Deciphering Chris Nolan's 'Batman 3'

Batman 3 is coming and a draft of the script is apparently done. The plot and villains remain concealed under a cloak of secrecy. But not to fear! I'm on the case, and I'm pretty sure that examining the Batman stories Nolan adapted to make the first two films might shed some light on where we're going.

Batman Begins drew heavily from Frank Miller's "Batman: Year One", a gritty re-imagining of Batman's origin story that continues to define the way writers approach the dark knight. Begins also incorporated aspects of "The Man Who Falls", a 1989 storyline showing Bruce Wayne's early adulthood spent traveling and training around the world, and "Daughter of the Demon," the classic story that introduced Ra's al Ghul to the Batman rogues gallery.

The Dark Knight adapted a lot of ideas from Jeph Loeb's "The Long Halloween" and Alan Moore's "The Killing Joke". Loeb showed us the 'agent of chaos' arrival of Joker, the Batman-Gordon-Dent pact to take down the mob, the tragic fall of Harvey Dent, and the intriguing suggestion that Batman's presence in Gotham caused the arrival of psychotic weirdos like the Joker. "Killing Joke" provided an important take on Joker's psychology - the brutal terrorist who becomes obsessed with showing Batman that within every individual is the capacity for insanity.

So where could Nolan and company go from here? These are some stories that are most likely to offer clues on Batman 3 and its villains.

"The Dark Knight Returns"

From a literary perspective, Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" is probably the second-most celebrated comic book story ever written. Batman appears in Gotham after a decade of hiding to face a rejuvenated criminal element, while simultaneously being hunted by the city police and the United States government. The Dark Knight ended with Batman being hunted by the police, and Nolan could pull elements from "Returns" to develop this idea of Batman as a fugitive outcast. I also wouldn't mind if Nolan lifted the film's title from this story.

"Dark Victory"

"Long Halloween" was probably Nolan's biggest comic book influence for figuring out where to go with The Dark Knight. Jeph Loeb wrote a sequel to "Long Halloween" called "Dark Victory", a story that deals with the repercussions of "Long Halloween". A territory war begins between Two Face's crime syndicate and the remnants of the Falcone family, a mysterious 'Hangman' killer strikes Gotham with Riddler being the only one who knows the killer's identity, and Bruce Wayne shelters an orphaned boy whose parents were killed by mob sabotage. There are ton of ideas that Nolan could lift from "Dark Victory". Although most fans of Nolan's Batman films would probably agree that Robin shouldn't be part of this franchise, "Dark Victory" makes an incredibly strong case for why a mature, gritty interpretation of Batman would actually need a Robin. The death of Rachel Dawes in The Dark Knight terminates Bruce Wayne's best (and possibly only) shot at happiness. He becomes truly alone, even going so far as to end his ties with Commissioner Gordon and the police. "Dark Victory" gives a profound answer for why our hero needs to mentor a boy orphaned by crime; Dick Grayson (who later becomes Robin) is depicted as Bruce Wayne's only anchor left to humanity. The task of ensuring that this child grows up to be a good person is what keeps Bruce Wayne from becoming corrupted by the infectious insanity of Batman's enemies.

"Son of the Demon"

Thematically, there are a lot of reasons why Nolan could use to adapt this story. "Son of the Demon" features Batman forming a truce with Ra's al Ghul to solve a murder. During that time, Batman falls for and weds Ra's daughter, Talia. We see Batman's behavior change dramatically; Talia represents Bruce's chance to have a wife and family while continuing to be Batman. Incorporating pieces of "Son of the Demon" would bring Nolan's trilogy full circle, providing the return of Ra's al Ghul and Talia's temptation of a recently broken-hearted Bruce.


"Hush"

If the Riddler is the villain of Batman 3, then Hush is the story that will probably be looked at to show why Riddler is an A-list Batman villain. Although he doesn't appear much in the story, Riddler is revealed to be the ultimate orchestrator of a massive plot against Batman that features coordinated attacks from all of Batman's greatest enemies. Riddler was smart enough to figure out that Bruce Wayne is Batman, and Hush is Riddler's play to prove to Gotham that he belongs in the same league as Joker and Two-Face.


I highly recommend giving these stories a read. They're all regarded among the best Batman stories of all time.


-Aaron-