There's a thread for this you know.

>>33331
It was over 300 posts, so I assumed this would be a good time to make a new one.

>>33335
Ok

Here's what a Nolanverse comic would look like!

>>33358
ye gods... it's terrible.

The Dark Knight Rises - In Cin…

The Dark Knight Rises TV Spot #3 (Official)

>Never going to see a Nolanverse Riddler or Penguin

>>33475
I want a Penguin with a good balance of style and menace Therefore start with the Burgess Meredith Penguin (because I like his gravel and squawking snark) and dial it up a few notches.

>>33475
The Batman Riddler already exists.

>>33480
GTFO Jim Carrey!

>>33479
So, basically the Penguin from Arkham City, sans the retarded coke bottle monocle?

>>33488
Honestly would prefer someone a little less hammy than AA Penguin.

>>33480
I could settle for that, but not that with outfit or haircut. I actually kinda liked Joker's in The Batman, (under the logic that "it makes The Joker look too crazy" doesn't make sense to me) but Joker always seemed more of a suit kind and bowler cap kind of guy to me.

I kind of liked Neil Gaiman's interpretation of Riddler as an attention whore with low self-esteem, driven mad by his obsession to get recognized and caught. I think it'd fit into Nolan's world.

>>33507
Although I'd prefer it if he'd try to prove himself smarter then everyone else by forcing people to compete in weird, often unfair life-or-death tests of intelligence and skill.

>>33509
I'd be totally okay with that, just as long as it didn't turn into a sadistic-death-trap film.

http://www.superherohype.com/news/articles/171133-new-images-of-the-bat-in-the-dark-knight-rises

The 'The Dark Knight Rises' car won today's NASCAR race.

>>33540
Oy. The Hoverbatmobile will never stop being retarded.

The Dark Knight Rises - Exclus…

>>33631
Why did Batman have one of Cable's guns?

>>33632
I keep thinking of the Remote Electrical Charge gun Batman has in the Arkham City game every time I see it.

Tickets for the midnight screening are already selling like crazy:

>Midnight screenings of The Dark Knight Rises, Christopher Nolan’s third and final Batman film, are already selling out around the country, spurring scalpers on eBay and Craigslist to sell them for several times face falue, according to MTV.

>MTV was alerted to the phenomenon by a report at ScreenCrush that reported scalped tickets being marked up “as much as 80%,” but by the time MTV turned the story around today it was closer to an 800% markup in some online auctions.

http://comicbook.com/blog/2012/06/19/dark-knight-rises-already-selling-out/

>>33631
Bane knows Mr. Wayne is Batman?

Ah, these tricky little end to trilogies. Hope the end doesn't suck like Mass Effect. It will though, you know... cause there aren't going to be any more Nolanverse Batman films. They could have easily pumped out at least two more, given the large number of villains.

I just hope Bane is a little more intelligable in the film than he's been in the trailers.

>It will though, you know... cause there aren't going to be any more Nolanverse Batman films.

Thank god for that, too.

I've enjoyed the Nolan Batflicks, but I'll be glad to see someone else take over the wheel.

>>33660
I doubt anyone else can top him.

>>33672

This attitude sucks almost as much as Nolan's grimderp take on Batman.

>>33675
You know, by and large we use the term "grimdark" as an insult when someone takes something that isn't grim and tries to make it darker, misfiring badly because that wasn't the original appeal. As an insult, it doesn't really work to say "that guy took something grim and dark and tried to make a movie out of it... only he made it grim and dark!"

I'm iffy on Rises for a variety of reasons, but I sincerely doubt we'll be seeing a better Batman movie than The Dark Knight anytime soon. Certainly it blows all current competition completely out of the water (except that Keaton is a better Batman than Bale, even if his movies aren't nearly as good).

>yfw French Bane

The Dark Knight Rises - French…

>>33678
> but I sincerely doubt we'll be seeing a better Batman movie than The Dark Knight anytime soon

But we already did, it's called Batman Begins

>>33686
And then above that Mask of the Phantasm

>>33687
I was referring to live action films.

>>33686
Oh good lord no.

>DC Entertainment and comic book retailers across North America are declaring Thursday, July 19 “The Dark Knight Rises” Day to celebrate the arrival of this summer’s most anticipated film opening in theaters and IMAX ® on Friday, July 20. Fans who visit their local comic book retailer on July 19 will receive a free, special edition comic book featuring several exclusive previews of current and upcoming Batman comic books and graphic novels. More than 500,000 copies of the free Batman comic book will be handed out that day on a first-come, first-served basis.

>The free Batman: Earth One Special Preview Edition comic book features the first chapter of the highly anticipated graphic novel Batman Earth One written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Gary Frank, as well as a preview of Batman Vol. 1 The Court of Owls, the New York Times #1 best-selling graphic novel collection of the hit series written by Scott Snyder and illustrated by Greg Capullo.

>“The arrival of The Dark Knight Rises in theaters is a seminal moment for comic book readers and moviegoers; what better way to mark the occasion than with a free Batman comic book that rewards a broad range of fans and taps into the unprecedented excitement surrounding this film,” stated DC Entertainment Vice President of Marketing, John Cunningham.

http://www.dccomics.com/blog/2012/06/21/comic-book-shops-across-north-america-to-celebrate-%E2%80%9Cthe-dark-knight-rises%E2%80%9D-day-on

>>33677

It's Sherlock Holmes dressed up as a bat. Are you seriously trying to say that Batman is a grim and dark comic series? Because it isn't. And any time anybody tries to go overboard on the dramatic side, you end up with "I touched my mother's breast" or "I'm not wearing hockey pads."

>>33688
> Oh good lord no.

What? it could be argued that TDK is a better film in general, but Begins is a better Batman film, It's actually about Batman, for starters, he isn't playing second fiddle to the villain like he does in TDK or the Burton movies.

>>33695

But I thought the popular argument is that nobody reads batman comics for batman, they read them for his rogues, right? So shouldn't the movies reflect that?

>>33692
>Are you seriously trying to say that Batman is a grim and dark comic series?

Yes. Yes, I am.

