Deh-Shay Deh-Shay Bah-Sah-Rah Bah-Sah-Rah!

"What does that mean?"

Selina Kyle a.k.a. Catwoman

Catwoman, a character whose real name is Selina Kyle, has been around for over 70 years. She was originally a villain known as The Cat. Later on she became a cat burglar we know now as Catwoman, who is less of a villain, and more just a criminal. During her burglary career, she has developed a complicated relationship with Batman, who chases her because she's a criminal. It's not the most healthy relationship, but it's still arguably the best romantic relationship Bruce Wayne has ever had.

There have also been many different portrayals of Catwoman in other forms of media. She has shown up in many animated shows, for example Batman: The Animated Series and The Batman, and in several video games, the most popular of which is Batman: Arkham City. In live-action media she was perhaps most famously portrayed by Julie Newmar in the 1966 Batman television show, and when the actress had other commitments, the character was portrayed by Eartha Kitt in later seasons of the show, and by Lee Meriwether in the 1966 Batman movie based on the television series. Decades later, the character was played by Michelle Pfeiffer in Tim Burton's Batman Returns. There was a standalone Catwoman movie with Halle Berry in the title role, but she was actually playing Patience Phillips rather than Selina Kyle, so that portrayal doesn't really count. I know many would disagree with me since there are many Catwoman comics without Batman, but I find the concept of a standalone Catwoman movie to be kind of uninteresting since, in my opinion, the most interesting part of the character is her complicated relationship with Batman. It's like if there was a Miss Moneypenny movie, and it didn't have James Bond in it.

As I stated in the previous blog entry, Anne Hathaway has been cast as Selina Kyle in Christopher Nolan's third and final Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises. And like I said, I have no idea if I have any problem with that casting since I'm not that familiar with Hathaway as an actress. I guess I'll know if I like it or not when I see the movie. Perhaps we can pretend for the remainder of this blog entry that we're in the time period before she was cast in the movie, because there is a different actress that for quite a while now, I've thought might make a perfect Catwoman. That actress is Alison Brie.

She is an incredibly versatile actress, and I could see her as the perfect Selina Kyle. I can imagine her interacting with Bruce Wayne the way Selina Kyle should, and interacting with Batman the way that Catwoman should. People might think she is too young since she plays a younger woman in the television show Community, but I think she's perfectly capable of pulling off a more grown up look and personality. Here is a little picture I made of Catwoman from Batman: Hush with Brie's face pasted in instead. When I said I could see her as Selina Kyle, I wasn't even talking about her looks, but I think it looks pretty great in this picture. And seriously, no one could honestly tell me that Ms. Brie wouldn't look fantastic in a catsuit.

Speaking of which, in my opinion, her costume should be what I outlined in the previous post. Like I said there, Catwoman has had many different costume designs throughout all of the media she has been featured in, but certain elements seem tailor-made for a Nolan movie. Combat boots with sensible heels, a cowl with cat ears covering her hair, and the iconic goggles seen in the image I linked to above. I think the claws and whip typically included on different versions of Selina's costume are a bit gimmicky and unnecessary, and I wouldn't include them. When Selina is not wearing her Catwoman costume, maybe she could have dresses that are inspired by various other classic Catwoman costumes like this one or this one.

Regarding the approach to the character, Selina wouldn't be a villain, but just a criminal. Specifically a cat burglar. She would just steal stuff from rich people because she's addicted to the thrill of it, and loves the challenge. She wouldn't really be a danger to anyone, so she would just be more of a distraction for Batman from his more serious work. He would chase her because she's a criminal, and she would think of it as a game. At some point in the movie, she would end up helping out Batman, and they would develop feelings for each other. I don't know if this is the approach they're taking in The Dark Knight Rises, but it's the approach I think would be best.

Catwoman costume in The Dark Knight Rises

Anne Hathaway is playing Selina Kyle in The Dark Knight Rises, Christopher Nolan's new Batman movie. I don't know what I think of the casting of Anne Hathaway yet, as I haven't seen most of her movies, so I don't have any idea what she's capable of as an actress. I do know though that I don't really like her Catwoman costume in the movie.

It's really confusing to me that they went the direction they did with the costume, because of all the very different versions of Catwoman's costume from the comics and other media, there are definitely some designs that seem tailor-made for the style of Nolan's more realistic Batman world.

One of my problems with the costume is the thigh-high boots with the ridiculously tall heels. They bring to mind Selina's backstory in some of the comics in the 1980's where she was a prostitute, a characterization which I never found appealing whatsoever. A lot of Batman fans love it though, and many of them think it's perfect for the Nolan's movies because of how "dark and gritty" they are. Sure Nolan's movies are a bit dark and gritty, but I think people completely overstate just how dark and gritty they are. Making Selina Kyle a prostitute is just going overboard in my opinion. Besides the association with Selina's hooker backstory in the comics, I also just think the boots are just impractical. A pair of fashionable, yet sensible women's combat boots that go almost up to the knee would have looked great.

