but I sure hope not.

News & Notes

From around the web:

• Slashfilm has some Joker concept art. I prefer the one they ended up using.


• io9.com has a list of 5 villains they want to see.

The poll for who should play the Penguin is now closed. Paul Giamatti was the clear winner, followed by Bob Hoskins. Philip Seymour Hoffman, often rumored to be playing Mr. Cobblepot, tied with "someone else." This week: Catwoman poll. Vote on the right side of the page. And, as always, any suggested villains to look at should be left in the comments.

Zsasz

Victor Zsasz is just a regular old serial killer. No supernatural powers, no elaborate costume, no obsession with birds or plants or cats, no lifelong hatred of Bruce Wayne. He just likes to kill people. The only thing that separates him from Dahmer or Gacy or any other serial killer is that Zsasz carves a mark into himself for each victim. Most drawings make him look like he's well into triple figures, which I have to think would be some kind of record.

Pros: Zsasz is different from your standard Batman villain. He's frightening in a much more realistic way.

Cons: He's not too much of a physical challenge for Batman, to do his murders justice might make it hard to keep the PG-13 rating of the past two movies, and he doesn't really make for exciting chase scenes or dramatic rescues.

How I'd do it: Technically, we've already seen Zsasz. He appeared briefly early on in Batman Begins, portrayed as a mob hitman, with Rachel Dawes trying to keep him in regular prison and out of Dr. Crane's care. He later shows up among the Arkham escapees and his trademark scars can be seen if you look closely. The transition into full blown serial killer is an easy one, since we can assume he was subject to the Scarecrow's experiments, and now he's roaming the streets of Gotham. Zsasz is another guy who can't be the featured villain, so if he shows up I'd keep his appearance brief.

Casting Guesses: Tim Booth was just fine as Zsasz in the first one.

Verdict: He could get a token appearance, but again there's no way he's the main villain in Batman 3.

Deathstroke

Slade Wilson volunteered for a Captain America-type military experiment, making him faster, stronger, and tougher. Under the name Deathstroke the Terminator, he worked for the military for a while but eventually quit (around the same time his wife shot his eye out). Deathstroke (writers dropped the "the Terminator" from his name when some Schwarzenegger movie came along) went on to a career as an assassin, wearing his executioner hood with the one eye covered, and his highly impractical orange and blue costume. Maybe he's just a Florida Gators fan?

From his military enhancements, Deathstroke is unusually strong, fast, and intelligent, and has a Wolverine-like healing factor that allows him to recover from all sorts of injuries. Except, apparently, for his lost eye. That never made any sense to me. He's also a skilled martial artist, like most every other comic book assassin, but between that and his strength he's able to keep up with Batman in a toe-to-toe fight.

(image stolen from Phil Noto)

Pros: He's an assassin, which works perfectly for where The Dark Knight left off. He does have some supernatural powers, but change his super soldier experiments to advanced steroids and he fits the level of realism in the movie universe.

Cons: For story purposes, he's identical to Deadshot and pretty similar to Lady Shiva, and either of those would probably work better. Deathstroke can also be confused (ie, people think he was ripped off by the creators of) Marvel characters Taskmaster and Deadpool, and even though that doesn't seem like you'd hold it against Deathstroke, it takes away from his uniqueness. He also may be more associated as a villain for the Teen Titans, and if that gets turned into a movie (which I'm sure eventually it will be), they may want to save him for that one.

How I'd do it: Exactly how I'd do any of the other assassins, someone after Batman hires Deathstroke. Batman has to flee from the police, take down the assassin, and make sure no one gets hurt in the crossfire.

Casting Guesses: Behind the mask, Slade Wilson is an older guy with an eyepatch, but still a tough hardened military man. It's a Bruce Willis type role, or Mickey Rourke if they can get him to not look freakish. Although I have no problem imagining Rourke or Willis as Deathstroke, I have a hard time imagining Rourke or Willis fitting into a movie like Batman Begins or The Dark Knight.

Verdict: I highly doubt he'd be a featured villain. But I could also see a cameo Deathstroke appearance, along the lines of the time Darth Vader hired a bunch of bounty hunters to track down Han Solo, except instead of Boba Fett and company, it'd be Deathstroke and Deadshot and friends.

