Image Credit: Steve Granitz/WireImage.comChristopher Nolan has tremendous loyalty to his actors. Christian Bale, Ken Watanabe, and Cillian Murphy have all appeared in multiple Nolan movies. Inception’s Joseph Gordon-Levitt was rumored to be under consideration as the Riddler in the new Batman sequel. And Michael Caine has been in so many of his films that I’m tempted to rewatch Memento just to see check to make sure he’s not in the background somewhere hiding behind a lamppost or in a garbage can.
Now Tom Hardy, who was the breakout supporting star of Inception as the dream-team’s “forger,” has been added to Nolan’s relatively stable stable. Deadline reports that Hardy is set to get a lead role in the upcoming Batman sequel. It’s unclear what the part will be, although based on the virtuosic crazy he demonstrated in Bronson, I’m hoping it’ll be a villainous one. In fact, it’s actually a pretty strong possibility that he’ll end up playing a certain green-suited cryptic criminal instead of Gordon-Levitt, although others have speculated that he might be good as the Killer Croc. I’ll wager that if Nolan has expressed in the past that the Penguin is too far-fetched a baddie for his Gotham, him including a green-scaled crocodile-man in the next sequel is an unlikely bet. Mr. Freeze is also probably out, if only because Schwarzenegger’s terrible puns left so many people cold (sorry!), as well as the possibility of he being Heath Ledger’s replacement as the Joker, since Nolan has said he won’t do that. Personally, if he’s not the Riddler, I could see him as Black Mask or Hush, if only to have a villain that was created in the decades since the days of Cesar Romero and Frank Gorshin.
So, PopWatchers, riddle me this: Who should Hardy play? Should it even be a villain?
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Easy…Tom Berenger.
(Seriously though, the reasoning in this article is sound…it’ll probably be The Riddler.)
Wrong…he’ll obviously be playing Don from Cheers.
Wow…I’d forgotten that he was even on that show. Serious blast from the past! (Even more so than that one time Tom Berenger showed up in “Inception.”)
tom hardy?
isnt he busy making poser wannabe biker clothes and hanging out with michael lohan and jon gosselin?
hee hee hee
Do you mean Ed Hardy…
I think so. Tom and Ed are brothers, right?
i was kidding, hence the wink.
christian audigier makes ed hadry clothes and is the one who hangs out with gosselin and lohan
aka…the Terrible Three.
i dont know much about gosselin other and even less about christian but michael lohan is the scummiest parent in hollywood and with billy ray cyrus now pimping out his ten yr old that is saying something. did you see that michael petitioned the court for THREE MILLION a yr in alimony and then has the nerve to petition for conservator of lindsays money? considering he went to jail for fraud and has not worked an honest day in his life, michael has balls the size of pittsburg.
He’ll be the Riddler.
Tom Hardy I can’t wait.
I don’t know why Nolan thinks Penguin is too odd to be in the movies. In The Animated Series Penguin was not the Burton grotesque from Batman Returns, but was instead a criminal who ran operations from his Iceberg Lounge.
Phillip Seymore Hoffman as an arms dealer/nightclub owner would be an interesting take on the Penguin. He could have an Iceberg Lounge that’s like Studio 54…the hottest club in Gotham with an ice-cold theme, fronting some sort of criminal operation. His shtick could be wearing black and white and he could have all kinds of rare birds as an eccentricity that doesn’t mean he has to train the birds to run around committing crimes.
Black Mask please.
Definitely, Black Mask would be a great fit.
Oh, yes — please. I think he would make a fantastic Blask Mask, just the right mix of crazy and suave.
Anything. I’ll watch it!
On a few occasions, Killer Croc has simply been portrayed as a regular baddie with a skin condition and cannibalistic tendencies. Though that character is black. I think the only reason that villain is even popping up is because they are filming in Louisiana. I doubt Nolan would go that route though, it’s too far removed from his universe and from the storyline left open in The Dark Knight. I’m guessing it’ll be the Riddler, but you never know with Nolan!
Hush would be a great villian. He is like the Anti-Batman. A villian with the money, build and training of Bruce Wayne. This would push Batman/Wayne to places he has never been before.
OMFG HUSH would be AWESOME!
batman?
Catwoman.
I concur. Especially if that would mean seing Hardy in a skintight leather catsuit. Or in various states of undress…
JGL should be the Riddler, no matter how hot Tom Hardy may be.
I would love to see Levitt as the Riddler and Hardy as someone else. Although, he could be a pretty awesome Riddler. He’s so devastatingly good looking and charming.
Have JGL as Riddler, and Tom as Hush. Cause in the Hush graphic novel they team up to take down Bats.
DiCaprio should be The Riddler but to answer the question; everyone seems certain that Riddler is going to be the next villain. Safe bet he won’t be Catwoman. It would be an interesting surprise if he was Nightwing or even Robin. (Not the annoying old weedy fool, or the lame attempt (Chris O’Donnell *yikes*) to update him, but a decent kick ass detective. It would be a step forward from the vigilante wannabes of Dark Knight?
He could however be a “realistic” Nolan update of the immortal Ra’s al Ghul. Not exactly Liam Neeson reborn from his magic Lazarus pit, but some kind of clone / brainwash successor thing. Oh dear, Tom Hardy, Clones, Nemesis! (I didn’t hate that movie as much as a lot of Trek fans did though.)
I believe Nolan has said that the Riddler won’t be in Dark Knight Rises, but if he is, he should be played by David Tennant.
Harley Quinn. Pretty please, Mista J?
Agreed! And I think Ellen Page would make a great Harley.
I could literally die happy if Harley Quinn was in the movie.