... you're asking for trouble!

According to David Goyer, and let's face it, he co-wrote TDK, so must know a little about what he's saying, "Batman has been published for 70 years. In the first movie, we used Ra's Al Ghul and the Scarecrow, who had not been in the movies before, and had not been in the '60s TV show before.

"There are dozens if not hundreds of other characters that fit that bill. Everyone says it's got to be the Penguin or Catwoman [in the next film]... well I completely disagree."

credit to digitalspy for the quote.

(like it matters)

is for The Ventriloquist. Totally messed up character.

(Though if El Reg is on the money with Catwoman, I won't complain!!! Mmmm catsuit...!)

<-the one with the dodgy animal ears on the hood.

The new Batman films are notable for being realistic - OK, a lot of the technology is fantastic, but it's not out of bounds. The Joker is a deranged psycho, not a caricature.

The problem with the Penguin and Catwoman is that it's difficult to see how they fit into the new "realistic" framework. A criminal boss, like the Riddler, who loves puzzles and riddles is less unrealistic.

They should bring back Firefly as well, as a pyromaniac and Clayface, as a master of disguise.

Alian Vs Preditor Vs Batman Mashup, fighting via a Web 3.0 style cybermind link.

is, can the delightful Ms. Bee impartially moderatrix her own articles? Isn't there a conflict of interest here?

Anonymous because, the pen is mightier than the gimp mask.

Crispin Glover for the Riddler, would be the best man for the role.

Cedric The Entertainer?

Drew Carey?

Paris, because she likes king-size men.

Definitely!!! Hell Yeah! He'd be perfect!

depp would make a great doctor who.

I agree with CDF that the new series would have more realistic/serious takes on Batman's opponents.

But that doesn't exclude Catwoman: She would just be a cat burglar wearing a black catsuit, sans ears and tails. Not really much of a threat to society, but Catwoman never was that in the comic books. A darker version of Catwoman could be an assassin and industrial spy.

Posion Ivy could be an eco-terrorist, assassinating corporate types that destroy rainforest or other natural habitats. Having her target Bruce Wayne would be an interesting twist.

The above would, IMO, fit the new Batman theme better than the Riddler, though I'm sure he would work if you can find a convincing motivation for his riddles.

have Batman start nice,become a junkie/womaniser and then clash of conflicts forces him to become the Good Guy again. Then you could use Tom 'Thumb' Cruise - it's how he does all his movies.

Paris - she could appear in the opening credits and get her head cut off (hey, I'm original aren't I ?) !!!

Although scarp the Jim Carey model, which was just completely wrong. You have to go back to Frank Gorshin to get the attitude right. He created the character for the TV series as it had not appeared in the comic book before him. Delete the camp and you have yourself a very scary villain.

Catwoman is a bit more problematic, if for no other reason than even the comic book can't quite decide what she is, other than a woman in a cat costume. Early stuff she is a cat burglar. Middle stuff she is an adventuress who is just a bit looser with the law than Batman. Some of the more recent stuff she comes from or runs the local house of ill repute. Me, I like the cat burglar angle, and of course the best Catwoman was Lee Merriwhether. Meerroooow!

Drew Carey as King Tut? I like it! But not in the next episode. Riddler or Catwoman, although probably in the adventuress roll, would make more sense. Remember, next go around Batman will be fighting the cops, not working with them, and they'll need to either advance or resolve that plot thread.

The Penguin was kind of well handled in the "Batman Returns" movie; being a malformed child which had penguin-like hands. There are more difficult characters to match the "realism" frame; think about Mr. Freeze for example.

As for the Riddler ... isn't Jim Carrey's Riddler basically the same thing? The "Adam West Batman" was full of camp, and Batman 3 & 4 were ruined because JS decided to go for the campy angle, instead of the dark/serious tone of the Tim Burton films.

As for Johnny Depp ... I don't know, but I think the Pirates of the Caribbean "saga" has ruined my image of him, and a batman movie isn't the best place for Capt. Jack Sparrow.

The Toker, the Diddler, Mr. Mole, Sugar and Spice and Poison Lenny ala Bartman Begins.

.... ohh and Serpent.

