The Dark Knight Rises Joseph Gordon Levitt in talks for The Dark Knight Rises

[Knight Rise]

I never thought of Tiny as Croc but thats interesting.

also, nobody ever thought of the guy on the boat who wanted to blow the other boat up but he didnt as Hugo Strange....

 

[BigEggo]

Not really. We've seen Two-Face's "origin story", the Joker's "rise", Gordon's "origin", etc. This entire series is one big extended origin story anyway. I'm thinking we're going to see Bane this time around. Also, while it's been left to interpretation, but I'd like to think that Batman's actions resulted in Ra's going from "subtle weapons like Economics" to full-out terrorist attack (kinda stretched, but sorta like an origin story. The LoS worked subtly before, as ninjas; after the Batman came to be they were more visible). And the Scarecrow seemed more and more deranged as he encountered Batman - also going from crazy psychiatrist running a mad-house working for an international terrorist group, to being a damned super-villain on a horse. But like I said, that's stretching it.

reeeeeeeally stretching it.the joker appeared fully formed,to say otherwise is ridiculous,noone has any idea who he is really or how he came to be.the scarecrow probably in some way found his "weapon" (ie the fear gas) working with the league of shadows but even thats guesswork.

ra's only fills us in on the backstory of the league of shadows,we know nothing about him.

and i wasnt really talking about the good guys,batmans was obviously the entire point of the first film and you cant really call gordon getting a promotion an origin.

im hoping we'll see banes origin (catwoman can come into existence like batman,pretty much self-styled out of determination and to realise their own goals.the awful origin in batman returns only served to make her some weird zombie cat).

 

[ronny]

You know, I'm really curious to know where the interpentation of The Mad Hatter as a pedophile comes from. Can anyone point me to a story which portrays him in such light?

I think it was implied in Arkham Asylum but to be frank I've never thought of him as a pedophile, it seems distasteful to me as a reader. I think it's creepy enough that this guy has a thing for hats. Making him a child molestor is just going too far in my opinion.

 

[Nave 'Torment']

Alberto Falcone doesn't need to be a serial killer. On paper, Alberto is "The Good Son" of the Falcone family, ala Michael Corleone in the first "Godfather". Pretty much everyone tries to keep him out of the family business, but he's desperate to prove himself. Alberto should be the first mob boss to utilize the "Freaks" as members of the regular mob.

"Gotham City has changed. It doesn't want your kind anymore. Now, look at me. I'm bigger than all of you put together. I am HOLIDAY!"

Good post! That 'desperation' would be extended here as well after the events in the last film. The irony that Alberto carries with him, of becoming a 'freak' despite being the protected son of Falcone, is brilliant storytelling. Hell, that Corleone example alone says a lot.

Seriously though, it was hinted in the last film that Joker's actions had opened the floodgates. Now, according to Joker, more crazies would begin appearing.
The problem is that none of the characters show that.
Bane is not a freak, Catwoman is not a freak. So, to have a mob boss as the third villain would really show that Joker's actions counted for naught.
Don't you think the third villain should be a freak? Like Hatter or Hugo Strange? To show Joker's influence on the city a bit more?

I'd love to see another crazy lunatic, but at the same time we need a link to the mob to show that the Joker's prophecy was right. And a leaning-on-the-brink-of-desperation (something that's eerily present on both films...hmm) Alberto would be perfect. But here's the thing man... BANE and CATWOMAN are not freaks? What then, would you call a brute of a man who manipulates Batman's entire rogue's gallery and sets out to replace him, with a construed sense of justice, all the while sporting a very crazy psuedo-drug that makes him grow like a behemoth? Or a woman who dresses up like a cat, sometimes to express her repressed sexuality, sometimes to steal things, and sometimes for the sheer thrill of it? But more to the point, in the books the 'freaks' are really an euphemism for 'super-villain' (y'know, if cussin can paradoxically somehow BE an euphemism). It's something the Joker doesn't get, after all, he isn't aware that he's a character in a story... at least not yet.

A mob boss role would be a waste of Levitt's talents. I would relish the chance to see him play a truly unhinged character like Hugo Strange or Jervis Tetch. Mob boss characters aren't deep, they aren't new or exciting, they look and sound very dull compared to bombastic personalities like Two-Face and The Joker. It's the last movie, why waste time with more petty gangsters?

