It sounds like Warner Bros. has just activated the “Jonah Hill And Jeffrey Wright Signal” that sits atop the Gotham City Police Department, because both of them are now in talks to take on major roles in director Matt Reeves’ The Batman. This is the one starring Robert Pattinson as the Dark Knight, and though specific details have been slim, we’ve been hearing for years that this movie would involve Batman facing off against the Penguin—initially with Josh Gad as the feathered fiend, before Ben Affleck escaped. Deadline says Hill would play “a villain” if he does take the role, so it’s possible that he could be Gotham’s latest Oswald Cobblepot.
As for Wright, we actually do know who Westworld’s favorite secret robot is playing, with a separate Deadline story revealing that he’s in talks to play Jim Gordon (Deadline actually says “James,” but like Batman, we’ve known the guy for long enough that we don’t need to be so formal). No word on if Wright intends to get shredded like J.K. Simmons did when he played Gordon in Justice League, but we’ll let him focus on growing the mustache first. (Also, sticklers may note that Simmons didn’t actually get ripped for Justice League, it just happened around the same time, but it was a funny story so we’re going with it.)
For anyone who has somehow managed to live on this planet long enough to learn how to read this post but hasn’t picked up any information about Batman: The Penguin is a legitimate businessman in Gotham City who is often depicted as the owner of the Iceberg Lounge nightclub. He’s called The Penguin because people in Gotham are mean, and also he tends to wear a tuxedo. Jim Gordon, meanwhile, is a rogue cop who often breaks rules to protect his friend “the Bat-Man”—who, it’s worth saying, is a criminal vigilante.
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Jonah Hill for Calender Man
This lousy Smarch weather can only be the work of one dastardly villain! CALENDAR MAN!
Jonah Hill will play the thug who dropped Bruce and Martha Wayne’s coffee.
But who’ll play his sidekick, Kid Datebook?
Condiment Man and he’ll come in pumpkin spice now.
how dare you address his majesty without the pomp! that is Condiment KING to you, varlot!
“Batman you basic bitch, taste my PSL! Pumpkin Spiced Laser!!!!“
The Exploding Latte
Can Calandar Man’s modernized real name be Philo Fax?
It doesn’t look like anything to me, Batman.I’m down for Jeffrey Wright playing Gordon, but he would make an interesting Riddler too. Right after TDK came out, I wanted Michael Emerson to play that role (I still do), and I think portraying the character as a sort of hyper-intelligent recluse who likes games and riddles would be fun.I don’t think we need to go down the ‘green bodysuit with question marks all over it’ route again. I do not sanction that buffoonery.
Green bodysuit with question marks all over it makes for a hell of a (long) halloween costume. But not a very terrifying villain. Riddler with a question mark carved into his chest and being super analytical like in Zero Year or War of Jokes and Riddles would be how I want the next guy. Emerson would make a super riddler, like, either his Lost character or his PoI character would be workable.
Or he could wear a simple green tailored suit and jacket, with the question marks only being left at crime scenes. The Arkham City version of the Riddler has a Person Of Interest vibe with all of those supercomputers and monitor walls.
That’s the vibe I’m hoping for, personally. A simple dark green velvet bowler would work for me just fine. I’m still bummed we never got to see Riddler done by Nolan. I’d think it would be right up his alley.
Nolan already had Heath Ledger’s Joker fill the super-prepared-criminal-mastermind-who’s-2-steps-ahead-of-everyone niche (though the character insisted he had no plan). The Riddler would’ve been repetitive.
Not saying he should’ve done it right after TDK. Just that I’m bummed we never got to see it.
I think the Riddler is more fun if played with the idea that his mental illness manifest in the fact that he wants to get caught. There is an Astrocity story about an old villain who finally gets away with a big score and the fact that he gets away and no one ever suspects it’s him drives him back into crime. I see that as how the Riddler would be. He wants Batman to solve his riddles and catch him, he doesn’t want it to be easy though
Hell yeah Arkham City Riddler is the best.
While it may make for a great Halloween costume. I’m guessing the zipper is in the back and oh boy the first trip to the bathroom is going to make you realize the mistake you made.
I’d like to see that version. Pee stains at the front, food all down it because it’s such a hassle to take off. Insane B.O.
“Riddler with a question mark carved into his chest”Sounds too much like a Riddler that would team up with a Joker with “Damaged” tattooed on his forehead.
