What villains/characters/plot ideas do you want to see in this new Batman franchise?
What villains/characters/plot ideas do you want to see in this new Batman franchise?
"I love mankind...it's people I can't stand!!"
- Charles Schultz.
Joke answer- Batman versus Dracula.
Real answer- new villians and a supernatural tone. Pattinson likes the horror stories so you could lean into aspect of Batman's history.
Someone pitched a Clayface story and I liked that take.
I don't mind Batman teaming up with other heroes. An adult partner like Bronze Tiger could be fun. Anarky could work as a psuedo-Robin.
I liked the Joker from Criminal Sanity and he feels like he fits the Reeves take. So I'd be up for him going against Battinson.
Last edited by the illustrious mr. kenway; 03-06-2022 at 10:04 AM.
I definitely want to see Pattison's Bruce develop his public ''Bruce Wayne'' persona and become more involved in helping the city as a philantrophist, possibly working with Bella Real. I wouldn't mind a romantic relationship developing between them...though of course it won't last. And of course, as the Bruce Wayne side of his life develops, we see more of a schism between him and the Batman, with Bruce maybe starting to question his vigilante crusade when he's doing good work without a mask and has the possibility of a normal life.
The Mob war that was teased at the end of the first film should come into play, which naturally means Penguin playing a major role as Falcone's potential successor. But a Mob war storyline allows for the possibility of characters like Black Mask and Killer Croc coming to the fore as well. I also hope we get to see the transition from traditional Mob figures to 'super-villains' inspired by the Riddler, with the Penguin possibly caught in between and reinventing himself for this brave new world.
I do hope that whatever they do with the Joker is sufficiently different from anything else we've seen with the character. One interesting angle they could go for is to introduce the Red Hood Gang as another factor in the ongoing underworld war to take over Gotham. Maybe Barry Keoghan's character isn't the Joker yet, but simply an escaped Arkham inmate who's a member of the Gang (or possibly its leader?) - manipulating his followers into a war against the forces (such as Bruce Wayne, Jim Gordon and Bella Real) fighting to reform Gotham. And maybe Batman takes ''Red Hood One'' down in a final epic battle at Ace Chemicals...
This may be a long-shot but I wouldn't mind them introducing Dick Grayson in the next film, though not as Robin. Again, he's a character whose backstory fits into this Mob war angle - Tony Zucco could be one of the Mob bosses striving to grab power through his protection racket. Bruce offering Dick shelter and empathizing with him could be the next step in the character development that started in the first film. And Dick is the one who keeps running away to track down Zucco on his own, which prompts Bruce to start training him, helping Dick the way Alfred helped him. The film would end with Dick helping bring Zucco to justice and wanting to become Batman's partner...setting the stage for him to debut as Robin in the next film.
From a broader tonal perspective, I want them to retain the noir elements and the focus on Batman being a detective, but in a different way from the first film - an all-out Mob war or civil unrest in Gotham caused by competiting factions is sufficiently different enough from a serial killer story.
I’m probably going to drop a bunch of little ideas here again and again, so here’s just a quick one…
Have the Professor Strange as the bad guy with some kind of conspiracy in Arkham Asylum that he’s running and that Batman has to uncover and expose/survive, invoking multiple villains as both enforces or Strange’s will and as victims of his experiments and exploitation.
I’d incorporate some horror, some noir, and see how much confidence Reeves has to sneak in some fantastical elements - like Croc feels to me like he could easily be placed as someone Strange has experimented on enough to make him more monstrous, both as a threat Batman must overcome and as a victim he wants to save. Or maybe Strange has a Clayface. Or even Poison Ivy.
Like action, adventure, rogues, and outlaws? Like anti-heroes, femme fatales, mysteries and thrillers?
I wrote a book with them. Outlaw’s Shadow: A Sherwood Noir. Robin Hood’s evil counterpart, Guy of Gisbourne, is the main character. Feel free to give it a look: https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asi...E2PKBNJFH76GQP
In the aftermath of the flood, I'd like to see him out in the alleyways and the warehouses and the docks. Clayface would work, as would Croc. My favorite would be the Ventriloquist. I don't know if bat family plans are there but the opporunity is there to recruit a bunch of orphans and strays.
I'm kind of done with the cops/mob angle for a while though. Reeves seems committed to the realistic take so I'm not sure what to hope for.
I'd love to see Manbat
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I really want to see if they can do Robin. And here’s a brief way I think they could do it:
- Batman witnessed Dick Grayson’s parents death and captured Tony Zucco some time before The Batman itself, and this has left an impression on Dick that Batman’s later heroic have only encouraged. Because his foster home got flooded, Dick is already running around Gotham at 14-15 after the flooding, and using his acrobatic skills and some lessons learned the hard way to sabotage and rob Penguin and others of their cash, and immediately dispersing it to people with greater need. Emulating how Batman’s own symbol is becoming a hopeful one, he’s been tagging his exploits with an “R” for Robin Hood. Bruce will eventually track him down and try his best to dissuade him, and end up finding Dick so stubborn and successful he ends up making him an apprentice with his son armor, with an emphasis on Dick picking off targets distracted by Batman’s usual juggernaut approach.
