There are two pieces of Batman movie news/rumor to cover today: The first item is Christian Bale stating openly that Chris Nolan’s third (and presumably last) Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises, will be the end of the line for Bale as well.
In a related rumor, we’re hearing that like its predecessors, The Dark Knight Rises could in fact be based on an existing Batman graphic novel – and it’s one that fans (us here at Screen Rant included) have been speculating about for awhile now.
In a recent interview with Total Film, Christian Bale stated in no uncertain terms that unless director Chris Nolan opts to do a fourth film in the Batman series (which is highly unlikely at this point), then he (Bale) too will likely walk away after Dark Knight Rises.
Check out the quote from Bale:
‘I believe, unless Chris (Nolan) says different, this will be the last time I’m playing Batman.’
By now we should all know how this goes: some people will be happy to hear that Bale’s tenure is almost done, others will be clamoring for the actor to do one more Batman film, and those in the middle will be curious, wondering who could possibly take over the role from Bale in 3-5 years time.
For my part, I think Bale has been the best live-action Batman there is; certainly the only actor to approach the role by crafting two very distinct personas for Bruce Wayne and Batman. I know some people like to crack jokes about the “gruff voice” Bale spoke with in The Dark Knight – but by now you should know that the voice was a decision of the filmmakers, and not just the actor (read: LET IT GO).
Bale also spoke more about the Batman movie universe, including the possibility of Chris Nolan staying on for a fourth movie, and where they are in the pre-production process for The Dark Knight Rises. Read about all that by hopping over to Total Film.
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The Dark Knight Rises = Batman: Prey?
A week ago I wrote a long post about the character of Hugo Strange, just one of the villains being rumored for The Dark Knight Rises, and the role that actor Tom Hardy has been rumored as playing in the film.
In that same post, I broke down some of the more famous Hugo Strange stories that would fit perfectly into the Batman universe Nolan has created. Of course, I’m not the only one currently piecing together this particular puzzle; everyone around the blogosphere has pretty much agreed that the graphic novel Batman: Prey (a collected volume of the comic book Legends of the Dark Knight issues 11-15) is prime material for the The Dark Knight Rises‘ script.
Now Scriptflags is claiming they are hearing from “sources” (read: UNSUBSTANTIATED RUMOR) that Prey will indeed be the basis for the film.
Prey takes place in the same continuity as Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One and its semi-sequel The Long Halloween – two graphic novels that (not so) coincidentally served as the foundations for Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, respectively.
In Prey, Commissioner Gordon has been ordered to create a special police task force to take down Batman, who is viewed as a dangerous vigilante. Aiding the police is renowned psychoanalyst Dr. Hugo Strange, who begins to probe the psychology and behavior of the Dark Knight in order to predict who is under the mask. As Strange delves deeper into Batman’s psyche, he becomes obsessed with not only discovering the vigilante’s identity, but also with killing him and taking the mantle of Batman for himself. To accomplish this, Strange brainwashes the head of the Task Force, sergeant Max Cort, into becoming a lethal vigilante called “Night Scourge” who tries to take Batman down. Strange also begins to discover Batman’s secret identity, leading Batman to face danger on all fronts.
Clearly this Dark Knight Rises/Batman: Prey connection is a RUMOR at this point, but one could see why it is a fitting and believable rumor. There are a lot of plot threads from Prey that Nolan could borrow or reconfigure to fit the shape of The Dark Knight Rises – the police task force, a secondary vigilante, a psyche-probing villain essentially asking “Who is Batman?” all being obvious gems. There are also several characters – Hugo Strange, Max Cort or Dect. Harvey Bullock (a rival for Gordon) – who would be prime roles for an actor of Tom Hardy’s skill.
However, these rumors about Prey make it hard to reconcile other recent rumors that Talia al Ghul could also be a villain in the film. (Although, Prey does feature female characters – notably Catwoman in a more supporting role.) Could Nolan actually mix elements of Prey with other famous Batman stories and therefore involve Talia? It’s certainly a possibility…
It was recently revealed that The Dark Knight Rises script will be turned in after the new year and that the film will start shooting in May for its July 2012 release date. Ergo, we should have all questions of plot and characters nailed down soon. Stay tuned.