Thank you for stating what I couldn’t.We haven’t seen Riddler onscreen since Jim Carrey did it, and with how outdated that performance has become, the character is WIDE open to interpretation. Personally I think they should go the complete other way with it. Make him some fairly socially prominent figure with a twisted eye for two things – riddles, and fucking with Batman. I picture him as a sort of Zodiac Killer type who outlines his plots and games with riddles that he sends to Gordon and the GPD. Then, Batman gets involved. Could be fun.
Sounds “Twisted!”
I was just referencing how he is in the current comics. I think what happened was he got shot in the gut and that made the “dot” of the question mark and he carved the rest. It works for him way better than Leto Damaged Joker in my opinion.
Not terrifying? Go and watch some Frank Gorshin. Still the best of all the Riddlers, and still the only genuinely frightening Adam West villain.
Not terrifying? Go and watch some Frank Gorshin. Still the best of all the Riddlers, and still the only genuinely frightening Adam West villain. True. Gorshin’s deranged giggle was truly chilling; by contrast Romero-as-Joker never seemed either amused OR scary. [Gorshin worked steadily his whole life, in tv, movies, and on stage, but I wish more people knew what a magnetic actor he could be.]
I once saw Frank Gorshin in a hotel bar at a comic convention hitting on girls young enough to be his grand children. It was pretty terrifying.
I always say Frank Gorshin’s Riddler is one of my favorite Joker performances. His laugh was amazingly creepy.
Ugh no. I agree a body suit is a no but a green suit is fine. No more DC movie character with stupid tattoos, intentional scarring or any other stupid hot topic body horror shit.
I agree. They can be way scarier if they are less cartoonish. Green suit would be slick. Maybe a gimmicked cane but not anything over the top. Body horror can work for a villain when done right, but I mean Cronenberg/Lynch and not like spooky gauges or wicked tats.
Gst William H. Macy to play a more bizarre version of his sadsack quizboy all grown up.Jeffrey Wright for Hugo Strange.
Macy as Riddler sounds fun to me too.Remember this weirdness?
http://screeninvasion.com/2011/01/robin-williams-to-star-as-hugo-strange/
Jeffrey Wright always brings such brilliant gravitas to every role he does. If they want him as Gordon I’m all for it.But imagine how crazy it would be to have Wright as a villain? How about Ra’s Al Ghul?
I wanted Emerson for Riddler so bad around then too.
I said it right when I walked out of the theater after seeing TDK for the first time.
Is that you, Tommy Lee Jones?
No, son, it’s not.
The rumor is Jonah Hill is up for The Riddler. I’ve also learned Gotham WHOSE RESPONSIBLE THIS. THIS HAS NO PARDON! #JusticeForCane
Lisa Padovani was the costume designer and she is rad, but that doesn’t mean it was her choice. It was probably great.
I really want to see what it looked like.
*shrugs*
I know the optics on a person of colour being subservient to a white man aren’t great, but I think Wright would make a fantastic Alfred.
I agree Wright would be awesome in that role. Also, even though Alfred is technically his butler and definitely fulfills that job, he’s also a surrogate father and crimefighter and runs the cave etc. So he and Batman are on equal footing even if Alfred fetches sandwiches and stuff.
Technically, I don’t think Alfred ever “fetches” sandwiches and stuff. He’s usually trying to get Batman to eat something and maybe take a nap or leaving a tray of food that goes untouched in the batcave. The only thing he usually fetches is an unconscious Batman who’s beaten and fallen off a roof or something, or maybe the Batmobile if Bruce had to leave it somewhere. And even that’s by remote.
Yeah, like, Alfred’s his dad. It’s like if your dad makes you a PB&J after a hard day at work. That’s nice. Actually, one of the few times I’ve cried while reading a superhero comic is that one page, after I think Final Crisis, when Batman’s presumed dead and Superman’s asking him if he’s OK and Alfred’s like, “No, my son died.” And shit, that killed me.
And Wright would be awesome in any number of Gotham roles. He’s that good.
I remember when Darkseid did the eyebeams of death thing and the bat family was all listening to this video will that Bruce made and the last thing he said was “Thank You, Dad” to Alfred. *sob.
Wright is soooo good. Jim Gordon is a fine use of his talents but I would like him as a villain too. Any villain. But preferably a cerebral conniving one.
