In Batman and Batman Begins, Batman faced one primary rogue. In Batman, it was The Joker. In Batman Begins, it was Ra's al Ghul (Scarecrow was an extremely minor figure in the film).

However, The Batman is presenting Batman with three A-listers from his rogues gallery. The Riddler, The Penguin, and Catwoman all look to play pivotal roles in the upcoming film. The recently debuted trailer for The Batman suggests The Riddler is the focus here, but The Penguin and Catwoman are not exactly going to stay on the periphery either.

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Batman famously has the most impressive and arguably broadest rogue’s gallery in comic book lore. For The Batman’s sequel, director Matt Reeves and company have plenty of gold to sift through in terms of which supervillains should make an entrance. Some rogues will fit in this particular universe more than others. Reeves is painting a dark, sinister picture of Gotham for The Batman. It is hard to imagine a goofball like Kiteman making an appearance in a sequel. The film also looks to be relatively grounded in realism, so that eliminates fantastical characters like Solomon Grundy and Clayface.

Batman Trailer Cropped

Obviously, there is realism and then there is comic-book-realism. For example, falling into a vat of acid would not make one permanently look like a devious clown, it would simply cause one to die. To the best of the scientific community’s knowledge, humans and plants cannot form telepathic bonds. But alas, audiences must allow some room for belief in the impossible for the sake of worlds like Gotham City. So which dark, somewhat plausible characters belong in The Batman’s sequel?

Professor Pyg

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For the most part, only readers who have consumed Grant Morrison’s Batman run and video game connoisseurs are aware of who Professor Pyg is. He is a serial killer who dons the visage of a Pig and has a fascination with perfection. He kidnaps people and attempts to brutally ‘beautify’ them in his image. This results in him creating what are called dollotrons, which leave the victim a living husk of their former self.

Professor Pyg would have a similar effect in a sequel to The Batman that The Penguin had in Batman Returns: a brutal killer that disgusts the audience. He would also up the stakes from what The Riddler appears to be doing in the trailer for The Batman. The Riddler appears to be merely a serial killer in the trailer, while Professor Pyg would turn his victims into abominations.

The Joker

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If professor Pyg is one of the least-known Batman supervillains, then The Joker is the jewel atop the rogue’s gallery’s crown. He is the most famous supervillain in comic book history and has worldwide recognition due to past performances by Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, Mark Hamill, the late Heath Ledger, Jared Leto, and Joaquin Phoenix.

In the famous Killing Joke graphic novel, The Joker starts out as a failed comedian who experiences horrible family tragedy, gets in deep with the mob, and eventually becomes disfigured after falling into a vat of chemicals. However, The Killing Joke is the only graphic novel that makes The Joker a somewhat sympathetic character. In the majority of comic book and movie tellings, he is a gangster or an anarchist with a flair for the dramatic and a complete disregard for human life.

In The Batman’s trailer, Batman fights off a group of men who appear to be wearing white face paint. These men could be a Joker gang, in an homage to the decade-old Batman: Arkham City video game and certain stories from the comic books. Nothing in The Batman’s sequel could raise the stakes quite like The Joker taking center stage. His schemes almost certainly involve making groups of people act against their own self-interest as he spreads fear and chaos.

The Red Hood

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A Red Hood appearance would be special for a major reason: he used to be Robin. In Batman: Death in the Family, The Joker brutally murders Jason Todd (the then-current iteration of Robin) which leaves a gaping hole at the center of the Bat-family. After years without Jason Todd in the comics, the storyline Batman: Under the Red Hood, the character is resurrected. However, he has traded in the colorful tights for a red helmet and leather jacket, and prefers to put criminals in the ground than to let them fight another day.

The Red Hood is essentially DC’s answer to The Punisher. Having The Red Hood in the same film as The Joker would provide an excellent, emotive backstory as well as plenty of action. It would cause Batman to confront his demons while preventing both The Red Hood and The Joker from filling cemeteries across Gotham City. Instead of merely trying to defeat The Red Hood through brute force and intellect, Batman would have to appeal to his morality, emotions, and their past.

The Riddler, The Penguin, and Catwoman is a great trio for a Batman reboot. However, Professor Pyg, The Joker, and The Red Hood could provide for an even darker, more emotional sequel with storylines borrowed from fantastic source material.

The Batman comes out in theaters on March 4th, 2022.

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