News & Notes

• Nicolas Cage wants to play a Batman villain. This would make Batman very sad. Or at least me very sad. (image stolen from the ISB's many emotions of Batman)


• And, wait, the next villain has been found, but he's not Nic Cage:

Don't forget to vote in the Catwoman poll over to the right, it's still very close.

News & Notes

• Project Rooftop unveiled the winners of their Batman 2.0 contest, Anjin Anhut's winning entry is pictured above. Plenty of other cool looking entries are over on PR's site.


• MTV's Splash Page lists some villains they'd like to see in Batman 3, avoiding the obvious ones like The Riddler. Interesting little read, and it even includes someone I didn't cover here (Nocturna). But if they really think they'll see Doctor Phosphorus (who burns when exposed to air!), they're crazy.


• Forgot to mention it when the first round was going on, but Comics Should Be Good is having a Tournament of DC/Marvel characters to coincide with March Madness. Amusingly, given recent comic events, Batman is facing off against Darkseid in the seet sixteen. Head on over to the site to vote in the character polls.

Don't forget the Catwoman poll off to the right, no one's opened up any kind of lead so far, so it's wide open.

Catwoman Poll #2

The first poll is done, with Michelle Monaghan just barely edging Eva Green, 38% to 35%. There may be room in the final poll to add some of the top 2nd place finishers, so we may not have seen the last of Eva Green, but no one else in the first round got more than 3 votes. I did expect Monaghan and Green to be the top two, but I thought someone like Thandie Newton might finish a respectable third. On the sidebar to the right, if you scroll down a bit, you can see the full results of the first poll for the next week.

Anyway, on to this week, ten more candidates from the giant list:

• Asia Argento
  You may remember her from: xXx, Land of the Dead
  
  The name didn't ring a bell when I saw her mentioned, and honestly it sounded sort of like she was... an adult film actress. Someone telling me she was in xXx didn't really clear that up. But she is a legitimate actress, but I haven't seen any of the movies she's done. So I have nothing to say about her. Let me know in the comments if I'm missing out on a great choice.


• Drew Barrymore
  You may remember her from: E.T., many movies since
  
  I honestly might not watch Batman 3 if it featured Drew Barrymore as Catwoman. Nothing against her, but she couldn't be more wrong for the part.


• Eliza Dushku
  You may remember her from: Buffy, Tru Calling, Dollhouse, Bring It On
  
  I absolutely love her, but I'm not sure she's that great of an actress. The fact that she's played some characters that share some traits with Selina, and played them well, might make me look past it, but when you're sharing the screen with Christian Bale and Gary Oldman and Michael Caine, you have to bring more than I think she's capable of.


• Shalom Harlow
  You may remember her from: I have no idea
  
  I'd never heard of her. I don't recall where I saw her name mentioned, but honestly going off her pictures on the imdb, she looks more like a Talia al Ghul type than a fit for Catwoman.


• Angelina Jolie
  You may remember her from: Being one of the most famous people on earth.
  
  She's played Catwoman-ish roles before, Wanted being the most recent example. The most commonly voiced concerns are that she's too obvious a choice, and that Selina Kyle and Catwoman both having her distinctive lips would be a dead giveaway.


• Diane Kruger
  You may remember her from: The National Treasure movies, Troy.
  
  I haven't seen her in much, but she's never seemed particularly athletic or strong or any of that, so that's my concern.


• Rachel Nichols
  You may remember her from: The last season of Alias, P2, as one of the secretaries in Charlie Wilson's War
  You probably don't remember her from: A series called The Inside that aired on Fox for about 6 weeks on Fox one summer before it was cancelled. But it was really good!
  
  She did some action stuff on Alias, and was ok at it. And she's gorgeous. I'm not sure she's that great an actress though. She's about to get a lot more famous as the Baroness in this summer's G.I. Joe movie, so we'll see how that goes, I guess.


