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FREEZE
   One kiss and you could lift the mask
   from his lifeless face.  Their secret
   identities would be revealed.  But
   how best to bait a brid?

It's kind of stupid that Freeze would want to reveal their identities for about 5 seconds, that he would consider telling the public that real soon before they were freezed a cruel punishment.

I think most of the emphasis on light-hearted fun is very selective. A lot of the fans who like the fun of MCU hated that in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 the filmmakers *dared* to have somewhat comical villains, especially comparisons between Max and the Riddler, there was a lot of claiming that that equaled an abysmal, embarrassing film. I like Spider-Man a lot and felt that film was average and the villains likewise, I don't get the vehemence it provoked. Especially as I think the third Iron Man's Kllian was a lot more like the Riddler.

If BF were released today there would probably still be a lot of or more disappointment with its Two-Face and maybe the Riddler but it's hard to say, there is also some increasing (genuine) nostalgia for the '60s series and its lighter style.

Probably just have the film be just 3-5 months after BB and have the Joker try to corrupt Rachel and have her become Two-Face.

Or, set it a year later, with Harvey, but drastically cut down on or eliminate the love triangle element, have Bruce accept that both he and Rachel have moved on. Also have Batman and the Joker have already fought in the interim year so Batman isn't thinking that he may soon be not needed and ready to retire. And have Dent survive the end.

Either way, have the Scarecrow play a part as another villain working with the Joker, at least or especially in the climax.

If the third film had simply explained that the Joker was killed by the SWAT team before Batman confronted Two-Face, I would've given the TDK's ending a tiny bit of slack. As it stands, it's an annoying, illogical plot hole that nobody dares to address.

I think it makes the most sense, and can even be inferred, that the Joker was killed or otherwise died shortly after TDK. It is annoying for such a big element to just be completely ignored in the sequel, especially when the sequel does follow-up the Dent part of TDK, but I guess it's understandable that Nolan would think mentioning the Joker, especially as having died, would be disrespectful to Ledger.

Yeah, if he had lived the Joker would have escaped from prison and been effective in undermining order and public trust.

I like a lot of Poison Ivy's scenes, pretty much her whole character in the first half and in the second she was still pretty interesting, but I still think the Riddler was the best of Schumacher's villians.

I like TDK Two-Face, he was a pretty good mix of vengeance (and it believably emphasized, more than TAS, the role of police corruption) and the idea that so much is about sheer chance. I do agree that DA Dent was pretty overhyped but I think that's a flaw of the writing in general (others' observations) more than the character himself.

Best, I think Ra's Al Ghul (really good as a mentor and mirror and early villain and pretty compelling in his disdain for society) with Two-Face in second place (might have won if not for the overhyping).

Worst, Catwoman, we're told too often, too unconvincingly, that she's sympathetic and likeable, I found her pretty much neither, Hathaway didn't have enough charisma to make it work. Why Batman comes to like and trust her so much is underwhelming.

I kind of disliked the flashback structure in MoS in part because it had already been done in BB so it felt repetitive and not really valuable; more generally, Clark felt an underwhelming character/hero, especially compared to Bruce, especially in that his debut was pretty much forced upon him rather than him on his own choosing to go public as Superman.

Arnold could have been good with a good script and direction but even then he probably would have felt like a big stretch, more cast for his big name and maybe irony than fitting the role, as a scientific researcher/genius. He did play one in Twins but that was only so believable even in a comedy.

I think the biggest change I would make would be have Ivy not being attracted to Mr. Freeze, at least to the point of helping him try to freeze the world, mostly just like Freeze for that he could fight and get rid of Batman and Robin. Although I could still see her disliking Nora.

Not sure how to make work having Bane as a supporting character rather than the mastermind. A big but simple change would be he escapes from the laboratory on his own, then mostly monitors Ivy and Freeze fight Batman and try to figure out Batman's identity, then offers his help to the villains, with strings attached, near the end.

Batgirl had moments and could have worked ... she could have been more of an impetus to why Robin realized that he was being too reckless too and should be more trusting of Bruce, she also could have dealt more with if she really thought bike racing was a good idea and whether and why being a hero was better.

Having Chase return, especially as the love interest considers marriage, would make more sense.

Having Harley without the Joker and her being his daughter seem to me like really bad concepts, really going INO (and that being her motivation for liking Joker and thus hating Batman would probably feel weak).

Involving Arkham and villains from the past seems a natural progression of the series, although it would probably make more sense to just have Joker as a hallucination and otherwise involve the actual still-living villains (Riddler, Ivy, Catwoman, maybe retcon Two-Face as having survived).

I like the idea of Jeff Goldblum as the Scarecrow and Cage could have worked but very much not Howard Stern. It would make sense for a Scarecrow movie to involve Robin although I'm not sure what kind of new interesting tiff there could be between Batman and Robin.