Source: Total Film and Script Flags
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The promise of this final installemnt of the great Nolan lead DARK KNIGHT trilogy just gets better and better. Man I hope they use Tom Harding in some capacity; he was awesome in INCEPTION.
Blue, I personally think Nolan should end the series on the downer side and say have Bane as the villain, last scene being the back-breaking scene, leaving him for dead just like in Knightfall.
Anthony…
Thank goodness Nolan will not be listening in the slightest to that suggestion, because that would be a horrible way to END a trilogy!
Not really bring Azrial in for a movie. Or do a movie based on Battle for the Cowl.
How so Arch? Have you not read the Knightfall series at all?
Anthony…
Yes, I read it and enjoyed the story very much. I wouldn’t mind this happening IN A FIRST OR SECOND FILM OF A TRILOGY. Since it’s probable that this IS a trilogy, it can’t end on such a horrid note; there would be no satisfaction, no come-uppance. People NEED that pay-off in a superhero trilogy; they NEED to know Batman DOES defeat the bad guys. Now, if they start a NEW series/trilogy, heck yeah (!), I definitely want to see Bane breaking the Bat…and getting what he deserves in the end.
“The Empire Strikes Back” and “The Two Towers” worked beautifully as depressing, seemingly hopeless stories precisely because eventually, they set up the heroic conclusions to their respective storylines (in the SF and fantasy sub-genres, respectively).
suck ur mum
I agree Anthony not only would it be a devistating ending but would leave Nolan up for a number four
Yeah cause BB made more money thet TDK with a more mainstream villain.
That and the face people were already anticipating the sequel after BB turned out to be great.
How did Batman Begins make more money than TDK? Just curious because Burton’s Batman 89 film made more money than Batman Begins.
@ Scapegoat1
I agree with ya about Nicolson’s Joker being more traditional & thats what i liked about his Joker and that Burton stuck with his origin more. I liked Ledger’s performance but not the way he looked. I mean when its war paint on his face, you get the idea of a Joker wanna-be. And cutting a smile on his face, and having all those knifes? Maybe it was Mr. Zasaz takin in a new persona. Of-course im being sarcastic here. Nicolson’s Joker may be considered little over the top, but he end up trickin people in showing up to a parade to kill them which we see few die with a smile which is the worse thing Joker can do to anyone. Michael Keaton imo was the best as both Bruce Wayne/Batman cause he was more mysterious bachelor and wasn’t over the top. Val Kilmer’s Bruce Wayne didn’t seem he had his head on the job cause half of time he was thinkin of Chase Meridian & almost gives up being Batman for his love for her. That’s worse than Alfred showin Vicki Vale through the Batcave to Bruce’s Surprise. I also liked how dark Gotham City looked in Burton’s films. Darker than Nolan’s imo cause they had that gothic look, as if the sun never comes up in that city sort of speak. I been to Chicago few times, and i can’t help think it’s Chicago im seeing, not Gotham just as i seen New York City as Metropolis in Superman 1-4. I liked Keaton’s Batman costume in Burton’s films, mostly his costume in Batman Returns. Maybe its just me but despite me liking Bale’s Batman costume in Batman Begins, the cowl made his head look bigger than the one he wears in TDK. I didn’t care much for the new costume in TDK cause i didn’t think it needed to be more updated even for looks. Mostly because it was hard for me to see the Bat emblem on the chest area cause of how small it was, especially when the costume looked more darker. Anyways, i said enough.
No its just a joke as in BB had a lesser known villain to most people that dont follow the comics and in TDK he had the Joker is a universal character like Lex Luthor is to Superman.
@ Wally: I totally agree with you about the Gotham City part. In Nolan´s movies, all the time they´re talking about how corrupt that city is, but in Burton´s movies, you can almost feel that by looking at the city. It wasn´t a city that existed somewhere, it was completely new and outstanding. I really love that look and the atmosphere.
“Nicolson’s Joker may be considered little over the top.”
He was. And I think that´s what the Joker is about, isn´t it? And Val Kilmer as Bruce Wayne was the only enjoyable thing about Batman Forever. Not so much Batman, but Bruce Wayne.
And about the costume… I think Kilmer´s suit was the most traditional (except for those stupid nipples).
