“The Dark Knight” is still three days away from showing the world what MTV staffers lucky enough to see the film early already know, that Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart have created terrifying, complex new versions of The Joker and Two-Face that will surely stand the test of time.
But riddle us this, riddle us that, just what’s next for the Big, Bad Bat?
Well, the Riddler, of course, if you believe Gary Oldman. Or Catwoman if you listen to Nester Carbonell. Or…well, we’ll just let you check out what Jennifer Vineyard got Christian Bale, Eckhart, David Goyer, and the rest of the cast and crew to cough up about who they think should be the villain in “Batman 3” here.
One thing everyone agrees on, of course, is that whoever they choose will have to be reinvented to go along with Nolan’s more realistic tone. Right?
“I would go in the exact opposite direction which is why I would do Poison Ivy and Catwoman both,” comic legend Jeph Loeb told MTV News on who he would want to see interpreted in a possible “Batman 3.”“What I love about Selina Kyle and Catwoman is that she sees Batman as a ball of yarn she gets to play around with. Poison Ivy, meanwhile, is a woman who has absolutely no doubt in her mind that there isn’t a man or a woman who she cannot control. You’d have a really interesting dichotomy.”
Poison Ivy, in particular, of course, is seen by many as a particularly difficult character to translate into the real world, what with her power over plants and other nonsense. But what if you just took the most basic premise, that of an eco-terrorist? A villain who uses plant toxins (realistic), perhaps targeting billionaire industrialist (and habitual polluter) Bruce Wayne? (even more realistic!)
Admit it would be awesome, said Loeb.
“I think that’s one of the important lessons of how to tell a Batman story. You have to start grounding it and moving it into that world of the fantastic,” Loeb insisted. “I see Poison Ivy as a woman who you have to do exactly what Heath Ledger did to Jack Nicholson. You need to burn out the Uma Thurman of it all. I would cast Angelina Jolie or Gwyneth Paltrow and I would have so much fun with it!”
What do you think? Read the suggestions from “The Dark Knight” folk again and then let us know: Are you a Goyer man who thinks Catwoman is the perfect foil? Or do you side with Loeb and wish for Poison Ivy? The Riddler, The Penguin, someone else? Let us know who SHOULD be the villain in “Batman 3” below!
Sure, Christian Bale gets to be Batman. Brandon Routh got to be Superman. And Tobey Maguire got to be Spider-Man — three times! But only you can be Spidey on Broadway. You can sing, right?
- Whoa! Could Keanu Reeves be heading for the Wachowski Brothers’ Plastic Man? (
