Next Batman movie in pre-production, slated for July 2012

[Empedocles]

Re: Next Batman movie in pre-production, slated for July 2012

IF you've read JLA Tower of Babel (as your avatar suggests)

Actually I haven't, I just liked the picture heheh. But I'll see if I can locate it.... one of the things that usually keeps me away from the longer-running characters and comics series is that there are so many of them and so many re-writes, it's hard for an... outsider, I guess... to find a good starting point.

So perhaps Tower of Babel -> Rock of Ages -> Batman in general?

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Next Batman movie in pre-production, slated for July 2012

Rock of Ages preceded the Tower of Babel story.

Rock of Ages is a sort of "What if" story, being "What if a decision the JLA made inadvertently allowed to Darkseid to take over Earth. There are a lot of parallels between that story and the Final Crisis story, in which Darkseid actually did conquer Earth.

If You're just wanting to focus on Batman and you want to get into the current storyline there, you'd actually want to pick up the Batman R.I.P and Final Crisis collections. The RIP story actually ends within Final Crisis, in which Bruce Wayne dies.

Right now Batman is Dick Grayson (the first Robin) and Robin is Damian Wayne (the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al Ghul.) The dynamic has shifted to Dick as Batman being more upbeat and cocky and Robin being dark and obsessive. Not that Dick is too cheery, he just can't be Bruce's Batman.

Rock of Ages and Tower of Babel just are good primers because Grant Morrison can do some real mind fuckery with how he presents stories. If you can follow what the hell is going on with Metal Gear Solid or Kingdom Hearts, you can follow where Grant Morrison goes with stories.

[Empedocles]

Re: Next Batman movie in pre-production, slated for July 2012

For some reason I'm quite good at multi-tracking when it comes to stories. It's kinda sad that I can understand the train-wreck that is MGS (Read: MGS:TEA, MGS2:SoL, MGS3:SE, MGS4:GotP).

A good 'what if?' one I read called Red Son is about if Kal-El landed in the Ukraine rather than in Kansas.

Re-rail-
Seems by popular consensus that The Penguin would be the most appropriate villan, do you guys think he should be solo, or that Nolan should follow his tread of 2 villans sharing time?

If two villans, who do you think would complement the Penguin? Perhaps the Penguin running his usual business, with Bane being his main narcotics pipeline?

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Next Batman movie in pre-production, slated for July 2012

The Penguin would be a mob boss ultimately, so he'd probably have a couple other known villains working for him. You couldn't put someone higher up the villain ladder beneath him, though.

[Durahansolo]

Re: Next Batman movie in pre-production, slated for July 2012

A good 'what if?' one I read called Red Son is about if Kal-El landed in the Ukraine rather than in Kansas.

In Soviet Russia, Superman doesn't save you.

I just remembered I stopped updating my comic movies thread, going to have to dig that up this weekend and update it.

[Ufgt]

Re: Next Batman movie in pre-production, slated for July 2012

I have Red Son sitting at my parents house on the recommendation of a friend. Just never got around to reading it.

[Empedocles]

Re: Next Batman movie in pre-production, slated for July 2012

It's a good read, shouldn't take more than a night to finish it. There's even a Russian Batman, who has the generic/sterotypical fur hat, but with pointy bits :3

[Durahansolo]

Re: Next Batman movie in pre-production, slated for July 2012

Downloaded it to my ipod touch.. Now I'm wishing I had an iPad .

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Next Batman movie in pre-production, slated for July 2012

The official teaser trailer premiered with the last Harry Potter movie this weekend.

Its been known for a bit that Bane and Catwoman are confirmed villains, though this trailer put the focus on showcasing Bane. As usual, Nolan has his own take on Bane's look, gone is the luchador mask and in its place something more sinister and S&M-ish. Its unclear in the trailer what his role is, but he certainly looks threatening and likely has a big role to play here.

Its interesting to note that Ra's Al Ghul and someone who appears to be Commissioner Gordon set the tone in the trailer. As definitive as Ra's's death appeared in the first movie, anyone that reads the comics knows Ra's is a hard villain to keep dead (Wantanbe's Ra's was a decoy, so why not Neeson's, too? The Lazarus Pit doesn't seem to apply to the movies). Its also worth noting in that in a particular point in the comic's timeline, Bane did serve as an enforcer for Ra's. Scarecrow already has had that role before.

I think Ra's is certainly returning in one form or another, now we just need to see what Catwoman is bringing to the movie.

[Empedocles]

Re: Next Batman movie in pre-production, slated for July 2012

Very interesting... I recall you mentioning at one point that Bane was the only one to actually take down Batman, added to the fact that Nolan tries to be as true to the comics as he can be without simply re-creating the comics, do you think that Nolan would have Bane defeat Batman in this movie (but using a different method to the comic)?

It is (in theory at least) going to be Nolan's Last Batman movie, so I wouldn't be surprised if Batman/Bruce Wayne is killed or permanetly disabled.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Next Batman movie in pre-production, slated for July 2012

Killing in and of itself serves no purpose to Bane, its just the occasional consequence of an action to him. That's not to say he doesn't enjoy offing someone if they don't really matter, though.

But when they're a symbol, then its a whole different ballgame.

What's the current symbol of hope for Gotham post-TDK?

A lie.

If my theory holds and Ra's is a part of all this, then Bane will first expose or bring that lie into question as it is the key to letting evil win. He will try to make the fact that Harvey was a killer public to Gotham and rob that little bit of hope for a brighter future that the people had.

That puts the Gotham PD and Gordon in serious shit in terms of public trust and I have little doubt it was Bane that put Gordon in the hospital because he's the most public link to Batman you could find outside Lucius (and we already had an accountant threaten Bruce, to Lucius' amusement). Taking out Lucius or Alfred (though I'm sure he knows of them) wouldn't hold as much value as threatening Gordon. Bane has no interest in underlings, just powerful associates.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Next Batman movie in pre-production, slated for July 2012

13 minute featurette, very good stuff.