It's set in GOTHAM city. Gotham. Gothic.
The bad guys are sent to Arkham. Ring a bell? That's Lovecraft, babycakes.
They do flashbacks to Bruce's parents dying all. The. Time.
A ton of his rogues aren't really bad people, they just got crushed by the weight of the world, and went mad in horrible bloodsoaked ways. And another ton of them actually are really really bad people.
Bitch all you want that Nolan went for a less sci-fi/fantasy explanation of Ra's al Ghul, but to say it's more grim and dark is madness. You know what Ra's al Ghul's origin is like in the books? Well, part of it involves his wife's murder. And Ra's gets buried alive with a bunch of corpses including his wife's. And then he gets revenge, basically dipping the man responsible in acid and poisons, then razing an entire metropolis to the ground and salting the earth. It's a grim and dark origin, is what I'm getting at here.
Shit dude, they just reconfirmed the origin where Catwoman is a raped prostitute. A raped underage prostitute, for that matter.

And then there's Mr. Zsasz.

Yes, I'm saying it's a grim and dark series overall.

I just wanna see a few more Nolenverse movies :(

>>33699
Yeah, there will always be writers desperately trying to prove how deep and mature their favorite character is. They can write retcons up the ass to prove how the "real" Batman is so much more serious and real than the Batman that was written by his original creators.

And deep in their hearts still acutely aware of the fact that what they're writing is no less fictional than stuff like this.

>>33699
Seriously, Zsasz was last seen forcing shitloads of kidnapped kids to fight one another to the death, gladiator-style, for the amusement of the most twisted gamblers in Gotham. That's some fucking dark shit.

>>33705
Ah, Batbaby.

You really haven't a fucking clue, do you?

If you want to go back to the VERY start, Batman in his first appearances killed dudes, and villains killed quite frequently.

Then came Fredric Wertham and Seduction of the Innocent in 1954 (complete with Wertham testifying on the Senate floor about how comics were as bad as Hitler... and this was back when people respected the Senate, and didn't compare things to Hitler all the time!). Suddenly horror and crime comics were being shut down left and right. It was not a good time to be seen as ghoulish or as putting too much focus on crime. Which was a bit of a bother for a book about a crimefighter up against ghoulish villains, wouldn't you say? Of course you wouldn't say that, because you're an idiot. Or very possibly a troll pretending to be an idiot.

Anyway, one of the few comics to be seriously successful during this crackdown on comics was Superman, and the guy responsible for that book turned to Jack Schiff (the Batman editor at the time) and said "hey if you're having trouble, just write Batman more like Superman!" That's what Schiff did. He dropped the vigilante-motivated-by-his-parents'-death angle, dropped the "crime," dropped the creepy villains, and went with aliens and mad scientists that could turn Batman into a baby. And you know what? The Schiff era was an unprecedented disaster that damn near made DC cancel the fucking Batman books. So don't hold up "Batbaby" and say "see? Batman isn't dark!" That shit almost killed the franchise. Not "ruined forever because it's different" killed, but actual honest to gosh "the publisher called everyone in and said if they couldn't fix the bombing book, they'd just cancel Batman because it was an embarrassment" killed.

The era you're referencing was a blip. Nobody gives a fuck about Batbaby except fanboys "ironically" liking the awful story, or fanboys remembering the story was awful. Meanwhile lots of people have heard of "Joker," a villain that showed up pretty early on and was known for killing people by the dozen for shits and giggles. Mostly giggles.

You people are being fucking stupid about this.

Again.

It's not about going from one extreme to another in some backward ass nerd retribution, it's about striking a balance between the two that allows for fun and adventures and more serious and death defying situations.

>>33708
>You people are

What do you mean YOU PEOPLE?

Seriously, the only one being stupid is the guy saying "Batman isn't a grim or dark series". Some Batman stories are more lighthearted than others. Sometimes you get a girl Robin likes being murdered, sometimes you get Riddler running a game show. But the fact that his parents are murdered right on front of him on page one of his first appearance isn't something you can really brush off as a minor detail. Batman is a grim and dark comic series. Some stories are very dark, some stories are less so, and a few are actually light, but the series overall is dark. And grim.

>>33707
>Then came Fredric Wertham and Seduction of the Innocent in 1954

Yeah, but no.

Batman stopped being a bat themed vigilante killer around the time they introduced Robin.

>>33711
You know when that was? roughly 6 months after his introduction.

Here's the thing, though: any given superhero's origins aren't actually important. The original Superman was raised in an orphanage and couldn't fly. The original Deadpool was a Deathstroke ripoff. When debating the "right way" to present a character, one should look at who wrote them best rather than who wrote them first.

Of course, that's a much more subjective issue. It's hard to argue that dark themes aren't an important part of the Batman mythos. He's got the all-black (well, mostly black) costume designed to strike fear into the hearts of criminals, his home city is very atmospherically gloomy and filled with wrongs that no one else will right, and his whole motivation for becoming a superhero is childhood trauma. Even when in the company of other heroes, Batman's pragmatism and dour mood set him apart from his colleagues. It's not a sin to let him lighten up on a regular basis, but if his darker elements are discarded then he risks losing his distinctive nature.

On the other hand... he's a guy who wears fake pointy ears and drives a car called the Batmobile and fights some of the world's most gimmicky crime bosses. There's a certain degree of absurdity that's present in all superhero comics, and it's as unwise to ignore that as it is to ignore the seriousness. It's okay to have "impossible" characters like Poison Ivy and let idealism trump realism and just get goofy in general because that's a big part of the genre that Batman unquestionably inhabits.

Personally, I'd like to see a more lighthearted Batman movie simply because Nolan has been playing up the "realism" for so long that it seems like time for a breather. Not Adam West levels of camp, but maybe something where Batman's gloom is offset by an enthusiastic Robin, or the Joker gets to really ham it up and pulls some annoying pranks rather than exclusively murdering people. It doesn't need to show his origin story all over again because everyone already knows it; there can be a flashback or two for dramatic effect, but there are plenty of stories to tell besides Bruce Wayne donning the pointy-eared cowl for the first time.

>>33716
>He's got the all-black (well, mostly black) costume

Uhh, excuse me, but no, it is most typically grey and blue.

