Joseph Gordon Levitt New Bat-Cast Member? 3rd Rock from Gotham…

News on the web today is that 3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN star Joseph Gordon Levitt is in talks to join other INCEPTION alums Michael Caine, Tom Hardy, and Christopher Nolan in THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. What is not clear (besides this addition being official) is who Levitt would play.

The most popular guess is that he’d play Dr. Hugo Strange, given that Strange’s name has been thrown around a lot when inspirations for the script have been discussed. PREY is one prominent storyline that the new movie is said to have been based on, and Hugo is a huge part of that story. For those unfamiliar with Hugo Strange, he first popped up in Detective Comics #36 (February 1940), and is one of Batman’s first recurring villains, preceding both the Joker and Catwoman by several months.  The original story lines showed Dr. Strange deducing Bruce Wayne’s real identity was that of Batman and auctioning it off to Gotham’s super villains. In the modern continuity however, he is more known for helping the police track down the vigilante hero and eventually going mad and dressing like the Bat himself.

I however do not believe that is who Levitt will portray. Not only does Levitt look nothing like Strange, but already having both Catwoman and Bane seems to eliminate the need. Now if they have Strange merely working with GCPD to catch the Bat if could fly, but unlikely they’d go into all the details of his psychosis.

No, more likely I think, Levitt would be a rival not for the Batman, but for the Batman’s fake identity, Bruce Wayne. Be it another Gotham Playboy, a rival of Wayne Tech, or  maybe just a pesky PI/Journalist. Then there is also always the possible he could be Harvey Dent’s replacement as the new D.A, or Gordon’s new protégé. Regardless, what most blogs today are ignoring is the fact that if Levitt does sign on, there are plenty of roles he could play other than villain, and we can certainly stop suggesting the Riddler. That’s not gonna happen.

In other Bat-News, its been widely publicized that Chris Nolan would do a Batman Trilogy, and we assume no more. And it was believed that no Nolan past 3, would also mean no Bale. That may not be true any longer…

Bale talking to Empire: “All I know is the likelihood that this will be the last one … Well, I wouldn’t say definitely. If Chris goes, ‘Hey, I’ve got another story I think could be interesting,’ then yeah, great, I’d go do that. I always assumed it would be three, but I could be wrong. I don’t know if there’s something wrong with me, but I don’t feel any pressure.”

So basically if Nolan were to do a 4th movie, Bale would be on board. That may be good news for Warner Brothers if they truly plan to launch a JUSTICE LEAGUE movie eventually. They could snap up Bale, Green Lantern’s Ryan Reynolds, Superman’s Henry Cavill, and whomever they cast in the upcoming Wonder Woman tv show…

I’ll let you know once any of this is confirmed, but for now I leave you with Paul Rudd making my exit for me.