Topics

Let the rumor mill continue:

Oscar winner Jared Leto is circling a key role in David Ayer's "Suicide Squad" that could prove to be The Joker, an individual familiar with the Warner Bros. project has told TheWrap.

Warner Bros. had no comment, while a representative for Leto did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ryan Gosling was initially sought to play The Joker but he was unwilling to sign a deal with options for multiple movies, according to one insider.

While The Joker did not appear in Justin Marks' original draft of the screenplay, Ayer is expected to rewrite the script and that revision is rumored to include The Joker. After all, the studio would be hard-pressed to ignore Batman's arch-enemy. If Warners has no plans to include the character in some capacity in "Suicide Squad" or "Justice League," what movie is it waiting for?

Keep in mind that the reliable comic book movie scoopers at Latino Review recently reported that Cara Delevingne is being sought to play Harley Quinn, and when that character is around, The Joker is usually nearby. Delevingne tweeted a picture of Harley Quinn several weeks before speculation first started.

http://www.thewrap.com/jared-leto-eyed-to-play-the-joker-in-wbs-suicide-squad-exclusive/

If this is true, it's possible we'll first see Joker and Harley in Suicide Squad before facing off against Affleck's Batman in a future Bat movie.

Like the other "Your Version of..." threads. This one might be trickier since we haven't seen all of Season 1 play out yet, but I think we've seen enough to judge.

I'll start...

- Make it more of an ensemble drama show along the lines of Game of Thrones/Walking Dead or, to use older examples, Lost and Heroes. Less police procedural, more of different characters pursuing different storylines. The current show is mainly Gordon and the GCPD as A story, with the mob story as B story and Bruce's story as C story. I would flip it and have Bruce's story take more screentime as A story, give the mob stuff about the same as B story, and have the GCPD/politics as the ongoing runner/C story.

- Get Bruce out of the damn living room for most of the episodes and actually do the "Shadow of the Bat" concept that Kevin Smith and Paul Dini came up with in that Fatman on Batman episode. (Will relisten to that and edit this post to give a rundown on what that was, but it's essentially young Bruce investigating something sinister going on at a boarding school).
Skip to 37:50: http://smodcast.com/episodes/paul-dini-shadow-of-the-bat/
- Bruce chooses the school because he's investigating a secret society, The Court of Owls, that's developing in it and believes that the society is tied into how his parents were killed. He knows that the son of one of the society members goes to that school (i.e. possibly Falcone's son), so he goes there to investigate.
- He also goes to the school for their athletic training program and convinces Ted Grant (Wildcat) to train him. Would have to
- Silver St. Cloud, Zatanna, Harvey Dent ,and Tommy Elliot as classmates. I know the show is bringing in the latter two characters, but I'd prefer Harvey as Bruce's roommate rather than a young ADA who's much older. Smith and Dini proposed that Dent was a poor kid who got in on a scholarship and Bruce defends him in an incident and they become roommates.
- The origins of the Joker Venom.

- GCPD: I've always liked the idea of Gordon being the cop who tried to find the Waynes' killer, so I'd keep that.

- While Bullock is older than I'd prefer, Gordon does need someone to interact with and this would work a lot better with a morally gray cop with potential character development like that than, say, Flass who was straight up corrupt. So I'd keep Bullock, too, but maybe have him around the same age as Gordon (I'm not comfy with the idea of Bullock being older than the commissioner by the time Batman comes into the picture). The rest of the GCPD, though, I'd shake it up.

- Replace Captain Essen with Commissioner Loeb (and hell, have John Doman play him instead simply 'cause he looks more like that character). Make Loeb an actual intimidating, corrupt presence. At the moment, the show doesn't really have a GCPD antagonist who intimidates Gordon into "sticking with the program." Bullock currently veers too much between trying to play this role and being his partner who pulls him out of trouble. The show's Essen isn't defined enough to do this either. So give us Loeb, which will also make us understand why Gordon will fail to clean up the city since his hands are too tied. Possibly bring in Flass as the muscle and, to contrast from Bullock, make it the Year One Flass who's the intimidating ex-Green Beret.