@ scapegoat1
Exactly. Just outta curiousity, what was traditional in your opinion about Kilmer’s Batman costume? As i stated i liked Keaton’s that he wore in the Batman Returns because of the bat-emblem/yellow belt, especially how he kept the belt covered under his cape when he’s just standing and fighting etc. Plus it wasn’t too high-tech or muscle lookin neither.
The Best Batman is yet to come.. I liked Keaton’s Bat but not his comic Wayne. Mike can’t seem to walk like he’s not a cartoon. As Wayne, he was so out of place! But, then, we have to factor in the director and what Burton IS great at is cartoons. Bale may be equally victimized. As for the director leaves, I leave thing. That seems to be nothing more than acknowledgment of the symbiosis. We heard it with Keaton/Burton and with McGuire/Raimi.. where’s the surprise? While I was happy when the industry dropped the cartoonish element from the story.. is that really the director’s vision? The director was chosen, after all, to re-make the story. Look at the latest Bond films.. grittier. It’s just the modern view of things, long, long overdue but finally here. For the record, Kilmer was my favourite Wayne. I agree that Clooney was a very near Bat but the smile ruined it.
When all is said and done, The Dark Knight novel would have made a GREAT Batman movie.. that Joker WAS sick and it had a Harley and Ivey and Penguin and Bane that rocked — but it wouldn’t have fit with the current series.
I believe…
BALE: He’s leaps and bounds ahead and best among them all.
KILMER VS. KEATON: The real Issue. Kilmer had everything correct about him except one: he was in a cheezy Movie. One simply canNOT refer to cheezy scenes in a cheezily scripted cheezy movie by a cheezy director to explain why the actor was not good to play his character. Kilmer could have never replaced Bale, but he would have easily replaced Keaton (who even though was a good Batman, WAS a wimp Wayne). Even if we forget that Keaton was the least good looking and had the least physique required for an ideal Wayne/Batman respectively(Keaton looked something like far-far away from a guy who uses a gym regularly), we still cannot forget that he never had the ideal Wayne magnetic personality to attract females. He was a plain idiotic wimp as Wayne.
Whereas while Kilmer was definitely muscular/handsome of the two, his was unfortunately limited by the cheezy movie itself that he worked in, that did no justice to the character of any roles in it, least of all Batman. For me, Kilmer did play a very good playboy-Wayne of whatever the script allowed him to. That is what is important (where Keaton failed). Because once you’re inside the caped costume, it does not matter who is inside it, because nobody’s going to recognise you anyway. So the character that must be given more priority is of ‘Wayne’ where one cannot hide behind a costume.
Kilmer was a good Wayne/UNDER-USED Batman in a cheezy movie by a cheezy director. Keaton was a good Batman/wimp Wayne even in an overall OK movie by a good but not-so-great director. Even worse was that, unlike Keaton who got two opportunities as Batman under the very good director to prove himself as Wayne and yet failed on all points as Wayne, Kilmer never got a second chance to prove himself as Batman even though he had proved himself as Wayne, no… not even under the same cheezy director.
MY POINT: If the physically strong, play-boyish Kilmer was that good as Wayne under the hellish Schumacher, imagine how great he could have been in costume (Batman) under the good Burton.
CLOONEY: -(No comments.)-
My Ranking: 1. Bale (for everything) 2. Kilmer (for Wayne) 3. Keaton (for Batman)
Awaiting moderation? Yeah I expected it as soon as I pressed the ‘Submit’ button. Vic, Please eliminate the word ‘hellish’, surely. And is using the word ‘cheezy’ an offence???
It might not be an “offence” But it might be an offense
@Anthony:
So that makes you an Expert? Believe me, in my two years of experience with SR, this is perhaps the first time somebody has brought forward my spelling error. But that does not worry me. No, I’m not saying I am an English expert. But it says something about you. Trying to find spelling errors on the internet will make you crazy…
Listen, why don’t you appear for TOEFL exams or just become an English language professor??? If you indeed appeared for those exams or really are such a professor then press ‘Yes’ OR else press ‘No’. Thank you.
What really worried me, is that this is only the second time in two years perhaps, that my comment has got caught in SR’s moderation net and I’m not getting a corrective response from Vic.
@Vic,
Are you listening?
Oh relax dude! And I’d hardly call me an “expert”. Lighten up, Francis….
