Oh dear, just another plea to the Warner Brothers. Reading that in the third run of the Batman-Franchise the possible villains might be the Riddler and the Penguin, I shook my head. First Bats had to fight against Ra’s Al Ghul, the demon’s head, and the scarecrow. Ra’s is a great villain! And in the second Batman-movie we saw the Joker. Man, he ist the evilest badass psychopath the comic-history ever came up with and Mr. Ledger personated him absolutely gorgeous. He was so conscienceless. From one movie to the other the villains got more sinister and more dangerous.
If the rumors are correct, in the third movie we will see Johnny Depp as the Riddler and someone (not Philip Seymour Hoffman) as the Penguin. Nothing against Mr. Depp, his (first!) appearance as Captain Jack Sparrow was great and a lot of fun. But Edward Nigma, the riddler, he is not really a challenge for Batman. Hasn’t been and never wil be. Okay, there has been a few got storylines with this C-class-villain, but he is definitely not movie-material.
The Penguin isn’t a threat neither. Looking at the charakter in the comics for the last years, Oswald Cobblepot is just some kind of mobster. A mobster with a long nose and a spleen. Thankfully he isn’t using his „dangerous“ umbrellas anymore. So what’s left of this B-class-villain?
The Riddler and the Penguin are just figures of fun. Nothing more. So please, dear Warner Brothers, don’t even think about these two as the new foes of the Batman. The only real dangerous opponent could be Bane. Or maybe Mr. Zsasz, perhaps Hugo Strange. Or maybe Killer Croc? Clayface? (But the last two will need too much of prosthetics or make-up.) I liked the idea, that the villains in the two first movies seemed to be some kind of realistic – or you might say ‚possible‘; they weren’t super-villains like Black Adam or Brainiac (I know: Bot. are not „the usual“ Batman-foes).
I put my hopes in Bane and I also can life withe the idea, that Hugo Strange would be the next opponent. I mean: A psychologist who discovered the identity of Batman and who wants to take the place of the dark knight? Great stuff!
And if you realy can’t let go the idea of putting Catwoman in the next Batman-flick – please don’t even think about Mrs. Jolie!
Here is a little list of the bes. and the worst Batman villains (I would have placed Bane on the third position, not on the fifth). Just for inspiration … Oh, one thing more: Two opponents are really enough. Only one – would be better. 😉