The Penguin played by Danny DeVito is not the Penguin of the comics, but a stupid "Art with a capital F" creation of Tim Burton.

Batman Returns blew hairy goats in a large number of ways, not the least being turning the Penguin into some sort of unrealistic freak and psychopathic killer.

The comic-book Penguin was a perfectly sane and gentlemanly criminal mastermind and mob boss who was ragged as a kid for his beak-like nose, obesity and short stature. In one rendering he also used to also have a waddling gait as a child due to a hip deformity (which did not trouble him as an adult.) He favours the gentlmanly/aristocratic look (came from well-to-do parents) and the shortness, obesity, beaky nose and his predilection for tuxedos gets him the moniker of "the Penguin" - no deformed hands, not cast into the sewers and raised by penguins at the zoo or any of the other rubbish from Burton's crapfest.

If the Penguin were to appear in the next Batman movie, he could easily be handled as a dapper and aristocratic mob boss of the Falcone/Maroni stripe. The "Iceberg Lounge" - his private club and front for his crime organisation - was referenced in The Dark Knight viral marketing as an advert in the "Gotham Times" so they could tie it across quite easily.

Whether they will or not is a different matter. Goyer said they preferred to use characters not already given an outing in the previous films - but that was before they had the Joker and Two Face in TDK.

Frankly, the scope is there to bring Two Face back, still intent on vengeance against Batman and Gordon - I know how I would handle it and I'm pretty sure if Nolan wanted to, he's intelligent enough to have it already planned.

As to the Riddler, he could make an interesting villain if done right. I rather doubt there would be the stupid mind-reading machine crap a la Schumacher. If they Get Depp to play it he'd do a brilliant job. David Tennant has apparently also expressed an interest in the role.

Catwoman would have to be portrayed as a cat-burglar if at all - the "cat-costumed vigilante hunting down the man who threw her out a window" version of Batman Returns is too close to being a "good guy". Batman in BR came across as "there's only enough room in this town for *one* costumed vigilante, bitch!"

If they were to bring her in, she'd have to be a seriously talented thief going after some major loot. They'd have to work hard to make her a "threat" though.

Frankly, a traditional Penguin would be a bigger threat than Catwoman - Batman's enough of a threat to "business" to warrant Cobblepot ordering his henchmen to kill Batman.

Riddle? Joke? A fine line between the two.

The Riddler is a little too close to The Joker in my mind, certainly the TDK Joker, although if Riddler were to come back I'd like to see Jim Carrey return but NOT to reprise the Batman Forever, Riddler, but to invent a new interpretation under Nolan's direction.

Depp? Meh.

Penguin on the other hand, as others have said, can easily be rendered into a real world, just as the previously extreme Joker characterture (deliberate misspell) was stunningly realised in TDK as a psychopathic elemental force, but still recognisably The Joker.

But Harlequin provides a potential continuity and to explain the Joker's being missing from any sequel (being securely confined in Arkham).

No need to have her wearing a costume the whole time, she could be the shrink assigned to the Joker at Arkham, who got too close, falls under his charms and comes to believe that Batman is truly evil and responsible for The Joker's state of mind.

She'd already be placed on the side of the "good guys" trying to hunt down Batman. It would set up an interesting tension with Gordon forced to try and protect Batman whilst also being responsible for tracking him down. As Harlequin realises that Gordon is foiling the investigation from inside, that would reinforce her paranoia, and she would turn on the authorities.

Gamekeeper turned poacher.

I think there's definitely potential there.

- Paris, to keep me company through those long dark nights.

As long as they don't turn it back into some poor gay joke (Batman and Robin anyone?) then I truly don't care who they cast.

Anyone care to bet that Manbat turnsup as a opponent in a future film...?

Mine's the rare, & completely untameable Giant Condor...

"Now where did I put that Sonic Controller thingy...?"

I like the going theme of taking stuff from the comic books and cartoon AKA half face and scare crow.

That said, maybe they could come up with some original shit instead of rerunning characters that have to fit a certain persona and name. Oh damn, did I just ask for creativity in media? Sorry about that.

I guess it kind of works out for me in a roundabout way- video games get more focus, talent, and money when people get sick of the Same Old Shit™

Guess it'll be more gaming media spending than dvd media spending in my future.