Cast The Batman franchise

[johnnygobbs]

Now it appears that the first of a likely franchise/trilogy of films has been fully cast with Batman, Alfred, Commissioner Gordon, Catwoman, Penguin, Riddler and Falcone, along with new and more minor characters, which characters would you feature in future films and who would you cast?

I'd definitely like to see Harvey Dent appear, preferably before he becomes Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones' Two-Face never really worked for me because, apart from his inappropriately manic portrayal, we never really got to see the character before his tragedy - imagine how different that would have been, had Billy Dee Williams been allowed to reprise the character), and my choice for the part would be Oscar Isaac.  Aaron Eckhart was superb as Dent, and definitely caught the character's idealism and simmering rage, but I think he somewhat lacked in projecting his charisma and arrogance.  I think Isaac could give us a Dent who was both idealistic and charismatic, and possessed an underlying dark side, even before his transformation, with respect to his anger and cockiness.

I'd also like to see The Joker turn up somewhere in this franchise, possibly in the third film (after all in the Burton/Schumacher franchise he appeared in the first film, and in the Nolan franchise he was the second film's lead villain), and although I think there are a number of interesting candidates for the part, including Caleb Landry Jones and Lakeith Stansfield, my choice would be Rami Malek.  I don't think Phoenix's shambolic, sad-sack Joker would quite work in a Batman franchise.  For a truly formidable villain, you need someone who is a criminal mastermind, preferably with no discernible past, but in order to match up to the likes of Nicholson, Ledger and Phoenix, all Oscar-winners (well, in Phoenix's case, about to be an Oscar-winner), you need another high-profile accolade heavy actor, and I think Malek could play a creepy, high-pitched, unsettling, schizophrenic Joker of the likes we've yet to see in live-action (suffice to say, my all-time favourite onscreen Joker is still Mark Hamill's animated series version, and I dearly want to see someone capture that version in live-action).  Plus, it would be interesting to finally have a Joker who isn't a Eurocentric white man (Malek is of Egyptian descent) whilst remembering that diversity is not merely a question of black and white (so far we've see Gordon and Catwoman cast with black actors, and I am personally delighted with these picks, but it would be great to see other forms of racial/ethnic diversity beyond African-American actors).

As for other characters, I'd like to see Poison Ivy and Mr Freeze again, done properly this time, and maybe a more comic-accurate version of The Scarecrow (cast Adam Driver in the part and make him the sequel's main villain), as well as Robin and Batgirl, and the cinematic debut of The Mad Hatter and maybe Hugo Strange.  It would also be great to see some of Bruce Wayne's various girlfriends, like Silver St Cloud, for instance, show up.  And Bullock definitely needs to appear.