The Dark Knight Rises Anticipation Station

[Christopher]

Given that Williams has been rumored as a Batman villain in the past, I'm very, very skeptical of this rumor.

[Alidar Jarok]

Professor Zoom wrote:

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Strange could hire Bane... be the muscle, Strange is the brains...

The thing is Bane can be the brains too. People keep thinking of the character from Batman and Robin and forget that he was a very smart character in the comics.

Anyway, I think the Robin Williams rumor is bullshit, since he's been rumored to be in Batman all the fucking time. I'll buy it when I see something official.

[Christopher]

Alidar Jarok wrote:

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The thing is Bane can be the brains too. People keep thinking of the character from Batman and Robin and forget that he was a very smart character in the comics.

Right. The whole idea behind Bane was that he was the anti-Batman, an equally cunning and intelligent foe. He didn't just outmuscle Batman, he used strategy and psychological insight to wear Batman down to the breaking point and only then confront him directly. But everybody only remembers the "...Break You!" moment and forgets all the chess-playing that led up to it.

[Admiral_Young]

^ No everyone remembers the shit character from "Batman and Robin" "Bannnnnneeeeeee!!!!" as well as the "Break You" line.

[JD]

Admiral_Young wrote:

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I'm sorry I don't mean to be rude...but how can you be a big fan of someone's if you've only seen a handful of his movies?

Like I said, I've really liked the stuff I've seen him in. I thought I'd seen more of his stuff when I first posted, so I'm actually not as big of a fan as I thought.
And don't worry, I don't interpret that as rude at all. It's a legitimate question.

[Admiral_Young]

Christopher Nolan is keeping mum on if Anne Hathaway is just playing Selena Kyle or Catwoman as well.

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=73659

[Too Much Fun]

I wouldn't mind seeing Robin Williams as Hugo Strange. Yes, his track record has been mostly bad for the past few years, but he has given some great performances too, both comedic and dramatic. I really enjoyed his dramatic work in "One Hour Photo" and "Insomnia" and he was quite good in "Mrs. Doubtfire" and "Nine Months"...definitely one of the few highlights of some otherwise mediocre films. If Nolan casts him, it would feel like one of those Tarantino situations where the director takes a once highly revered actor who has been floundering lately and restores him to former glory.

Anyone unfamiliar with the character of Hugo Strange should check out the "Batman:The Animated Series" episode "The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne". It's rather silly and Hugo is a bit of a fool in it, but it's also entertaining and shows what a fun villain Hugo can be to have around. And while you're at it, check out "Bane" from the same series. A legitimately excellent episode and for the moment the best depiction of the character that's been done outside of the comics...of course that may change after the release of Nolan's sequel (hopefully?).

[Captain Craig]

Alidar Jarok wrote:

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The thing is Bane can be the brains too. People keep thinking of the character from Batman and Robin and forget that he was a very smart character in the comics.

IS, IS a smart character.

[Christopher]

Too Much Fun wrote:

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Anyone unfamiliar with the character of Hugo Strange should check out the "Batman:The Animated Series" episode "The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne". It's rather silly and Hugo is a bit of a fool in it, but it's also entertaining and shows what a fun villain Hugo can be to have around.

And it's based on a storyline from Steve Englehart's short but game-changing run on the Batman comics of the '70s, which also included "The Laughing Fish" and introduced the character of Rupert Thorne. (And had other influences that weren't felt in B:TAS, like introducing Silver St. Cloud and reinventing Deadshot into his modern form.)

And while you're at it, check out "Bane" from the same series. A legitimately excellent episode and for the moment the best depiction of the character that's been done outside of the comics...of course that may change after the release of Nolan's sequel (hopefully?).

I'd argue that last week's Young Justice episode included a portrayal of Bane that was at least as good, emphasizing his cunning and intelligence in a way that the B:TAS episode didn't really manage.

[Alidar Jarok]

Captain Craig wrote:

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IS, IS a smart character.

In literary terms is is correct, but in chronological terms as far as popular perception goes, he was perceived as a smart character in Knightfall, then he became a dumb character in Batman and Robin.

