1.30.2011

More Bat-news: Batman 4; Robin Williams as Hugo Strange (plus a Super bonus tidbit)

Holy Headlines, Batman! After the big reveals of Anne Hathaway as Catwoman and Tom Hardy as Bane in the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises, it seems some more info about the Christopher Nolan series of Bat-flicks has come to light. Thanks to Nolan's own disclosures, we've always been under the impression that he intended his new take on the Batman universe to be a trilogy, and as such, Rises would be the last of his run with the franchise. And while we still don't know one way or another for sure, it seems Christian Bale would be very open to getting back into Gotham for a fourth film. According to a Huffington Post article, Bale told Empire Magazine that it was certainly NOT definite that Rises is the last flick, and Bale made it quite clear that if Nolan cooked up a fourth script, he'd follow along. Bale said, "if Chris goes, 'Hey, I've got another story I think could be interesting,' then yeah, great, I'd go do that. I always assumed it would be three, but I could be wrong." Not a firm guarantee either way, but it personally makes me VERY happy that Rises might not be the last we see of Nolan's universe.


The same article brings up another old rumor that appears to be coming back to the surface. A while back, Robin Williams outwardly expressed his desire to play a villain in The Dark Knight, and more recently he was rumored to have found his way into The Dark Knight Rises. This notion was always quite intriguing to me. Williams was a big part of my childhood for his comedic roles, but he has always had a firm grasp on the dramatic (Good Will Hunting, Dead Poet's Society, and his monologue towards the end of Mrs. Doubtfire come to mind). Some of his more recent roles have been incredibly twisted and creepy (check out One Hour Photo and Nolan's own Insomnia to see what I mean), and given the unstable nature of most of Batman's villains, Williams seems to me like a perfect fit. And now, according to a tweet from reputable Bat-info source Batman-on-Film, Williams may make an appearance in Rises after all, as Bat-villain Dr. Hugo Strange. For the uninformed, Strange is one of Batman's earliest recurring enemies, predating Catwoman and even the Joker. A psychologist of genius-level intelligence, Strange is equal parts brilliant and insane, and often uses his intellect to transform normal people into disgusting monsters, both mentally and physically. As IGN points out, this actually could work quite well given that we know already Bane will be a part of Rises. You see, Bane is a hulking, super-strong beast-man, who draws his strength from the fictitious "venom" serum which he pumps directly into his blood stream. Given Strange's penchant for messing with human DNA, it wouldn't be a long shot to imagine a scenario where Strange is enlisted to help track down Batman, and designs a serum to increase the strength of the police force, first testing it out on Hardy's Bane. Again, none of this is set in stone (in fact, it is all very ethereal), but a geek can dream, can't he?


As a final added bonus for you DC Comics fans out there, it seems the new Superman has finally been cast. For those of you who are following along, you already know that Christopher Nolan was recruited once again by Warner Bros to help conceptualizing the upcoming reboot of the Superman movie franchise. Many potential castings were tossed around (including True Blood's Joe Manganiello/Alcide), but according to Deadline, British actor Henry Cavill will don the blue-and-red tights as the next Clark Kent. Some of you may recognize Cavill from his role in Showtime's The Tudors. He was also previously considered to play the role of Bond in the Casion Royale reboot, and apparently auditioned for Bale's role when Batman Begins was in the early stages of production. I personally have never seen Cavill's work, but I have to admit I am a bit disappointed. You see, I have always been a bigger fan of the big, bulky versions of Superman we see in the comics and cartoons, not the more svelte live-action versions played by Christopher Reeves and, more recently, Brandon Routh. And from the pictures I've seen, Cavill is another lean-bodied actor. Perhaps its more an issue of age (presumably this reboot is an origins story, so Clark will still be fairly young), but to me, his small frame does not cast the commanding shadow of the more powerful takes on Superman we see in other mediums. Oh well, guess we'll just have to wait and see how this all plays out.

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