The Dark Knight Rises

TheMutt92

New member
This could either be really good, or really bad...

http://www.nolanfans.com/2009/11/17/batman-3-rumors-to-end-january-2010/

There?s some scuttlebutt that in early 2010, Warner Bros. and Chris Nolan will finalize the plan for BATMAN 3, according to a solid and longtime BOF source. Whether there will be an announcement or not remains to be seen.

Our guy told BOF that in his opinion, the longer we don?t here a Nolan/B3 announcement in 2010, the less likely it is that the director will return. (I don?t know if I necessarily agree with that since I?m of the belief that Chris has already signed on.)

We also have to consider that Christopher Nolan?s Inception is wrapping production in about two weeks. Is Warner Bros. going to announce a third Batman film before, during, or after the (hopefully awesome) marketing campaign for Inception?

Regardless, our source also confirmed the obvious ? there?s going to be a BATMAN 3 with or without Nolan. And although they?re operating under the assumption that he will return, they do have their ducks in a row ? just in case.
 

Peru1936

New member
I think Nolan will return. It wouldn't be fair to walk away from an ending like that of The Dark Knight and not return to finish the story.

After I watched the film, I was thinking of potential ideas for the third. As Batman is now on the run, he'll definitely be hunted and demonized. A bounty will be put out on him, and since he's a tough nut to crack, it'll take some like-skilled people to at least track him down, let alone take him down.

I think an excellent choice for a villian is Deathstroke. I don't really want to see Riddler or Penguin. I liked that they stuck to lesser known villians in Batman Begins. I'd like to see Deathstroke as the one hired to get The Batman, and perhaps a lead man running the show behind the show - Joker from prison, perhaps, a la Silence of the Lambs?

VillainsUniteddeathstroke.png
 

DocWhiskey

Well-known member
Deathstroke and Black Mask seem like a great choice for Batman 3.

And I'm sure Nolan will return. He pulled the same "I'm not coming back" angle after Batman Begins. He just seems to do that. When Begins came out, it was made public that he signed on for 3 films, so it always confused us Batfans when he said he might not go on.

The hardest thing is trying to make a film that measures up to The Dark Knight. I mean, TDK was so rare. It was magic in a bottle. I doubt Nolan could do it again. I'm sure he'll make a damn good Batman movie, but I don't think the film as a whole will be as good nor will the villain measure up to Ledger's Joker.
 

Cole

New member
DocWhiskey said:
Deathstroke and Black Mask seem like a great choice for Batman 3.

And I'm sure Nolan will return. He pulled the same "I'm not coming back" angle after Batman Begins. He just seems to do that. When Begins came out, it was made public that he signed on for 3 films, so it always confused us Batfans when he said he might not go on.

The hardest thing is trying to make a film that measures up to The Dark Knight. I mean, TDK was so rare. It was magic in a bottle. I doubt Nolan could do it again. I'm sure he'll make a damn good Batman movie, but I don't think the film as a whole will be as good nor will the villain measure up to Ledger's Joker.
I think it's almost inevitable that a 3rd movie won't replicate the magic-in-the-bottle that was 'The Dark Knight'..........but I think Nolan still has it in him to make another excellent film, and I think there are so many ardent, loyal fans of 'The Dark Knight' that they'd all probably eat right out of Nolan's hand.

If you have a group of loyal, highly anticipated, extraordinarily excited fans of a franchise - like Transformers 2 or the Twilight movie that came out last night - I think they are more apt to enjoy themselves. Because I think Transfmormers 2 was pretty bad, yet the movie has its fans.
 

YouNeverKnow

New member
And regarding the so-called "magic in a bottle" of TDK, I personally enjoy Batman Begins more than TDK. So I'd like to see him continue simply because I did not see TDK beat Begins, and I did not care. Both are extremely enjoyable, original, and emotional movies and I see no reason that the trend won't continue if Nolan is behind the wheel.
 

DocWhiskey

Well-known member
YouNeverKnow said:
Both are extremely enjoyable, original, and emotional movies and I see no reason that the trend won't continue if Nolan is behind the wheel.

