just a couple of things: first, Depp would be perfect fro the riddler. he has that creepy edge down kinda like heath where you are scared to death of him, but somehow you find him entertaining... in a weird way. I can see the other guy as the penguin. i mean i liked him in Red Dragon so who knows?

NO CATWOMAN, MR FREEZE, OR POISON IVY. what the Joker, the Riddler. Scarecrow, and the guy played by Liam Neeson have in common is that they are all plausible and enjoyable villians[meaning that you could seriously see a similar wackjob in real life]. plus they already had a catwoman movie which i heard sucked... she had her chance. also, the the above capitalized three just arn't as menacing as Riddler and Joker. if you think differently then cool, but the realism that the Joker brought was so terrifying in a sense of it can actually happen.. which scares the crap out me. so yeah Depp as the Riddler.

I think it should be bane or hush they would make great villains in nolans dark universe nuff said

Whatever villian Nolan uses, don't go with some low level villian that only comic book nerds know..Yes, he did use two low level villians in Batman Begins but that movie was based on the beginning of Batman, not the villians. Nolan needs to stay with the other BIG 3 for a villian. Riddler, Penguin, and Catwoman are the other BIG 3 next to of course, the Joker. I do , however, think that if he wanted to use a lower level villian as a side character, he could easily pull that off, but stick with the BIG 3 for a main villian....

i'm a fan of both of these villians and both of the actors discussed to play them depp is a natural choice for the riddler because he's talented enough to play the character without trying to redo jim carey the same can be said for p.s. hoffman

I wouldn't really be pepped up about anything until official words come out either. And when I say official, I mean from the mouth (or text) of Christopher Nolan. And as of now, there has not been a single press release from the director. Let him take all the time he needs, I say. There really is no rush to make a third one. Look at what happened to the Spider-man franchise.

I have a feeling if Nolan signs on, he'll have TOTAL control over casting. He'll cast from his gut, not in terms of whoever is the biggest star. I have total trust in his choices.
I mean, both Ledger and Eckard (hell, Caine, Oldman, and even Bale to a point) were unconventional choices, but payed off big time. Everybody acts as if all the fanboys weren't online yelling about Ledger's casting a couple year's back. Nolan is a pro and finds unconventional, perfect fits. Whoever he gets will fit great.

I would love Hugo Weaving to play The Riddler rather than Johnny Depp. The problem with Johnny Depp is HE'S TOO HOLLYWOOD. he's probably funny at times, but he'd definitely ruin the movie for us. and we'll eventually go see it because Johnny Depp is in it rather than just wanting to know WHAT HAPPENED NEXT. Johnny Depp will take away al the seriousness the sequel has been able to sustain so far. And we don’t wanna go back to the BATMAN FOREVER decade. We don’t need a JIM CARREY or a JOHNNY DEPP anymore. This is being recreated, like CHRISTIAN BALE mentioned. Lets focus on the story, not the actors. otherwise it'll be a failure, just like BATMAN & ROBIN (1997) because it was full of Hollywood stars. For me, MIICHAEL KEATON is still the best BATMAN of all. and by the way, just look at Hugo Weaving's great performance in V FOR VENDETTA. He's a true candidate. He does not have to be funny. We need someone like Hannibal Lecter in the SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Some psychopath, leaving traces all over GOTHAM CITY, and letting BATMAN solve the riddles to it. This would be just fine, plus, it would be the first actual time we'll see BATMAN become the true detective he is.

Johnny depp would be perfect he is the sexiest man alive and he is really good at acting :P I love you johnny!

SOME 1 FUCKIN ANWSER ME

Does any one think that Mark-Paul Gosselaar would be a good look a like joker for the next batman. If you pay close attention to his perfomance in TNT new drama Raising the Bar he kinda looks like the joker in how he acts and walks.

god please, please, please !!!