Or maybe I'm just being stubborn and don't want to give in to being wrong

[Captain Craig]

^^^
I highly doubt that
A) The general mass audiences knew of Bane
B) Knew of Knightfall, which had only just happened a few years prior, and the brains it would've taken to engineer such a campaign.

Not really trying to argue, just thought it was an intersting thing to note.

[Lapis Exilis]

Admiral_Young wrote:

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I'm sorry I don't mean to be rude...but how can you be a big fan of someone's if you've only seen a handful of his movies?

I've only seen a handful of his movies, since trying to put the lightning of Robin Williams in the bottle of a movie is often a dubious prospect and it only occasionally really works. But I've seen every bit of standup he's done since the 1970s, have watched his career since Mork's first appearance on Happy Days and when you could only catch him at about 2 a.m. on At the Improv, seen all of his great movie roles, seen him interviewed (his 2-hour Inside the Actor's Studio is a tour de force bit of instruction on improv) numerous times - it's quite possible to be a huge fan of Robin Williams, who is first and foremost a comic genius and only secondarily a film actor, and only have seen a handful of his movies.

Trekker4747 wrote:

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But maybe it's just me but when I look at Robin Williams I don't think of "hard acting, dramatic ball of awesome" I think of hirsute coke-addled nutcase.

I suppose it's not just you, but the many people who are primarily familiar with him through his film work. As for coke-addled - he's been completely clean since the death of his good friend John Belushi in 1982 and the birth of his first child in 1983. That's over 25 years sober. His frenetic energy is all natural. He frequently talks about his drug days, his kids and his crazy energy in both his stand up and in interviews.

He's premiering on Broadway in a couple of months in Bengal Tiger in the Baghdad Zoo, a fascinating work I saw last year which is poignant, frightening and hilarious. I assume he's playing the tiger. I'd give my right arm to see that show.

PS - if you're an online gamer, you may have played with him at one point or another. He's an avid gamer, named his daughter Zelda, and regularly plays Battlefield 2, among others.

[Red Ranger]

Hugo Strange is yet another of the oldest Batman villains, and little known to the general public, like the Scarecrow/Jonathan Crane. Nolan did a great job with the Scarecrow, so I expect he'll bring a new dimension to Strange. As some of you may remember, back in the '70s, when writer Steve Englehart and artist Marshall Rodgers did a Batman stint, Strange briefly took over the Batman/Bruce Wayne identity. I wonder if they'll make this part of the plot! If so, maybe gangster Rupert Thorne will make an appearance, too.

Perhaps Bane is one of Hugo Strange's experiments. I don't anticipate we'll see mindless, 8-foot zombies like in Strange's earliest appearances in the Batman comics. Certainly, they didn't do Bane justice in Batman & Robin, as he was just a mindless brute in that flick.

Nolan certainly seems to be able to choose more original and less well known adversaries for Batman than those from earlier Batman flicks, with the exception of the Joker. Still, it would've been interesting to see his take on the Riddler or even Catwoman. Oh, well!

[Kestrel]

Lapis Exilis wrote:

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PS - if you're an online gamer, you may have played with him at one point or another. He's an avid gamer, named his daughter Zelda, and regularly plays Battlefield 2, among others.

Oh that's fun. I think it's neat knowing that celebs can be normal too and enjoy geeky things, like Vin Diesel. And ISTR reading something about Mila Kunis being an online gamer and being careful to keep her identity hidden.

Red Ranger wrote:

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Still, it would've been interesting to see his take on the Riddler or even Catwoman. Oh, well!

Well, we may still see his take on Catwoman. Admiral_Young said Nolan's keeping mum on Hathway as Catwoman, but didn't rule it out either.

[Professor Zoom]

Alidar Jarok wrote:

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The thing is Bane can be the brains too. People keep thinking of the character from Batman and Robin and forget that he was a very smart character in the comics.

Anyway, I think the Robin Williams rumor is bullshit, since he's been rumored to be in Batman all the fucking time. I'll buy it when I see something official.

I'm not suggesting muscle has to be stupid. I'm suggesting how the two characters might be interacting. Strange might see an equal in Bane intellectually, but Strange lacks the muscle of Bane. So, he hires or they work together.

It would be stupid to hire stupid muscle.