• Hillary Swank
  You may remember her from:: Million Dollar Baby, Boys Don't Cry
  
  She's worked with director Christopher Nolan before in 2002's Insomnia, and she's been an ass kicking lady before in 1994's The Next Karate Kid. Recent episodes of The Office notwithstanding, I've never found her to be all that attractive. On the scale of movie stars, anyway. I'm sure I'd find her staggeringly beautiful if I met her face to face, but she's on this list for talent, not for looks. And I'd kinda like both. I hope that doesn't make me a horrible person.


• Liv Tyler
  You may remember her from: Lord of the Rings, The Incredible Hulk, Aerosmith videos
  
  She's easy on the eyes and seems like a nice lady, but she never struck me as athletic at all, or as particularly good at the whole acting thing.


• Olivia Wilde (pictured above)
  You may remember her from: House, The O.C.
  
  I really like her on House, but she's also rail-thin, and I think Batman would crack her like an egg. Also, her eyes are so striking that they might cause the same problem as Angelina Jolie's lips. But after hunting for a good, slightly Catwoman-ish image to go with this post, I'm kinda thinking that all might not matter. She's just insanely good looking.

The poll's up to the right, voting will be open for a week, and the winner will advance to a final poll once these are all done.

News & Notes

A nifty teaser image from hobo123.

• IESB is claiming that the less than stellar box office performance of Watchmen means no more R-rated comic book movies from Warner Bros., the same studio for all DC comics movies, including Batman. While this likely won't have any impact on the next movie (Batman Begins and The Dark Knight were both PG-13), it might make an adaptation of The Dark Knight Returns (something that has been mentioned from time to time) slightly trickier, since it's quite a bit more violent and adult-themed than your average Batman story.


• Gabe Medina at BamKapow wants to see the Joker win sometime.

There's still time left in the Catwoman poll over to the right. As I'm writing this, it's a tie for first.

News & Notes

A nifty poster from this guy (though he didn't put it on the page I linked to... there's still some nifty Batman-art there though).

• Io9 has a clip from Super Capers that features Adam West and the old school Batmobile. And I think that's the guy who played Jimmy Olsen on Lois and Clark.


• Film.com looks at some lady villains.


• And in the spirit of Battle for the Cowl, the current event in Batman comics, Bam! Kapow! looks at how the cowl would actually fit on some folks.

And don't forget about the Catwoman poll over to the left. Two contestants are neck and neck.

News & Notes

Last night's South Park (which, as always, has some spicy language) had some fun with the recent run of dark superhero movies, with plenty of nods to the Dark Knight and Watchmen. Plus the above scene with a nice reference to a famous Batman cover in the upper left. Elsewhere:

• Topless Robot includes Gotham City in its list of the worst comic book vacation destinations.


• The Rumpus interviews Batman movie producer Michael Uslan, with some insight not only on the current movies, but on some of the older ones, and an attempt to explain the awful Joel Schumacher movies.


• Bam! Kapow! has a lengthy conversation (with NSFW language) about the next Batman movie villain, and somehow decides on Mr. Freeze?


• The Batmobile from 1989's Batman will be up for auction this weekend in Vegas, so if anyone insanely rich is reading this, you better hustle. (also, send me money)


• Rotten Tomatoes has a list of the top 10 "superhero hookups" in movies, and since it's one of those annoying lists that makes you go click through over and over again to get to the end, here's a link straight to the only Batman part.

Don't forget to vote in the first round of Catwoman poll to the right, read up here for my thoughts on the first contestants, or here for the full list of who'll be involved, in case you want to add to the list.

Catwoman Poll #1

So I'm kicking off the Catwoman polls with a selection of ten actresses from the list of names. It's over there to the right. All you're voting on here is which of these six would be the best. Odds are pretty good that your favorite will not be on the list. The winners of each round of polling will face off in a final poll to hopefully determine your choice for Catwoman.

I thought I'd include my thoughts about these names as well. First, I should tell you that I think the actress should have these four qualities:

• Sex Appeal: Catwoman kinda has to be sexy, she wears a skin tight suit and is a love interest for Batman. Kathy Bates is a wonderful actress, but shouldn't be playing Catwoman.


