The Dark Knight Rises Anticipation Station

As if there was any doubt.

 

^ What she's leaving out is that her role is for the new Superman movie.

 

I'm hoping the character will be based on the Selina Kyle we saw in "The Long Halloween" and more importantly "Dark Victory" since elements of those stories were used in the previous two movies. I assume the Darwyn Cooke costume will be used. It's the easiest to make look "realistic" as a fan did in my avatar pic.

 

Devin Faraci apparently has heard from a good source that Batman will be facing against Talia and The League of Shadows in The Dark Knight Rises. Bane will be Talia's muscle and possible love interest. Catwoman will start out the film as Batman's enemy, but toward the end of the film will end up being his ally.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. If we do see a return of The League of Shadows, I sure hope we see a return of Ra's al Ghul. I'm not sure how I feel about Bane being Talia's lackey. However this does make sense especially after hearing rumors in the past several months hinting at Talia. I would have preferred a fresh story, but if Nolan can somehow pull this off, and if we can see a return of Liam Neeson as Ra's al Ghul, then it could be rather interesting.

Thoughts?

 

If this is true then I'm all for it. I love both Ra's and Talia and while I agree that having Bane as a lackey or front man as it were is a little bothersome I wonder if they'll adapt source material from the story line where Bane acted as Ra's new heir to test Bruce? It sounds like this is where they've taken that idea from. I have faith in Nolan and Goyer to tell an entertaining story though. We'll have to wait and see. Maybe I'm being too optimistic and naive due to my excited expectations for this film.

 

I'm fine with this. Actually it lifts my anticipation for this film. It's an element taken right from the comics. I would dispute Bane being just a lackey or goon thug though. Bane will obviously be the muscle side of the equation but I expect Nolan to showcase Bane as the intellectual he has been shown before in the comics.

Neeson has said he wouldn't be back, that question was posed somewhere as he was making publicity rounds for Unknown. Heck it may be a few pages back in this very thread. Still, the offer may just not have been made yet or he was playing coy.

Would I still like to have had Black Mask, Riddler or Croc...yes. However I feel we are going to get a much more source accurate Bane finally AND in Talia(if it does happen) a member from his rogues gallery who hasn't had screen time.

 

I guess it makes sense that Bane would act as a member or part of the League of Shadows, but I was kinda hoping for him to be his own villain without any allegiance to anything. I'm sure he'll be his own villain at some point, but just the words "Talia's muscle" kind of rubbed me the wrong way. I have faith in Nolan, but I'm still apprehensive about this news, if it provides to be true of course.

I don't think Nolan would make Bane a retard or would demean him in any large capacity, but I guess I like the idea of him being his own entity without any affiliation to The League of Shadows more than him being on some level apart from the very beginning. I guess I like the idea of Bane operating as a rogue, but brilliant strategist and assassin in Gotham City more than as a member of The League of Shadows or as Talia's lackey.

I guess I just find it lazy to retread familiar or similar ground and material. Featuring The League of Shadows again seems inherently lazy and unimaginative to me.

 

This is what happens in the "Legacy" arc that I kind of was alluding to above...

Bane encounters the League of Assassins and eventually Bane impresses Ra's al Ghul so much that he chooses Bane as his heir (an "honor" he had previously imparted on Batman).

Ra's al Ghul and Bane then launch a plague attack on Gotham in the "Legacy" storyline. Bruce Wayne, again costumed as Batman, gets his rematch with Bane in Detective Comics #701 and finally defeats him in single combat


Maybe this is the source material for how they're going to be using the character if the report turns out to be true.

 

I'll be shocked if he's not back, as I've held since the first time I saw the end of BBegins that Ra's return was inevitable - and well set-up with his speech at Wayne Manor, "But... is Ra's al Ghul immortal?" As for Neeson saying he won't be back - classic Hollywood misdirection. They'll want it to be a big reveal in the story. But even if he's not, the return of the League is welcome - there was always a quality to BBegins that felt a little unfinished on that score, and the alteration Nolan made to the League as operators in a shadow history I thought was really fun. It also keeps the focus squarely in Gotham, which is something that has worked tremendously well in these movies. Batman, in my humble opinion, works best in that narrowly focused world.

Sounds to me like Bane will be the major player in the League that Ra's wanted Bruce to be, which keeps a lot of dynamics from the comics stories (Bane as Bruce's brother/ Bane as Ra's choice to be his heir when he'd given up on Bruce, that is, Bane as Batman's dark shadow). I'm sure he'll be plenty bad ass enough to satisfy all fanboy yearnings. There's also the possiblity that he and Talia are essentially the new Ra's, if he is good and dead. I find the idea of a villainous couple kinda intriguing - and could work towards a story in which they are the foil to Batman and Catwoman.

ETA: One last thought, and this may be crazy, if Neeson is being straight up and he won't be back as Ra's - might Joseph Gordon-Levitt be playing a younger Ra's, healed/ resurrected by the Lazarus Pit or other means? I know it sounds like it wouldn't fit with the naturalism of Nolan's films, but when you've built up "realism capital" the way these movies have, you could spend it on one big bit of fantasy.

 

The League of Shadows returning for TDKR doesn't surprise me at all, if this is indeed meant to be Nolan's final Batman film. It makes sense that he'd want to bring things full circle and end the Batman story he wanted to tell.

 

Ohh, Nolan blew every last bit of realism capital with that microwave generator that was somehow powerful enough to instantly vaporize all the water in the city's sewers and yet had no effect on the water in human bodies, induced no electric currents or discharges in the city's metal, etc. Not to mention, why bother engineering the fear toxin into a waterborne form and then vaporize all the water? Why not just make it a gas in the first place?

 

Not to mention Joker's magical ability to go everywhere undetected and plant massive amounts of explosives that no one ever finds until he's ready to detonate them.

 

But... but... he's the Joker!

 

Not gonna happen (Ra's returning). Neeson's already confirmed this.

 

Considering the genre hes using, Nolan has found a very good realism level combined with the comic book aspect.

After watching this, Robin Williams would make a good Hugo Strange IMO...

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCZdatww69w&feature=related[/yt]

 

Who was the guy in the mask that wasn't Batman or Catwoman? What movie was that taken from?

 

"Theatricality and deception are powerful weapons".

 

^ Neeson's denial came as a response to a pointed and deliberate inquiry on the subject of whether or not he'd be playing Ra's in TDKR. I see absolutely no reason for him to blatantly lie about whether or not he was involved (if he was involved, it would make more sense for him to play coy, not blatantly deny being involved). If you're not willing to take Neeson at his word, then prepare to be disapointed when TDKR comes out and hes' not involved (especially if this rumored plot synopsis turns out to be true).

Edit: There's also the fact that Neeson will be filming Clash of the Titans 2 at the same time that TDKR will be shooting.

 

I don't really want him or the LOS to return but I'm willing to give Nolan the benefit of the doubt as regards the villains and plots for TDKR.