Your point however still stands.

A trilogy is a trilogy, 3 movies. Sure the previous Batman movies sucked, but Nolan will STILL be producer.

What makes everyone think a reboot of the franchise (again) will be awful? Be optimistic. At the very least, know that the reboot is planned to eventually lead up to Superman/Batman. SUPERMAN/BATMAN!

>>33719
>SUPERMAN/BATMAN!
My OTP...

>dat R

>>33711
>Batman stopped being a bat themed vigilante killer around the time they introduced Robin.

That'd be the other kid that watched his parents die, right?

Yeah, Robin lightened the book, no shit Sherlock, but the dark elements never entirely went away during that period. People died. We kept getting origin flashbacks (origins may not always be important, but if they keep being brought up, that seems significant to me). "Hotshot D.A. Harvey Kent"* got a frickin' face full of acid and went mad. You know how Scarecrow scared people back in the good ol' days? He shot them. Nonlethal injury, but he just pulled out a gun and shot them saying "so yeah, be afraid of me or I'll come back and finish you off". Clayface made his debut with a mad stabbing spree that left several people dead at a movie set, because he was an old actor pissed people were remaking his old movie. It was only when censors reared their ugly head that the dark elements went and hid in a closet for a couple years. And then it came back.

It's ridiculous to complain that Nolan "made Batman dark and grim" as if that wasn't part of the fucking character already.

*They changed the name to Dent later

>>33725
See, but the way you're calling it a "dark and grim" series is making it sound like that's the nature of Batman, when as we've established, it's only one of many possible interpretations of Batman that are used at any given time. Batman isn't "dark and grim." He's a blank slate onto which the writer projects his own personal vision of Batman. He can be silly and lighthearted or he can be LOOK HOW DARK AND ADULT I AM.

Nolan decided to lean more on the dark side. There are many who do find that version of the character tiresome.

>>33724
Does this mean Robin is a football player instead of a circus acrobat?

>>33731
>See, but the way you're calling it a "dark and grim" series

Stop. Look back. Follow the conversation to its start.

>>33675
>Nolan grimderped Batman

>>33677
>we use the term "grimdark" as an insult when someone takes something that isn't grim and tries to make it darker, misfiring badly because that wasn't the original appeal.

>>33692
>Batman is not a grim and dark comic series

>>33699
>Arkham. Gotham. Mass murderers. Ra's al Ghul's comic origin is about 10 times as grim and dark as the one in the movie. Dead parents, dead parents everywhere. Zsasz for fuck's sake.

>>33705
>Yeah, well, the writers that write darker things than Batbaby are Doing It Wrong!

>>33707
>The era of weird shit like Batbaby was due to censorship. And it bombed like no major comic franchise has ever bombed before or after.

So, getting back to the original argument that "Nolan grimderped Batman"

>you're calling it a "dark and grim" series
Dark and grim enough that what Nolan gave us so far isn't a departure from what's in the books in that regard. He toned down the scifi/fantasy. That's about it. That's not "making things grim and dark". That's "toning down the scifi/fantasy". He didn't make things darker and/or grimmer than they already were in the source material. If anything, a few of his changes resulted in things being less dark.

Again: Batman and Robin both watched their parents die. This is not a little fact. It's been mentioned in the books again and again, in every era of Batman except perhaps the most censored years.
Again: Gotham and Arkham. These are not lighthearted names. Kind of telling.
Again: People die all the time in these books, pretty much always have, often quite horribly.
Again: Two Face had half his face burned off with Robin grinning on the cover. It's true that when Robin showed up the book started featuring some lighthearted things, but he didn't scare off the dark and grim elements. They learned to share. Only censorship made DC sweep Two-Face, Scarecrow, and Catwoman under the rug (seriously she didn't appear in the books during the Schiff years, presumably because they were afraid the CCA would accuse them of trying to inspire women leave the kitchen or something).
Again: Ra's al Ghul's origin in the books. Pic related. That's him being put in a cage. The women is his wife. She's dead. The laughing asshole is the Sultan's son, who killed her. Then Ra's was buried alive with his dead wife, along with other people left to die. Many did. He got out. He killed every single last person in the Sultan's dominion. You want to say Nolan made Batman all "grimdark"? Buddy, he made Ra's downright lighthearted in comparison to what's in the books.

>it's only one of many possible interpretations of Batman that are used at any given time.

I would argue that only during the height of the CCA censorship was there ever a "given time" when there was nothing dark going on when it came to Batman.

>But what about the Adam West TV show
The TV show went light (although less light than some people remember... for example, Riddler practically has an on-camera orgasm when he sees what he thinks are Batman and Robin's freshly-murdered corpses). But to imply that it was a "light era" is nonsense. The show ran from '65-'68. 1968 was the year when The Planner went insane, became convinced he was Batman, was convicted of premeditated murder, and was sent to the electric chair. Because they had some sympathy, they allowed him to live out his delusion until the end, meaning that a guy in a Batman costume was strapped into the chair and electrified until dead. Point being, except for when the censors were at their worst, there really wasn't any time from when Batman was first created until now when the grim and dark went away entirely.

Anyone claiming that Nolan "grimdarked Batman" or that "Batman isn't a grim or dark book" is talking bullshit at such a high level they probably get a nosebleed.

>>33738
That's what I was thinking. Would make for an interesting twist considering Nolan constantly denies anything about Robin.

It's probably just an easter egg but it still made me pretty excited.

>>33740
See, that's just it. Batman isn't a grim or dark book. It is a book that is occasionally grim and/or dark but continues to this day to have more than one tone that it is willing to embrace if it serves the writer's purposes.

I think that's part of why Batman: The Animated Series is so often held up as the best Batman adaptation, despite great love from various subgroups of the fandom for every adaptation that's been made except possibly the Schumaker movies. It could do dark episodes and light-hearted, goofy episodes, which made it possible to be true to the spirit of all of the comics, not just an arbitrary subset of them. So you could have The Creeper episode or a madcap Harley/Ivy episode in the same series as the Clayface's Daughter episode.

I'm befuddled that someone is still defending "Nolan fucked it up and got darkness in Batman!"