News & Notes

Just two links today:

• MTV asks some Batman comic writers who the next villain should be (most seem to like Catwoman).


• Ain't It Cool News has an article crapping all over the rumor mill.

The Ain't It Cool article is right on, in terms of taking any rumored casting seriously. I link to rumors and talk about them, but they really don't mean a thing. Adrian Brody and Paul Bettany were the big rumors circling for the Joker, and we know how accurate they were. So when I talk about Angelina Jolie as Catwoman or Johnny Depp as the Riddler, it's just for the fun of imagining them in the part (and also because this blog has a very narrow focus and I'll run out of material if I do nothing but plow through villains).

The Ventriloquist (and Scarface)

Arnold Wesker is quiet, shy, meek, weak, and every other adjective that seems un-villain-ly. But he develops his own version of Tyler Durden in the form of Scarface, a ventriloquist's dummy, built to look like an Edward G. Robinson-type old school gangster with a big fat cigar and a tommy gun (which works). Wesker believes that Scarface is real, an illusion more difficult for others to buy into because Wesker isn't a skilled ventriloquist and can't pronounce B's without moving his lips (forcing him to curse "Gatman"). People usually try to address Wesker, knowing him to be the man in control of the dummy, but Scarface belittles Wesker and demands to be respected. And he earns respect. Scarface somehow turns out to be a skilled criminal, and he is able to put together a real gang.

At various times in the comics, they play around with the idea that the doll is real and not just an aspect of Wesker's fractured mind. Recently, when Wesker is murdered, a woman finds the dummy and picks up right where Wesker left off, becoming the new Ventriloquist, but Scarface is almost exactly the same.

Pros: Scarface is a mob guy, and the first two movies have emphasized the mob. And with the Joker's line "You've changed things forever, there's no going back," they've signaled that the craziness will only escalate. So a lunatic barking out orders through a dummy almost makes sense.

Cons: They could have a ton of fun with a shadowy figure running a mob with a shocking reveal later in the film that it was a ventriloquist the whole time, but naming The Ventriloquist as the villain will be big enough news that everyone will know what's coming. Which is a shame.

A much bigger con is that the concept of the Ventriloquist is kind of silly. I actually like the character and I think he could work very well, but convincing Warner Bros. to spend $200 million to make a movie where the bad guy speaks through a dummy... well... that would be difficult.

How I'd do it: It would be a fairly straightforward story, except for the dummy part. Arnold Wesker is a loser in life, weak and defeated. He sees the dummy, maybe not even with the gangster look, maybe just an old ventriloquist's dummy with the big eyes. He starts talking to it, and it's angry. He figures out some way for it to fire a gun, and starts out with petty crime, making his way up. His associates laugh at him at first, but his cunning and his ruthlessness earn him respect and soon he's a threat to Gotham that Batman has to deal with.

Casting Guesses: Wesker is usually portrayed as an old guy but he doesn't necessarily have to be, as long as he seems perfectly harmless, but with a hidden mean streak. George Dzundza voiced both the Ventriloquist and Scarface on the animated series in the 90s and did an excellent job. Paul Giamatti, currently leading the Penguin poll, could be Wesker as well. But William H. Macy is a brilliant actor, can appear to be the kind of wimp that Wesker has to be, and have the hidden scariness of Scarface behind his eyes, so he would be my choice.

Verdict: It's a character that could really fit in the movie universe, since it combines the insanity of Gotham with the mafia that the movies have focused on, but far too many people would be turned off by the idea of Batman fighting some guy with a doll. I won't say there's no chance, he could make a cameo, but there's almost no way he'll be the focus of the movie.

Ra's al Ghul

This will be Batman Begins spoiler-heavy, so I'd skip this if for some reason you haven't seen the movie.

Sure, Ra's al Ghul appeared to die at the end of Batman Begins, but there are a couple different ways he could return. In the comic books, Ra's is "The Demon's Head," the leader of the League of Assassins, who has lived at least 600 years, thanks to his knowledge of alchemy and use of life-restoring Lazarus Pits. So even an apparently fatal train accident wouldn't be a problem to the comic book Ra's, who would merely have to be brought to one of the pits. But dunking a corpse into glowing green goo to bring it back to life is a bit of a stretch for the tone of these movies.

