I have the utmost faith in Christopher Nolan’s abilities. When I first saw the trailer for Batman Begins, I had no desire to head to the theatre. In fact, I waited for the DVD and was completely blown away. I kicked myself a few times for missing it’s theatrical release and hoped for a sequel.
When The Dark Knight started filming I had began planning my trip to the big screen immediately. I have seen The Dark Knight twice, am planning on seeing it again at an IMAX theatre and look forward to owning the DVD.
Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are two of my favorite films. They are by far the best comic book movies ever made.
However I am a little worried. With the success of The Dark Knight, Nolan will obviously direct a third installment of the franchise, and the question on everyone’s mind is, who will be Batman’s newest nemesis?
According to hollyscoop.com the Riddler will be making an appearance, as played by Johnny Depp. This matches up with a quote floating around from Gary Oldman:
Maybe we don’t need the Joker. Because we’ll have The Riddler.
The article also mentions that execs are pushing for the Penguin, a character David Goyer (screenwriter) has already expressed distaste for, and had rejected as a possibility (along with Catwoman) as an upcoming villain.
I hope the Goyer sticks to his guns and leaves the Penguin and Catwoman out, and I wish he would reconsider on the Riddler. It was a bold move using the relatively lesser known Scarecrow in the first film, and I would prefer something along those lines in the third. Perhaps the Ventriloquist or Hugo Strange… I wouldn’t even mind seeing Bane. But the Riddler? I just can’t take the guy seriously. He bores me. He’s not threatening. His crimes typically amount to little more than jewelry store knock-offs, and I can barely think of him in movie form without Jim Carrey popping in to my head.
Then again, maybe that’s the point. Take Johnny Depp, cast him as the Riddler and turn the character on it’s head. It just might work, and only time will tell if Nolan’s streak can continue.
6 responses to “Johnny Depp as the Riddler? No Thanks”
Actually, I tend to disagree. (As per norm). The riddler could be the most thoughful inclusion yet. An eglomaniac with an esteem problem leaving clues to get off on perplexing the ultimate detective. I say do it right though. Screw with the bats head and drive him onto the brink of insanity. Heck even send the batmat himself into the confines of Arkam for a stint as he tries to recover his senses. The riddler could be done right, rivaling the joker for the top spot. We’ll (hopefully) see.
Shut up, Bill.
COME ON!
We all know that the riddler is the greatest batman villian. Just as we know that Iceman is the greatest member of the X-men!
I think the only thing we have established here is your inability to accurately judge good characters.
Iceman? Seriously?
This is James Gilks (owner of SerialKillerCalendar.com) personally I would love it if they took the idea of the Riddler to a very dark extreme. His character is very close to real life serial killers like David Berkowitz (the son of sam) and the Zodiac Killer. Many serial killers (including Jack The Ripper and The Red Spider) have sent letters to the police and the Zodiac killer sent cryptograms (which where in essence a type of riddle). I think that if Hollywood is willing to take these films to the gritty dark side of real life, they should focus more on this angel and abandon the tacky jump suit wearing, cartoon aspect that Jim Carey brought to the screen. I would love to see a down right evil and twisted serial killer side to the Riddler.
I also believe that they are setting up The Mad Hatter for a future movie. If you watch carefully, Batman says that the man Dent is interrogating in The Dark Knight (the creepy smiling guy from the ambulance) is named “Jervis Tetch”. This is The Mad Hatter.
Lastly, I would love to see all these films come together in to a plot that involves Arkham Asylum. There have been many amazing graphic novels that focus on this (especially “A Serious Place on Serious Earth”). This would be a perfect opportunity for the writers to place Batman against not only a huge cast of badies but also against his own troubled mind.)
Well, thats just the opinion of someone who runs a company devoted to selling serial killer merchandise so you can take it or leave it. I hope you can all stop by SerialKillerCalendar.com to pick up some morbid merch (including the new Serial Killer Magazine, Serial Killer Trading Cards and Serial Killer Action Figures. I know, its a shameless display of self promotion but really, I have to justify reading up on Batman Movies while I am supposed to be working somehow.
James Gilks
Owner of SerialKillerCalendar.com and Editor of Serial Killer Magazine.
Johnny Depp is a great actor, he can make you feel laugh, excite, worried and most he can make you feel in love. Captain Jack Sparrow’