For God's sakes, it's not even darker than the source material! He pretty much picked bits and pieces from existing comics! Batman Begins is less dark than Batman Year One, the book it's mostly based on!

>>33745
>See, that's just it. Batman isn't a grim or dark book.

Alphabetical order villain role call!
Anarky - currently completely paralyzed.
Bane - Murdered prostitutes while roid-raging, watched his mother's corpse eaten by sharks
Black Mask - Killed his parents, killed Catwoman's sister-in-law and made Catwoman's sister eat part of the dude's face
Calendar Man - See "Long Halloween" for a delightful serial killer story involving him
Catman - Killed his father, used to abuse women
Catwoman - Prostitute. Rape victim. Or maybe she was dropped out a skyscraper and woke up a bit worse for wear. Or perhaps she's an air hostess, but if so she's hanging around with Batman while Jason Todd's corpse is purifying. Maybe she just ditched her husband because he cheated on her a lot.
Clayface - Actor that went all stabby-stabby? Twisted deformed victim of a deranged pharmaceutical mogul? Perhaps he's just a dude that burns off the flesh of everyone he touches? Hey, I hear kids have been enjoying him as a police officer friend of Batman's that was involved in a horrific accident turning him into a monster.
Deadshot - Assassin
Firefly - Demented arsonist
Harley Quinn - The lovable adorable physically and mentally abused girlfriend!
Hugo Strange - Remember the time he turned people into monster men that Batman shot full of holes? The first time he appeared, I mean. Or the time he used psychiatry to turn someone into a machette-murderer?
Joker - He's somehow killed more people than he hasn't killed.
Killer Croc - I THREW A fed Jason Todd's parents to crocodilesAT 'IM!
Mad Hatter - Sad pathetic little mind controller that loses himself in delusions because the real world ain't doin it for him
Man-Bat - Dude just wanted to cure deafness and now he keeps turning into a monster
Maxie Zeus - History teacher that lost his grip on sanity when his wife died.
Mr. Freeze - Speaking of dead wives...
The Penguin - Probably the silliest recurring rogue, yet he still found time for attempted regicide back in the old days. These days he does far worse, of course.
Poison Ivy - A kiss that could kill, and most of the time a tragic origin
Ra's al Ghul - He orders around something called "The League of Assassins" for pity's sake.
Riddler - You think they'll keep the "abused as a kid" retcon? It seemed to play well with fans in Justice and the Arkham Asylum games. Incidentally, he used Deathtraps a lot back in the day.
Two Face - The guy drips tragedy
Zsasz - The guy drips blood

>It is a book that is occasionally grim and/or dark

By "occasionally" do you mean "probably more frequently than any other mainstream comic"?

>>33745
>Batman the Animated series had as many lighthearted silly eps as it had ones with darker themes!

First season:

The Cat And The Claw - Attempted bioterrorism. Batman forced to hand a woman he loves over to the police.
On Leather Wings - Good man turned into a monster
Heart Of Ice - Dead wife
Feat Of Clay Part - Remember when they forcefeed Hagan that gunk trying to kill him and just turn him into a self-loathing abomination instead?
It's Never Too Late - The kid lost his fucking leg in a train accident thanks to his no good mobster brother.
Joker's Favor - Joker makes some random guy's life a living hell and tries to murder all the police in Gotham. This is considered "light hearted" by the series' standards.
Pretty Poison - Batman's good friend spends most of the ep on death's door, Ivy breaks down when her place goes up in flames as if her own children were being murdered
Nothing To Fear - Okay, so it has Thomas Wayne morph into a giant skeleton proclaiming Bruce is a disgrace... but it's not dark or anything! And the view of the Waynes' grave at the end isn't grim!
Be A Clown - Another "lighthearted" episode containing attempted mass murder.
Appointment In Crime Alley - His parents are DEAD.
P.O.V. - Good cops losing their badges over a foulup, and blaming one another. Kinda dark.
The Clock King - Man unfairly loses his career over something that's not his fault and then his mind. Attempts to crush to death the guy he holds responsible.
The Last Laugh - Joker gasses all of Gotham, driving everyone crazy. Oh, and it can cause permanent brain damage.
Eternal Youth - Nothing creepy about watching people being turned to wood, their faces locked in a silent scream, nosiree!
Two-Face Part - Two Face origin. 'Nuff said.
Fear Of Victory - Some of the attempts at "scary Scarecrow stuff" misfired, but they tried dammit.
I've Got Batman In My Basement - ...
Vendetta - Batman uses Thorne as a human shield when Thorne's men pull guns. And he does the whole "interrogation by making you think you'll die" thing.
Prophecy Of Doom - Not particularly grim or dark, okay
The Forgotten - Slavery, Batman halucinating his parents' death, people left to be baked to death in metal boxes out in the roasting sun...
Mad As A Hatter - Mind controllng people to jump off bridges or decapitate people? Or to break up with their fiance? Or forcing them to claim to love you robotically? That's kinda dark, dude.
The Cape & Cowl Conspiracy - A deathtrap specialist explains all the ways his creations can kill you.
Perchance To Dream - Batman's parents are dead. And the Hatter would do ANYTHING to get rid of the man that he thinks ruined his life.
The Underdwellers - Child slavery! Kids facing the threat of being fed to crocodiles! Batman saying he'd dearly love to kill a man! Lighthearted fare!
Night Of The Ninja - Batman spends the ep worrying he might lose. Not that dark, actually. Don't worry, the villain makes up for it the next time he shows up, first learning to use a "death touch" then committing suicide.
The Strange Secret Of Bruce Wayne - Another "My parents are DEEEAAAD" halucination is a key plot point.
Tyger, Tyger - So yeah. Tygrus kills his "father" after his father threatens to kill him.
Dreams In Darkness - Batman committed to Arkham, a creepy fucking bat with Joker's face, and oh look, another MY PARENTS ARE DEEEAAAD halucination. This time they walk into a tunnel that turns into a giant blood-dripping gun while the landscape is consumed in flames!
Beware The Gray Ghost - "Oh come on, how dark can an Adam West episode be?" Well, it's a story where the Adam surrogate got typecast as fuck and spent years pleading with his agents for any work whatsoever, slowly selling his belongings and slipping further and further into dispair. Dark.
Cat Scratch Fever - Illegal animal experimentation.
I Am The Night - Gordon shot, spends the episode in the hospital listed as critical. Oh, and it's the anniversary of Batman's parents' death.
Almost Got 'Im - Batman stuck in an electric chair being slowly fried to death, Catwoman going to be minced up and made into cat food.
Moon Of The Wolf - Man looking for a miracle steroid to cheat at sports gets turned into a monster and blackmailed by his doc.
Terror In The Sky - Man Bat's wife is turned into a scary-assed monster, complete with creepy transformation scene
Christmas With The Joker - Such a lighthearted ep! Hey, remember the bit where Joker draws a face on his hand, dresses it up like an elf and has it talk to Summer Gleason? And she's looking away, tears pouring from her eyes because she's got explosives strapped to her, and he gagged her with a candy cane?
Heart Of Steel - So yeah, a guy decides to replace the whole world with unemotional robots because his daughter died.
If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich? - The ending is that the guy Riddler was trying to kill was saved! But Riddler got away, so he's going to spend the rest of his life terrified Riddler will kill him. How much IS a good night's sleep worth?
Joker's Wild - Not the darkest of eps, there's just a LOT of attempted murder.
His Silicon Soul - Dude. Robo-Batman pretty much kills himself because he thinks he killed someone.
Off Balance -Assassins. Ra's and Talia show up. Vertigo falls to his death.
What Is Reality? - Ep ends with Riddler a vegetable.
The Laughing Fish - People being poisoned left and right, pretty horrifyingly, as part of Joker's mad scheme.
Harley and Ivy - Eh, there's a little attempted murder and the whole "abusive boyfriend" angle, but by Batman standards it's pretty light.
The Man Who Killed Batman - A feel-good episode about a guy that people keep trying to murder!
Zatanna - Not very dark
The Mechanic - Not very dark either. Hm, maybe the start of a trend?
Robin's Reckoning - Robin's parents are dead and he wants to kill the man responsible. Trend broken.
Birds Of A Feather - By Penguin episode standards, this is pretty dark.
Blind As A Bat - But this isn't.
Day Of The Samurai - Death touch, suicide.
See No Evil - A crazy-assed murderous possessive stalker-daddy wearing a carcinogen is the little girl's imaginary friend!
The Demon's Quest - "But that will cost countless lives!" "Actually, Detective, we have counted. Two-billion, fifty-six-million, nine hundred and eighty six thousand."
Read My Lips - For the most part not that dark, but man, just watch Scarface get shot full of holes while Ventriloquist watches.
Fire From Olympus - At first I was going to say this wasn't dark, then I remembered the ending, where poor delusional Maxie is escorted into Arkham, past cells containing gibbering screaming maniacs and the Joker licking the glass. As he's lifted off the Hannibal Lecter gurney and looks at the dank grey thick-barred cell (complete with toilet right next to the bed!) he smiles in his straighjacket and announces that Mighty Zeus is Home.

