Current Events > Do you think Batman movies will ever tackle his more 'out there' villains?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Villains like Clayface, Killer Croc, Solomon Grundy, etc.

Hell, I have a hard time seeing Mr. Freeze work in the Nolan and Reeves films.

I mean, we got Bane, they just tuned down his more cartoonish aspects.

Clayface could be tough though

Of that list I could totally see Croc, although most likely as a mid-movie henchman or filler villain and not the big bad.

Freeze would be easy to adapt in Nolan or Reeves. Just play up his BTAS origin story and make it more about the tragic fall of a genius who became desperate for money to fund his research. That's basically how they did Doc Ock in Spiderman 2.

The issue with some villains in a hero's rogues gallery is that they just aren't two-hour epic villains like a movie villain needs to be. They were invented as three issue arc villains. They work well for smaller plots or the occasional episode of a TV series but would struggle to carry a feature length film without fundamentally altering the villain. Like it's just hard to make a two-hour feature film about Killer Croc or Man-Bat.

I do think that you could do a compelling Freeze story though.

s0nicfan posted...

Of that list I could totally see Croc, although most likely as a mid-movie henchman or filler villain and not the big bad.

Freeze would be easy to adapt in Nolan or Reeves. Just play up his BTAS origin story and make it more about the tragic fall of a genius who became desperate for money to fund his research. That's basically how they did Doc Ock in Spiderman 2.

But could they do aspects like his suit and giant freeze gun in a "grounded" setting?

I could see them doing Croc in Battinson 2 since much of the city was flooded at the end of the first movie

AmericaTheBrave posted...

But could they do aspects like his suit and giant freeze gun in a "grounded" setting?

Nope.

TAS already did the hard work of making some of these villains into fleshed-out sympathetic characters. Like I could totally see them making a movie with that version of Clayface for example

AmericaTheBrave posted...

But could they do aspects like his suit and giant freeze gun in a "grounded" setting?

He injects people with some kind of poison for instant paralysis

Solomon grundy should have been called solomon grundle imo

No. You will get Joker for the 456th time, and you'll like it, dammit!

Strange how The Lego Batman Movie is more grounded and philosophical than any "real" Batman film, give or take Adam West.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIPZROBiNik

s0nicfan posted...

Of that list I could totally see Croc, although most likely as a mid-movie henchman or filler villain and not the big bad.

Freeze would be easy to adapt in Nolan or Reeves. Just play up his BTAS origin story and make it more about the tragic fall of a genius who became desperate for money to fund his research. That's basically how they did Doc Ock in Spiderman 2.

Yeah, Freeze is practically a lay-up for a serious treatment. The Harley Quinn show gives him a ridiculous accent and makes him a weirdo yet still nails it! His powers are tech-based, so that works.
Killer Croc is kind of too dumb to be a villain on his own: he's probably doomed to being some one else's muscle: wittingly or not.

Clayface is definitely really fantastical and would be hard to do, which is a shame, because he can be both tragic and terrifyingly menacing. Like, if you don't get the special effects just right he's going to look really damned ridiculous and/or bad. Even then, it's probably too much to ask for the somewhat grounded "realistic" Batman we've seen in film.

TAS also does a great job with the Mad Hatter, who could be interesting, IMO.

Throw a big swerve, and do Wayne vs Luthor.

Grundy probably couldnt carry a movie on his own. Hed be more of a secondary villain at least. Same with Killer Croc.

Clayface would work even in a grounded setting. The original Clayface(Basil Karlo) didnt have powers. He was just a disgruntled B movie actor who was upset that his role was given to another actor for a remake of his most famous movie. So, he took it upon himself to kill all of the remake actors before Batman stepped in. Karlo only gained superpowers after a few more Clayface villains popped up in Gotham City.

Ideally, they would want Clayface with his powers though so they could just tweak his origin a bit so that he does get powers through some accident.

Scarecrow17 posted...

Ideally, they would want Clayface with his powers though so they could just tweak his origin a bit so that he does get powers through some accident.

Or, just recycle the TAS bits.

eston posted...

TAS already did the hard work of making some of these villains into fleshed-out sympathetic characters. Like I could totally see them making a movie with that version of Clayface for example

I'd love to see a straight adaptation of the time a chunk of Clayface broke off and became their own person. That was a great story.

AmericaTheBrave posted...

But could they do aspects like his suit and giant freeze gun in a "grounded" setting?

They could, but they would probably have to change things around a little bit. They could have a lab explosion horribly scar freeze such that he doesn't have sweat glands anymore, forcing him to find some means of consistently cooling himself or risk dying of heat stroke. He wouldn't need a big goofy robot suit, but you could find a way to represent his need for persistent cooling.

As for the freeze ray, that would be a bit tougher but you don't really need the ice gun as part of his motif for him to work.

Pyg deserves to shine

Mr. Freeze was a goofy joke character before Batman: TAS.

Scarecrow17 posted...