Levitt could be playing a younger version of Frank Pettit, a militant cop who went nuts during No Mans Land. I always liked the character and wouldn't mind seeing him return as an overzealous member of the Batman taskforce.

I would too, that's why I'm hoping it's Alberto Falcone - a not-so-archetypal mob boss. And, while I enjoyed Petit's character a lot, if they're going to introduce new cops this time around, I hope it's Sarah Essen and Crispus Allen, not Petit.

Yeah, but the best part of the character was that he was the lone serial killer. Maybe I'm too attached to the source material, but Alberto Falcone worked brilliantly when he was Holiday. This unseen lunatic lurking in the Gotham underworld. The fact that he was doing it all because Alberto never remembered his birthday was terrific. But no one would ever listen to that loser, no mobsters would ever follow his orders. He's a nothing, a nobody, a snivelling child. And that is what made the character so great. It was a real emotional high to see Batman finally beat the crap out of the Holiday Killer. It wouldn't have meant as much if Alberto had a whole army of lackeys to help him.

That's a great way to see him, and if this is to be the very last 'Batman early years' film, why would you want to skip on Alberto? Heck, he could have a few traits from some of his siblings from the books as well (like Mario, the kid who thought he could've restored his family's name, or Sofia, another serial killer in the family whose monicker began with an 'H', and had open enmity with Dent, Gordon, Bats and Catwoman)!

The one thing I will give Black Mask, however, is that False-Face Society of his. That alone makes him more interesting as a villain than any one else. It's those 'goons' and 'thugs' that the Joker so easily killed off, the population of low-paid but equally-crazed goons who work for our favorite villains, with a disturbing twist. And they'd also make for a great foil to the Sons of the Bat. But I think that's been done pretty well with the likes of that lunatic thug that Harvey interrogated (can someone tell me what his name was?)

Also, if you think about it, what if this Alberto took a page from the Joker and treated his subordinates the same way?

 

[raybia]

Alberto Falcone doesn't need to be a serial killer. On paper, Alberto is "The Good Son" of the Falcone family, ala Michael Corleone in the first "Godfather". Pretty much everyone tries to keep him out of the family business, but he's desperate to prove himself. Alberto should be the first mob boss to utilize the "Freaks" as members of the regular mob.


"Gotham City has changed. It doesn't want your kind anymore. Now, look at me. I'm bigger than all of you put together. I am HOLIDAY!"

Thats it! Great job Mr. Nola...I mean Demon's Head.

 

[terry78]

Any person that dresses up in a costume to do their day-to-day is considered a freak by most. Bane and Catwoman would be looked at as not really right in the head, same as Batman.

 

[Knight Rise]

Any person that dresses up in a costume to do their day-to-day is considered a freak by most. Bane and Catwoman would be looked at as not really right in the head, same as Batman.

Wha? Bane passes as Gothams Luchador

 

[Dark Knight]

Yeah, he has to wind up being cast as either Roman Sionis/Black Mask or Alberto Falcone!

I scratch Detective Eddie Nashton off my possibility list.

 

[Knight Rise]

Yeah, he has to wind up being cast as either Roman Sionis/Black Mask or Alberto Falcone!

I scratch Detective Eddie Nashton off my possibility list.

thats 1/60049870478457646740956840956 fans convinced

 

[ronny]

Catwoman is not a freak, she's perfectly sane. She's probably more emotionally stable than Batman. She is not a freak in any way whatsoever. She's a thief, a very good thief, who happens to have a cat gimmick. Bank robbers and other criminals have done similar things in the past, doesn't make them freaks.

Bane, again, he's not a freak. His motives are pretty conventional. Either money or a street thug longing for respect and status.

Neither of these characters are insane, neither one of them would go to Arkham and both are capable of real human feeling and emotion despite their forays into criminality. Not freaks.

 

[Nave 'Torment']

reeeeeeeally stretching it.the joker appeared fully formed,to say otherwise is ridiculous,noone has any idea who he is really or how he came to be.the scarecrow probably in some way found his "weapon" (ie the fear gas) working with the league of shadows but even thats guesswork.

ra's only fills us in on the backstory of the league of shadows,we know nothing about him.

and i wasnt really talking about the good guys,batmans was obviously the entire point of the first film and you cant really call gordon getting a promotion an origin.

im hoping we'll see banes origin (catwoman can come into existence like batman,pretty much self-styled out of determination and to realise their own goals.the awful origin in batman returns only served to make her some weird zombie cat).

