By: Jonathan Cyfer
We also recently learned that Nolan is looking for a female lead for this film, which immediately brings Catwoman to mind, but that's hardly a foregone conclusion, since Poison Ivy or Harley Quinn are equally (or almost) compelling choices. Also, the female lead doesn't have to be a villain, since there have been a number of "good girls" to work opposite Batman over the years such as Vicki Vale and Barbara (Batgirl) Gordon.
Let me knock a few possibilities out of the running right away. Bringing in Harley without the Joker would be a total waste (and without Heath Ledger, there is no Joker as far as the Nolan films are concerned) and the last time I looked, Jim Gordon's little girl was barely out of diapers. Unless 20 years are going to pass between The Dark Knight the The Dark Knight Rises, there will be no Batgirl in the classic sense. Also, I don't really see Poison Ivy as the main villain. As interesting as she can be, I don't think she has the presence as a character to really carry the ball against Batman.
Of course a female Robin isn't totally out of the ballpark, but Nolan would have to do something with that ridiculous costume.
It's hard to imagine a lot of the classic Batman villains being able to fit into the Nolan Batman universe. Just take a look at how The Dark Knight handled the Joker. Never, in my wildest dreams, would I have imagined the Joker the way Heath Ledger portrayed him and yet, Ledger's Joker was perfect...completely "off canon" but perfect. If you look at the Penguin, Killer Croc, Clay Face, Mr Freeze, and the rest of the gang in their comic book or animated series versions, they'd seem like buffoons when translated into live action. But that's the trick.
Nolan successfully gave us versions of the Joker and Two-Face that were compelling, believable, and totally real, but not what we would have expected based on how they were previously presented. That's what we can't really anticipate about the third movie's villain. Sure, we might picture the Penguin and then say, "Nah, he'd look too stupid in live action", but you don't know what Nolan would do with him. That's why guessing who the new bad guy will be in the upcoming Batman film will be so hard.
Frankly, I don't want to know. Surprise me. I went into the theatre to watch The Dark Knight knowing next to nothing about the film and was completely blown away. I want The Dark Knight Rises to do that for me, too.
Oh, one more thing. I don't think Harvey Dent bought the farm in the last film. Here's why. Harvey was a symbol. The whole film was about symbols for good and evil. Gotham needed a spotless "White Knight" to give the people hope and Dent was that symbol. The Joker literally defaced Dent to "prove" that there really is no White Knight in real life. The reason Batman took the heat for the murders Dent committed was to preserve Dent's image. I say Dent didn't die.
I say Two-Face survived the fall (after all, so did Batman, and his armor shouldn't have saved him from that much blunt force trauma) and is currently in a secret cell at Arkham. I say he's coming back...maybe as the main villain and maybe not, but he's too good of a bad guy to just wipe out.
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