The more likely option is that Ra's al Ghul isn't a single man but a title. When Ken Watanabe's character, who we believed to be Ra's al Ghul, died and was replaced by a different man claiming to be Ra's, I assumed that was the case. That the death of the real Ra's could result in a new man taking over the organization, inheriting the title of Ra's al Ghul. And it could still be done that way.

(image stolen from Dave Johnson)

Pros: He's a villain that worked well in the first movie. That the organization had been around long enough to take down Rome would imply that one foiled plot and the death of one man wouldn't be enough to stop the League of Shadows anyway.

Cons: People get more excited by seeing different bad guys, and tying the plot so closely to the first movie might be a bad idea given how much more popular The Dark Knight has been.

How I'd do it: Still determined to destroy the corrupt Gotham City, the League of Shadows returns, hoping to take advantage of Batman's weakness while he's pursued by the police. Stealing an idea from Bane, they find as many crazies as possible and let them loose on Gotham City, then try to take the whole city down with whatever their new plan is while Batman's distracted.

Casting Guesses: Christopher Eccleston is awesome in a Liam Neeson-like way, or Mark Sheppard if you want to keep him English, but it might be best to have the replacement Ra's go a different way. Avery Brooks hasn't done movies for a while, but he could really nail that part. I don't know why I just named three guys I know best from Science Fiction TV shows, but they could all play the part well.

Verdict: If the League of Shadows does comes back, Talia should be running it, since a new character would be more exciting than the return of Ra's, and she also fills the need for a new love interest.

Superman

How can the next Batman bad guy be the only good guy in comics as famous as Batman? Easy! Though they're partners in the Justice League and share a passion for fighting crime and helping people, they have a lot of differences. Just look at their costumes. Superman wears bright colors looking somewhat patriotic and standing out in a crowd, while Batman hides in the shadows and tries to frighten people with his appearance. They fight fairly often in the comic books, most famously in The Dark Knight Returns, but on a number of other occasions as well. Most every time Superman comes to Gotham City, he's greeted with something along the lines of "this is my city, get out."

Pros: If done right, it would unquestionably kick ass.

Cons: It makes terrible business sense. Superman Returns was a box office failure compared to Batman Begins (they made about the same in box office receipts, but Superman cost quite a bit more to make), and The Dark Knight's success only wides the gaps between the franchises. So it could be argued that at this point putting the two heroes together could be a step down for Batman.

More importantly, should the movie be a bomb, it would damage two valuable movie franchises. A huge budget Batman vs. Superman movie that is a critical and commercial disaster would probably make audiences reluctant to see either character again anytime soon. Prior to both Batman Begins and Superman Returns, there were real plans to have the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel face off in a movie, but eventually everyone came to their senses and moved on.

How I'd do it: Superman's a reporter and is obviously aware of the goings on in Gotham City. Batman is a brilliant detective who's known to plan for any situation, so having heard of Metropolis's nigh-invulnerable hero, he's figured out not only
Superman's weakness but also his identity as Clark Kent. Superman arrives in Gotham City to help out, and Batman's there to greet him with a "get out of Gotham, Clark, it's mine." Superman's freaked out at being identified, and since Batman's a wanted criminal, his instinct is to bring Batman to the police, at Batman's response is to pull out some Kryptonite. Superman retreats, and they both go off to prepare for what would have to be a 30 minute long final showdown full of destroyed Bat-vehicles and gadgets, heat vision blasts, Kryptonite-infused punches to Superman's face, and other things that would cause most comic book geeks to die from awesomeness overdose.

Casting Guesses: Brandon Routh wasn't bad in Superman Returns, but he wasn't great either. Superman is almost impossible to cast with established stars, so I'd say go with an unknown.

Verdict: It may happen someday, but not anytime soon, and, I'm sad to say, certainly not in the next Batman movie.

