5 Characters Who Should Have Been Nolanized

5 Characters Who Should Have Been Nolanized

The Dark Knight Trilogy is over. Batman, Joker, Catwoman, Two Face, Ra's al Ghul, and especially Bane and Scarecrow were "Nolanized" or made more realistic. Here's five more characters who I would have liked to see get this treatment.

Editorial Opinion
By SuperBatAquaman - Oct 06, 2012 04:10 PM EST
Filed Under: Fan Fic



Christopher Nolan did such a masterful job making something unrealistic seem believable in The Dark Knight Trilogy that "nolanizing" is now a term. He nolanized Batman, Joker, The League of Shadows, the al Ghuls, and Two Face. More impressively he nolanized Bane and Scarecrow. However, Batman didn't face some of the antagonists we're used to, or fight along side some of the allies we're used to. Here is my list of five characters that I would have liked to seen nolanized.

5. HARLEY QUINN

Harley Quinn is Joker's accomplis/girlfriend/sidekick. She would need to be featured in a movie with Joker for her to work. She would be higher on the list if Heath Ledger(RIP) was still available to play Joker. On the other hand, Ledger's Joker doesn't seem like the type to fall in love(remember he threw Rachel Daas, the only attractive girl in the movie, out a window). He also doesn't seem like the type to have a sidekick. Still it would have been neat to see how Nolan dealt with Harley on the big screen.

4. ROBIN

I already know people are going to comment on this. John Blake never became the superhero we know as Robin. He was a cop whose real name is Robin who appears to inherit Bruce Wayne's goodies, but he was never Robin. He may have even been as close as Nolan was ever going to get to Robin. I would have liked to have seen a Robin. It would be a minor whole in the story since at the beginning of TDK, Wayne makes it very clear he doesn't want any copycats, let alone a child copycat. Despite this I want to see what a nolanized Robin would have been.
3. PENGUIN

The Penguin may be the easiest to nolanize out of the five. The Tim Burton Penguin, above, is not the comic Penguin. The real Penguin is a weapons dealer turned mob leader. He can fit perfectly in the scheme of things in Gotham. Still the physical appearance and personality created by Nolan would have been interesting to see.

2. THE RIDDLER

The Riddler is one of the more unique villans of all time. The key to him would be the riddles. They would have to be tricky and take time for Batman to solve. Also, The Riddler shouldn't wear question mark pajamas. I think a suit with a hat with a green question mark would be good. I'm not sure if he should have on a mask or not. It would be cool if he wasn't even seen until the end of the movie. He just left riddles either on paper or over the phone.

1. HUGO STRANGE

Hugo Strange was the first person to learn of Batman's identity. This could have led to an intense movie. There's not much to say about Strange and he's unknown enough for Nolan to really take full advantage of him.

In conclusion, I'm glad The Dark Knight Trilogy ended on a high note. Too often today do movie franchises keep cranking out sequels until a flop, even though there are remaining villans good enough to make a solid plot. Please note I left out Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy because they're virtually impossible to make realistic.
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Darklypse
Darklypse - 10/6/2012, 4:38 PM
Dear lord no. These characters don't need Nolanization to be epic. I still don't like Nolan's version of the character of Bruce Wayne/Batman.
lokibane2012
lokibane2012 - 10/6/2012, 4:58 PM
Nolanization's overrated. The only character that came out of it well was Joker.
SuperBatAquaman
SuperBatAquaman - 10/6/2012, 5:01 PM
@Darklypse I'm not saying they need to be nolanized, I just am curious about what Nolan would have done with them.
SuperBatAquaman
SuperBatAquaman - 10/6/2012, 5:03 PM
@lokibane2012 Agree to disagree, I thought Bane and Scarecrow were genius and besides Katie Holmes's Rachel Daas in Begins, I can't think of a weak character the whole Trilogy
marvel72
marvel72 - 10/6/2012, 5:19 PM
scarecrow,joker,gordon & alfred were the only characters done well.

batman was good apart from that stupid f*ckin voice.
Darklypse
Darklypse - 10/6/2012, 5:28 PM
I can give Nolan credit for one thing: at least Batman wasn't turned into a psycho that physically abuses small children (thank you, Frank Miller). I still don't like his take on the character of Bruce Wayne/Batman and I don't like Bale too much either.
lokibane2012
lokibane2012 - 10/6/2012, 5:47 PM
@SuperBatAquaman

I can. Batman. He has been completely shit, inefficient and two steps behind every opponent he has faced. Begins gave me hope, but TDK and TDKR took it all away and more.