Speaking of impracticality, I also have a problem with the long hair. I know many versions of Catwoman over the years in the comics and on television have included her long hair, but it seems pretty silly having long hair if you're Catwoman. Wouldn't always be getting in the way? Wouldn't it be a huge weakness in physical altercations? Why not have a cowl to cover it up? Even with the cat ears. It really doesn't seem farfetched to me at all for Selina to take on a cat persona in response to Batman's bat persona. She loves toying with him, and generally sees their relationship as a game.

It also really baffles me that they gave her goggles, but not the goggles that seem the obvious choice to give her. When the Catwoman character and costume were revamped in 2001, she had a pair of goggles, which are very unique and distinctive. Since then, they've been a feature on many different versions of the costume, including in the comic Batman: Hush, the animated television show The Batman, and the video game Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.

Although these goggles have only been around for a little over a decade, they've become iconic. They're arguably the most iconic part of the Catwoman costume throughout all the different versions of it in the 72 years she's been around. They would have looked fantastic on a realistic and practical Nolan movie Catwoman.

Edward Nigma a.k.a. The Riddler

The Riddler is another incredibly popular villain who has been around for many decades. Almost everyone probably knows who he is. The character, whose real name is Edward Nigma, is obsessed with riddles and puzzles, both solving them and creating them. He often sends riddles to Batman or the police to challenge them, giving them clues to catch him. It's a way of teasing them with his superior intelligence, something he is very proud of. The question mark is a symbol he associates with, and it can usually be seen not only on his riddles, but also on his outfit. With a color scheme of green, with black or purple highlights, Nigma's wardrobe typically consists of a unitard or a suit and tie, with a domino mask and bowler hat. Sometimes he even carries a staff with a big question mark at the top.

The Riddler has been in live-action media in the past. Most famously by Frank Gorshin in the 1960's Batman show and movie, and by Jim Carrey in the Joel Schumacher directed Batman Forever. In that movie, the character's name was Edward Nygma. Although I enjoy those portrayals, I think they both really missed the mark when it comes to what makes the character unique and interesting. The Riddler has also been portrayed in many animated shows, such as Batman: The Animated Series, and later The Batman, in which a very outside the box gothic interpretation of the character was something I found very intriguing. The character was also present in the video game Batman: Arkham Asylum in voice only, taunting Batman to solve riddles and find trophies hidden all over the island. He was again present in the sequel Batman: Arkham City, but this time appeared in person. I haven't played Arkham City, but judging from the trailer I saw and what I've read about The Riddler's part in the game, I feel it's another example of the designers going way overboard with or going in the wrong direction with the dark and gritty aesthetic. Riddler seemed more like a villain from one of the Saw movies, and that's an approach I just don't find to be at all interesting.

Before Christopher Nolan had even begun development on The Dark Knight Rises, it was rumored that The Riddler would be the main villain, and that he would be played by Johnny Depp. It was recently revealed that the studio wanted The Riddler to be the main villain as well, but instead wanted him to be played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Personally, I'd much rather see Edward Nigma being played by Jason Isaacs.

I know that this one is also basically type-casting considering Isaacs is no stranger to playing villains. Captain Hook, Lucius Malfoy, Colonol Tavington. He also played "pretty much the smartest man on the planet" in Armageddon. I just think he's perfect for this role though.

Speaking of which, Edward Nigma should be pretty much the smartest man on the planet, or at least in Gotham City. He should be a nerd, but a cool nerd. Vast intellect and intelligence, perhaps superior to even that of Bruce Wayne's and Lucius Fox's. Although it's a trait that is usually underutilized in the movies, Batman is a highly skilled detective. The elaborate puzzles and riddles that Nigma creates would be the perfect way to show Batman's brilliant detective skills. Nigma would kind of be a Professor Moriarty to Batman's Holmes. The riddles and puzzles would be incredibly difficult to solve too. The riddles in Batman Forever were just ridiculously stupid. Nigma should also be a lot more quiet and a lot less flamboyant than he has been in certain previous portrayals. A pleased smirk rather than a maniacal laugh seems like it would better fit the character, while also differentiating him from Joker.

As for the visual aspects of the Riddler character, I'd cut down a little on his obsession with question marks. There wouldn't be any question marks on his tie or his suit. The question marks would still exist on his riddles, and he would use it as a symbol, but that's it. He absolutely wouldn't have a unitard, but would wear suits. He would wear glasses instead of a domino mask, and would use a cane rather than carry a question mark staff. The character's affinity for the color green could be a lot more subtle. I imagine the character having a huge library with a desk, and on the desk would be one of those banker's lamps with the green glass shade. Stuff like that.