I'm sure it will.

Mainly because I'd like to see a 3rd installment of a superhero franchise that doesn't stink.

And that's great you enjoyed BB more than TDK. But, TDK had an amazing performance from an actor that passed when the hype was getting started. Bittersweet. It made a billion dollars. And that's the type of thing that doesn't happen twice. At least in the same franchise.

I'm sure Nolan will make a great 3rd film *fingers crossed* but I highly doubt it will be as successful as TDK. Expectations will be disgustingly high. Indy 4 x 23. It'll be a disappointment in a lot of people's eyes. Even if it's good.
 

TheMutt92

New member
Weren't we suppose to have some sort of confirmation from Nolan last month? Oh, well... this is just as good...

http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/02/08...onathan-nolan-working-on-third-batman-script/

You’re going to be seeing this one everywhere today, so let’s get it out of the way quick. In a report about David Goyer leaving FlashForward, Nikki Finke pegs script duties on the third Batman movie as one of the primary reasons he walked away. The direct quote from Goyer was pretty vague (”As my feature projects have started ramping up again, I felt I was being pulled in too many directions”) and Finke spins that directly into a statement about Goyer and Jonathan Nolan writing Batman 3. (”Goyer’s feature career is really heating up, since he co-wrote Batman Begins, and penned the story for The Dark Knight, and is now writing the third Batman installment with Chris Nolan’s brother Jonah.”)

Without any further confirmation, don’t get too excited about that yet. Goyer has a lot of feature projects in the fire, and while Finke has had a lot of good info lately, this one sounds like she’s spinning a broad statement into something too specific. There may be work of some sort going on, but read this one as unsubstantiated for now.
 

Montana Smith

Active member
I keep hearing the rumour that the Joker's coming back for Batman 3. That just doesn't seem right - there's going to be immediate (and therefore likely unfavourable) comparisons with Heath Ledger. Surely they'll pick a new villain to avoid that issue, and some actors of Ledger's class to maintain the high standards of The Dark Knight, which, as DocWhiskey wrote earlier, was "magic in a bottle."
 

TheMutt92

New member
Montana Smith said:
I keep hearing the rumour that the Joker's coming back for Batman 3. That just doesn't seem right - there's going to be immediate (and therefore likely unfavourable) comparisons with Heath Ledger. Surely they'll pick a new villain to avoid that issue, and some actors of Ledger's class to maintain the high standards of The Dark Knight, which, as DocWhiskey wrote earlier, was "magic in a bottle."

The Joker dosn't need to come back. His mental effect on Batman in The Dark Knight is bigger than any further threat he could bring in a follow-up. Now if Ledger were still around I'd be all for the character's return, but sadly this is not to be. The Joker is the one responsible for character's such as the Riddler and Catwoman coming to Gotham.

Now if they were to go for another actor, I'd pick Joseph Gordon-Levitt. His uncanny resemblance to Ledger is almost scary, and the fact that he's working w/ Nolan on Inception dosn't hurt him either.
 

Dr Bones

New member
Joker is probably off due to obvious reasons.....

Two-Face is an obvious choice...perhaps overly so but could be good.

Scarecrow should've been better in BB and TDK but I think they made that charater pretty weak. The actor was distinctly average in these movies to the extent his name escapes me for the moment. The charatcer was weak in the movies too, so I'd be happy to be rid of him though he had potential as a main villain.

Some of the more cartoony villains need to be shelved...i.e penguin, riddler, Bane, Croc, Ivy and Mr Freeze. Much as I love em in the comics and cartoons I'd hate to see them done too serious and ruin the 3rd movie.

Dunno who they will plump for. My guess is a big villain but they then run the risk of overshadowing Batman/Bale which was what they purposely tried not to do in Begins but did with TDK.

Catwoman and Dent would be a nice choice. Not too cartoony and we avert the whole villain with powers or abilities beyond normal humans which would be out of step with the previous films.

That way Eckhart could return and they can get a decent Catwoman which is a role that a serious actress can get her claws into and make somethimg special as Ledger did with Joker.
 