Bane was fantastic. BUT I didn't count him because he was completely undone in the last few minutes of the film. His origins taken away, turned into a glorified henchman, defeated by (GASP!) regular punches, and killed in the most anticlimactic fashion since Harvey Dent (yeah, I'm not calling him Two Face).

Same for Scarecrow. Started off really well, but then ended up like a pussy.

Ra's Al Ghul was not Ra's Al Ghul. Period.

Catwoman was a confused mess. Hathaway didn't know if she was doing her own Nolanized thing, or copying Pfeiffer's acting. Fail

As you've already said, Dawes was shit.

Alfred was great too but never did jackshit. Except burning the letter, which only lead to him have a hissy-fit and quitting on Batman.

Speaking of quitting in the Batman films....
AshleyWilliams
AshleyWilliams - 10/6/2012, 6:13 PM
My God man if you hate the Nolan movies that much don't click on articles about them.
SuperBatAquaman
SuperBatAquaman - 10/6/2012, 6:17 PM
@lokibane2012
I agree about Bane, awful ending. Scarecrow was just an average guy who was barely even a villan. Sure he shouldnt have gone so simply but he couldnt fight and wasnt a criminal mastermind, he was just a pawn in Ra's al Ghul's plan. I agree Ra's was not the same Ra's we've come to know, but I liked him nonetheless. I thought Catwoman was perfect honestly and you say Alfred never did jackshit. What did you want him to do? Anyway your entitled to your opinion as I am mine. I guess I love all 3 movies and you hate them, which I have no problem with.
(notice how I didnt mention Batman, I could type for hours how he was the perfect Batman FOR THESE MOVIES. He wouldn't have been a good replacement for Keaton, nor will he in the future. But for these movies, he was perfect.)
MisterMagurlypse
MisterMagurlypse - 10/6/2012, 6:35 PM
I get what you're saying and I agree with wondering about a Cobblepot and Strange "nolaned" style character. IMO, Nolan made Harvey a more important character than Batman. The fact that what Harvey did was what created the idea that Gotham didn't need a Batman until Thalia and Bane came along.

Ra's and Joker was good, but still can't get over Bruce pussing out for 8 years. Just can't buy it.

TheRaven20
TheRaven20 - 10/6/2012, 6:45 PM
I thin not using penguin was a huge missed opportunity. I agree completely. They could have had him as a side villain in TDK working with the mob or something. Heck replace Lau with Cobblepot (yes I know the Batman going to China was kinda a big plot detail). IDK I'm just of the mindset of including characters from the comics as much as you can even if it's just cameos like Mr. Zsaz
Tainted87
Tainted87 - 10/6/2012, 6:46 PM
....you lost me at "Nolanized".
Do you mean "imagined as watered down versions of their comic book counterparts"?

Is the condom the glass slipper of our generation?
(Yes, I really just said that)

Three articles in two days, what is this, Facebook?
ellispart3
ellispart3 - 10/6/2012, 7:09 PM
honestly, it wouldn't take much to imagine what nolan would do with these characters. with nolan, he just took out the level of fantasy with the batman mythos, boiled the characters down to what they are at their core, and put it on the big screen. batman was a man driven to save his city by becoming a symbol, ra's was a terrorist and the league of shadows became a terrorist organization, joker was an out of hand gun for hire, and bane was a soldier;

harley - just as psychotic as ledgers joker, but would operate like mallory knox from natural born killers.

robin - we got that. blake was pretty much what nolan would do with robin. if nolan went the route of siring a young ward, it wouldn't of made sense. it would of gone against the idea that batman has firmly planted himself as the sole protector (remember the impersonators in tdk) of gotham.

penguin - fat homocidal mobster. not a lot of change necessary.

riddler - think jigsaw killer from the saw series. less gore obviously with a nolan flick, but a killer who uses traps and puzzles to take people out is pretty much what i can see nolan using as his riddler.

hugo - you don't have to do much of anything to, he's already someone who would fit into nolan's films.
Jefferys
Jefferys - 10/6/2012, 7:38 PM
As much as some people loved Nolan films (in my opinion they were above average), it's hard to 'Nolanise' the really good characters from Batman's mythos because most of Batman's greatest villains (Mr. Freeze, Killer Croc, Clayface even Firefly) are all super-powered. With some of other Batman's more 'grounded' villains being left for waste (as said before, Riddler, Deadshot, Calendar Man, even Red Hood).