• Elegance: Selina Kyle is generally portrayed as a part of Gotham's high society, and should turn every head in a room full of the city's elite. Generally, she shouldn't be the girl next door, or the kind of girl you don't bring home to mom. She should seem like she belongs in that world (even if it bores her).


• Toughness: If she doesn't look like she can hang in a fight with Batman, she's not much of a villain.


• Real Acting Ability: There might be hundreds of women who look the part perfectly, but I actually would rather have Kathy Bates than a wooden actress.

So now here are this week's candidates:

• Elisha Cuthbert
  You may remember her from: 24, The Girl Next Door
  
  Oh, how I'd like to see her in that costume, but as much as I hate to say it, I don't think she's much of an actress.


• Eva Green
  You may remember her from: Casino Royale, The Golden Compass.
  
  Bond girls tend to be sexy and elegant, and Eva's no exception. She's a good actress, too. I'm not sure I can see her kicking Batman's ass though.


• Sienna Guillory
  You may remember her from: I had no idea who she was, but I suspect she was suggested because of her part in Resident Evil: Apocalypse.
  
  I can see where whoever mentioned her was coming from, based on pictures of her character from Resident Evil, but having not seen the movie, or remembering her from any role, I can't comment on anything else. Let me know in the comments if you remember her and she turns out to be either perfect or awful.


• Jaime King
  You may remember her from: Sin City, The Spirit
  
  Gorgeous, obviously, but I've never been fully convinced of her acting ability, and she doesn't seem physical enough for the role.


• Keira Knightley
  You may remember her from: You probably know who she is.
  
  I've never found her as attractive as others seem to, but I won't deny that she's a looker, and elegant. My complaint here would be that she's too thin, it looks like she could be broken in two rather easily.


• Shirley Manson
  You may remember her from: Singing for the band Garbage, Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles.
  
  She entered herself in this competition, telling a reporter a while back that she'd love to play Catwoman. She's only had the one acting gig, and she's playing a robot from the future, so her performance is intentionally robotic. Not the greatest resume to judge her by. But I'd rather not have a rookie in this kind of part.


• Rachel McAdams
  You may remember her from: Mean Girls, Wedding Crashers, The Notebook
  
  She fails, for me, on the elegance one. I don't mean that as an insult, she just seems like the girl next door. Catwoman shouldn't seem as sweet as Rachel McAdams always does.


• Rose McGowan
  You may remember her from: Scream, Charmed, Planet Terror
  
  She'd make a better Poison Ivy, I think, but not a terrible Catwoman. She's borderline on the elegance test, and she doesn't have great range as an actress, but this kind of part is right up her alley.


• Michelle Monaghan
  You may remember her from: Gone Baby Gone, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Eagle Eye or Mission Impossible 3.
  
  She's got the sex appeal and the elegance and the acting, I'd sort of question the toughness, though. I definitely wouldn't be upset if she were cast.


• Thandie Newton (pictured)
  You may remember her from: Mission Impossible 2, Crash, RocknRolla.
  
  She's classy and gorgeous, and I think she can handle the part. Again, I'm not sure I could see her posing much of a threat in a fight.

Vote early, vote often, and check back in a week for the results, and for the next set of ten. Oh, and it's not too late to suggest more names for Catwoman, the list is already big, but I'm up for adding anyone I've missed.

Casting Catwoman

I've mentioned Catwoman casting more than once, and even had a poll a while back (wasn't very conclusive though, "someone else" was the winner). So I decided to try to come up with a list of every name I've heard associated with the role in order to start a series of polls to come up with your favorite(s).

A few notes:

• The majority of these aren't even rumors, just someone on a website somewhere said they thought she should play Catwoman.


• I don't in any way endorse these selections, in fact I think about half of them were suggested by guys (or girls) with a crush on an actress with no regard for how she'd be as Catwoman


• If your favorite isn't listed, please leave a comment so she can be included in the polling!


• Names are linked to their imdb pages, cause I had no idea who some of these women were.


• Forgive any typos, this is a really long list. If I do this for other characters, it should be shorter.