This is total BS! Nolan has already came out and said that in his Batman universe there'll be no penguin as Nolan likes realism in his Batman franchise. Depp may play Riddler as for the Penguin stuff Nolan won't do it and i for one am glad as Penguin is too unrealisitc for Nolan's Batman franchise.

i believe jude law should be the riddler he seems perfect to me....watch road to perdition he is amazing in it an looks very much like a riddler in it as well expecially the last scene with the blood an bruises all over his face....and hoffman i do believe would be a good choice for a penguin but i do not believe they should use the penguin in the film doesnt seem like a good choice hes too comical to be a serious evil dark villian in the way the films are now going

i RATHER SEE DEPP AS THE JOKER...AND WHOS HOFFMAN?CAN HE DO BETTER THAN DEVITO?

Okay, here's the thing that concerns me- unlike other comic book movies the Batman franchise seems to be losing sight of it's purpose. I mean, it's supposed to be about Batman isn't it? It seems that the focus is more on the villians than on the Caped Crusader himself. Which means movie goers are more interested in which actor will play the villian than on Christian Bale playing The Batman. Should it be this way? I love Johnny and think he'd be great as the Riddler. The Riddler was always my favorite villian, I hated the Penguin. No one can ever under any circumstances ever "top" Heath's Joker and no one should put pressure on Johnny to even try. We will never forget what Heath gave us as the Joker. I also think that Paul Bettany or Edward Norton could do the Riddler. I hadn't thought of Viggo, he may be a little long in the tooth though. And as for the Catwoman, I'm sorry y'all but I'm going with my girl Cate Blanchett or Charlize Theron. But I think that whatever Nolan does with the last installment of Batman, he has to know that it will probably not surpass the success of The Dark Knight.

I WILL BE SO PISSED IF DEPP GETS THE PART HE WILL SUCK AT BEING THE RIDDLER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I stay with jim carry! he was so good at it. these new batman films are going down hill, they lack so much from the comic books and its really disapointing. PLEASE STAY WITH THE ORIGINAL PLOT! AND CHOOSE PEOPLE THAT FIT THE PART!

They should just have The Riddler and Hush, their stories co-incide int he comics and such anyway. Introducing a new villian whilst keeping one of the expecteds or soemthing, it could work.

Honestly, this makes me frown on Caine a bit, for willingly adding to the rumor mill. He knows better than that.

Why on Earth does everyone want Depp to play Riddler? Am I the only person in the world who remembers the travesty that was Secret Window? Depp does great silly crazy roles, but Nolan's world doesn't give allowance for that level of wackiness.
Give us an obscure villain and an obscure actor. Hell, actress. Let's see if Nolan can handle more than one female character.

@A Better

what I thought would be good too would if Penguin gets a hold of Fox's weapon designs from an insider in Wayne Industries maybe that accountant who was going to to blackmail Wayne...and starts selling them to the Gotham underworld so that they can pull high end robberies and fight Batman...

@ Christopher Marc

Good idea. However, I think he would be better suited to move into Gotham with his company and try to manipulate the system there.
But that's just my opinion.

If these are the villains that end up being used, I vote John Candy as The Penguin, Bela Lugosi as Riddler and Audrey Hepburn as Catwoman.

@A Better

That's so true we're not talking a Tim Burton Penguin, some sideshow freak...or some lame waddling fat guy...Penguin could be just a code name or the name of his company..."Penguin Industrial Arms"

he could be just a normal greedy criminal, I thought an arms dealer would be a good fit for the character....that would be a good angle so Batman could be able to travel outside Gotham again which was a good aspect of TDK....Why not have him blow up arms warehouses in Russia or some South American country...I think we have to stop thinking of these movies as comic book movies and now see them as epic crime dramas with a one guy in a funny rubber suit...

NO ONE CAN TOP THE JOKER!!!!

Penguin too unrealistic? What!?

He's a greedy rich guy... how the hell is that unrealistic. Just give me five minutes and I'll find one on my block.

no to penguin and riddler. PSH would be fine in the role, and even depp might be okay, but i'm so tired of multiple villains. the next movie should be like 'batman begins'... refocusing on the duality of batman/bruce and the struggles associated therein. the new villain should be secondary, much like scarecrow and raz al ghul. i think it should be a completely new character... one of the nolans' own imagination.

Heath fucked it all up. Joker was to reprise role in '3'. Read the Long Halloween and Dark Victory.

How come everyone is so worried about the third movie...just let it come to us. Anyone who has been "following" Chris Nolan's career knows that whatever he does will be fitting. I can't even think about the third film right now. TDK has totally ruined my movie interest right now, I have had the same Netflix movies on my shelf since TDK came out. I can't bring myself to watch them, I know it won't be near as good.