@Anthony:
It’s OK, friend. It’s actually that I’m open-hearted/relaxed-minded to other people’s spelling errors. Because what actually are important are Ideas and not the exact words they are conveyed in. Words are only the vehicles. Communication of an Idea is what is vital. Also, Maybe I just over-reacted. No hard feelings.
Amol,
Dude, relax. Despite what you may think, I do require sleep and I have a life, so I don’t sit at my computer 24 hours a day hitting the refresh button to monitor every comment as it comes in.
You comment has been published, and frankly I don’t know WHY WordPress flagged it for moderation.
Best regards,
Vic
Vic,
Thanks for the concern and I’ll keep this point of yours in mind the next time.
Amol,
Rest assured that it may take a while but I do find comments that don’t show up immediately. Sometimes they end up going into moderation by the settings or sometimes mistakenly marked as spam.
Vic
@Amol
Name me another movie site where the head of the site himself jumps in to fix a comment error and respond to a reader concern ON A MAJOR HOLIDAY.
We are pretty dedicated to the site and our readers (I’m checking things at 6 a.m. right now on a day I should be relaxing and sleeping!) So please, the sarcasm isn’t needed.
Sorry your comment got held up.
Viggo Mortensen or Robin Williams as Hugo Strange
Tom Hardy as Sgt Floyd Lawton/Deadshot
Marion Cotillard or Rachel Weisz as Catwoman
OMG this is sooooo stupid guys! for the past 2 days the HUGE news was “christian bale announces this will be his last batman film” ummmm no he f***ing didn’t! he didn’t say anything like that, all he said is that he’ll be up for it if there is a 4th film.. he wasnt like “THIS IS THE LAST ONE “.. and even if he did, why would that be news?? chris nolan already said that a LOOOONG time ago so who cares?? oh and the other stupid news that got blow up out of porportion is “chris nolan says dark knight rises might not be the title” ummm no, he didn’t say anything like that either, now i know how rumors start, its from al the stupid people who look too much into what a person says
@ Amol, So you implying Keaton was a lousy Bruce Wayne all because there was no close ups with his shirt off in any of Burton’s films, Like Kilmer & Bale showed their skin?
Wally, I think what Amol is saying is that a good actor like George Clooney cannot save a movie if#1 the script\story sucks , and #2 the directing is bad. I am no huge fan of Clooney but I do think he is a good actor. However, the first requirement of a good movie is a good script, then you need agood director, and actors are third in line regarding how good the movie is going to be. Out of Kilmer, Keaton and Clooney, I thought Kilmers portrayal was the best,but Keaton got to star in two better movies, and Clooney just got screwed
@ happyman
Well thats his opinion. Like many people i know & talked to over the years, Keaton imo was still the best outta the 3 as both Bruce Wayne/Batman. To me i felt Keaton was in his prime as Batman you know, Then when Kilmer took over, he made Bruce look as young as Bale does in Nolan’s Batman films. And Clooney, lost for words about him really. I remember reading or hearing voice actor Kevin Conroy based both his voices of Bruce Wayne/Batman from Michael Keaton’s portrayal in the role in the first two films. Don’t get me wrong, i liked Kilmer, but liked him after Keaton. As for Clooney, i felt bad for everyone on that film due to WB’s decision to make the franchise more family friendly etc.
Hey Wally, certainly I respect your opinion. I think kilmer was better than keaton, but thats just a personal preference. I must admit when I first heard keaton was playing batman, I thaought to myself “Michael Keaton the funny guy? NO WAY” But I must admit, he did an excellent job acting the part. Someday another actor will blow all of our favorite choices out of the water:).
@ Happyman
I respect your opinion aswell. I had my doubts about Heath Ledger as the Joker but he did a grea performance, but only i didn’t really was his appearance compared to Nicolson’s more traditional look & since the character was portrayed differently, its hard for me to choose which is better so i consider them as equals. Just as you implied someone could someday blow our favorite choices of Batman outta the water, same could happen as for played the Joker. I say that because Nicolson was pretty famous for the Joker role despite negative response, same as Ledger & when Ledger came around in TDK it’s almost as Nicolson has been nothin but a memory so the same could to Ledger years from now. Know what i mean?
