'The Dark Knight Rises' is the title for Nolan's next Batman film

[Saber Alter]

The Internet was ablaze today with news that Christopher Nolan has named his next Batman film: "The Dark Knight Rises."

The announcement comes courtesy of Hero Complex (at the The Los Angeles Times), who scored a rare interview with the often secretive director.

So just who will be the next villain?

"It won't be the Riddler," Nolan said, ending months (even years) of speculation. "We'll use many of the same characters as we have all along, and we'll be introducing some new ones," he said.

In March it was reported that Nolan's brother Jonathan is currently writing the script and said the villain won't be Mr. Freeze. He insisted that the primary character ensemble from the previous two Batman films will return and that it will conclude their story.

Hmmmm.... Will The Joker return in some way (possibly recast)? The Scarecrow? Ra's al Ghul?

And can we expect the film to be shot in 3D? Nope! Nolan, who also directed last Summer's "Inception," convinced Warner Brothers to go with IMAX instead of 3D.

Says Nolan: "There's an intimacy at times [with spatial illusion of the 3D effect] and we want didn't want to lose scale... Our ambitions for the third movie is to complete a story that has begun. This is not starting over, this not rebooting... We're looking to do something technologically that's never been done before... Our ambitions are to make a great movie."

"The Dark Knight Rises" will be third film in Nolan's Batman trilogy. The first was "Batman Begins," in 2005 followed by "The Dark Knight," in 2008 which snagged late actor Heath Ledger an Oscar for best-supporting actor.

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2010/10/the_dark_knight_rises_batman_t.html

Pretty sad that we won't get serious Riddler in a movie.

[.Batzarro.]

Yea, does suck in some sense since I think they could of done an amazing job with him. However, I'm not one to ever question his decisions again since I questioned a lot of stuff for The Dark Knight and that turned out amazingly epic.

At the very least I won't keep hearing the rumors that Depp would be playing Riddler (which so many people swore was true and he had already been cast for the role >.>). Not that I'd really mind if he could pull it off but a rumor is just that, a rumor.

EDIT: Also wanted to mention that I'm soo glad this won't be in 3D and in IMAX instead. I'm really getting sick of this 3D crap already. Nothing about it feels natural or right, they go out of their way to make it look like something's coming right at you when I'd rather them focus on the film actually being good. If I wanna see/deal with something like that I'll go to Universal Studios.

[fer619]

hmmm...according to the interview, some new villains will be introduced to the saga in this upcoming movie. could it be clayface? mad hatter? man-bat? scarface? killer croc?

and yeah, i would have also liked to see riddler in this movie 

[TomBewley]

Conclude the story of previous characters. So looks like Scarecrow may make an appearance. I wonder if there'll be a new love interest after Rachel. Perhaps Talia to conclude Ras' story although there never was any indication he had a daughter in Begins. And I'm also curious as to what this large role that Tom Hardy is playing will be. I'd live to see him take on Hush.

[.Batzarro.]

I don't think we'll be seeing any overly monster type characters like Clayface/Croc in this. What I'm expecting to see is some type of mercenary like Deadshot/Deathstroke since Batman is now being considered a villain. Possibly even Bane but his story would be completely changed for the most part, I'd assume.

I really hope they don't bring Joker back though. They're not gonna top or even come close to what they already put out there with Ledger. I think they'd just taint it if they tried.

[Astaroth]

To be honest, I don't think recasting the Joker will be nearly as bad as you're saying.  Take a look at The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Heath Ledger's last film.  Since he died in production, Terry Gilliam had not one, but THREE actors play the "dream world" versions of him, Johny Depp, Jude Law, and Collin Ferrel.  And all 3 did a great job at imitating his unique style, I might add (though Jude Law is a tad questionable).

But still, the point is that given that Ledger created such a unique style, and the actor's face is hardly even seen, it wouldn't be that weird for another actor to take over the role.

[.Batzarro.]

I just honestly don't see anyone being able to pull of Joker they way he did. I really hope I can be proven wrong on this though as I'd love to see him again but IMO I don't see it happening. That's why I'd rather them just move on from Joker but we'll see what happens.

[Playing Enemy]

I couldn't agree more. When I first heard Heath Ledger was going to be Joker, I couldn't imagine anyone worse for the job, then after seeing him in action, I can't imagine anyone else doing it. On that note though, I hope if they have found someone, that I'm wrong again. I guess we'll find out soon enough.

[ATiC3]

Actually.. sry but I think Johnny Depp as The Riddler would've made sense, b/c he definitely fits the role.. and yea, I was sad to see Mr. Freeze cast out... I'll bet we'll get Killer Croc or something like that... b/c Batman needs to step up his game and redeem himself for the crimes he told Gordon to say were his... I think by capturing Killer Croc and a few other baddies, he could accomplish just that.

[Scar]

I sense catwoman will be in this somewhere.

[C.R.O.M. - ManoloStyle]

Definitively Catwoman, you get a villain and a love interest at the same time with her… 

[DEMONKAI]

Not too fond of the title once i saw the kite on yahoo news. But the way Christopher Nolan has doing these awesome Batman films im just all game and curious how he does this one period. Hes very cerebral with how he does his work in directing. he makes you get into the Villians more than the heroes of the film. I also agree that when i first saw ledger as the joker i was like nahhh. But when i seen em act him out i was floored with impression. that boy definitely left his mark. As for bale he too took me by surprise in "Batman begins". did a great job aside from my childhood fav Mr Keaton in the 90s. In the Dark knight Bale over did it with the voice actin. too odd .

btw i did really wanna see Johnny depp as The riddler. that would have been heavy

[Spidermew]

I hope scarecrow is a real major cool in this, allot more then he was in the first 2 movies. Maybe give him more of a costume then just that blasted mask with a suit and tie on. I want to see some inception type stuff being pulled off by scarecrow. That would be awsome.

[Violent Ken Masters]

From what I know Nolan has no plans to bring back the joker and made it a Ledger exclusive character for his film series. I can't blame him, its hard to top Ledgers performance. This next movie though should have a good villain. I'm kind of hoping for a more comic accurate Bane.