- Cut Crispus Allen. He's not adding anything of any substance at the moment.

- I'd rather not have Edward as the forensics guy, but I can't honestly think of a replacement at the moment.

- Have Gordon in a shooting with The Wrath's parents, as well as Wesley Mathis, the father of the Dollmaker.

- Replace Montoya with the comic version of Sarah Essen and make the love triangle between Gordon, Barbara, and Essen, like in Year One.  I don't care for the version of Montoya in the show. It's not just the fact that she's now a contemporary of Gordon. She just comes across as the jealous, borderline creepy ex who is out to get Jim at all costs for petty reasons. Instead, I'd have it as Essen as Gordon's ex before he left Gotham and now he has to work with her. Barbara may know their history and it adds an actual layer of subtext now whenever Barbara gets worried about why Gordon is spending so much time on the job.

- Give Gordon and Barbara a way more modest apartment. It's weird for me to see Gordon live in luxury like in the show. Give him a more down to earth place.

- I know Leslie Thompkins is coming to the show. Think it would've been more organic/true to the comics if she had been introduced in the pilot and had to work with Alfred in how to take care of Bruce and aided Alfred's arc as well in learning to become a father figure. Could also play up and develop the Alfred-Leslie romance.

- Make Carmine Falcone younger and give him the Long Halloween backstory in which Thomas Wayne saved his life. Will add an interesting dynamic between Falcone and Alfred/Bruce.

- Would've replaced the "Balloon Man" with Judson Caspian/The Reaper

- Superficial thing: Have Gordon wear glasses (like in Gordon of Gotham), so he can at least feel like a young Jim Gordon.

According to Bleeding Cool:

Because Bleeding Cool has been told that Joel Schumacher is writing a twelve issue Batman comic, currently being drawn by Dustin Nguyen, which will revisit his intentions for the three films, or which two were made. Rewritten from scratch and telling one story, this will contain his original vision for the movies.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/10/24/joel-schumacher-to-revisit-batman-forever-batman-robin-and-batman-triumphant-in-year-long-comic-with-dustin-nguyen/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

A redo of Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, plus his intentions for another film- all written into one comic.

Not sure if this is legit. If it is, maybe some day, Burton will do one, too, and we'd finally find out what he wouldve done for a third film and what villains/characters he would've used.

[Batman v Superman: Dawn of JusticeSuicide Squad]

Big news online today as WB has finally announced its slate for the rest of the DC Cinematic Universe to follow Man of Steel. I imagine a lot of this is dependent on how well BvS: Dawn of Justice does. One can assume that the CW Arrow/Flash universe are definitely not connected with the movies, based off of some of the films here.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/warner-bros-announces-10-dc-741008

2016
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Suicide Squad
David Ayer is directing and apparently they're courting A-list stars to appear.

I'm guessing that we'll get yet another Amanda Waller (the fourth live action version after Smallville, Green Lantern, and Arrow) and that we'll see some Batman villains, like Deadshot and maybe even Harley Quinn.

2017

Wonder Woman
Gal Gadot will star, obviously, spinning off from her appearance in BvS

Justice League: Part One
Snyder will direct and Cavill, Affleck, and Amy Adams confirmed to appear. I'm assuming the heroes that show up in BvS- WW, Aquaman- Cyborg- will appear, too.

2018

The Flash
Actor Ezra Miller has been confirmed to play the character. It's unknown whether he will be Barry Allen or a different incarnation or if the character will appear in Justice League first.

Aquaman
To no one's surprised, the Warners CEO confirmed that Jason Momoa is in the role.

2019

Shazam
With Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam. It feels like they were aiming to get this one out sooner, but pushed it back, considering they already got Johnson in the cast.

Justice League: Part Two
Snyder to direct again.

2020

Cyborg
Ray Fisher is already playing Victor Stone in Batman v Superman and will presumably carry on here.

Green Lantern
I think it's safe to assume that this will be a reboot.