And if they ever want to do Bane again, I say they should start by foreshadowing that by making Bruce’s adrenaline shot form The Batman a Venom derivative, and having a more nuanced examining of Batman using a combat cocktail like it in small, ostensibly controlled doses before gradually coming to reject it, so that when Bane shows up with an upgraded cocktail, Bruce has a more intimate understanding of what he’s capable of.
Like action, adventure, rogues, and outlaws? Like anti-heroes, femme fatales, mysteries and thrillers?
I wrote a book with them. Outlaw’s Shadow: A Sherwood Noir. Robin Hood’s evil counterpart, Guy of Gisbourne, is the main character. Feel free to give it a look: https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asi...E2PKBNJFH76GQP
No Man's Land or Zero Year which the ending heavily implies.
Pretty much this. They've established the Arkhams without specifically stating any are left alive but the Asylum is still functioning. Have Hugo using the systems the Arkhams created and the political power the Asylum holds for his own twisted purposes. I'd tie in personal therapy for Gotham's elite which, of course, Hugo is using for blackmail/personal power.
When Reeves first took over he was talking about this kind of thing, an already populated Arkham with Batman having to go there, so I definitely want to see it. Use Joker like in Morrison's Akrham Asylum where he's almost the host welcoming Batman into and out of the Asylum.
Honestly, I'd have been happy to just not have another Joker movie but it is a sad inevitability.
"Has Sariel summoned you here, Azrael? Have you come to witness the miracle of your brethren arriving on Earth?"
"I WILL MIX THE ASHES OF YOUR BONES WITH SALT AND USE THEM TO ENSURE THE EARTH THE TEMPLARS TILLED NEVER BEARS FRUIT AGAIN!"
"*sigh* I hoped it was for the miracle."
Dan Watters' Azrael was incredible, a constant delight and perhaps too good for this world (but not the Forth). For the love of St. Dumas, DC, give us more!!!
If Joker’s not actually the Big Bad, I don’t think it would be that repetitive. Strange taking his place in that role would allow for a more flexible Arkham Asylum story. Maybe even keep Joker in his cell, with Batman having to keep a comm-link open to him for directions around Arkham, with Joker vacillating between trying to screw him over and actually helping him depending on what mood he’s in.
Hell, combine a bunch of stories again here for extra creep factor: maybe Strange ostensibly runs Arkham Asylum for the Court of Owls (like in Gotham), with a labyrinth built under the Asylum by the Arkhams (combining Combining of Owls with Earth One), and since Strange has his own agenda and obsessions, he’s trying to drive Batman crazy and take his place (his Bronze Age stories with some Arkham Asylum), and Batman has to struggle with his identity and Joker’s “help” while trying to gather an alliance of more anti-heroic villains to help him overthrow Strange (like a combination of Ego, Arkham Knight and Justice League of Arkham.)
Go part psychological horror film like Shutter Island, part horror film like The Thing when Clayface stalks Batman and co. for Strange, and part Twilight Zone.
Like action, adventure, rogues, and outlaws? Like anti-heroes, femme fatales, mysteries and thrillers?
I wrote a book with them. Outlaw’s Shadow: A Sherwood Noir. Robin Hood’s evil counterpart, Guy of Gisbourne, is the main character. Feel free to give it a look: https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asi...E2PKBNJFH76GQP
The movie did tease a mob war but I really hope it's really just some background settings. It would be very repetitive to see mob angle again. I would want something more supernatural but Reeves want a realistic Batman so I'm not sure if I will get that.
Ed Peale, aka The Gong.
A Bruce Wayne with a better haircut...
On the real though, more of the same really:
- more detective work
- more fights
- more street-level/ down to earth/ less-fantastical shenanigans.
Etcetera
Dick Grayson as Robin.
As far as villains, explore the folks who have been created from the 90s forward. I'm not all in for the latest "here's the joker!" story. Harley has the Margot Robbie films.
I don't see how Freeze or the blatantly sci-fi villains (Clayface, Croc, etc.) fit in with Reeve's " realism" vision, which to me is annoying, but oh well..
I'm not intimately familiar with this "Court of Owls" situation. How far-reaching is their villainy? Does Ra's Al Ghul tie in with them or not?
spoilers:end of spoilers
Considering that Gotham was flooded in this film, I'm not sure how you go forward with another city-wide destruction threat, since, well, it already happened.