Despite there being no official announcement of Ben Affleck directing his own stand-alone Batman film from Warner Bros., a few reputable sources have reported that it’s indeed happening. With a couple of Comic Con trailers giving us a few hints to which Batman villains could be showing up in future films, we’re going to take a look at five villains that could or should make it on screen opposite of Batfleck.
Villains in the Batman universe are sometimes just as popular as the Caped Crusader himself. Since the stand-alone Batman movie looks to be in development with Affleck directing and co-writing with DC Comics writer Geoff Johns, let’s take a look at some villains that should be considered for Affleck’s superhero directorial debut.
5. Mr. Freeze
The good thing about this new Batman is that it isn’t so grounded in realism. Don’t get me wrong, I love The Dark Knight trilogy, but it limited them to what villains they could have used. Yes, it will still be “dark,” but this Batman ultimately exists in a world where god-like beings exist. One of which he will be fighting in the next movie. This new universe where beings like Superman and Killer Croc exist gives Affleck more freedom for which villains to use in his own film.
If Affleck were to use Mr. Freeze, I think it’s obvious to say we don’t want any campy one-liners from Arnold Schwarzenegger. Mr. Freeze is actually an interesting character and one that wouldn’t be the obvious choice. Mr. Freeze has an interesting backstory that could work well with the directing talent Affleck will bring to the table.
Victor Fries has an ongoing goal of finding a cure for his dying wife. These types of backstories allow villains to be more than just crazy psychopaths. While many will probably still be rooting for Batman, a character like Mr. Freeze can make audiences relate to him and ultimately have an emotional impact on them as well.
4. Hugo Strange
We’ve seen a few iterations of Hugo Strange in Batman: The Animated Series and Batman: Arkham City, but never in the live-action universe. Strange’s obsession with Batman leaves him to be one of the few villains to find out Batman’s true identity.
This would create an awesome dynamic that we have yet to see in the films; what happens when Batman’s enemy is trying to damage Bruce Wayne’s reputation in society? It would be interesting to see not only Batman having to deal with this villain, but Bruce Wayne as well. While not a physical threat, Hugo Strange can do some damage behind the scenes as he perhaps works with another villain.
3. Deathstroke
There have always been two things I’ve wanted in a Batman film that we haven’t seen in even Christopher Nolan’s iterations and that is making Batman a detective — which we’ll talk about later — and making him a skilled fighter in hand-to-hand combat. Early on in Bruce Wayne’s goal to become the masked vigilante, he trains with some of the best in the world to become a force not to be reckoned with. Unfortunately, we haven’t really seen this done correctly in past films.
I love Christopher Nolan’s take on the Bat as much as anyone else, but I can’t be the only one who thought the combat scenes in those films were very poor at best. The combat was always clunky and looked as though Batman couldn’t move properly in the suit. That’s if you ever got the chance to see what was going on in between the 50 frames used in a few seconds. Obviously I’m over exaggerating a little, but my point is, I actually want to see what’s going on in a fight scene and accurately portray Batman’s skills in this area.
Affleck doesn’t have a ton of experience directing fight scenes, so hopefully he surprises us or gets some help in that area because the new scenes from Batman v Superman look awesome.
And what better way to display Batman’s skills than to put him up against a skilled fighter that can go toe-to-toe with The Bat? Deathstroke is definitely that villain. How awesome would it be to see these two fight in a live-action movie? Much like what we saw in the Batman: Arkham Origins trailer. We got a glimpse of Batman facing someone he may not be able to beat in The Dark Knight Rises, but I’d love to see him face Deathstroke, someone with a similar fighting style as Batman.
