The world starting wondering what Chris Nolan's third Batman film would be about almost immediately after the end credits rolled on The Dark Knight way back in 2008, and there were plenty of forthcoming theories about who the villains would be. (Ironically enough, Tom Hardy's character Bane was one of the most persistent ones.)

In a recent article for Empire, Batman trilogy co-writer David S. Goyer dropped some interesting details and anecdotes about The Dark Knight Rises - including Warner Bros.' plan to have The Riddler be the villain, with Leonardo DiCaprio playing him.

Here are some of the details about TDKR, as per Batman News:

  • In Fall of 2008, Christopher Nolan and co-writer David Goyer came up with the ending to The Dark Knight Rises. They didn’t know what the plot would be, or which villains would terrorize Gotham, but they knew it would be the final Batman movie in their trilogy, and they knew how they wanted it to end. Goyer explained that the ending in The Dark Knight Rises is exactly what they talked about 4 years ago — it’s completely unchanged. When Goyer saw that final scene from The Dark Knight Rises, he got a lump in his throat.
  • More than a third of the film, 1 hour, was shot in IMAX.
  • As I mentioned earlier this week, Nolan confirmed that The Joker will not be addressed at all in The Dark Knight Rises. He was also nervous about adding Catwoman, but his brother Jonah convinced him that she needed to be part of the trilogy.
  • David Goyer said that at the premiere of The Dark Knight, Warner Bros. executives were already talking about a villain for The Dark Knight Rises — “it’s gonna be The Riddler, and we want it to be Leonardo DiCaprio…”.
  •  Christopher Nolan confirmed that Anne Hathaway’s character, Selina Kyle, is never referred to as “Catwoman” in the script.

There's much more good stuff to find out - but you'll have to go to Batman News or pick up the latest issue of Empire to get the full scoop.

Plenty of Batman fans were (and in some cases, still are) pushing hard for The Riddler to be the antagonist in Dark Knight Rises, with The Penguin and Bane serving as secondary picks. Ironically enough, back in 2008 when this DiCaprio/Riddler talk was allegedly floating around WB, the world had not yet seen the successful pairing of DiCaprio and director Chris Nolan on Inception. It's now frustratingly interesting to ponder what DiCaprio and Nolan could've done with the character, and if that wouldn't have been a better scenario than the one we have in front of us. Maybe we'll find out if Nolan comes back for Batman 4?

The part about Catwoman is also sure to elicit some strong reactions from the Batman fan base. Nolan's version of Catwoman - from the hi-tech "cat ear" goggles to the spiked high-heel boots - has already caused some fans to hiss and swipe at the character, long before the Dark Knight Rises final trailer and TV spots gave us an actual look at actress Anne Hathaway's work onscreen. To hear that Chris Nolan originally didn't want Catwoman in the film, and that she's never even referred to as "Catwoman" in the script (does that mean in the final film as well?), is only going to embolden those same detractors into claiming that their accusations of character mismanagement are valid. Expect to hear this debate continue - well after the actual movie comes and goes from theaters.

Definitely looking forward to that hour of IMAX footage, though.

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The Dark Knight Rises in theaters on July 20, 2012.

Source: Batman News & Empire