Well, now that Rachel is dead, i think it would be a good choice to bring in Catwoman. But, it's just a thought.

But, forget The Penguin. Nolan's already said that the Penguin was too unrealistic for his Batman universe, so no Penguin. No Killer Croc. No Clayface. No Poison Ivy.

Riddler and Catwoman would make a wonderful story, and Mr. Freeze has a wonderful story to be told to (unless Mr. Freeze is too unrealistic).

And there is always the possibility of bringing Robin in. But the time isn't quite ripe to bring in Robin. Maybe Batman 5.

The Mad Hatter. The Mad Hatter would be perfect, but still, im waiting on Nolan to announce everything.

This is proof that it takes no talent to work for a movie producing company. They are mostly just a bunch of rich kids who got into it because they know somebody. They have no eye for talent or creativity. They simply go along with what people have been saying. These "choices" are simply based on what people have been saying since before TDK came out. I don't necessarily think that Hoffman would be a bad choice for the penguin, if the penguin is a mob head rather than some weird flamboyant character, however Depp as the Riddler seems boring to me for some reason. I highly doubt Nolan will choose them or even that combination of villains. I do think the Black Mask story is appealing and at first I thought it wouldn't work because of Scarecrow and his mask and people who don't know much about Batman wouldn't buy it, but after reading the other posts about him and actually from seeing the cartoon, I think he would be a good villain.

lol, I love Michael Caine.

I dunno, I think it'd be interesting? I'll hold tight for Nolan, though.

It's only a WB exec that says it. A beancounter. So of course someone like that will pluck some known and fashionable names out the air and say, this is what will happen.

Nothing against either actor, mind... both have done some great roles. But what an exec says is purely an expression of the uninspired, marketing-based thinking of the studio suits. Nolan saying yes or no to a third film will be the first genuine bit of Batman film news.

Of course, if he does say no, it probably will be Riddler & Penguin, and Catwoman & Robin, and it'll be "directed" by Brett Ratner on behalf of the suits...

"Depp and Hoffman are A-List actors, and would be much harder to contain than Aaron and Heath."

Hahahahahaha.

That's hilarious.

Yeah, Hoffman was a real prima donna on the set of The Savages. Please. Stop being ridiculous.

uhhh @ murder,

the gov't doesn't think batman did the joker murders at all - in fact nobody does, well you do, but thats all. no offense, but wtf movie were you watching? at the end he took the blame for the 3 dent murders, and 4 if you pin dent on him.

Hopefully they go with this direction Riddler is a mass serial killer and Penquin an international arms dealer setting up shop in Gotham....the rest is already set up from the last film

This obviously is not going to happen, no Nolan means no real info.

As for this idea, I would probably slit my left nut if they went with Penguin and Riddler. Penguin is one of the most unrealistic, hated villains in the entire Batman universe. Riddler would be too close to the Joker. I have said this before and I'll say it again, Heath's Joker was a combination of Joker and Riddler from the comic books. Riddler is best defined by his trickery and leaving puzzles for Batman to figure out. In TDK, Joker tricks Batman into saving Harvey, tries to trick SWAT into killing his hostages, and leaves DNA tracks for his next victims. Riddler pushes Batman to the limits of his detective ability; in TDK Batman's detective side was shown as he took fingerprints off a shattered bullet. Riddler simply could not work as anything other than a rip-off of Heath unless they reshape him into a psycho, but he is simply too big a name to all the sudden appear out of nowhere.