Iknow just what you mean, Wally. Future technology will make some killer superhero movies, and all these flicks we blab about now will look like the old Adam West Batman and the old George Reeves Superman.:)
Kilmer and Bale seemed to have reached some boundary with the Batman role which makes me think that the role itself is especially controversial in its ‘open interpretation’ according to its director. Honestly, Kilmer was held down by the artiface in the production if you ask me. For me Bale worked well for what Nolan wanted to deliver but the Bat Bale has a certain lack of intuition that anyone with real bat sense and night flight should have. Lets not even get into what Adam West might have been working with.
Basically, I liked Kilmer and felt that Bale was the right man for the job up to this film… actually I still feel that he is the man for this job… however, that having been said its clear to me that Nolan really needs to do some ‘psyche’ work in the characterization department so that the stiffness of the Bat Bale doesn’t deteriorate the impact of how this Batman Rises.
My perception of the role up to this point is that Bale was especially the right man because he played his split role well and has done this sort of characterization well in a variety of movies actually, but now he needs to integrate all the qualities of Bruce Wayne and the Batman into a cohesive feeling being who now has the ability to deliver true justice as an impartial mediator of any imbalanced character in the script. This would go for the ladies and Commissioner Gordan as well. Can he go there and be confident in his steely delivery of compassionate justice? Hard to say how or where Bale will raise the Bat to…
Maybe this quality of intuition and dark bat sense is what I liked about Kilmer which I think we could stand to see more of… self assuredness with a hint of backhand in the most gentle delivery. Not sure what ever played out with Kilmer in those days but this particular quality of character is certainly something worth considering and certainly something that registers subconsciously when we see in the illustrations which depict the Batman relative to a swarming Cloud of Bats as opposed to hanging amonst a sleeping Colony of Bats who seem more like vermin and less like the amazing blind navigators that they really are…
Just my $1.50 as usual… Hope it was worth the read….
Turboexp.blogspot.com also has a great batman post.
Thanks for an interesting read Kofi. Lots of info to make me sound clever when talking to my mates.
Cheers.
well you know what that means if Nolan walks away after DKR warner brothers will make BATMAN 4 by Joel Schumacher LMAO
hmm… I was reading somewhere that Bale mentioned in his interview that he felt this was the last installment and that it needed to go over the top if Nolan were to be pleased with it… It makes me think that some complicated plotline discussions were in the works and that these ideas actually created some hints to occur that Nolan was allowing the idea of a 4th Batman feature roll around in his noggin
Lots of people are likely to call this ‘blowing smoke’ and yet there is a distinct possibility that Nolan likes the idea at this point given the jar of worms he is opening up with a this current line up of villians and possible cameo options that could lead to a full on battle after a few loose ends are scrapped… At least we can be certain of one thing…the story line is open to adaptation and the cast can do nothing but improve
how about Tom Cruise as batman. he looks like Bale
How dare you even suggest that. That is heresy. Tom Cruise is nowhere near the type of actor for this kind of role. “he kind of looks like him” is what made Brandon Routh be cast as superman. catastrophe. for shame. for shame. Tom Cruise is not good enough. come one. lol.
I think they should put Dr.Octopus in this one, don’t think he’s been in a Batman film yet.
are u fking mad dr. octapus is spider mans (i repeat SPIDERMANS)villain
obviously a joke. thus why it is funny. chill.
Lol.
i seriously think they should try to work up a story with “Hush” and/or “Black Mask”. Strange is out to find and unmask batman whereas “hush” simply wants to kill him. Black Mask Should appear as a new crime lord in the underworld that batman eventually bumps heads with. But thats just me….
Why not a Batman movie with Predator?
sex really must sell! I was hoping for different characters that haven’t been commercially shown yet!
umm okay im like in love with the 2nd film the dark knight and right now i’m sure that tom hardy is going to be playing bane,anne hathaway will be playing catwoman,i think thats a bad idea but i think a good catwoman should be keira knightly/natalie portman/or milla jovovich and joseph gordon levitt is gonna be on the 3rd movie of nolan,but no one knows who he is gonna be portraying,but i think he should be the joker because he looks similar to heath ledger http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l6peofD1fs1qbw0w6o1_500.jpg <— thats the link,and anyways on the movie more than likely joker would be in arkham asylum and in the comic books jokers face is always covered with a shadow of some sort while hes in that asylum,agh scratch that josephs role will be "ALBERTO FALCONE" i think they're making a mistake with anne hathaway or joseph being alberto i dont really know tom hardy soo yea,hope you liked this post,right now im in posting this in my highschool journalism class
hope this helps people
I hope TDKR is better than TDK. Don’t get me wrong, i liked it, it was ok but i just hope it’s ending led to somthing greater that would conclude the trilogy with a bang. As for Joker, Ledger’s was good but move on. Nolan already mentioned there be no Joker, no Two-Face in the 3rd film. Im not really convinced we’ll see Scarecrow return despite rumors.