The press release also states that standalone Superman and Batman films are on the way:
[quote}"Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema will release a slate of at least 10 movies—as well as stand-alone Batman and Superman films—from 2016 through 2020 that expands this prized universe of characters."[/quote]

So, our Justice League looks like the following:
Superman: Henry Cavill
Batman: Ben Affleck
Wonder Woman: Gal Gadot
Aquaman: Jason Momoa
Cyborg: Ray Fisher
The Flash: Ezra Miller

TBD:
Shazam (have a feeling they'll stick to the New 52 name)
Green Lantern

Add any that you feel are appropriate or that I missed.

PILOT:
- Not a comic book reference, but the idea of Selina Kyle witnessing the murders of Thomas and Martha Wayne actually comes from the Tim Burton/Jim Steinman musical that never got off the ground.

- The scene of Jim Gordon taking down a mentally ill criminal and saving a hostage seems to have been influenced by Year One. His military background also comes from Year One.

- UPDATE: The idea of Harvey Bullock being partnered with a young Jim Gordon is taken from Batman: Earth One, though in the comic, the roles are reversed, with Gordon as the veteran and Bullock as the young one new to the GCPD.

- Harvey Bullock is presented as morally gray and with corrupt ties to Fish Mooney. This is actually similar to the character's initial appearance in which he was a corrupt cop on the take from Rupert Thorne. He later has a change of heart and becomes loyal to Gordon afterwards.

- The idea of Jim Gordon comforting a young Bruce Wayne stems back to Steve Englehart's treatment for the 1989 Batman film in which Gordon was at Bruce's parents' funeral.
This idea was repeated and developed further in the Sam Hamm draft where Gordon was the officer comforting Bruce, though this was never crevealed in the movie.

While speculation persists that the officer with Bruce in a flashback scene of The Batman cartoon was Gordon, it was Batman Begins that brought the idea to life. Wizard's "What If?" Ultimate Batman feature also had the specific idea of Gordon being the one to investigate the Waynes' deaths.

And while Year One presented the idea of Gordon transferring to Gotham from Chicago, the TV show has it so that Gordon grew up in the city and will rise up the ranks as a junior detective, as opposed to transferring while a lieutenant and already married with a pregnant wife.

Comic book wise, Len Wein's The Untold Legend of the Batman had Gordon as a cop during the time that Thomas Wayne took down Lew Moxon and, I believe, the Zero Year storyline in the New 52 comics has Gordon as an active member of the GCPD when the Waynes are killed.

- While not explicitly stated, Alfred's words to Bruce- on keeping his head high and not letting other see him cry- as they walk away from the murder scene implies Alfred's military background and it seems that the Sean Pertwee portrayal has been influenced by the tougher, more blue collar Alfred that started with Michael Caine and carried over into Geoff Johns's Earth One and the short-lived animated series Beware the Batman.

- Sarah Essen, much like Bullock, Crispus Allen, and Montoya, is presented as older than her comic counterpart, with her serving as Gordon's boss in the show. In the comics, at one point, Essen became the police commissioner and briefly served as Gordon's boss when he was forced to step down.

- The name of Mayor Aubrey James actually comes from Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #204, where he's the Mayor during a time when Thomas Wayne is still alive.

- Edward Nygma is obviously the future Riddler. While none of the origins in the comic have him working for the GCPD, a reformed Riddler once became a private detective in Paul Dini's run of Detective Comics, which may have influenced the decision to have him as part of the police force in this origin series.

- Oswald Cobblepot hates the nickname of "penguin." This is likely a reference to the comic origin where bullies gave him the nickname when he was growing up, due to his appearance and his clothes.

- Oswald's job at Fish Mooney's club could also be foreshadowing of his future as the owner of the Iceberg Lounge.

- Jim Gordon and Barbara Kean's apartment seems to be in a clock tower, judging by the big clock face in the wall behind Barbara when she's introduced. This could possibly be a reference to the future Barbara Gordon's (Jr.) clocktower as Oracle.

- Bullock tells Gordon to meet him at an intersection on "Grundy" street- obvious reference to Solomon Grundy.