Jesus Christ what is even your POINT.

Yes, a lot of Batman stories have dark content, especially if you're actively looking for it. No, Nolan wasn't the first to take a "realistic and gritty" spin on the franchise, and he didn't take it to the same extremes that some of his predecessors did. What are we supposed to take away from this information?

>>33761
Looking back that was kind of unfair, because you've always been pretty up-front about what you're trying to convey: Nolan didn't "dark up" Batman. But I feel like it's a waste of time and effort to use so many words to get that simple point across. To what end are you pushing this thesis? How can we use that information when we're looking at the Batman films of past, present, and future?

>>33764
>What's your point?

Meh. Pretty much just responding to "Nolan grimderped Batman. It's not a grim or dark book. See? Batbaby. Any writers darker than that don't count and are shitty".

>But I feel like it's a waste of time and effort to use so many words to get that simple point across.

Tried the short responses. They didn't work. I really don't have a problem with taking a couple extra moments to back what I say with references.

I think there's a difference between typical Batman dark, which is really good when done well, and so dark that there aren't really any funny or lighthearted moments to break the mood. Which I think Nolan is veering towards. He grounds his stories so firmly into reality and what would happen if he was a person in our world that he forgets that Batman is a comic book character who's allowed to be looser and break some of the laws of common sense and physics sometimes. Or something.

>>33775
Isn't that distinction kind of arbitrary? I mean it's not like the concept of Batman himself is treated as a failure (far from it; it's just a very, very hard win) or the movies are bereft of super science like the technobabble steam machine in Begins or the cell phone sonar system in the Dark Knight.

>>33775
>He grounds his stories so firmly into reality
>BatVTOL

This has been said before, probably in this very thread, but what bugs me about Nolan is that he simultaneously defies realism with stuff like cellphone sonar networks and rules out interesting stuff like Clayface on the basis of them being unrealistic.

>>33789

This. Times a thousand. It annoys me so much. Also the fact that he keeps turning non-white characters white (Ra's Al Ghul/Bane), but I am sure you're all sick of seeing me post about that.

Aside from the race change, am I the only one who is not down with this be-muzzled and kind of lame as hell Bane?

>>33775
>I think there's a difference between typical Batman dark, which is really good when done well, and so dark that there aren't really any funny or lighthearted moments to break the mood.

You must have watched the Special edition that cut out all Alfred scenes.

>>33789
I don't see a contradiction there. He keeps things that he believes to be low-level scifi, like Scarecrow's gas, and where possible substitutes out the higher-level scifi stuff (like his explanation for Ra's).

You probably disagree with his idea of what constitutes low-level scifi, but his intent is fairly clear.

>>33797
While I share your annoyance over him Airbending away race in Ra's and Bane's cases, the movie version of Lucius is handled about a spajillion times better than any non-white supporting character in the books (especially comic Lucius).

Which is... kinda depressing, really.

I should clarify, as the person who called it grimderp in the first place, and then said Batman wasn't a dark series, because I agree with other posters who say that the series can be pretty schizophrenic, and even when it takes itself seriously that can still end up being pretty hilarious like, say, Frank Miller. I haven't posted besides those two posts.