I was merely suggesting that the stories of character can be considered their 'origin' stories in some form or another, since these are their 'early years'. Anyway, and zombie cat? No. Not one bit. But lets not get into that, and save the crazy for the Catwoman thread

I think it was implied in Arkham Asylum but to be frank I've never thought of him as a pedophile, it seems distasteful to me as a reader. I think it's creepy enough that this guy has a thing for hats. Making him a child molestor is just going too far in my opinion.

I think the Alice in Wonderland connection pretty much cements his pedophilia. It's cheesy, but oh well.

Wha? Bane passes as Gothams Luchador

Are you saying that wrestlers are...not freaks?

 

[Miranda Fox]

Hmm.....

What about JGL as Detective or Private Investigator Jason Bard?

 

[Knight Rise]

Are you saying that JGL is Alberto Falcone and that everyone who doesnt believe that are a bunch of freaks?

thats EXACTLY what im saying

 

[Dark Knight]

JGL is going to be cast as Alberto Falcone, Detective Jason Bard or Roman Sionis/Black Mask.

Has to be one of those three characters.

 

[regwec]

Catwoman is not a freak, she's perfectly sane. She's probably more emotionally stable than Batman. She is not a freak in any way whatsoever. She's a thief, a very good thief, who happens to have a cat gimmick. Bank robbers and other criminals have done similar things in the past, doesn't make them freaks.

Bane, again, he's not a freak. His motives are pretty conventional. Either money or a street thug longing for respect and status.

Neither of these characters are insane, neither one of them would go to Arkham and both are capable of real human feeling and emotion despite their forays into criminality. Not freaks.

Good post, Ronny, but we will still be trying to explain this for years to come.

 

[Nave 'Torment']

thats EXACTLY what im saying

Now I know how being censored feels like.

 

[antsman41]

Firefly!

 

[Nave 'Torment']

Catwoman is not a freak, she's perfectly sane. She's probably more emotionally stable than Batman. She is not a freak in any way whatsoever. She's a thief, a very good thief, who happens to have a cat gimmick. Bank robbers and other criminals have done similar things in the past, doesn't make them freaks.

Bane, again, he's not a freak. His motives are pretty conventional. Either money or a street thug longing for respect and status.

Neither of these characters are insane, neither one of them would go to Arkham and both are capable of real human feeling and emotion despite their forays into criminality. Not freaks.

Costumed men and women with larger-than-life implications... are termed 'freaks' in these stories. I thought it was explained very clearly in TLH

 

[ronny]

She's not a freak, she's actually a pretty decent human being. The term 'freak' is more connected with a combination of both mental illness and elaborate gimmicks. Catwoman has no identity crisis, she is Selina Kyle first and foremost, a real woman with real issues. She is not a freak whatsoever.
It's bad enough when people call Batman a freak. But Catwoman? I find that very hard to understand.

 

[Nave 'Torment']

She's LABELED as a 'freak' the same way Batman's been labeled a freak. I'm not calling her crazy (although there were stories about her kleptomania), but she does have 'elaborate gimmicks' of a cat. And in Batman Returns that identity crisis thing was pretty explicit. Yes, she's not a lunatic, but she is still a 'freak' in the sense they're using the term in these stories.

 

[terry78]

The contrast is that no one thinks of themselves as a nutjob, but always thinks of everyone else as one.

 

[Nave 'Torment']

The contrast is that WE don't think they're crazy, even though it's obvious that most super-heroes and villains are.

 

[Knight Rise]

Now I know how being censored feels like.

t:

getting back to what you were asking, a luchador in a place like Gotham would be considered a little odd

 

[Darkness Falls]

hoping the rumors are true
big fan of his work in inception, joe and 500 days of summer

 

[Nave 'Torment']

Any person that dresses up in a costume to do their day-to-day is considered a freak by most. Bane and Catwoman would be looked at as not really right in the head, same as Batman.

Bingo

t:

getting back to what you were asking, a luchador in a place like Gotham would be considered a little odd

I've only got one thing to say about that:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N14Y81L4IXE