2. Red Hood
One of my favorite DC animated features is Under the Red Hood. It provides a great take on Robin and a storyline that can fit well into Warner Bros.’ darker tone that they are striving for in their new cinematic universe. What gets darker than a flashback scene of The Joker torturing and killing Jason Todd? If you don’t know the story (or haven’t seen Under the Red Hood, in which case you should go watch it now), Jason Todd is killed by the Joker, leaving Batman to feel the guilt for not being able to save him. However, Jason Todd “survives” and comes back as the vengeful villain Red Hood who throws away the morals and rules he learned from being Batman’s sidekick.
Bringing in the Red Hood character would be nothing like we’ve seen before in previous films. On one hand, we’ve only seen Robin portrayed in Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. On the other hand, we’ve never seen a villain in the Batman films know Batman’s psyche and skills through and through. Add knowing his true identity and it could make for an awesome story line in an upcoming Batman film.
In the new Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice trailer, we get a glimpse of what appears to be Joker mocking Batman through the use of an old Robin costume. Written on the Robin costume is “HAHAH Joke’s on you Batman.” Presumably, this is alluding to Jason Todd.
Adding even more speculation, it seems we may see a flashback scene to The Joker killing Jason Todd in Suicide Squad. This is pure speculation, but in the leaked trailers from San Diego Comic Con, we get a glimpse of Jared Leto’s Joker saying “I’m not going to kill you. I’m just going to hurt you really, really bad.” Of course, he could be saying this to anybody, but with the Joker/Robin scene in the new Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice trailer, it seems it could be a good possibility and not completely out of left field for this storyline to come to fruition in the future.
1. Riddler
Jim Carrey’s The Riddler was well, uh, Jim Carrey. This is not entirely his fault because that was the tone and performance they wanted out of him at that time. However, a darker take on The Riddler character could make for an awesome, creepy, and crazy performance by whoever takes on the character. We’ve gotten a taste of this in the Batman Arkham video game series, but never in the live-action universe.
Like I said before, there have always been two things I’ve wanted out of a Batman film that we haven’t seen in even Christopher Nolan’s films and that is a skilled fighter in hand-to-hand combat and a detective.
Batman is the “world’s greatest detective” but we haven’t seen that fully fleshed out in previous films. We were given a small glimpse of it in The Dark Knight when Bruce Wayne is triangulating the bullet that was used to shoot Commissioner Gordon. But that’s about it. Give us The Riddler and it opens it up a slew of possibilities to portray Batman’s detective side with creative riddles and even murders that Batman has to solve.
This villain seems a bit more plausible to show up in future Batman films because there was a short, very brief Easter Egg in the first Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice trailer. At one point in the trailer we see Batman standing in a building and you can very clearly see a question mark in the forefront. Coincidence? Not likely. It’ll be interesting to see if The Riddler will indeed be the villain in Affleck’s upcoming Batman film.
Honorable Mention: Scarecrow
Scarecrow would have probably been in my top 3 choices on this list. However, since Scarecrow was used in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, I don’t see the villain being used in Affleck’s solo Batman films anytime soon.
The fear-crazed villain doesn’t have a must-use status like The Joker seems to have. My reason for wanting Scarecrow in this universe is because Nolan’s portrayal of Scarecrow felt a bit lackluster. Audiences could have gotten a better look at Batman’s psyche through the use of Scarecrow’s fear gas. Yes, the rooftop scene with Scarecrow’s vision of Batman was awesome, but we never got a look at what Batman saw and feared when induced with Crane’s toxin. The only thing we saw through Batman’s eyes when induced with the toxin were some bats and maggots. This was a hugely missed opportunity.
I’d love to see something like Batman: Arkham Asylum where we see him revisit his parent’s death and fear the disappointment his parents. Scarecrow is so interesting because he can strike fear in a man whose goal is to strike fear into others. While Ra’s Al Ghul was a big part of Batman Begins, Scarecrow’s ultimate demise was a bit lame as well. Truth be told, I wasn’t a fan of his portrayal in the film. Sometime in the future, I would love to see this villain used again in a different way.
Who would you like to see be the villain in Ben Affleck’s new Batman film? Let us know in the comments below.
