Batman villains have a very huge burden on their backs when they are adapted to live-action cinema. It is very easy to do Batman villains wrong, given how indigenous they are to the comic medium. Each one has a gimmick more bizarre than the other, making them very difficult to get authentically right.
While Christopher Nolan’s trilogy did a lot of things right about Batman, like Heath Ledger’s Joker, what it failed at making just as great are the rest of the villains who graced the trilogy. Be it Ra’s al Ghul, Scarecrow or Bane, fans were less than satisfied with the portrayal of these characters. However, with Batman Part II confirmed, one of these villains could have a second chance at being portrayed properly.
Batman Part II could do Scarecrow justice
As Batman becomes DC’s one property that gets tremendous amounts of love, the Joker has emerged as the go-to villain for any Batman film that wants to appeal to the mainstream audience. However, Reeves’s The Batman moved away from such gimmicks, instead focusing on a villain rarely seen in live action: The Riddler.
Similarly, there are tons of villains in Batman’s rogue’s gallery who deserve a solo cinematic outing, that looks into their origin, motivation and character seriously and with maturity. Among these villains is the Scarecrow, a villain portrayed by Cillian Murphy in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins.
While the film was well-received by audiences, fans of The Dark Knight found the depiction of Dr Jonathan Crane more than a little lacking. This became especially frustrating, as Cillian Murphy was perfectly cast as the dastardly mad scientist, only to have the script and the narrative fail him in the final product.
Batman Part II could revitalize old villains
Poison IvyAlmost every Batman villain has seen at least one outing in the live-action medium, but some antagonists of the Bat of Gotham have become more prominent than others in recent years. Matt Reeves has managed to bring a very unique and grounded take to Batman, already introducing Catwoman into this version of the Batman mythos. with the Penguin and The Riddler, along with The Joker also being present in this version of Gotham, there are other characters who could benefit from existing in the Reeves-vere.
Poison Ivy is a classic Batman villain that has been missing from live-action for a while now. Characters like Mr. Freeze, Clayface, Mad Hatter and Man-Bat would be very interesting to see in Reeves’s version of the Gotham.
While there are a host of characters that could be ‘rehabilitated’ in The Batman Part II, the distinct nature of this universe i.e., not being part of the DCU allows the universe to have a lot more freedom as compared to its shared universe counterpart. Robin could also do with a modern update, coming to the Reeves-verse with a fresh take on the character. While the Titans version of the character was great, it never shared the screen with Batman, leaving much to be desired.