Here are my feelings about the films and this thread, though:

A) Upset anon, I hope you enjoy the third film. I won't, and I don't have to see it to know I won't.

B) When I said grimderp, what I meant was Nolan tries, he tries so desperately, to make Batman a serious character that it becomes pure farce. "This isn't a car" "I'm not wearing hockey pads", things that might have worked for, say, the more lighthearted Iron Man films? It doesn't work here, almost entirely because of the version of Batman that Nolan decided to pursue. We don't have a light, charismatic Bruce like we do in the Animated Series. We have a dark, brooding Bruce. And, typically, anywhere else you see Batman, he has a very dry sense of humor. The reason you laugh at Batman is because he's so doom and gloom, not because he's cracking lame one-liners like a halfassed Deadpool. It is such TERRIBLE dialogue from a series that's trying SO HARD to be serious and gritty (so hard in fact, that they refuse to use some of Batman's better enemies, or add Robin -- one of the few humanizing factors in Bruce's life) that every shitty line Bale delivers ends up a cheese fest of epic proportions. The shitty Batvoice doesn't help either, it actually makes some of the better lines ("swear to me") end up just as shitty and cheesy as the bad lines, but that's a tired talking point and I don't want to hinge my entire critique of the films on Bale being a shitty actor. Maybe you don't agree with anything I said there. That's fine, but don't get all bent out of shape over it, because I'm not going to change your mind, and you aren't going to change mine.

C) If you like the films, congratulations, nobody's taking that away from you by criticizing them, and nobody ever attacked you for feeling that way, so relax. Especially on an anonymous imageboard where you think you've been arguing with one person this entire time, but it's obviously been at least two different anonymous posters. So, your breakdown of the "argument" is pretty silly.

D) I don't think I can coherently sum up my feelings about the Nolan films on an imageboard, it's a lot easier to have a dialogue than write an essay, so, I'll just leave it at that, if you wish to continue your ranting and raving, please go on ahead.

>>33801
Geez. You didn't have to rant and rave, Butthurtanon.

>this thread
All this butthurt is truly hilarious.

>>33801
>We don't have a light, charismatic Bruce like we do in the Animated Series. We have a dark, brooding Bruce.

I was so shocked by the fact that Nolan went with a Bruce that is sometimes a bit dark that I had to go and sleep hanging upside down.

Later I tried to find my dead father's diary in an annoying subplot with a lot of flashbacks.

>>33801
>>33821
Everybody here needs to chill.

Huh. I didn't want to get dragged into this shit, but this is the third or fourth time I've come across the complaint that Nolan's Bruce needed to be less gloomy when he was in neither "Batman" nor "playboy Bruce Wayne" persona.

And I just don't... I don't get it.

I mean... it's Batman BEGINS, right? BTAS takes place after he's well established. Not only has he already gotten himself a Robin, a few years have passed since THAT, and he's sent Robin off to college! Of course the beginning of his story should be darker.

He's not going to be in a very happy place mentally while deciding "I think I want to Be The Night".

>>33828
That's sort of nether here nor there. Your rationale is sound, but the fact is Nolan still chose to tell that story because that was the version of Batman he wanted to present.

Think of it this way: a lot of people who like Jack O'Neill in Stargate SG-1 hate him in the original Stargate movie. The fact that he had a very good reason for being a sourpuss in that movie (his son had recently shot himself to death with Jack's own gun) doesn't change the fact that to those people, he wasn't as entertaining to watch.

Now if you simply don't agree that Bruce/Batman wasn't as entertaining in Begins, then that's fine--that's a matter of taste, and the fact that other people disagree with you doesn't make you wrong. But if your point is that you do think that he was less entertaining but that's okay because of Story Reasons, then that's wrong. The storyteller is obligated to make the story as entertaining as possible, even if he has to rearrange the story to do it. If Nolan can't tell the best Batman story possible in the era of Batman's development that he chose to, then he shouldn't have chosen that era of Batman's development to depict.

>>33832
I think Nolan told the best Batman story possible in the era of Batman's development that he chose to.

Moreover I think he told a damn good Batman story by any measure.

I just think it's odd that people want to argue that his Bruce, when not putting on a show for anyone, was less happy than the BTAS Bruce. I've seen it a few times and I just don't get it.

Of COURSE he's going to be less happy when he's first starting out. And he's less happy in Batman Beyond because shit went bad for him again. Him not being as happy during those periods makes sense. He's not going to be as "light and charismatic" when he's first starting out as Batman. That's the right take on the character for that time in his life, and the story of him starting out makes for a good movie.

People tend to get really angry when you interpret a character differently than they do. Especially with such a huge icon as Batman. But that's the thing. As long as you stay true to core assets, it's still Batman. May not be YOUR Batman, but it's him. The character's been around for 70 something years and been remixed and reinterpreted in SO many ways that everyone has a version of the character that's more true to them than others. Honestly, you're arguing about why someone prefers vanilla to chocolate ice cream. It's STILL ice cream. Go eat your favorite flavor; it's not like you HAVE to eat my favorite flavor.

tldr; Batman is Batman is Batman. Every interpretation has it's fans. Deal with it.

>>33835
NO, THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE BATMAN. EVEN WHEN NOW THERE ARE MORE BAT PEOPLE THEN YOU CAN BAT HANDLE - AND EVIL DUDES DRESSED AS OWLS FIGHT "GOOD" PEOPLE DRESSED AS BATS - SOON THE TIME OF THE EDITING WILL HAPPEN AND BATMAN WILL FIGHT BATWOMAN UNTIL THERE IS ONLY ONE TO RECEIVE THE "PRIZE". ONE THAT ALL NERDS WILL BOW TO AND FOREVER DECLARE AS THE SOLE INTERPRETATION OF BATMAN -- UNTIL ANOTHER EXTENDED BAT UNIVERSE MAKES THIS IRRELEVANT AND OUTDATED.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/5973-Batman-Revisited-Part-1

What do you think /mtv/?

>>33864
>bane
>a crappy 90's villian who wasnt interesting to begin with.

