This past summer, we saw the end of an era that started with Chris Nolan’s Batman Begins in 2005. With the Dark Knight Rises, Nolan triumphantly (and definitively) ended his run on this great character. While many wishful thinkers out there are insisting that the world he created should live on, realistically (and according to Warner Bros.) the Caped Crusader is facing a reboot within the next several years.
While this reboot will be after the upcoming Man of Steel and Justice League releases, let’s take a look at some of the villains that we’d like to see Batman face in his next solo franchise – as well as some that hopefully we’ll never see again!
The Hopefuls:
1. Hush
While many of Batman’s villains that we know and love come from hellish conditions or parts unknown, Hush is a local boy from privilege. His real name is Thomas Elliott and he was one of Bruce Wayne’s childhood friends. When he was a young boy, he attempted to murder his parents, freeing him of their abuse and neglect…and leaving him all of their money.
However his plan was foiled when Thomas Wayne saved his mother’s life. Thomas and Martha Wayne died shortly after so by default Bruce became the new target for his revenge. Becoming a brilliant neurosurgeon in adulthood, Elliott now uses all of his resources (and other villains) to exact his revenge. Hush would be an intriguing villain for a future Batman film because his ties to Bruce’s past as well as the possibility of bringing in an additional villain to work with.
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10 Comments
Good article, well done.
I think another villain that I’d like to see is Black Mask, I think he’d work great
Your wishlist is great, but your rejekt list is rubbish.
My first guess is that you never read the comics, or watched the animated series, I could be wrong but that would only make you that bigger of an imbecill.
You base all this of earlier failed adaptations when you could look at the comlpexety in the comics or the shows.
I do agree that pinguin is not that convincing as a main vilain, but Bane is the proof that the most extreme villaons can be done right on the screen.
Ivy and Freeze are excellent villains, Akiva Goldsman screwed up royally in his adaptation of theese charakters (Bane included), while Goyer and the Nolan brothers showed hows it done.
After setting the bar as high as they did everybody atemting to wright a batman script is goong to try to reach that level.
They will probably not attemt a complete realistic take on the charakters but they could still make them bouth complex and threatening.
Freeze is my wish nr 1 for villain in he next batman movieseries, he deserves a proper adoptation.
Thankfully the moviemakers arent as shortsighted and narrowminded as you, if they were we wouldn’t have gotten that fantastic batman villain we got in The dark knight rises.
Now, here’s your homework: read the comics, watch batman the animated series and SEE how excellent these villains are.
P.S. Pinguin could also work, maybe not as a main vilain, drop me an e-mail and i’ll tell you how.
I don’t see Hush or Prof Strange as having enough visual potential to work on the cinema. Hush seems to need to bring in other villains ever time he appears so he can easily be replaced with somebody else.
I sort of disagree with the Mr. Freeze one. I’d actually love to see a reboot of the character and honestly, I just want to see if they could. It would be such a challenge and I’d love to see whether or not the filmmakers could do it, and if they could pull it off the level of difficult surrounding it would make the character look very good indeed. Also I think we just need something to make us forget Batman and Robin Mr. Freeze as successfully as the new movie made us forget Batman and Robin Bane. Ditto for poison Ivy.
I agree with your wish list, but disagree with your reject list.
Penguin for instance could easily be done to be more of a underworld boss who has an obsession with birds and his clothing color palette could earn him the name of Penguin. There are so many ways to go there.
Mr. Freeze, all one has to do is look at the B:TAS incarnation of him to see how awesome a well done take on the character can be accomplished.
In closing, going by your reject list, you would have rejected Bane as a potential villain just because of his the taint Schumaker left on him. But he was easily the best thing about DKR.
I appreciate all the comments and different points of view. I understand that my Rejects list isn’t going to satisfy everyone. I am familiar with the animated series and I am familiar with the comics. In my opinion, those particular villains don’t fit well on-screen. Again, just my opinion and everyone is entitled to their own.
Why are you assuming the next Batman movie will have a ‘realistic’ tone? It’s already been done.
It should be dark, yes, but modern Batman comics are dark and scary, and they’re full of unreal sci-fi tech and abilities. Freeze has a great backstory, though I’d have him get less and less sympathetic as the film goes on. Ivy has huge potential as well, potential rarely acted on in any medium, so a well done Ivy would be definitive. And Penguin is only deformed in Batman Returns, usually otherwise he just looks a bit funny. I think he would be the right choice for something more real, since he’s simply a corrupt businessman with connections. that can be the most real feeling threat of all.
Personally I just want a Court of Owls movie. You could go as bizarre or as mundane as you wanted with the secret society motif.
I know Batman and Robin was horrible but I really liked Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy. This is probably due to my intense love for her but it is what it is. It’s going to be downright impossible for anyone to follow what Nolan did with Batman
I would approach the “reject” Batman rogues gallery in the following way:
The Penguin would be a small time crime boss who does NOT have a deformity, but is often seen in a Tuxedo and would be more of a foe for Jim Gordon…someone with enough political clout to thwart a lot of what he is trying to do. He would be short and have a waddle in his step which would inspire Jim Gordon to nickname him the Penguine…as he did with Harvey Two Face.
Poison Ivey would be a former chemist turned environmental terrorist. Not so much a criminal but an ideologue who is willing to use germ warfare and exotic poisons to “cleanse’ the world. While it may not feature prominently in a story, there could be a back story in which she mastered “Mithridatism” which is a real world practice of protecting oneself against a poison by gradually self-administering non-lethal amounts. The word derives from Mithridates VI, the King of Pontus, who so feared being poisoned that he regularly ingested small doses, aiming to develop immunity.
Finally Mr. Freeze could also be a scientist who is the only one that can cure Wilson’s syndrome which is claimed to be a REAL WORLD illness which includes mix of various common and non-specific symptoms which is attribute to low body temperature and impaired conversion of thyroxine (T4) to triiodothyronine (T3), despite normal thyroid function tests. I know…this was the basic premise (McGregors Syndrome) in the Batman movie…however they could easily dispense with the elaborate weapons and freeze suit from the movie for more practical ones. For example he could use an arsenal of weapons that fire liquid nitrogen pellets. His reason for doing so would be that it is a weapon that would escape detection since it would not be traceable or require gun powder or metal necessarily and would – when appropriately insulated from ambient heat, could be stored and transported, for example in vacuum flasks. Thus he could develop the moniker Mr. Freeze due to his method of using this type of weapon which would be equally as damaging as a bullets.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman could rock the Penguin. Poison Ivy wouldn’t work, but if the new movie were a campy disaster, having her played by Christina Hendricks would redeem it for me. Not that it’ll happen but a guy can dream.