Alexandra Maria Lara
Ali Larter
Alicia Keys
Amy Adams
Angelina Jolie
Anne Hathaway
Asia Argento
Audrey Tautou
Beyonce Knowles
Carla Gugino
Cate Blanchett
Charlize Theron
Cher
Ciara
Claire Danes
Connie Nielsen
Diane Kruger
Drew Barrymore
Elisha Cuthbert
Eliza Dushku
Elizabeth Banks
Emily Blunt
Emily Deschanel
Emma Thompson
Eva Green
Evangeline Lilly
Gemma Arterton
Grace Park
Gretchen Mol
Halle Berry
Hillary Swank
Jaime King
Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Connelly
Jennifer Garner
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Jessica Alba
Jessica Biel
Julianne Moore
Kate Beckinsale
Kate Winslet
Keira Knightley
Kelly Hu
Keri Russell
Liv Tyler
Lucy Liu
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Marion Cotillard
Marley Shelton
Megan Fox
Melissa George
Michelle Monaghan
Missy Peregrym
Natalie Portman
Olivia Wilde
Queen Latifah
Rachel Blanchard
Rachel McAdams
Rachel Nichols
Rachel Weisz
Rebecca Romijn
Reese Witherspoon
Rhona Mitra
Rosario Dawson
Rose McGowan
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Scarlett Johansson
Shalom Harlow
Shannen Doherty
Shannyn Sossamon
Shirley Manson
Sienna Guillory
Sienna Miller
Thandie Newton
Tilda Swinton
Tricia Helfer
Uma Thurman
Ziyi Zhang
Zooey Deschanel

News & Notes

Above is the logo for the next DC direct-to-DVD animated movie, based on Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness' Superman/Batman comic (which was pretty decent).

MTV has a little clip from the extras on the Batman Anthology, a Blu-ray set of the Michael Keaton/Val Kilmer/George Clooney Batman movies, about the evolution of the costume:

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

News & Notes

Forgot to mention earlier this week that Battle for the Cowl #1 came out (on the cover, that's (L-to-R) Wildcat, Huntress, Nightwing, Batwoman, Catwoman, and Damien Wayne in the top right... Tim Drake is the focus of the issue, but isn't pictured for some reason). This is the follow-up to Batman: R.I.P. and Final Crisis, where Gotham City deals with the absence of its hero. It was pretty good, though if you've been keeping up with the Robin, Nightwing, or Birds of Prey titles, you'll find it irritating that the past few months of plot in all three books seem to have been ignored.

And MTV has a trailer for the upcoming Arkham Asylum game, which looks pretty cool:

MTV Shows

News & Notes

• Living Between Wednesdays looks at Atlanta Thrasher's goalie Kari Lehtonen's nerdy hockey masks, including the above Joker one.


• Topless Robot lists the 8 oddest Batman costumes.


• And Mad Men's Jon Hamm does a pretty good Lex Luthor (occasional Batman villain, but this is pretty focused on the Superman movies, including the awful Superman IV):

"Lex Luthor Bailout" with Jon Hamm - watch more funny videos

News & Notes

Frank Quitely and Grant Morrison, best known for their award winning work on All-Star Superman, will be the creative team for the upcoming Batman & Robin title this summer. Some initial art above, more can be seen at CBR.

And in awards news (I thought we were done with that after the Oscars, but I guess not), the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror released their Saturn Award nominations, with The Dark Knight up for 11 awards.

News & Notes

Riddler by OctaviusINC.

• 2011 has been the date floating around for Batman 3 for a while, but Batman on Film is now guessing 2012.


• The popular and likely untrue rumor of the day yesterday was that Christian Bale's reputation was so damaged by that outburst a while back that his Terminator co-star would be taking over the role of Batman. Supposedly Sam Worthington, between Terminator Salvation and Avatar, is set to be the next big thing, but most people have never heard of him. Plus, the Dark Knight made a billion freaking dollars, there's no way anyone wants to change things unless they have to.

Comicbook.com thinks that Batman today owes a lot to the campy 60s Batman TV series.

• Batman comic writer Grant Morrison gave an interesting interview to the Big Issue, and looks extra creepy in the picture, too.


