The Dark Knight Rises: WB Wanted Leonardo DiCaprio as The Riddler

Warner Bros originally wanted Leonardo DiCaprio to play The Riddler in "The Dark Knight Rises", according to screenwriter David Goyer. Goyer has told the latest issue of Empire magazine that initial meetings between himself, director Chris Nolan and Warner Bros executives following the release of 'The Dark Knight' in 2008 were over who should be the next villain. Goyer recalls WB's top brass saying;

"Obviously it's gonna be The Riddler, and we want it to be Leonardo DiCaprio."

These meetings likely took place when Chris Nolan was pitching "Inception" to Warner Bros, a movie which Leonardo DiCaprio led for Nolan. We obviously can't say how much consideration Nolan and Goyer gave to the idea but they eventually settled on Bane and Catwoman. The Riddler is one of Batman's biggest iconic villains, a character who was a recurring villain in the 60's Adam West television show and who has already had his time in the sun on the big screen with Jim Carrey's performance in "Batman Forever". He, Catwoman and The Penguin were regularly seen by fans as the favourite villains that could end up in "The Dark Knight Rises" and we originally thought Tom Hardy had been cast to play the character, before it was revealed he would be portraying Bane. Ironically enough despite the majority of Inception's cast being carried over to "The Dark Knight Rises" (Tom Hardy as Bane, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake, Marion Cotillard as Marion Tate and obviously Michael Caine and Cillian Murphy reprising Alfred & Scarecrow respectively), DiCaprio doesn't appear in the next Batman movie. As this is Nolan's final Batman movie, we wonder if WB's top brass will be in the ear of whatever director next takes up the franchise (whether it a continuation or reboot) and suggests The Riddler should be the next villain!