I think that things from our modern world could be used to update the character in really interesting ways, making him especially relevant considering certain things that have been happening in recent years. Possibly more relevant than he ever has been before. I imagine an approach inspired by Julian Assange, Anonymous, and even the graffiti artist Banksy. Edward Nigma could be a hacker (or hacktivist) and "The Riddler" could be his handle. Maybe the name "Edward Nigma" could even be an alias the character uses, since it's maybe a little too silly a name to be realistic, and his real name could be unknown. He could use the question mark as his avatar or logo. Anonymous has actually been known to use an image with a man in a suit with no head, who has a question mark floating above him.

Thinking about this internet age approach to the character, the marketing possibilities for a movie with The Riddler in it are pretty exciting as well. Early on in the promotion of The Dark Knight, there was a viral marketing campaign, which you can read about on the Wikipedia page for The Dark Knight. It featured websites, clues, hidden messages, scavenger hunts. There has also been an arguably less complex and less inspired viral campaign for The Dark Knight Rises. If there is one character a viral marketing campaign for a movie is perfect for, it's definitely Edward Nigma. An elaborate series of interweaving puzzles, riddles, and scavenger hunts on the internet seems exactly like something a modern real-life Riddler might do. And just imagine what could be done with it.

Oswald Cobblepot a.k.a. The Penguin

The Penguin, whose real name is Oswald Cobblepot, is a wildly popular Batman villain. While he's usually portrayed as a short man with a tuxedo, a top hat, and a monocle, some of his other common traits differ from portrayal to portrayal. Sometimes he's an aristocratic mobster or thief, and sometimes he's a deformed outcast. He often has an affinity for birds, especially penguins, and often has penguin-like mannerisms. Many times he has various kinds of umbrellas that are also gadgets. Umbrellas that hide blades, shoot bullets, transform into propellers, etc. In some of his appearances in the comics and other media, Oswald Cobblepot owns a nightclub called The Iceburg Lounge. Several other criminals regularly spend time there, and the club is often a front for whatever criminal activities Cobblepot is involved in.

The Penguin is probably best known from his live-action portrayals. He was played by Burgess Meredith in the 1960's Batman television show and movie, and was played by Danny DeVito in the Tim Burton directed movie Batman Returns. The character has also appeared in many different animated movies and shows. One of the other things I grew up seeing him in was a Scooby-Doo Meets Batman And Robin VHS I had when I was a child, where he was teamed up with the Joker. Like Hugo Strange and The Riddler, he was also featured in the video game Batman: Arkham City. Unfortunately, I think the designers of that game went overboard trying to make it dark and gritty, and a good example of that is that the Cockney accented Penguin appeared with the bottom of a broken glass bottle wedged in his face covering his eye rather than having a monocle.

There are a lot of people who really want The Penguin to be the main villain in a Christopher Nolan Batman movie. I mostly don't understand his appeal as a main villain. Maybe it's just that those people grew up with The Penguin, seeing Burgess Meredith or Danny DeVito play him, or maybe seeing him in Batman: The Animated Series or that Scooby-Doo cartoon like I did. The Penguin is really cheesy though. If he was portrayed how he traditionally is, he wouldn't fit in Nolan's Gotham City at all. Even if they tried to go dark and gritty like in Arkham City, a portrayal which was really cheesy in its own way. Nolan has also expressed no interest in including The Penguin in one of his Batman movies. He explained why in 2007 during a Q&A with Esquire:

                    CHRISTOPHER NOLAN

          There are certain characters that are easier to mesh with the more 

          real take on Batman we're doing. The Penguin would be tricky.

The problem is if he's changed to be more realistic, he becomes too uninteresting to be a main villain. That's why if he was in a Nolan movie, I don't think he should be the main villain, but instead have a much smaller role. A lot of people are in love with the idea of Philip Seymour Hoffman playing Oswald Cobblepot. I do love Philip Seymour Hoffman. He's an incredible actor, who is especially chilling in movies like Mission: Impossible III and Punch-Drunk Love. However, he doesn't really fit my idea of Cobblepot. I would much rather see the character played by Edward Hibbert.

Edward Hibbert has the right look for the character. He's perfect to play a man who fancies himself a gentleman. He even has vaguely birdlike facial features. (No offense, Mr. Hibbert.) He previously had a small but very memorable role in Christopher Nolan's movie The Prestige. Nolan seems to like working with many actors he's already worked with in the past. Maybe he would be interested in working with Hibbert again.