- "Ivy Pepper" is obviously meant to be the future Poison Ivy and her father is killed by Harvey Bullock when he's attacking Gordon. In the comics, not much is known about the character's parents. The Neil Gaiman origin simply has them as emotionally distant while another comic said that they were dead by the time that Batman was fighting her in one adventure. In the New 52, Ivy's father kills her mother and Ivy, in turn, uses her powers to kill her father.

- Gordon gains press attention when he works with Bullock in taking down Mario Pepper, though his hand is injured in the process. This may be a reference to the comic Gordon of Gotham, which is a prequel covering Gordon's days in the Chicago Police force, where he also gains press by taking down criminals and getting wounded during the battle.

- Oswald snitching to Montoya and Allen could be a reference to Penguin being often used as Batman's snitch in the future.

- Montoya's implied past relationship with Barbara Kean is a reference to the character's sexuality in the comics. Montoya appears to be in the closet at this point in her career as well.

- The standup comedian in Fish Mooney's club is meant to be one of the many side characters foreshadowing the Joker, according to creator Bruno Heller. This is a reference to The Killing Joke, where it's explored that Joker could've been a former failed comedian. In this case, though, Fish seems to have faith in him.

- It's likely that Oswald's leg injury, from the confrontation with Fish Mooney, will cause his "penguin" waddle.

It's only black and white and its not a full shot of the Batmobile, but I like what I see.   

Hard to tell, but the cape and cowl look to be a darker color than the rest of the suit and the utility belt seems to be black.  I hope the bat logo is darkened, too, but they may have gone the Batman & Robin/Nolan route where the logo is the same color as the rest of the suit.

Teaser trailer here:
http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/05/05/gotham-trailer/

A longer trailer is set to hit later tonight.

Looks like Joe Chill (or at least his TV equivalent) is masked in this version.  This is a change from the usual, but I feel like there could be some thematic advantage- Bruce remembers feeling afraid upon seeing the man in the mask and seeks to strike that same fear into criminals when he dons his own mask in the future.

I wish they at least gave McKenzie glasses to look more Gordon-like.

It was announced, with the casting of Oswald Cobblepot, that one of the main Gotham mob bosses was someone named Fish Mooney. 

I had assumed that this was a Carmine Falcone-type character, but it looks like I was picturing the wrong gender:

Jada Pinkett Smith will play Fish Mooney, an imposing, hotheaded and notoriously sadistic gangster boss and nightclub owner with street smarts and almost extra-sensory abilities to read people like an open book who is not one to be crossed.

http://www.deadline.com/2014/02/jada-pinkett-smith-fox-gotham-villain/

On Eisenberg:

"Lex Luthor is often considered the most notorious of Superman's rivals, his unsavory reputation preceding him since 1940," Snyder said in Warner Bros' announcement of the castings today. "What's great about Lex is that he exists beyond the confines of the stereotypical nefarious villain. He's a complicated and sophisticated character whose intellect, wealth and prominence position him as one of the few mortals able to challenge the incredible might of Superman. Having Jesse in the role allows us to explore that interesting dynamic, and also take the character in some new and unexpected directions."

I can't be the only one hoping that Irons sports a familiar moustache...

"As everyone knows, Alfred is Bruce Wayne's most trusted friend, ally and mentor, a noble guardian and father figure. He is an absolutely critical element in the intricate infrastructure that allows Bruce Wayne to transform himself into Batman. It is an honor to have such an amazingly seasoned and gifted actor as Jeremy taking on the important role of the man who mentors and guides the guarded and nearly impervious façade that encapsulates Bruce Wayne."

http://www.deadline.com/2014/01/jesse-eisenberg-jeremy-irons-superman-batman-movie-warner-bros/

[What Donal Logue actually got the offer was for Det. Harvey Bullock who is in his 40s and described as Gordon's mentor in the pilot]

Earlier this week, Latino Review reported that actor Donal Logue had been offered the role of Jim Gordon for the show Gotham.  Logue went on twitter and denied it, saying that the Gordon part was for a younger actor.

