Was Dark Knight the End of the Batman Movies?

The Dark Knight is hands down the best Batman movie yet, but has Christopher NolanChristopher Nolan painted himself into a corner by using up the only viable Batman villains? Most of the Batman villains left are either too campy (the Penguin, the Ventriloquist), depend too much on flexible comic book logic (Clayface, Killer Croc), or are just watered-down versions of the Joker (the Riddler, the Mad Hatter).

Tim BurtonTim Burton’s Batman featured The Joker (Jack NicholsonJack Nicholson) for good reason. The Clown Prince of Crime, always Batman’s most threatening foe, represents (among many things) an unwillingness to take human life seriously. In that moral void his vibrant personality explodes like a fireworks display of mania, menace, and eccentricity. The Joker is the calling card of chaos and evil at its sexiest. Batman isn’t the reason we watch Batman over and over again, the Joker is. Of course Michael Keaton brings gravitas to Batman, but let’s face it–as sweet as Batman is, he’s just not good company. Ever notice how passengers in the Batmobile feel like they’re at the end of a bad date?

Batman is the control and the villain is the variable, and we all know the movies between Batman and Batman Begins are failed experiments. Danny DeVitoDanny DeVito as a mutant Penguin, Tommy Lee JonesTommy Lee Jones as Two Face, JIm Carrey as the Riddler, Arnold Swarzenegger as Mr. Freeze: none of these villains grab hold and shake the imagination like the mighty Joker.

I’m wary of Nolan making a third Batman movie. Is there an actor capable of making the Riddler a force to be reckoned with? Or like some bloggers are saying, would the obscure villain Anarky be the best fit for capping off Nolan’s trilogy? Anarky sounds a bit like V in V for Vandetta, a highly principled and violent anarchist who destroys “for the people.” I would watch that, but I don’t think for a second the film would be as good as The Dark Knight.

As far as I’m concerned, Batman’s story pretty much begins and ends with the Joker. That’s why even though I loved Batman Begins and adored The Dark Knight, I’d almost prefer that Christopher Nolan stop making Batman movies.