Amanda Waller

Amanda Waller is the DC universe's preferred government agent. She's best known as the leader of the Suicide Squad, a team of villains who are promised amnesty in exchange for serving on a government strike force, but she's also worked with Checkmate, a more traditional spy organization, and had a position in the government when Lex Luthor was President. She's bright, very clever, a strong leader, and wields the power of the federal government.

The main reason I see her as a potential foe for Batman in a follow-up to The Dark Knight is that Batman is cast as a dangerous outlaw at the conclusion of the film. In the animated Justice League Unlimited, Amanda Waller headed up the government's response to a perceived superhero threat, and the season-spanning arc detailing Project Cadmus's efforts under Waller to deal with the Justice League situation is one of the better superhero stories I know.

Pros: If the Feds get involved with the Batman problem in Gotham, Waller would be the perfect choice to lead them.

Cons: Detours to Asia in each of the first two movies aside, the movies are all about Gotham City, and bringing Washington into the picture, in the form of federal agents, might detract from that a little. Also, with every comic book series seemingly headed for the big screen these days, Warner Bros. might want to save Ms. Waller for a Suicide Squad movie.

How I'd do it: Waller and a group of soldiers show up at Jim Gordon's office, telling him that Gotham City police aren't equipped to handle a criminal like Batman, he's too well-equipped and he's already shown (as far as everyone but Batman and Gordon are concerned) that he doesn't mind killing cops.

Casting Guesses: CCH Pounder voiced the animated Amanda Waller, and since she looks the part as well, I have a tough time imagining anyone else.

Verdict: With no supernatural abilities and an easy entrance into the story, I'd say she's an excellent fit. Really, if there's federal involvement in the hunt for Batman in "Batman 3," for lack of a better title, I'd be disappointed if we didn't see at least a cameo Amanda Waller.

News & Notes

From around the web:

• The Weekly Crisis has a contest running to give away a copy of the Dark Knight Returns (entries are due, I think, by August 12th, mostly only open to the US & Canada). It's one of the best Batman comics ever, so if you haven't read it, it's worth entering (or buy it yourself if you don't feel lucky). There are other contests going on there as well, and it's a cool comics blog in general, so it's worth checking out.


• joblo.com gives us the odds of seeing various villains. I think they're way too optimistic on Harley and way too pessimistic on the Riddler, but maybe that's just me.


• That article points to previous joblo.com piece listing 10 villains worth considering, which I liked a little better.

That's pretty much it for news, almost everything out there right now is covering the Johnny Depp Riddler, Angelina Jolie or Maggie Gyllenhaal Catwoman, or Philip Seymour Hoffman Penguin rumors. And speaking of Mr. Cobblepot, the Penguin poll is still up on the right. I'm surprised at the lack of love for Philip Seymour Hoffman so far, but there's plenty of time left for him to catch up.

As always, I'm open to requests. I'm picking bad guys at random but if there's anyone you want to see, leave a comment.

Killer Croc

Waylon Jones was born with a condition that made his skin scaly, tough, and green. Ridiculed as a child, he grew up to be very big and very strong, and began wrestling crocodiles under the name Killer Croc. He headed to Gotham, deciding that crime was a better way to make a buck. He's been a thief, a mob enforcer, and he briefly ran his own criminal organization, which was odd since he's never been shown to be all that bright. Recently, his medical condition has been portrayed as progressive, slowly turning not just his skin, but his whole body and even his mind into that of a reptile. At this point in the comic books, he's usually shown as a reptilian monster living in the sewers of Gotham City.

Pros: Big scary dumb guys can make for some cool fight scenes.

Cons: The crocodile-man aspect of the character doesn't fit in the movie Gotham. And big scary dumb guys aren't as interesting from a storytelling point of view. With the Joker, Scarecrow, and Two-Face, three guys Batman can easily best in a toe-to-toe fight, the folks behind the movies have shown a preference for characters who are psychological threats more than physical ones.

How I'd do it: You can't make him actually turn into a crocodile, and probably can't even have him green, but I'm sure there's a real skin condition out there that could be used to make a movie Killer Croc frightening to look at. But he's too simple a character to really base a movie around, but like Firefly he'd make a decent villain for a side plot.