In the movie, Cobblepot could be more of a crooked businessman than an outright villain, and could own The Iceberg Lounge, where many members of the mob hang out. He could maybe be shaken down by Batman for information. They shouldn't go down the grotesquely deformed route with him. They shouldn't give him a monocle, and probably not even a top hat. Gotham City could be having a rainy season throughout the movie, giving Cobblepot reason to carry around an umbrella when he's outside. He shouldn't have any gadgets in the umbrellas, aside from an umbrella where the handle comes out, revealing a knife, kind of like Joker's shoe knife in The Dark Knight. I'd love to watch a scene where he pulls the knife out of his umbrella and threatens or fights either some thugs or Batman with it.

Professor Hugo Strange

Hugo Strange was one of Batman's first adversaries, having been around even longer than the Joker has. He doesn't really have any specific theatrical gimmicks like most of Batman's villains do. You can read about story lines he is known for on his wikipedia page if you'd like. The character has appeared in several animated shows, like Batman: The Animated Series, Justice League Unlimited, and The Batman. When Tom Hardy was cast in The Dark Knight Rises, it was rumored or speculated that he would play Hugo Strange. Around that time, the character's popularity had just spiked due to his inclusion in the then forthcoming video game Batman: Arkham City, the sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum. Obviously we now know that Hardy was cast as Bane instead.

I've seen a lot of ideas from fans about who they would like to see play the role of Hugo Strange in a Christopher Nolan Batman movie, including Robin Williams, but I think the best person for the job is Kelsey Grammer.

It is perhaps typecasting, but in my opinion, he has the presence, the intellect, the intensity, and the right kind of voice for the character. I could picture him with the bald head, the glasses, and the distinctive beard, and he doesn't look too silly to me to fit in with the style of Nolan's world. When I was searching for a photo of Kelsey Grammer to post here, I actually found a picture of him with a beard that looks exactly like a perfect Hugo Strange beard!

Despite his silly name, I think Professor Strange is one of the characters who would fit right into Nolan's Gotham City. I imagine him as a brilliant professor of criminal psychology at Gotham University who uses rather unorthodox or possibly unethical techniques to try and understand the mind of a criminal. He would probably be consulted by the police to find out Batman's secret identity, and in the process would become more and more obsessed with Batman, to the point of going crazy and wanting to actually be Batman.

Reinterpreting Batman villains for movies.

One of the things I really love about the character Batman is all of the wildly different takes on him, his city, and the other characters in that city. For most of them, there just aren't any definitive versions in my mind, and I find the different interpretations and portrayals to be fascinating.

One version I'm a huge fan of is Christopher Nolan's take on Gotham City and the characters in it. Nolan's Gotham City is certainly not the definitive Gotham. Batman in Nolan's movies is not the definitive Batman. The Joker in Nolan's movie is not the definitive Joker. But I love what the director has done with that world and those characters in his movies. I loved Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Christian Bale has been a great Bruce Wayne (and his Batman voice doesn't bother me at all), Heath Ledger was amazing as The Joker, and I think Gary Oldman as James Gordon is one of the best comic book movie casting decisions that has ever been made. The third movie in the series, The Dark Knight Rises, is one I'm very excited about. Unfortunately, it has been widely reported as the final Batman film made by Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale. Although Bale recently stated it was a possibility that he would come back for a fourth movie, it probably won't happen.

Ever since I saw Batman Begins, I've thought a lot about what existing Batman characters could fit into the Nolan's vision of Gotham City, and what kind of role they might play in a movie. It's a lot of fun to think about, especially with the villains. Obviously a lot of Batman's villains just wouldn't fit, and if you changed them to try to make them more realistic, trying to force a square peg in a round hole, you'd probably strip away everything that made the characters interesting in the first place. Everything that made you want to see them in a live-action movie. Other characters though, with some tweaking, could fit right in. I think characters like The Riddler, Hugo Strange, Black Mask, and Hush could each make good major villains in Nolan's Gotham City, and characters like Firefly, Penguin, and possibly even Ventriloquist and The Mad Hatter could be minor villains.

I also really like thinking about who could play these characters in movies if they were ever made. For some of those characters I listed above, I've thought of people who I think could be perfect to play them. I think of it as a fun creative exercise, and I thought it might be fun to share some of these thoughts on my blog, so I'll be making three posts this week about a few villains that I think would fit well in Nolan's Gotham City, with my thoughts about how the characters could be interpreted and adapted to fit in a Nolan movie, and my own suggestions for what actors could play them. I know that Christopher Nolan would have his own interpretations of these characters, were he to feature them in a new movie, and it's pretty much impossible to predict who he might cast, because his casting decisions have often been pretty surprising. These posts are just meant to be my own ideas, not predictions of who he would cast. And on Thursday, July 19th, the day before The Dark Knight Rises comes out, I'll be making a few more post that are a bit different, featuring what is sort of my own alternate interpretation of a character that Nolan has already featured in a Batman movie.