The joker is one of the main characters in Batman in fact the Main villain
so it would be hard to picture a batman movie without Heath ledger (the joker) He nailed that role and no one can take that from him besides there were more villians in gotham city
@ Charlie
Sorry to burst your bubble but Nolan, among others already mentioned Joker won’t be in TDKR at all. Imo, while Ledger’s performance as the Joker was great,there could always be someone just as great as him that could come along in another reboot that nails the role aswell.
uh..I’m pretty sure all Batmans have had a unique voice when in the costume. I know for sure Michael Keaton did. The problem with Bale is that he was still using the stupid voice when he was communicating with people who knew his identity. So..what was the point? Are we to assume the mask alters his voice?
Besides that, he did a fantastic job and I’m sure it’s more him (Bale) wanting to stop than it is the director. Bale is a psychotic asswhipe and to not want to make a few more millions as Batman proves he’s an arrogant douche. Him and Tobey (Spider-Man) should grab lunch.
@ Steve
Imo, outta all the actors who donned the cape & cowl of Batman aswell had split voices between their alter egos-id go with Michael Keaton’s. His just didn’t over the top or less than great when he was in costume. Kilmer’s wasn’t bad neither. Clooney of-course couldn’t or wouldn’t bother trying having a Batman voice. He sounded the same as Bruce Wayne/Batman throughout. Bale’s Batman now, is little over the top for my taste only because Nolan asked him to talk that way as Batman. I didn’t mind his voice in Batman Begins but in TDK it sounded worse. Especially near the end with Batman & Joker’s final chat with each other.
Kevin Conroy is voice of Batman imo. If i was to hear Bale say “I am Vengance. I am the night. I am Batman!” in his Batman voice, id shudder & shake my head.
Steve, i doubt Nolan wants to stop if he plans to be producer of the next Batman reboot instead of moving on other projects like he originally stated.
The only point that I would like to make is why stop such a good thing so soon.. the earlier batman movies were in fact wonderful except 1 thing that to me killed it as in most new movies today.. I can’t stand when actors are traded as main characters of movies.. to me if michael keaton would have remained batman throughout all the older batman movies then it would have been the stand alone greatest superhero movie series ever. don’t get me wrong I still enjoyed every batman movie as they came and went for different reasons for each movie.. but if christian bale would remain under nolan’s great scripting to redo the play out of the old movies including all the villains send to me that would be the only way to continue the batman saga.. even with the third movie of the trilogy being released soon I am still very disappointed that that is the conclusion.. timmy who says that these movies have to stick to any type of storyline of previous comics.. I’m ready 4 mister freeze, the penguin, poison ivy, the riddler,etc. Of course since batman was always my favorite only second to the concept of dead pool I was hoping for at least 6 to 7 movies before calling it quits. call me a dreamer if you may, but rather then staying to a comic series guideline why not branch into a new direction using the villains of the past to continue such a great thing.. to me why not leave the end or should I say conclusion of the third film with dane breaking the bat to open the door way for the other villains.. as far as the joker nicholson was great based off of the comic series, but as far as carrying out the delusional psychotic aspect of the villain itself heath ledger stands alone as the greatest of the villains to bed he is not around to carry this further.. which also means the question if he was still alive if nolan would continue to use him in more then 1 story.. but on a reality note if mister nolan reads this please do not end it now as a trilogy we need a fourth fifth and sixth film or the true Batman fans lol
Bales portrayal and voice of the batman was darn near perfect. The best since keaton. How is the batman supposed to sound? like a whiny girl? or maybe a nasally yuppie. Nope this batmans voice should be the format for all those who follow. It was the kind of voice that one can imagine villains being threatened with. Forget about the mask inducing the voice. This was batman’s voice and whether he is behind the mask or no, the two (bruce and bataman) are forever inter-twined.