Dr Bones said:
Joker is probably off due to obvious reasons.....

Two-Face is an obvious choice...perhaps overly so but could be good.

Scarecrow should've been better in BB and TDK but I think they made that charater pretty weak. The actor was distinctly average in these movies to the extent his name escapes me for the moment.


Cillian Murphy. And he's proven himself to be a very good actor. 28 Days Later and Sunshine are both good examples. Scarecrow has just been underdeveloped so far in the Nolanverse and that's not Murphy's fault. I'd like to see him brought back with some better development.
 

YouNeverKnow

New member
Lance Quazar said:
They will not resurrect Harvey Dent.

They will never recast the Joker.

Waitasec.

You say "resurrect" as if Dent has passed on. I think there's at least some evidence to support the fact that Two-Face at least could still be out there. Personally, I thought Two-Face got shortchanged screentime-wise, and I'd love to see him come back and wreak more havoc.


Now Nolan and Goyer admit to being heavily influenced by The Long Halloween, and they've already kind of fleshed out the Falcone and Maroni crime families. I say bring Carmine back (he most likely escaped from Arkham in Begins, right?) only with a more crazy bent, since Scarecrow messed him up. Add Sofia Gigante from both the Long Halloween and Dark Victory storylines as his right-hand girl and have them try to monopolize crime once more, only now using The Joker and other rogues as business models.

In this version, you could have The Penguin be a Danny DeVito-sized corrupt banker or something. Just a small dude with a vocal tic and a cold heart = The Penguin. I dunno. There's potential. Add in Talia Al Ghul or Catwoman or Silver St. Cloud as love interests, give Gordon some trouble dealing with his underlings, and bring Two-Face back to exact revenge in the third act and I would think that would be a nice tidy trilogy. Talia ties up the Ra's al Ghul aspect, the decline of the mob thread is pulled through and tied up, and Bruce getting over Rachel/learning to trust someone else (he told his identity to all three lady characters I mentioned in the comics) would be a pretty nice movie.

I also think they could lend credence to Robin, but I know that nobody involved wants to go there. Too bad. Robin is a great character and makes Bats who he is just as much as any high-tech gadgets.
 

Lance Quazar

Well-known member
YouNeverKnow said:
Waitasec.

You say "resurrect" as if Dent has passed on. I think there's at least some evidence to support the fact that Two-Face at least could still be out there. Personally, I thought Two-Face got shortchanged screentime-wise, and I'd love to see him come back and wreak more havoc.

Nolan said in an interview (somewhere, don't recall) that Harvey is definitely, definitively dead.

He has way too much integrity and intelligence as a film maker to cheat and say he wasn't "really dead." Don't hold your breath.

At the time of "The Dark Knight", Falcone was still in Arkham. This was stated in dialogue during the courtroom scene where Dent cross-examines the witness who tries to kill him. Don't plan on seeing him again either.
 

Dr Bones

New member
ResidentAlien said:
Cillian Murphy. And he's proven himself to be a very good actor. 28 Days Later and Sunshine are both good examples. Scarecrow has just been underdeveloped so far in the Nolanverse and that's not Murphy's fault. I'd like to see him brought back with some better development.


I agree that the role itself was underdeveloped by Nolan which is what I was trying to say.

I disagree that Murphy is a proven good actor. The sucess of 28 Days Later is a mystery to me as I felt the film was average at very best, as was Murphy. I found nothing apppealing about this particular movie that has many betters in this appocolyptic/zombie type genre.

The role of Scarecrow was understated. But I feel the Murphy would not have the presence or skill to portray the character if it had been given a better or leading role....for example like Ledger's Joker.

I respect that you disagree with me.

I can't see any reason Dent cannot be brought back....not sure that's where they will go though.
 

caats

New member
bringing dent back would be a way to redeem batman. and also cause friction with gordon because batman thinks he was dead
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Dent looked pretty dead, and that was the one really low point in The Dark Knight (just as in it's day Tim Burton's Batman was the best screen creation of Batman up until that point, yet they felt the need to kill off the Joker).