They set up the Joker for TDK, let's look at what they have set up for a potential third. The Joker is safely away with SWAT, and with the death of Heath he won't be back. Two-Face isn't coming back, according to Aaron Eckhart. However, the mob is down, and the government believes Batman was the real killer in all the Joker-deaths. Seems to me like the most logical solution is somehow the mob and the government work out a deal to kill the Batman. The public would definitely be behind it, as they were already angry before they found out he was responsible for those deaths. Could the Riddler be this assassin? Possibly, but I feel like it would take away so many other aspects of his character that it would ruin him for fanboys and mainstream audiences alike. Why not just use a true assassin, like Deadshot? Even Joker needed Batman too much to kill him, it would need to be someone crazier than that to take the caped crusader out. Could Deadshot not appear in a Batman-less Gotham to be inspired by Batman and fight corruption without fear just like Batman, but be caught/persuaded by the mob or government or even just have a hatred for Batman for not following through with his original goal and turning on the people? Granted, the hunt for Batman can't sustain an entire movie, but once you have a suicidal assassin who is hunting Batman for some reason, enough havoc can be started for another villain to appear. Or, the mob could be left too weak to fight Batman, especially with Moroni's sentiments of the war having escalated too far. In this case, it's solely the government who wants to hunt Batman down. Detective Bullock? Could a Max Payne sort of officer searching for vengeance work? Not as well for me as the Deadshot, but I'm bias and Nolan could easily work this out.

No matter what happens, I have confidence in Nolan that he will come up with the right solution.

hoffman and depp? please. whats next, the burger king as himself ? for the huge product tie in? hoffman can go wear his little wc fields costume somewhere else. and depp's been in way too many dark epics/ trilogies to a fault. Depp is burtons boy and Nolan will have none of that..we're now at the point where a crispin glover /riddler rumor rescues us from this. i thought the protagonist's character arc and theme determined the next villain, not smug cokehead studio suits.

haha,

Nolan isn't even signed up for a third film yet! And a suit saying this to Caine isn't anything new. Anything to secure Caine and any of the m ajor players for the next film.

Don't be so gullible.

WTF is up with 2 villians in BATMAN
flicks??? TWO FACE and the joker
wre awesome, But i think that the
joker could have carried TDK all the
way himself!!!!!
the penguin is cool
the riddler can wait!!!!

Eww, gross overuse of the word compelling made more obvious by the lateral adjacency of said word.

Sorry.

I'll wait for word from Nolan directly. Anything else is speculation.

To Mayroth:

If you go that route, then Riddler becomes nothing more than Joker-lite. Besides, Riddler never much enjoyed killing people, nor particularly condoned it.

The Riddler can most certainly be compelling, but you need his schemes to be compelling to achieve that. Making him into the Zodiac killer wouldn't be very compelling. Making him into an egotistical Hans Gruber would be more compelling.

All this means is some WB exec reads fan blogs. You couldn't top TDK with the Riddler and the Penguin no matter who you cast because they're just not as compelling characters as the Joker and Two-Face. Nolan is too smart to go for such obvious choices. I'd rather be surprised by some new and unexpected villain.

Johnny Depp would be an incredible Riddler.

If Nolan returns, im incredibly sure that Nolan will darken up the Riddler character. Schumachers Riddler was just about the joking and the riddles, how as Nolan's Riddler will be more psychopathic, like the Joker, and constantly killing people, giving Batman the clues to where the bodies are located.

And The Riddler should have only one costume. A dark green suit. On the left breast, a question mark. On his cane, the tip should be a question mark. His black tie should have a question mark on it. And a question mark on his dark green bowler hat.

Aw, I kinda don't want a Penguin, since Burton already covered him. And Depp as The Riddler? As much as I like Depp, he'd kinda spoil the show for me.

And I don't think the person who said that they'd need Johnny and Hoffman to replace Heath was being serious. He may have heard about the rumor and was joking about it.

I wanna see the movies cover other great villans that appeared in the comic, and especially the Batman and Catwoman relationship (without Jolie playing her, though...). Let's get the Hush storyline in, no? :DDD

no way, viggo sucks, I think crispin glover would be amazing as the riddler, He is such a creep!

@ pman

Thank you for mentioning Daniel Day-Lewis for a villain. This guy is not an actor... he is the character he plays IN THE MOVIE!! I think he would be absolutely mind-boggling as the Riddler. As for the Penguin, I could def see Seymour-Hoffman.

I would like to see Viggo Mortensen as the riddler. what do you think?

I was opposed to the Riddler at first due to his similar schtick to the Joker...but, the more and more I think about it and the more reliable the sources become, I'm getting excited.

Great choice for Cobblepot as well. He's a hard villain to do and will be even harder to make realistic in the Nolanverse, but I've got faith.

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH that would be awesome.