Ideally, they would want Clayface with his powers though so they could just tweak his origin a bit so that he does get powers through some accident.

No amount of "this is serious, you guys!" can remove the inherent silliness of gaining superpowers via an industrial accident.

Questionmarktarius posted...

No amount of "this is serious, you guys!" can remove the inherent silliness of gaining superpowers via an industrial accident.

Or just fuck the origin and have him crawl out of the ocean. That's the origin.

Kite Man deserves his chance to shine.

Freeze could just create some sort of liquid Nitrogen gun, that part wouldnt be to hard, but it wouldnt flash freeze stuff the same way. I like @s0nicfan s idea for the suit too. I feel like he could work really well.

Focus more on becoming the villain, rather than the "incident".
Do a film where King Tut is the big bad, and focus on how the hell a college professor can somehow build a criminal empire of lackeys and an Egypt-themed hideout within a few hours of being conked on the head.

Questionmarktarius posted...

No amount of "this is serious, you guys!" can remove the inherent silliness of gaining superpowers via an industrial accident.

The medium itself is silly when translated to live action. No matter how dark and gritty the Nolan movies are, it's still about a grown man dressed like a bat. As long as it's entertaining, who really cares.

The issue with doing fantastical Batman stories is that most Batman movie series start out with a fairly grounded villain (Joker, Riddler, Scarecrow, etc.,), so it becomes a bit of a hard pill to swallow when you suddenly go from deranged serial killers and mob bosses to 8 foot tall mud monsters.

Ideally, you'd simply allude to the more "comic book-y" aspects (i.e., a news article talking about unconfirmed sightings of a "crocodile man" living in Gotham's sewers) to at least ease people into the idea of there being fantastical creatures and metahumans living in Gotham

Alternatively, characters like Killer Croc can be redesigned to fit in a more realistic setting. Instead of just being a giant crocodile man, he's a cannibalistic serial killer with a skin condition that makes his skin look scaly. I mean, that's basically what he is already, but you can double down on the body horror aspect.

I'd like to see more of the detective side of batman. Bring in Hush or Victor Zsasz and build a gritty detective story.

Kurt_Russel posted...

I'd like to see more of the detective side of batman. Bring in Hush or Victor Zsasz and build a gritty detective story.

We literally just got 2 hours of detective Batman.

I could see a movie Clayface where the character is an actor (like in the comic) but without the superpowers. Hes just really good at impersonating others and using disguises & whatnot. Also it would be neat for whoever plays the character to show their acting range

Scarecrow17 posted...

The medium itself is silly when translated to live action. No matter how dark and gritty the Nolan movies are, it's still about a grown man dressed like a bat. As long as it's entertaining, who really cares.

This is where DC keeps screwing up, outside of Shazam. Marvel fully acknowledges that comic books are inherently a silly medium, and has fun with it.
Those times Marvel tried to be "serious, you guys" (Hulk03, Thor 2) ended up being just as awful as DC.

I would like to see Hush.

Come on Calendar Man.

What about the lilac guy?

My dream Batman movie would be Guillermo Del Toro directing with Clayface and/or Killer Croc featured.

Clayface would make a great live action villain.

One of the biggest mistakes Suicide Squad made was having flashback scenes where Deadshot and Harley Quinn fought Batman, but no Batman/Killer Croc encounter. Even a 20 second fight would have been a great addition.

Killer Croc appears out of the water in ambush and throws Batman against a wall. Batman ducks a punch and kicks Croc. Batman throws something out of his utility belt and chases the reptile man away.

I want an awesome Robin, but they only focus on early Batman now

Robin is a deliberate omission. He should be featured though.

iPhone_7 posted...

I could see a movie Clayface where the character is an actor (like in the comic) but without the superpowers. Hes just really good at impersonating others and using disguises & whatnot. Also it would be neat for whoever plays the character to show their acting range

Gary Oldman would absolutely boss that.

Next one better be Mad Hatter

AmericaTheBrave posted...

But could they do aspects like his suit and giant freeze gun in a "grounded" setting?

Arkham made it work.

spikethedevil posted...

Arkham made it work.

Arkham wasn't exactly grounded but it did nail the grittiness.

We need Hush. Or Court of Owls.

FortuneCookie posted...

Robin is a deliberate omission. He should be featured though.

At least Reeves is open to a Robin. Or was that Pattinson? One of them.

It's actually not that hard. Maybe don't make Robin 12 but it's possible for him to be a teenager, like 15-17. And instead of Batman deliberately training him (accusing him of child endangerment) just have Robin try the vigilante thing on his own and Batman discovers him and takes him under his wing because he recognizes he can't stop him so he might as well look out for him to prevent him from becoming like him.

AmericaTheBrave posted...

And instead of Batman deliberately training him (accusing him of child endangerment) just have Robin try the vigilante thing on his own and Batman discovers him and takes him under his wing because he recognizes he can't stop him so he might as well look out for him to prevent him from becoming like him.

Y'all need to stop sleeping on Lego Batman Movie.