So far Batman Begins and The Dark Knight have had a serious, sinister tone, which also pervaded much of the Batman comic books. Gotham is a city of psychopaths, who laugh at their own strange humour.

The 1960s Batam TV serial turned that on its head by making the psychopaths more into clowning bufoons, and the horrible Batman films that followed Burton didn't help (Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey's interpretations of Two Face and the Riddler; Uma Thurman and Arnie as Poison Ivy and Mr. Freeze). Those films were pretty psychedelic as opposed to psychopathic.

I don't see a problem with using some of the more cartoony characters:

The Penguin was pretty creepy in Batman Returns. He just needed to have a more realistic back story and explanation for his deformities.

Bane was one of my favourite villains. He'd be my obvious choice for Batman 3 along with another guiding villain. After all, Bane was the guy who broke Batman's back, and set in motion the sort of events that would seem to suit Nolan's approach to the character of Batman.

Croc could be some sort of horrific genetic experiment.

Mr Freeze could be explained in scientific terminology, and his suit given real-world powers, as Batman's suit developed. There would even be the option for early suit failure situations, as with Batman's.

Poison Ivy would be a sexy choice, and maybe a seductive influence.

As for the Riddler, well, I never did understand him. Something about him just seemed too strange. (Even in the world of Batman the Riddler never seemed right).

There are many other less known villains, such as the Ratcatcher in his gasmask down in the sewers with his army of rats. It could be a film dominated by a number of minor villains having a pop at Batman, testing themselves against him, all under the auspices of one major scheming villain.
 

Lance Quazar

Well-known member
^I don't think they would ever touch some of those more "out there" "comic book" style villains. The Nolan universe is not the universe of scientific experiments gone awry. That was the Raimi Spider-Man world.

I think I read somewhere that Nolan was even averse to giving Dr. Crane/Scarecrow a mask, he was just going to have him be Dr. Crane the whole time. Nolan's Joker was just a crazy guy who liked to wear make-up, not someone permanently bleached by chemicals.

Sure, the toxin plot in "Begins" was a little far fetched, but I think that is as much science fiction/fantasy as Nolan will permit in his Gotham City.
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Lance Quazar said:
^I don't think they would ever touch some of those more "out there" "comic book" style villains. The Nolan universe is not the universe of scientific experiments gone awry. That was the Raimi Spider-Man world.

Maybe, but Batman himself is explained in terms of science. Science de-mythologizes Batman for the audience, yet for the characters that witness him, he still appears as an almost supernatatural character.

That's what really appeals to me about Nolan's vision. He asks the question, 'how would it be poossible to be the Batman?'

Lance Quazar said:
I think I read somewhere that Nolan was even averse to giving Dr. Crane/Scarecrow a mask, he was just going to have him be Dr. Crane the whole time.

Now that would have been a revision too far. I liked the fact that Crane was weak and ineffectual without the mask.

Lance Quazar said:
Sure, the toxin plot in "Begins" was a little far fetched, but I think that is as much science fiction/fantasy as Nolan will permit in his Gotham City.

Crane's use of toxins creates a precedent for the Nolan universe that could bring about Poison Ivy or a venom-pumped Bane. Costume would need to be toned down to the muted pallete of Nolan's world. They needn't be costumed clowns, but characters in everyday wear.

Lance Quazar said:
Nolan's Joker was just a crazy guy who liked to wear make-up, not someone permanently bleached by chemicals.

That was the coolest idea. The Joker chose to look crazy, it was his war paint, his symbol of chaos, and not the result of an accident. He also gave himself a variety of backstories that attempted to explain the events that lead to his present state of mind. (It's also possible that he cut his own face).

Dent also chose not to have plastic surgery, as he wanted to retain his scars as a badge of who he'd become.

At the moment Nolan's world is finely balanced, and I understand that it could so easily tip over into cartoon Batman (TV series/post Burton films), or overly-theatrical Batman (as with Burton's original, with their covered sets and Nicholson's camp portrayal of The Joker).
 
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