Facts About The Third Batman Film

Been keeping an eye on the third and final installment of Christopher Nolan's Batman franchise and I was able to get some pretty nice facts about the upcoming film, which is slated to hit the cinemas on July 20, 2012. Thanks to Hero Complex for scoring a good interview with Nolan himself who verified a couple of things about the film.

First, the movie title is The Dark Knight Rises. Not a bad choice and a catchy one at that. There's some mystique to it as to what the story and ending would be for our Caped Crusader's adventures.

Another thing that Nolan confirmed is that the villain is NOT - again folks, not - The Riddler. Rumors have spread all over the internet that the ever puzzling enigma is the next big villain to get a shot at the movies, with some reports saying that rapper Eminem is being cast to the role.  Though Riddler has been a great villain to the Bat over the years and thought I like Slim Shady's raps - I don't think its going to work mainly because the character doesn't have that "it factor". Just look at Batman Forever with Jim Carrey in it and tell me I'm wrong.

Now since The Riddler, The Joker and Ras Al Ghul  have been all out of the picture (Joker was used last year in the Dark Knight, and Ras was the bad guy in Batman Begins), who would be the villain? Don't even think about The Penguin, Catwoman or Poison Ivy - all of those guys we're used in the 90's, so we're left with... Bane, Killer Croc, Hugo Strange and maybe Harvey Dent (Two-Face).

It would be intriguing on how Nolan would use these aforementioned villains as the ultimate challenge for Batman. All have that "killer-instinct" and insatiable desire to defeat the Dark Knight, but the guys that I want to see in the film would be Bane and Hugo Strange. The former broke Batman's back and almost put him to retirement in the comic books so there's that long history and angle they could bring in to the movie, while the latter is probably one of the most underrated villains in Batman's rogues gallery. It would be  very interesting to see. Who knows? He might even do a combination of Hugo Strange + Bane or Hugo Strange + Killer Croc or any of those formulas. Let's see how Nolan would play this out.

What do you think guys? Who would be the the villain? Who's your pick?