• And in a follow-up to yesterday's real-life Batman article, some Australian police are having major problems with their Batman-like utility belts. (6.8kg is just shy of 15 pounds, if you're not metric-literate)

News & Notes

Malicore presents Charlize Theron as Poison Ivy.

Only bit of news, as Watchmen (pretty good, not great) continues to dominate the comic movie headlines, is this interview with Paul Zehr, the author of Becoming Batman: The Possibility of a Superhero:

So, moment of truth: Can a mere mortal become Batman?

It is possible. But it's not just a three-month training period and away you go. I estimate it would take a long, long, long time [15 to 18 years].

There's plenty more in the article.

News & Notes

Another fine poster from Fan Art Exhibit.

• A little while back, I linked to a story that, should Christopher Nolan decide not to direct Batman 3, that the studio had settled on Zack Snyder (Watchmen, 300) as a backup choice. IGN asked Snyder about it:
  
  


• Alan Moore is doing press, mostly to trash the Watchmen movie and Hollywood in general, and in this Salon interview he had some things to say about his classic Batman story, The Killing Joke, which he's never seemed very proud of:
  

  I've got no problem with nasty scenes as long as they are for a purpose. There are some nasty scenes in "Watchmen," but "Watchmen" is an intelligent meditation on the nature of power so it is actually talking about something which is relevant to the world in which we all live. Whereas in "The Killing Joke," what you've got is a story about Batman and the Joker, and while it did draw interesting parallels between these two fictional characters, at the end of the day that's all they are, fictional characters. They're not even fictional characters that have any bearing on anyone you're likely to meet in reality.

  
  There's a little more on The Killing Joke, check out the interview for the rest.

News & Notes

El Gato presents Eva Green as Talia al Ghul.

Not much going on in the comics movie world that isn't Watchmen-related right now, but word broke the other day that Leonardo DiCaprio will star in Inception, Christopher Nolan's first post-Dark Knight movie (and first movie in a while to not star Christian Bale). I'm sure it'll be interesting. And of course a few people have pointed out that many directors like to work with actors they know (consider Nolan's choice of Bale and Michael Caine for The Prestige), so they've started to think of villains DiCaprio could play. For what it's worth, I wouldn't completely mind him as Hush, The Riddler, or Black Mask. But he wouldn't be my first choice for any of them.

News & Notes

Evangeline Lilly is photoshopped into a Catwoman suit by Adenjo in the above poster, which got me thinking of a new thing to do. Sometime soon, and starting with Catwoman (since she's got the biggest list by far), I'm going to start posting lists of every actor I've found suggested anywhere for a villain role and bring back the polls. I did run a Catwoman poll a long time ago, but "someone else" beat out all the actresses I had listed. I've got over 50 names right now for Catwoman, so that'll have to be split into multiple polls, which I'll let run for a while. I'm happy to accept your ideas to add to the list too, so leave a comment if you've got someone in mind. Anyway, a little bit of news today:

• Scott Mendelson, while making fun of a weird airbrushing job on a magazine cover of the naturally lovely Anne Hathaway, is hoping to start a rumor that she's going to play Harley Quinn.


• Former Batman and Catwoman comic writer Ed Brubaker (and current writer of Daredevil, Captain America, Criminal, and Incognito) is writing a live action web series called Angel of Death, starring Zoe Bell (from the Death Proof segment of Grindhouse). An episode is coming out apparently every day for a while, and the first two have been pretty fun. Just to note, it has some R-rated language and violence, but so far it's pretty good. Click here to watch.

News & Notes

Reposting a fan-made poster, both cause it's one of my favorites and because I finally figured out who made it. Nice work, tosgos!

• Blog@Newsarama has some insight on future plans for Batman in the comics (this joke will only make sense if you followed Batman R.I.P. and/or Final Crisis).


• If you haven't been keeping up on Batman: The Brave and the Bold on the Cartoon Network, you're missing out on some wacky good time Batman action. io9 loved it more than I did,, but this week's episode that featured the Red Hood may have been my favorite so far.