I think Bob doesn't know what he's talking about.

>>33866
He's only familiar with the Batman and Robin version, one assumes.

>>33864
>4 Original Live Action Batman movies

Yeah, >>33866 is right.

>>33869
Nobody counts the Adam West movie as an actual film.

>>33871

Excuse me, are you talking shit about the best Batman movie of all time, Anon?

I will fight you in the ring, Anon.

>>33877
True fact: my brother and I used to watch that movie almost every weekend when we were little, and it took us ages to realize that it was supposed to be pure camp.

I wish Harvey Dent Day was a real holiday. Imagine it: opening up two sets of presents for each face on Harvey Dent Day morning, then mourning the death of Maggie Gyllenhaal by committing a murderous rampage, and ending the day by watching Thank You for Smoking.

You know, I kind of love the idea of Dent being canonized as like... the patron saint of Gotham. It gives the whole universe a very dystopian vibe in the best kind of way. Maybe dystopian is the wrong word? How would you describe Transmetropolitan because that's what it reminds me of, now that I think about it.

The Dark Knight Rises could open with $200 million or more:

http://www.hitfix.com/news/the-dark-knight-rises-battling-the-avengers-for-years-biggest-box-office-opening

>>33890
Dystopian sounds about right.

Commercial #107 for The Dark Knight Rises focuses a little more on Catwoman.

The Dark Knight Rises - TV Spo…

>>33914
Whatever made Nolan decide to use a fancy mask as Catwoman's "disguise"? Catwoman's current outfit is easily Nolen compatible. Shit, if you wanted more realism just replace the googles with NV.

>>33921
looks better than some NV deal that folds up to form cat ears.

>>33864
Bob confirmed for fucking idiot that talks about things he knows nothing about.

>>33924
I agreed with him about how influential it was to superhero movies and the DCU.

>>33931
>"Batman was important to superhero movies!"

Move over Batman, there's a new World's Greatest Detective: Bob!

The Dark Knight Rises - Featurette

>>34036
>Wow. They actually DID blow up a real stadium and hire 6 figured extras.

>>34036
“ He’s the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we’ll hunt him because he can take it. Because he’s not our hero, he is a silent guardian, a watchful protector… a dark knight."

Yeaaaa, not so much according to that featurette. Yea I know its kinda Bruce's "thing" to up and abandon the city when he's either getting too old or crosses the line..etc. This just feels kinda off when going from the last movie to this one wit the tone of "we may have to hunt him but he won't give up the fight."

>>34040
>Eyes: brown

WHAT IN THE EVER LIVING REIGN OF...oh wait, yeah, that costume is bad.

>>34040
Wait, they can't get a ballpark figure on his age?

>>34040
Doesn't he leave even a single bit of DNA?

The Dark Knight Rises - TV Spot 6

>>34061
In the comics Bruce's police and medical records have incorrect DNA information so that when batman leaves anything behind, it doesn't match his.

>>34145
Hasn't anybody ever tried following the batmobile? Surely it's not invisible and it's bound to end up in the batcave or one of his safe houses. Maybe using a UAV?

>>34159
Batman also has been shot more times than he can remember, why not shoot him in the mouth or eyeball?

>>34160
Handguns aren't nearly as accurate as you might think.
Those badass shots in CSI or whatever the local channels air these days, where someone's got a gun to a hostage they're using as a shield, and the police shoot the inch of criminal head that's visible behind the hostage? That doesn't happen IRL.

Self-defense classes teach to aim for the torso and empty your mag. Headshots might be more lethal, but the head is a small target, and you do not want to take that chance when it's life or death.

Personally I'm more excited about this one to wait for a reboot. Anyone else tired of those mail armor suits? I mean, even a cat burglar thief wearing one of these? A Batman movie where we didn't even get to see the cave doesn't sit well with me either.

And while I really like that everything is well-thought and all, I think the movies could use a bit of a poetic license (the first Burton one had a lot of that, the second... had maybe WAY too much).

Also as great as Ledger's Joker interpretation was, I'd rather see less "ideological" bad guys. I mean, yeah, Batman's enemies are crazy alright, but most of them are also mob bosses with a thing for money. I'm guessing all the talk about grimderpery was more about the "Saw" style Joker and stuff.

SWEAR TO ME!

I'd watch a complete version of the movie like this

Jimmy Fallon: 'The Dark Knight…

Batman disappeared for 8 years
Fuck you, Nolan.

http://blip.tv/pop-arena/the-batman-retrospect-batman-begins-2005-6257823
Haters gonna hate.
Lucky im to jaded to care.

Since we're getting close to the release of The Dark Knight Rises, it's only fitting we take a look back at the previous movie, The Dark Knight, by listening to Down in Front's commentary for the film:

http://www.downinfront.net/index.php?id=152

One of the aspects of TDK I disliked the most was the frankly goofy idea that, for the good of Gotham, the truth about Harvey Dent must never be known so it's discouraging to hear that in TDKR the shining example of Dent's heroism is supposed to have magically wiped away crime in Gotham City - a notion that's just...dumb. A symbol of hope was all that Gotham needed to all but rid it of crime? A city as dirty, violent, and deeply soaked in corruption as Gotham? Really? That all got turned around because Harvey Dent was a really good guy? What about all the lowlifes and crazies who would've been equally inspired by The Joker's unwholesome example? Or all the people who just still prefer to take want they want rather than earn it?

And to have Gotham miraculously be doing so well that Bruce is able to - much less willing to - give up being Batman? For eight years? This alone is proof that Nolan just doesn't get Batman. From the end of TDK, I expected that Batman taking on the burden of Dent's sins would lead to Batman having to work under more adverse conditions where he would have to fight crime and be pursued by the GCPD as well. But for him to bow out is just absurd. Even if he could prevent one Joe Chill from tearing another family's world apart, he'd be out there - not sulking in Wayne Manor.

Nolan is a incredibly skilled filmmaker and he has a way of making movies that override whatever narrative issues they have but his Batman movies are more troublesome because they suffer from such a poor understanding of the character (and, really, from a poor understanding of human nature in general). I just hope whoever takes on the task of rebooting the franchise down the line will have a better grasp on the Darknight Detective.