Today, though, Latino Review has corrected their original report:

When I originally got the tip from my source that Donal Logue got the offer, I made error and assumed it was for the Gordon part. I was wrong. My fault. I apologize. What Donal Logue actually got the offer was for Det. Harvey Bullock who is in his 40s and described as Gordon's mentor in the pilot. Again, my apologies to the readers because sometimes, in the race to be first with a scoop, I didn't bother to ask for which part which was pretty amateur and stupid on my part. As they say, assumption is the mother of all screwups as I just proved. Won't happen again. So Donal Logue did in fact get an offer but for another part and not Gordon. Hope this clears things up.

http://latino-review.com/2014/01/exclusive-donal-logue-offered-commissioner-gordon-part-gotham/

If true, this would be the first live action version of Harvey Bullock.  Logue is a better fit for Bullock than Gordon anyway, but we'll have to see how this "Bullock-as-Gordon's-mentor" plays out since that does feel like a change in the dynamic.

Recently, Kevin Smith stated that, after hosting this weekend Q&A on Man of Steel, Zack Snyder showed him a cell phone of Ben Affleck in the new Batsuit:
"You have not seen this costume in a movie on film before. And for a comic book fan, it was mind-bending. Only [Zack Snyder] has enough power to pull this off."

http://batman-news.com/2013/11/11/kevin-smith-seen-ben-affleck-batman-vs-superman-batsuit/

He apparently said that it was "Jim Lee-influenced" (while this is bleeped in the recording, people who attended the recording have reported that he said Jim Lee).  I'm curious if he meant Hush-era Jim Lee or New 52 Jim Lee.  The Hush look is more of the traditional comic book suit whereas the New 52 one, with its darker colors and lines to indicate armor, is a bit more in line with how the Batsuits have been designed in the movies.

Still, it does hold out hope that we'll get something that looks more like the comic book Batman this time around.

It looks like the rumors may be true.

Hollywood trade The Wrap is reporting that actor Adam Driver, 29, is in the running to play Dick Grayson/Nightwing in the upcoming movie, in which he has apparently had a falling-out with Ben Affleck's Batman:
http://www.thewrap.com/batman-vs-superman-eyes-girls-star-adam-driver-possible-sidekick-role-exclusive/

This would further distance this interpretation from the Nolan trilogy, which used John Blake as a composite character instead of Grayson.

(Interesting to note: Driver is about a year younger than Superman actor Henry Cavill.  Cavill's Superman claimed to be 33 in Man of Steel, though, which is older than the actor's real age, but it is interesting that in this interpretation, Clark will be closer in age to Dick Grayson than he is to Bruce Wayne.

Looks like we won't get any new episodes until January!

http://batman-news.com/2013/10/22/beware-batman-hiatus-2014/

http://www.deadline.com/2013/09/commissioner-gordon-fox-tv-series-drama/

Wasn't sure where to post this.  Since the Man of Steel sequel will show the next incarnation of Batman, I thought this would be the most appropriate place for now since this could be the next incarnation of Gordon:

In one of the biggest drama deals this season, after a bidding war, Fox has landed Gotham, from Warner Bros. TV and The Mentalist creator Bruno Heller, with a series commitment. For Gotham, Warner Bros TV is mining one of DC Comics' most popular character universes, Batman. It explores the origin stories of Commissioner James Gordon and the villains that made Gotham famous. In Gotham, Gordon is still a detective with the Gotham City Police Department and is yet to meet Batman who will not be part of the series.

This video comes from Batman-News, which took it from a featurette on the upcoming Dark Knight Trilogy Blu-ray release.  I thought it'd be cool to share this:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x14yskz_christian-bale-auditions-for-batman-begins-in-val-kilmer-s-batsuit_shortfilms

As you can see, future Lois Lane Amy Adams read as Rachel for the auditions. 

Not sure who played Falcone, but it sounds like the Nolan brothers' uncle, John, who played Wayne Enterprises exec Fredericks in Begins and Rises, may have been reading Gordon.

