The Rodent is right. Of all Batman foes, very few escape the "sci-fi freak" hook that would keep them from appearing in the BB/TDK universe. Possiblities would include:
- The Riddler
- Clayface I (the actor/master of disguise Basil Karlo)
- Harley Quinn
- Catwoman
- Catman
- Bane
- Lady Shiva
- Talia Al'Ghul
- Mad Hatter
- The Penguin
- Black Mask
- Mr. Zsaz
- Killer Croc (he's originally based on a real skin condition)
I've tried not to assign spoiler tags to information that is either public knowledge or speculatory in nature. There will, however, be speculation mixed with facts.
What I'm going to present is evidence culled from research via sources I am not at liberty to name. It is important to remember, however, that evidence should never be confused with proof.......
EXHIBIT A:When will Batman 3 be released?
The short answer is that nobody knows for certain.........or do they?
The above was taken from a months-old article. Then again, this next bit is only 3 days old:
Which one is true? Which one is false? Oftentimes, especially in the motion picture industry, studio executives will go to great lengths with extensive campaigns of disinformation designed to keep release details a secret from the public. This is done for various reasons, including political, legal, and financial.
When gathering data from various informational (or even "psuedo-informational") Internet sites, one gets the sense that, perhaps, if Warner Brothers did try to get Batman 3 "as fast as they can get it", then the movie might actually be in pre-production at present.
The following rough outline is constructed from various Internet sources. Where there's a series of question marks ("?????"), the dates in question are either approximate estimations, logical guesses, or complete speculation.......
EXHIBIT B:Was there an "official" decision reached regarding Batman 3? If so, when could this decision have been made apparent?
Take a look at these two articles........
Do you see the DATE from the respective articles? That's the most important thing here, not the actual articles, but the date of December 8th, 2008. In retrospect, I probably should not have included most of the image, but hindsight is 20/20, right?
Anyway, several media outlets were told "something".......
EXHIBIT C:Why is December 8th, 2008 such an important date?
The theory is this: IF Warner Brothers gave the go-ahead for Batman 3 (and this assumes that Nolan was on board), it probably was done so on or around the date of (Monday) December 8th, 2008. Thus, the previous weekend would have included the deal-sealing, contract signing, etc.
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But how is the above conclusion being drawn with so little evidence?
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OK, here's where it gets weird.........
[sblock]There's this obscure, start-up film production company called the "Camelot Entertainment Group". As they're a public company, their stock can be bought and sold by investors. More to the point, because they can be traded, there is a Google Finance page devoted to them with an accompanying message board. On said board, investors and traders will oftentimes chime in with random thoughts, advice, information, and sometimes something else........
Do you see WHEN this was posted? That's right, this cryptic riddle was posted on December 8th, 2008.
But who cares? Isn't "information" like that merely designed to pique the curiosity of potential investors?
Actually, absolutely nothing like this message appears anywhere else amongst the thousands of comments made regarding Camelot. In fact, research strongly suggests an orchestrated smear campaign is being conducted against Camelot. Why? Could it, perchance, be for the same reasons random persons disguise themselves as ghosts & monsters on "Scooby Doo"?WHAT TREASURES ARE PEOPLE TRYING TO HIDE???
And so what if it was posted on December 8th, 2008? I mean, so what, right? This "Camelot Entertainment Group" (that most people don't even realize exists) doesn't have anything whatsoever to do with either D.C. Comics, Christopher Nolan, or Warner Brothers.
EXHIBIT D:Is there evidence suggesting Batman 3's main villain?
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PLOT RUMOUR: My sources indicate Batman 3 revolves around the theme of redemption. Moreover, the character of "The Black Mask" was chosen for multi-purposes:
1) It introduces a brand new Batman villain to the big screen.
2) Nolan's got a deep, psychological concept to accompany the Black Mask's character development. In other words, Nolan's going to try to make this new villain more interesting/terrifying than the Joker.
3) The title of the film might, in fact, be "Batman: The Black Mask", or even just "The Black Mask" (as opposed to "The Caped Crusader"). Why? It would be a running theme. BOTH the protagonist and the antagonist wear BLACK MASKS. The thing is, one of them is a good guy and the other's a bad guy. Apparently, the citizens of Gotham are having a hard time telling each of them apart, due to the violent nature of either.
(Personal speculation) I think Nolan's going for something akin to that little speech Mel Gibson's character had in "Mad Max", where he's talking about the bronze badge being the only thing separating him from the bad guys, only Nolan's turning the concept into Batman's identity crisis.
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But all this is just speculation, right? I mean, where the hell is it confirmed that this "Black Mask" guy is supposed to be the villain in Batman 3......!? And why would you even bother discussing that nothing, start-up production company, "Camelot"?
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EXHIBIT E:Assuming time constraints are an issue, is it possible one or several smaller production companies will be partnering with Warner Brothers?
[ComicBookGuy] ... Joker sneaked up on Robin while in Africa, where he was selling nuclear warheads to warlords. Robin was distracted, looking for his real mother (who was tied inside a warehouse), and the joker went Jon DiMaggio on him, but didn't kill him. He did leave a bomb that blew Robin and his mom to smithereens.
The latest Bat-rumor is that Nolan is 'so devestated' by the death of Heath Ledger that he probably won't do another Batman film. Whether this is true or not probably depends on how much money Warner's is willing to fill his trough with, so it's neither here nor there. The idea of a Nolan-less Batman movie, though, might not be a bad idea. Bale is pretty much joined to Nolan at the hip, so if Nolan goes, he goes; this might be good or it might be bad.
I like Bale well enough but he and Nolan despise the idea of a Robin and to me, the second film sets up time and time again that Batman Needs Help, as in, another pair of hands. If you'd had a partner, you;d have been able to be in two places at once and you wouldn't have a dead childhood friend and a new crazy enemy now would you? There are many ways to make it work, work right, and work within the version of Batman Nolan has set up here.
I'd let the franchise cool off for a time, anyway. I think Nolan might be immune to third-movie-disaster-itis but at this time, I think anything you do is going to fall short of public - and more importantly, studio, - expectations.
From the looks of it, and given TDK's billion dollar income, Warner Bros. won't be rushing a third movie just to have a third movie. Seems like they're giving Nolan all the time he needs to decide wether or not he'll direct a third Bat-movie.
As for partner, a Robin/Nightwing that uses motorcycle gear instead of a true "costume" would be easy enough to bring to life. I've seen several motorcycle outfits that already look close enough to Nightwing's costume. That ought to distance a "partner" from the "mini-me" stigma of comic book sidekicks.
Examples:
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If you want to, you can mix the Robins a bit: Dick Grayson (let's peg him at 16) still performs at a circus as an acrobat, but also in a globe of death-style act. And taking a page from the Jason Todd origin, Dick could steal the Batpod to go after Tony Zucco, who ordered the hit on his parents.
^^^
Do you see how the name of the story was posted, but not the actual html reference? How's this achieved?
I wouldn't ask except for the fact that a few of the references I have contain VERY extensive html codes & the whole thing would be much more conducive if I could post either an abbreviated title (or graphic) and then have those things magically link to the pertinent data.
LoL, I probably should have learned how to do this YEARS ago!