Casting Guesses: Michael Clarke Duncan seems to be the go-to actor for huge muscular guys. And he is huge and muscular (and a good actor, too).

Verdict: He could appear, but it would be next to impossible to base a whole movie around Killer Croc.

Bane

Bane was introduced in the 1990s at the height of the comic collecting boom that turned comic book creators into millionaires and celebrities, and later almost ruined the industry. He was one of the central characters of the Batman story Knightfall which was wildly popular, but in hindsight disliked by many fans including me. Telling Bane's story involves some heavy Knightfall spoilers, so proceed with caution.

Born inside a prison in a corrupt Caribbean island nation, Bane is sentenced to serve a life sentence for a murder committed by his dead father. With nothing to do but train, fight, and read, he share's Batman's obsessive dedication to better himself. He's forced to participate in a trial of an experimental drug known as Venom which gives its user superhuman strength. Eventually he escapes the prison, bringing his Venom and for some reason a luchador mask with him, and he decides to test himself against the best man the world has to offer, Batman. Unusual for a Batman villain, he attacks patiently and tactically instead of flamboyantly. His strategy is to break every inmate out of Arkham Asylum, forcing Batman to work around the clock to bring in psychotic criminals like the Mad Hatter. Then, only after Batman has worn himself out, does Bane strike. And Bane whips Batman's ass. Badly. He breaks Batman's back, leaving Bruce Wayne paralyzed. And that's where the story goes off the rails, as far as I'm concerned. Eventually, he's defeated, obviously, and Wayne walks again.

Subsequent stories have gotten Bane off the Venom, robbing him of his superhuman strength, and ignored his formerly brilliant mind, taking away the only things that made him interesting. He briefly teamed up with Ra's al Ghul, had a thing for Talia, and at one point thought Thomas Wayne was his real biological father, but he's been turned into a mindless thug who reminds everyone that he's the man who "broke the Bat," but poses no real threat anymore, and only pops back up again to capitalize on his popularity from the Knightfall.

Pros: Knightfall, as I said, was hugely popular, and even though I only liked parts of Bane in it, he has many devoted fans. The idea of someone who can be a physical and mental match for Batman is nice, since most of his enemies are one or the other.

Cons: He's a big strong guy in a luchador mask. That works ok in comics, but picturing that guy walking around in the movie version of Gotham is... odd. He also appeared in Batman & Robin as Poison Ivy's muscle, though he didn't speak and aside from the name, the venom, and the luchador mask, had nothing to do with the comic book character. And as I mentioned in my thoughts on Poison Ivy, anybody from that movie is a hard sell because it was just dreadful.

How I'd do it: You can keep his origin unchanged, although it might be fun to have him grow up in the prison Bruce Wayne spent time in in Batman Begins, but you might have to ditch the luchador mask. And the venom won't work, though he can certainly be on all kinds of steroids. The Knightfall storyline can be heavily modified to work for where the story of Batman has to progress. Obviously, breaking Batman's back and leaving him paralyzed would be far too slow-moving a story for one movie. But Bane could come to Gotham, taking out Batman in exchange for control of the mafia. He doesn't kill Batman obviously, but he defeats him, very publicly, leaving Batman broken, physically and psychologically. Bruce decides to give it all up, that he's found an enemy he can't beat. The people of Gotham, still hating him for the events at the end of The Dark Knight, celebrate Batman's defeat, making Bruce's decision to quit even easier. But with Bane in control of crime in Gotham, things get worse than they ever were. The people of Gotham, and eventually Bruce as well, reconsider, and Batman comes back better than ever to defeat Bane and redeem himself to his city.

Casting Guesses: The Rock? He's charismatic and physically big enough, but I'm not sure he can play a cold, calculating villain. Vin Diesel is kinda short and can't act. Maybe there's some huge wrestler somewhere who's perfect for it, but I'm not a wrestling fan.

UPDATE: Tom Hardy will be playing Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. See this page to read all about Bane.

Verdict: It could happen, but I hope it doesn't. Everyone expects the next movie to focus on Batman's redemption, and the Knightfall-ish storyline above fits that idea well. That version is horribly predictable, and while professional writers could do a better job, I don't think they can deviate too much from it without turning Bane into something else entirely.