I didn't see the news, maybe he broke his back at some point and stayed retired?

Bat Romance - Dark Knight Ris…

Too bad they couldn't get Bane's VA

Batman: The Animated Series Ri…

>>34321
Batman makes me hard

Thank you Japan.

>>34316
the amount of forced Lionization of Harvey is/was laughable. I guess it was supposed to make his fall more dramatic but that part was so abrupt that it didn't really do anything and I never cared what was happening. Maybe its because Bale really isn't that good in the role because I just don't feel any connection between anyone he talks to either as Bruce or Batman. I mean in BTAS which I myself have gotten tired referencing but there is little else that has done the tone better you could feel the pain that Bruce harbored in having to bring down Harvey as Two-Face and his inability to save him from his darker personality.

So apparently Limbaugh thinks that Bane's name is a deliberate attack against Romney.

Seriously.

>>34373
source?
I need to hear this.

>>34377
"The Dark Knight Lights Up?"

Five straight minutes of Limbaugh claiming that Bane, the Batman villain, is an Obama-campaign smear attack.

I shit you not.

Rush Limbaugh: "The villain in…

(The clip also features him taking a recent Obama quote out of context.

The only part Limbaugh plays: "If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen."

Full quote: "There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me -- because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t -- look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something -- there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.

"If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.

"The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires.

"So we say to ourselves, ever since the founding of this country, you know what, there are some things we do better together. That’s how we funded the G.I. Bill. That’s how we created the middle class. That’s how we built the Golden Gate Bridge or the Hoover Dam. That’s how we invented the Internet. That’s how we sent a man to the moon. We rise or fall together as one nation and as one people, and that’s the reason I’m running for President -- because I still believe in that idea. You’re not on your own, we’re in this together.")

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/57109

>>34381
>Going to Ain't It Cool News for reviews
>Going to Ain't It Cool News for anything

I'm not just saying that because it's a negative review. There are negative reviews available online for this film which are far better written than this fanboy rant. It doesn't even take the reviewer long to go into "Not my Batman" mode in this

>>34380
Best thing to come out of it right here:

https://twitter.com/BaneCapital

Watched it.

Didn't hate it, but the ending is bullshit. And it certainly is the lowest point of the trilogy.

So I heard that Batman was barely in this movie. Is that true?

Flying Batmobile thing is shit. Worst part of the movie, just feels like it came out of a completely different franchise. wtf.

Good use of the others though.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/story/2012-07-18/dark-knight-rises-reviews-rotten-tomatoes/56343624/1

yikes, was anything in the movie that good to mount such a defense?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escape-to-the-movies/6064-The-Dark-Knight-Rises

I'm gonna go out on a limb and figure he was trying to emulate his hero.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2176377/The-Dark-Knight-Rises-screening-shooting-Gunman-gas-mask-shoots-dead-10-people--including-children--mi
dnight-screening-Batman-premiere-Denver.html

>>34399
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18921492

FAIL. He didn't wear a bat costume and forgot Batman doesn't use guns.

>>34403
You are acting like the Hero was supposed to be Batman..might be mistaken on that one.

>>34399
I'll be the boring one and guess that the shooting had nothing to do with Batman and everything to do with targeting what is likely to be the largest audience for a single movie this year.

Which, thanks to this deeply troubling and narcissistic behaviour, is no longer a sure thing. Going to the movies ain't as hip as it used to be, and the box office was struggling enough before theatregoers had to fear being pumped full of holes by a disheveled lunatic on opening night. If there's even one copycat shooting then the studio execs might as well throw themselves off the roof right now, because Hollywood is not going to survive this.

>>34399
>>34403
His hero was Joe Chill, clearly.

>>34408
This was clearly a marketing thing. They hired someone to massacre dozens of people during THEIR FEATURE, to get attention and more revenue. Why do you think the news explicitly stated "During the Dark Knight Rises", instead of "During a movie"?
It's a conspiracy I tell you! A dastardly crafted conspiracy!

You know what gets me as the CRAZIEST fucking thing about this?

It's a Batman movie.

Parents and Kids were gunned down AT A BATMAN MOVIE.

It's....so fucking disgusting on conceptual level alone.

The Cops are gonna have to be REALLY hard time dealing with this.

That gutless coward is gonna have people gunning for him at every turn.

>>34415
Seriously. That he did this at a big family movie about a character that came about by gun violence is just salt on the wound.
Can't say I agree with your posting the most ultraviolent Robin in reaction tho'.

>>34422
The whole point of his ultraviolence is that he was completely misguided.

He's now working never to kill again and make his father proud, he's trying to SAVE lives now.

>>34399
WHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHY

>>34423
He's the Robin that derives joy from hurting and insulting others. Honestly not remotely something bothering me right now, but I can see why someone would go "Not today".

>>34429
>He's the Robin that derives joy from hurting and insulting others

No he doesn't and it's a little boy in a reaction image, for godforsaken people are dead, this shit is BEYOND unimportant.

What was the point of naming Juno Temple's (useless) character Jen in the credits? I suppose calling her Holly Robinson would be too close to those silly comic books.

>>34431
>Why not name her a character she's clearly not?

After what has happened, I think we can all need a little laugh right now.

Batman and Bane BFF's Dark Kni…

Why did Batman want to Knot Everything?

All those kids who lost their parents during the shooting are going to grow up to be Batman.

>>34441
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18937726
BATCAVE!

>"It's very sad. But my wife and I planned this film weeks ago. We thought about not coming, but then figured that was silly and letting a crazy person win," one fan told FoxNews.com.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/07/21/dark-knight-rises-fans-flock-to-theaters-despite-colorado-theater-shooting/#ixzz21GzRNPKd

It's good to see people aren't letting this cowardly asshole scare them off from watching this movie, or any move in the foreseeable future. I wasn't feeling great when I walked into the theater yesterday, after hearing what happened the night before, but my mood picked up when I saw seats filling up as usual and people cracking jokes ("I'm unarmed".) I'm not letting that bastard ruin my movie experience and neither should anyone else.

>>34400