Bale was wearing Val Kilmer's "sonar" suit from Batman Forever.  What's funny is that I always thought that suit was metallic grey, but the lighting shows that it's black.  This was an appropriate suit for the audition, I think, since it's the closest suit from the old movies to the Batman Begins suit, right down to the oval-less bat insignia on the chest.

Curious what you guys think in comparing Bale's voice here to the one he used in the movie.  I definitely prefer the "Swear to me" in the audition.

While I liked the last couple episodes better, I still enjoy the direction the show's going now, with a more continuing storyline.  The Batman-Gordon alliance is officially in full swing.

I had to look up this week's villain to see if he came from the source material and sure enough, he did.  Here's the comic book version of Cypher: http://www.writeups.org/fiche.php?id=2362
No fancy costume like in the show, but I think the BTB version worked.

Wasn't expecting Tatsu to be going out with Jason Burr or the ending.

I'm interested to see if the final shot means Jason will go down the path he went in the comics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobra_(comics)#Jason_Burr

Also, this series may have the best version of the Batcomputer ever, since it has a personality.  First there was the Humpty Dumpty joke from weeks ago.  This week's was: "Then you better wish me luck."  "...Good luck, Batman."

Oh, and the villain got captured again.  This Batman is definitely better with Katana by his side.

This show keeps getting better.  The Batman-Katana dynamic was fun.  Her first "costume" was hilarious. 

I liked the introduction of the Bat-Signal and it was nice to see the Batman-Gordon relationship developing, even if it was pretty much how Arrow did it earlier this year (cop reluctantly teams up with vigilante to help find kidnapped daughter, right down to ending it with "You're the cop.  I'm the vigilante.").

I also wasn't expecting Phosphorus Rex, who, in the comics, is another member of the "Circus of Strange" along with Pyg and Toad.  Wonder if we'll see a team-up in the future.

Oh, and also, the bad guys finally got arrested!  (Technically, twice).  Batman should go easier on Katana.  If he went up against Phosphorus Rex alone, the guy probably would've gotten away like Pyg & Toad, Humpty Dumpty, etc. 

I thought I'd start a thread for the other Batman characters we may see in the next film.  Deadline's report about the Detroit filming indicates that we'll see Gotham City.

If I had to bet on one additional Gotham character we'd see, it would be Alfred Pennyworth.

The current rumor right now is Timothy Dalton and while I'd be curious to see his take, I don't think anyone should believe the reports about him since they come from Cosmic Book News, the site that also claimed that Bryan Cranston was cast already as Lex Luthor and that Tyler Hoechlin was a major frontrunner for Batman.

What characters from Batman's world do you think we'll see in the MoS sequel?

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ben-affleck-is-batman-man-612907

How would you do The Dark Knight?  As usual with the parameters, keep it within the framework of the film and treat Begins as it currently exists.

One thing I'd change is that I wouldn't have had Bruce switching costumes in this movie. 

A lot of fans complained that Bruce would change suits between movies in the Burton/Schumacher series without explanation and praised The Dark Knight for tying the costume change into the plot.  I completely disagree with this for several reasons:

1) I dislike the TDK Batsuit, simply on an aesthetic level, and much prefer the Begins suit.

2) The TDK/TDKR Batsuit makes Bruce more vulnerable, so it's hard to buy that he'd opt for it.  Remember the dialogue in Begins?  "This sucker can stop a knife."  Cut to Dark Knight Rises with Talia...

3) I also don't buy the explanation in the movie.  If Bruce was really having trouble with flexibility with the suit, why'd it take him this long to want an upgrade?  It feels like he would've wanted a change immediately, especially since it seemed to work fine when he was fighting the League of Shadows and Ra's Al Ghul.  Now, he's fighting dogs and amateur vigilantes and it's too much for him?

4) Biggest sin of all, though, is the fact that the costume change does not add anything to the rest of the movie's story, other than eating up screentime.  The sonar abilities and projectile gauntlet scallops could've easily been added to the existing suit.

I'll have bigger things to add later, but I thought I'd start off with that.