Talia al Ghul

Talia, daughter of Batman Begins villain Ra's al Ghul, is one of Batman's great love interests. Just Ra's al Ghul was designed as a James Bond-style enemy for Batman, Talia is not unlike a Bond girl. She's beautiful, exotic, deadly, and hopelessly attracted to Batman. In the comic books, Ra's al Ghul is so impressed with Batman in their initial encounters, he decides that Batman is worthy of his daughter's hand in marriage. Though Batman turned down the offer, recent comic book stories have involved Damian Wayne, conceived during Batman and Talia's time together.

Talia has had a number of different roles in the DC comics universe: Batman's love interest, replacement for Ra's al Ghul, head of Lex Luthor's company LexCorp, leader of an organization of supervillains, and mother to Damian. She's a skilled martial artist, a ruthless businesswoman, a brilliant strategist, and irresistibly attractive.

Pros: Bringing in Ra's al Ghul's daughter would make a nice callback to Batman Begins, Talia would make a nice replacement for Rachel Dawes as Bruce/Batman's love interest, and her lack of supernatural abilities fits the style of the movies.

Cons: She's not that well known outside of comic books. She had a few appearances in the Batman animated series but wasn't on the Adam West TV series or any previous movie versions. So it would be difficult to get movie fans excited about Talia's appearance. There's also a problem with tying too much of a third movie with Batman Begins, when The Dark Knight has been so much more popular that we'd have to assume many new fans might go to see a Batman 3 without having seen the first.

Another hurdle is that Talia is believed to be in the Justice League movie that at one time was supposed to be already filming by now, but we probably won't see it until 2011 at the earliest. I'm sure the folks at Warner Bros. would prefer not to see Talia in both movies, since whichever one comes out first could ruin the public's opinion of the character.

How I'd do it: A beautiful, exotic, and fabulously wealthy Talia Head (an alias she's used from time to time) appears in Gotham, running in the same social circles as Bruce Wayne. Though Bruce has no idea that she's Ra's al Ghul's daughter, she knows that he is Batman, though she can't prove it or reveal herself as the new leader of the League of Shadows. Still, she wants revenge for Batman stopping her father's plans, so she allies herself with one of Gotham's crazies, providing financing for their schemes and, without revealing Bruce's identity, advice on how to take advantage of his weaknesses.

Casting Guesses: The only name I recall for a casting guess from someone else is Jennifer Connelly. She's a lovely and talented actress, but I'd prefer someone else. Going with the Bond Girl theme, I'd prefer a relative unknown, like how the next James Bond movie has cast Olga Kurylenko. I like the idea of her having an unusual accent, and maybe even being some non-European ethnicity. Theoretically Liam Neeson would be her father, but... I'm not an expert on mixed-race people but I assume it'd be plausible as long as she wasn't really dark-skinned. Some of the most beautiful women in the world are from the middle east, and we almost never see them in Hollywood movies. So I have to assume that somewhere out there is a talented, gorgeous unknown that would be perfect.

Verdict: That's the best I could come up with for a plot idea, and the latter half of it was pretty terrible, but you can see how easily she'd fit into the movies. Although I can think of business-related reasons not to include her, based on the character alone I think she's a great fit in Christopher Nolan's Gotham City.

Poison Ivy

Pamela Isley is a botanist who at some point becomes poisonous and is skilled at manipulating men through sexual attraction. That is about all that's consistent about Poison Ivy's characterization over the years in the comic books. In some versions, she has the ability to control plants. In some, she emits toxic fungus spores wherever she goes. Sometimes she's an environmental terrorist, sometimes she just wants to be left alone with plants. She's shown contempt for all people in some versions, but other times she's partnered with Harley Quinn. Sometimes she's able to mess with men's heads because she's developed pheromones, sometimes it's a byproduct of her poisonousness. So there's a variety of ways to go with this character for a Dark Knight sequel while still being faithful to the comic books.

(image stolen from Phil Noto)

Pros: To be completely superficial, Poison Ivy has to be a smoking hot redhead, and that's never bad.