It’s a good thing, then, that Robert Pattison is Samoan.
Maybe to even things out they can cast an Asian Catwoman. What’s Emma Stone doing?
In Darren Aronofsky’s Batman treatment, his Alfred would have been a black mechanic named Al.
‘“the Bat-Man”—who, it’s worth saying, is a criminal vigilante.’Just because your upset Ben Affleck left doesn’t mean you have to be all pouty about it.
The Penguin is no businessman. He’s a deformed freak who was raised by penguins below the zoo and hates Christmas. Everybody knows this.
While he is obviously going to play the Penguin, I still hold out hope that they’ll go deep into the Rogues Gallery. I for one would like to see what Jonah Hill could do playing this guy…
Which guy?Nevermind. The King Tut image wasn’t displaying earlier.
Its showing for me and I’m still asking “who?”
It’s not like he’s fat now or anything.
Give it a minute, and he’ll be back in the required shape. And then some.
I could see Hill being Hugo Strange. Or just go wild and be Kite Man!
Hell yeah to kite man.
Casting doesn’t sound Superbad
I could totally see Jonah Hill as Scarface’s ventriloquist. Jeffrey Wright should be a pretty decent Jim Gordon.
Jeffrey Wright will definitely ace the scene where he has to looked nonplussed as he turns around and finds he’s speaking to himself after Batman just vanishes off the roof.
Enough with the batman movies already
Stop watching them.
Alternatively, you could fuck off.
Jonah Hill is … Bat-Mite.
Is this a tough beat for Josh Gad, or is Josh Gad doing what Bruce’s parents couldn’t and dodging a bullet here?I feel like Gad had a real shot to be the Coldplay to Jonah Hill’s Radiohead. They were both in the same lane and Hill diverted into “serious” acting, leaving all that broad appeal/chubby comedy relief to Gad. He just didn’t want to seem to take it.
Someone in charge over there also thought Jesse eisenberg would make a great lex luthor too though
See, I have two problems with Jeffrey Wright as Gordon.1. He’d be perfect as Lucius Fox.2. This means it’s highly likely that if we ever get Barbara Gordon in the movies, she’ll be black, too. And I don’t really have a big problem with racebending characters. Lakeith Stanfield as Joker would be really interesting, for instance. Or Idris Elba as Harvey Dent.I’m just kinda miffed that popular redhead comic characters have been cast as black in live action: Iris and Wally West. Zendaya’s MJ(who I actually loved in Far From Home, FWIW). Just… I want to see the redheads! The only redhead I could think of, in all DC and Marvel current or recent live action comic book properties… is Mera.
They could go the adopted daughter route like they did in Fan … never mind.
Barbara could be of mixed heritage. Red hair would be highly unlikely even if they cast the most ginger lady in all of Scotland to be her mom but it’s comics so who cares.
I guess. I want to see an actual redhead cast in the role, to avoid situations like Mera’s hair again. But I guess most redheaded actresses skew more towards the strawberry blonde type.
I wish they would cast someone lesser known than Jonah Hill. He’s mostly just himself wherever he goes. For me the best Riddler will always be Frank Gorshin, although John Astin was a decent fill-in (it helped that Astin was at his most dashing in this era).
What about SEAN Astin?
The Gotham Tv series had a lot of issues, but one element they consistently nailed was Penguin and Riddler. I became a big fan of Riddler a decade ago thanks to the arkham games (I never really liked him in the comics before then). Gotham really understood what a ridiculous and funny villain Riddler can be. So even though Gotham has a lot of problems (like a lot. Like so many), I highly recommend people see it purely for how great Penguin and Riddler were.
I was wondering how Barsanti would manage to screw the pooch on such a basic write-up, and by the end he found a way.
Jonah Hill = King Tut lol. The campy version from the old tv show
Yeah, Wright could definitely pull off a great Jim Gordon. I still wish Bryan Cranston had been able to play the role in live action once. He was great in the Year One animated movie. But if he had to lose the role to anyone, Jeffrey Wright’s an A+ choice. As for Jonah Hill, sure, maybe. This one’s the Batman movie that’s supposed to be a detective movie, right? Batman makes a stop at the Iceberg Lounge to get some intel?
I’m going to sit this Batman movie out.
please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please
Kite Man!Hell yeah.