News to satiate Bat-fans keeps coming thick and fast of late. First we had the announcement of Hardy’s lead role and now Christopher Nolan has revealed two crucial pieces of information in an article in the L.A. Times; firstly that the title for his third Batman film will be ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ (certainly a mouthful; clearly they have opted to put ‘the dark knight’ in the title to tie the film as closely as possible to the last and more successful film – what would be wrong with plain old ‘Batman Rises’, however?), and secondly, to many people’s surprise, that the villain The Riddler will definitely not feature in the new film.
Most assumed The Riddler’s appearance a given at this point, and also that this might be the role in which Hardy has been cast, but it seems Nolan is drawing from elsewhere for Batman’s next foe.
Nolan also gave one other, rather enigmatic quote: “We’ll use many of the same characters as we have all along, and we’ll be introducing some new ones.” Some are taking this as Nolan implying that old characters might be brought back from the dead. It could also, however, be a simple statement used to avoid giving anything else away or committing to anything.
Nolan also reaffirmed that it definitely won’t be in 3D and that he’ll be sticking to 2D, as well as the usual high-def IMAX sequences. It is good to know that not all directors are jumping on the 3D wagon. Coincidentally, James Cameron also announced today that he would definitely be making Avatar 2 and 3, and both in 3D.
Do fans think that The Riddler’s non-inclusion is a good or bad thing? Just which villains do people think are the most plausible choices now (bearing in mind it will likely be Hardy who will fill these shoes)? Is the title a good or bad choice, and is it what you were expecting (‘Batman Reigns’ was always a speculative favourite of mine for the third film, since Batman Begins’ release)?
