Panguin can be done totally seriously.
He is a mafia guy, a serious mobster. Who just happens to be short, chubby, and has a long (Bob Hope like) nose. He also loves birds and especially loves panguins. The name could be a news paper thing.
He could be a mean and vicious killer, hot head.
He also makes sure he and his gang dress their best, top hats and tuxidos. He wears one all the time. Him trying to show that he is somebody special, important, not someone to laugh at.
I see him acting like he isn't in crime, using his nightclub as a front. (like in the cartoon).
His Club is of coarse THE place the Gothem's rich and famouse must be seen at.
Riddler I really see being someone with something like Asperbergers (spelling?) or Autism, if these are even the right conditions. Someone who feels totally compelled to commit his crimes in patterns and maybe even leave clues, but not written down on paper. But physical things that lead back to him.
He isn't compelled to commit crimes, he does that on his own. His crimes range from petty theft, to stealing government secrets, to multiple murders.
This movie would focus on Bruce's keen detective skills, as this time he uses his brain almost the whole time.
I like the bomb thing but it reminds me a little of Die Hard 3 with Jeremy Irons, Simon says.
But I still like the idea.
Mr. Freeze can be done, better than Man-Bat anyway. he is a guy who can't be in room temperature. Must be in cold temps. Thats easy enough and realistic enough.
All we would have to do is put him in some sort of containment suit, something like his comic book armor but without the armor.
His gun shoots a type of anti freeze that freezes people, that is realistic but much harder to belive. So something would have to be done about that I think.
And that might be all.
His motive has always been very realistic, he is madly in love with his wife who is trapped forever in ice (crygenitics, something real too.)
I also see Mr. Freeze as a bigger character to Batman than Clayface or Man-Bat, he is one of his top enemies. Up there with the Joker and Two-Face and Cat Woman, well maybe a step bellow.
His character would be very unfeeling, motivated by pure greafe (spelling?).
Maybe with his wife practically dead he operates on an almost instict, his emotions are totally shut off, shut down. He kills to get his wife one step closer to getting free, although maybe that is only realistic in his head.
Poison Ivy could be an Eco Terrorist who chooses Gothem as her target. She uses chemicals and poisons made by her using Plants. She also grew some genetically altered plants that grow stronger, faster, and in harsher conditions. And are harder to kill.
Her goal is to kill off all people and leave Gothem to her plants. She is even going to sacrafice herself. She could be totally insane too, maybe even thinking she is the living embodyment of Mother Earth. She thinks, litterally, that Mother Earth took human form and is her.
She could has some seveare mental problems, but also be insanely brilliant with plants.
Talia, the gang (or group or whatever Ras was leading), returns. Bruce hears that Ras is back. He soon, or eventually, finds out that the name was picked up by his daughter Talia who is now their leader.
Maybe Bruce even meets her before he finds out she is who she is.
Her goal is to get Bruce to be her husband and lead the team, or at least father her child.
Almost any Batman character is possible, just take the one impossible thing about them and make it more possible like the did with Ras and the pit.
I also love, LOVE, Hugo Strange replacing Krane. Great idea, I'll be bumbed if they don't use it.
Nolan said that he would, if he made sequals, have Joker in the second with Harvey Dent introduced, then Two-Face in the 3rd.
I think most likely that would be it, unless they also introduced Cat Woman. which might not happen if she is under contract with a different studio.
But I see them using Catwoman, Panguin, Riddler, Pison Ivy, before any of the others.
I know they will probably only do 3 films, maybe 4, but I would LOVE a comic based on Nolan's Batman world. a Nolan Batman comic series, showing every character in a more realistic manner.
Even bring back Ras, or have his daughter be the leader now.