Be warned before reading this article! There will be a ton of SPOILERS related to The Dark Knight Rises. So if you haven’t seen the movie, get your ass to a theater right now and come back and read this article.
Are you still there? OK, let’s get started.
It’s been over a week since Chris Nolan closed the doors on what will probably be known as one of the most critically acclaimed trilogies ever based on a comic book character. The Dark Knight Rises was one of those rare third movies that was actually pretty good. Never has a movie series where a man wears a cape has stirred more emotions, left people at the edge of their seat and gasped in shock like Nolan’s Batman movies. He brought a depth and character to the live action Batman world that no other director had done before. So after such success and billions in cash what does Warner Brothers do? They will never stop making Batman movies. That’s probably their biggest franchise characters ever. There was reboot talk months before the Dark Knight Rises was even released. So what direction should they go? Should they continue Nolan’s version and pay him a truckload of cash to come back? Should they reboot in a couple of years like Sony’s Amazing Spiderman? Here are some ideas we’ve come up with at ComicBooked.com.
SPIN-OFFS:
Rarely do movie spin-offs work. The less said about Halle Berry’s Catwoman the better. I can’t even name a good spin-off movie. So why would I suggest a spin-off from Dark Knight Rises? As long as Chris Nolan is at least a part of it, I’m sure it will be a quality movie. Here are a few Spin-off ideas I think could work based off the Nolan movies…
CATWOMAN-
Yes, I did mention Catwoman as a horrible spin-off movie, but that movie sucked because it had a horrible script, director and hardly any connection to Catwoman at all. Anne Hathaway has already said in interviews that she’d love to do a Catwoman movie as long as Nolan is a part of the making of the movie in some way. Whether that means, that the same writers help write it and Nolan produces it, I’m all for it. Who wouldn’t want to see Anne Hathaway again in that sexy outfit one more time? Maybe a Catwoman Begins or something, because if it takes place after The Dark Knight Rises, it might as well be a buddy caper with Bruce Wayne. I’d rather see the origins of her character.
NIGHTWING or LEGEND OF THE DARK KNIGHT-
I warned you about the spoilers, so I don’t feel bad about telling you that at the end of The Dark Knight Rises, Joseph Gordon Levitt’s character’s real name is revealed to be Robin John Blake. He finds the Batcave at the end of the movie and we’re left to wonder what happens next. Now I’m one of the few people that groaned and rolled my eyes at the whole “Robin” reveal, but I’d still love to see a movie covering these events. Maybe Robin Blake will change his identity to Richard Grayson and takes up the new title of NIGHT WING or instead becomes the new Batman. (I’d rather Nightwing.) He can’t be a cop anymore, so he’ll probably become the head of the orphanage by day. Maybe one of the kids will stumble on who he is and that kid will be his “Robin”. Barbara Gordon will come back to town to visit her dad and seeing how Batman saved her family as a child she becomes Batgirl. Maybe have Black Mask and Penguin start a new mob war over the control of Gotham. End the movie with a little tease of the Joker escaping by cutting his face off and taking a new one. (A little nod to a recent Batman story by Scott Snyder and a perfect way to recast the Joker.)
SEQUELS:
I think this is what will divide fans the most, but personally I think you could easily continue this franchise if you wanted to. Here are some ideas…
THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS-
Yes, many of those story elements from this classic story have been told in the previous movies, but this doesn’t have to be a literal retelling of that book. Like I said with the little tease above at the proposed end of the Nightwing spin-off. Have the Joker return to Gotham. Incorporate elements from Batman: Killing Joke. Joker is now free, he’s shot Batgirl, wounded Nightwing and has a new assistant named Harley Quinn. A new set of freakish gangs have taken over and Gotham needs their hero once again. Cue Christian Bale returning to Gotham once again as Batman. This time with the help of Catwoman and all of the kids at the orphanage become soldiers in his Bat army. If they wanted to, they could even get Henry Cavill or Brandon Routh to return as Superman to show that epic part of the movie.
REBOOTS-
It’s a word that’s been thrown around a lot in Hollywood. So far it’s been a success. James Bond, Spider-Man, Hulk and even Batman have had successful reboots. Maybe a young new director will give us a brand new angle that we’ve never seen before. Since I can’t see the future and know which future director will make an impact in Hollywood to become the next Batman director, I’ll list a couple of directors I’d like to see tackle Batman.
Guillermo Del Toro: I love the style this director has, and he’s shown with Blade 2 and the Hellboy movies that he can make awesome comic book movies. Unfortunately he has a billion projects in development, but imagine a Batman trilogy that focuses on the more “freaky” side of Gotham. I can’t imagine a better director to handle a movie that features either Clayface, Man-bat or Mr. Freeze. Maybe even Killer Croc and Hugo Strange.
David Fincher: A serial killer cat and mouse thriller with the Riddler. Think of it as Seven with Batman and less R-Rated. He can give Batman the dark edge and detective skills with a style like no other. Even if it’s just for one movie I’d pay to see that.
In Closing…
Those are the only directors right now that I can think of. Personally I’d love for a new trilogy of Batman movies to be told from Robin’s point of view. Have the first movie be about Dick Grayson, then in the sequel we see Dick turning into Nightwing and introducing Jason Todd, only to have him get killed. Then end the trilogy with Dick and Bruce battling the Red Hood. Again, that’s only my personal opinion.
Maybe Warner Brothers will wait until they launch a new Batman with the Justice League movie, then spin-off that Batman from there. Or vise versa, the new Batman movie will set up the new Justice League movie. Either way seems possible. One thing we can guarantee is we haven’t seen the last of the Caped Crusader on the big screen.
There will never be a Nightwing or Robin solo movie. Why? Because the studio execs fatcats would most likely never allow it. Can't you just see them sitting around in their suits, all "Nightwing? Who is that? Batman. That's where the money's at. Do it. And get someone big in there. Bieber. That Bieber kid can be a Robin, can't he? Make it happen." It's all about money.
Hey, Raph: Tony Daniel wrote the story in which the Joker's face was cut off, not Scott Snyder. Snyder is using the Joker in his next story arc, but Daniel did the cutting.
I'd love to see a Nightwing movie, but not one spun directly from Nolan's franchise. Part of the "hook" to Nightwing's character is his prior relationship with Batman (the ultimate in daddy issues!), and while Levitt's Blake had an interesting relationship with Bruce/Batman, it wasn't paternal…there's no "child coming into his own" arc like the one inherent to the Nightwing concept.
That said, it's still doable, but it would be a thematic departure from the source material.