Cons: Her appearance in Batman & Robin is a huge negative. Uma Thurman wasn't all that bad, but it was a poorly written part and an all-around terrible film, and the public still associates the Poison Ivy character with that movie. And like many villains, her more supernatural powers don't fit in the realistic universe of the film series.

How I'd do it: Bruce Wayne becomes infatuated with Pamela Isley, improbably attractive scientist, while Batman battles an eco-terrorist using the alias Poison Ivy. No poisonousness, no pheromones, no plant powers.

Casting Guesses: Christina Hendricks is perfect for the part. She was wonderfully wicked as Saffron on a couple episodes of Firefly, and I can't take my eyes off her on Mad Men. In fact, if Poison Ivy is chosen and someone other than Christina Hendricks plays the part, I'd be pretty upset.

Verdict: Not impossible, but not very likely. The plotline I imagined turns her into a redheaded Catwoman who likes plants instead of cats. In that case, I'd just rather see Catwoman. And so would most people, I think.

News & Notes

Some notes from around the web:

• As I mentioned in my lengthy post on the Riddler, Johnny Depp is rumored to be cast in that part. But a weirder rumor is that Catwoman is set to appear, and will be played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, which seems hard to believe.


• Bam! Kapow! has a gallery of women besides Angelina Jolie (or Maggie Gyllenhaal) who they think could play Catwoman, though they seem to think of Selina as a blonde like Michelle Pfeiffer, while she's always been a brunette to me. A few of the images are kinda racy, so click at your own risk when your boss/wife isn't looking here.


• The A-Train's Pullbox has a very lengthy article on how Robin might work in Batman movies. Even though the director and star have separately said that it won't happen, it's fun to think about.

The first poll here is wrapped up, and 55% of you say the Joker shouldn't be played by another actor, 31% say it would be ok for just a cameo, and 10% wouldn't mind re-casting him completely. A new poll is already up about the Penguin.

Doctor Phosphorus was the last of the requests I had, so let me know in the comments if there's anyone in particular you'd like to see. Check the list to see who's been covered so far.

Doctor Phosphorus

In an origin that could only come from a comic book, Dr. Alex Sartorius is touring a nuclear power plant he helped finance when the core explodes. Sartorius takes cover behind some sand but the explosion blasts five million "slivers" of sand into his body, but... well this can only be explained with a direct quote: "but not -- hee hee -- ordinary sand! No! Radioactive sand -- blasted upward one level on the atomic scale! Atomic number fifteen -- silicon -- became number fifteen -- phosphorus!" I'm no physicist, but I'm pretty sure that's not how radiation and atomic numbers work.

Doctor Phosphorus was suggested by First in the comments, and when I said I wasn't that familiar with the character, First mentioned that he loves to let people know that he "burns when exposed to air." And that he does. He only mentioned it three times in his two issue origin story (which also introduced Silver St. Cloud, one of Batman's long term love interests), but it still felt repetitive. But as you may have guessed, Doctor Phosphorus's power is to burn when exposed to air.

Anyway, he blamed Gotham City for voting not to fund the nuclear plant, forcing the construction to cut corners which lead to the explosion. So he took out his revenge by swimming in a reservoir, poisoning Gotham's water supply with phosphorus. In the end of his first story, Doctor Phosphorus takes a long fall and Batman, despite a 40 year history of villains returning from the dead and/or escaping from prison, happily assumes that the Doctor Phosphorus problem is solved without bothering to look for a body, and goes off to hit on Silver St. Cloud.

Pros: He burns when exposed to air!

Cons: He burns when exposed to air!

How I'd do it: The closest I can think of is a guy with radiation sickness blaming Batman or Bruce Wayne for whatever accident is going to kill him. But, sadly, he wouldn't burn when exposed to air because that's far too fantastical for these movies.

Casting Guesses: Dr. Sartorius has one of those weird thin mustaches that no real people have except for John Waters, so the only actor I can think of is Matt Dillon with his There's Something About Mary 'stache.

Verdict: Sorry, but no. Doctor Phosphorus could've fit for last week's parade of never-gonna-happens, but I didn't get a chance to read up on him until now.