Or they could combine the tone of The Killing Joke with Brian Azzarello’s Joker and in turn create an entirely new narrative that still focuses on that character’s origin. It is conceivable to have a film that focuses mainly on The Joker being as successful as one that focuses on Batman if it had the right team and a proper cast behind it, especially considering that The Joker has in recent years become as big an icon as the caped crusader, if not bigger.
It would also be very interesting to see a film that is set entirely in and around Arkham Asylum (perhaps using Grant Morrison’s terrific comic book as a springboard). A gothic horror film set around that location would be entirely appropriate as well as being quite different to what Nolan attempted. Or they could go with something more generic like Assault on Precinct 13 or The Raid, which could focus on an attempted criminal break out or other goings on inside the prison. That would be fairly awesome to watch, especially if a criminal uprising was led by a few of the notable Asylum inmates that haven’t been properly immortalized on the screen yet.
For now though it seems like The Dark Knight Rises and Christopher Nolan have had the last word. It finally feels like there is a complete, coherent mythology of the character on film under the vision of one director. A reboot will come around soon enough but do we really need one so soon? I don’t think we do, at least not as soon as The Amazing Spider-Man, which rebooted the Spider-Man franchise only 5 years after Sam Raimi finished his trilogy.
There were 30 years between the initial 60’s Batman series and Tim Burton’s reinvention of the character and then another 8 years between that franchise and Nolan’s, which may not seem like enough; yet you must admit, the tonal shift between Schumacher’s Batman & Robin and Nolan’s Batman Begins was beyond tectonic.
If Warner Brothers plans on rebooting soon, within the next 10 years, then they better bring in a director who has a vision as solid and confident as Nolan’s but different. I don’t envy the studio’s position at all nor the filmmaker who thinks he can follow up such a fine trilogy.
For now though, all we can do is speculate as to where the studio will take the character. Feel free to drop a comment below and leave your thoughts on the issue.
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