Iron Man has only just been released, and Batman the Dark Knight isn’t even near a cinema, yet we’re already hearing rumors about sequels for the two movies.
The Dark Knight is easily the most anticipated movie of the year. How it will go in retrospect compared to movies like Iron Man and Prince Caspian will be left to the masses. But for sure it is going to be one hell of a romp, and with any luck will produce an Oscar nomination for Heath Ledger.
But according to Cinema Blend’s scooper (I have to meet her!) it looks as if the Joker really will be out of the picture. There would always be rumors around whether they would recast the roll after Ledger’s untimely death, but apparently the Joker has been written out of the Batman 3 script.
So that leaves us with Two Face, who we have already been introduced too (check the link for the first picture of Two Face’s scarring!), and it looks as though he will be the focus of Batman 3.
Reports are that the film is taking its cues from the Batman stories The Long Halloween and Dark Victory. Both books are very heavily Two Faced related, looking at Harvey Dent’s transition to the coin-flipping villain, and how Batman deals with him.
Both books however focus a lot on the evolution of the gangs, from simple mob gangs under the influence of Carmine Falcone and others, to the gangs of the villain masterminds like Joker, Two Face, and others like Penguin, Poison Ivy, etc.
However more importantly, the second of the two, Batman: Dark Victory, tells the story of how Batman took Dick Grayson in, and eventually the genesis of Robin, Batman’s sidekick. That the filmmakers are looking at these books as inspiration does hint at the possibility that we will see Robin in a third Batman movie. Moreover, since the Frank Miller retelling of Batman in Batman: the Dark Knight Returns, the evolution of Batman from Bruce Wayne to Batman always sees the introduction of Robin early on as counterinfluence to the darkness of Batman.
Lastly, if Warner Bros. wants to make more than 3 Batman movies, it looks as if they’ll be looking for a new director. Christopher Nolan, who has always been on board for 3 movies, looks to be only on board for 3 movies.
Who knows, maybe a loophole can be found to have Nolan direct a Batman and Superman movie, or a Justice League movie?