I'd also like to make a case that if you'd place Riddler into the mix as a bad guy, Nolan's Batman wouldn't be able to figure any clues. The greatest extent of his detective skills as shown in the movies were "Where are they!?" or "Where is he!?". Nolan's Batman was a Ninja, not a the world's greatest detective. The Batarangs in the film were Bat-shurikens. Tagged along with a butler who wasn't even there when Bruce needed him most. A butler who disapproved of Bruce being Batman. Correct me if I'm wrong, in the comics, Alfred never left Bruce's side.

However, your article is quite a nice one and I approve of your picks in this case.
95
95 - 10/6/2012, 8:55 PM
Hugo Strange. Would have liked to have seen him in the trilogy. Harley Quinn too.
lokibane2012
lokibane2012 - 10/7/2012, 1:22 AM
Where, in that comment, did I ever say that I hated the films. No, I liked Begins and TDK very much.

But if there is a flaw, there is a flaw. And Nolan [frick]ed up nearly every character.
Bane2099
Bane2099 - 10/7/2012, 2:54 AM
I still think...or thought I should say, that the one woman who could bring Harley's zany yet unhinged personality to the big screen was Brittany Murphy, she had that kookiness to herself already, imagine we had her bring that as Harley before her death.
tonytony
tonytony - 10/7/2012, 7:54 AM
Nice article
as well as the characters above I would like to see Nolan really try to bring his element to some of his fantasy characters.
Ras al-Ghul and Bane were two characters that could have become silly like in "batman and robin" but nolan somehow made the both of them awesome.

so i would like to see what he would do with the following

1)Killer croc
2)Clay face
3)Hugo strange
4)Riddler
Tainted87
Tainted87 - 10/7/2012, 8:27 AM
Thing is, these characters are meant to be CHARIACTURES. Larger than life. Mr Freeze - his wife was cryogenically frozen to give him time to develop a cure for her ailing condition. A lab accident causes him to only survive in subzero conditions - so he'll forever have a heart of ice while his wife has all the time in the world to be cured of hers. A character with the last name Fries... come on. You have to go all the way.

Poison Ivy. What is she going to do, grow her own extracts to create all kinds of barbitrates? How would she distribute said barbitrates without dosing herself?

Clayface. The original didn't have powers, so I assume that is what you'd go with. In that direction, we'd have a character using the Mission Impossible disguises, or basically just be 47.

WATERED DOWN.

And what would Riddler do? Send Batman geocaching? He's not Jigsaw, he doesn't want his victims to find some new lease on life by testing their determination to survive. He just wants to prove his genius over Batman.
SuperBatAquaman
SuperBatAquaman - 10/7/2012, 11:07 AM
@Tainted87

I've had all these articles written in Word for weeks...just got around to posting them this weekend.
Tainted87
Tainted87 - 10/7/2012, 2:07 PM
Ok cool, my apologies.
ellispart3
ellispart3 - 10/7/2012, 2:22 PM
@Tainted87
the riddler as a jigsaw type killer isn't too far fetched. no i don't see him trying to give his victims a new lease on life, but i do see him targeting individuals and putting them in puzzles or predicaments to show how much smarter he is than they are. he eventually turns his attention to batman. only problem is that with batman in the nolan series, he hasn't been the big brain he is in the comic books. in nolan's films he's a phenomenal fighter who really doesn't possess astounding detective skills.
with that in mind, i don't think the riddler would work in nolan's series.
Niuhll
Niuhll - 10/7/2012, 3:55 PM
I honestly prefer, at least in appearence, how Nolan handled Scarecrow. Faw more menacing.
Tainted87
Tainted87 - 10/7/2012, 4:07 PM
Hey I liked Scarecrow too. Batman Begins is still one of my favorite CBMs, and my favorite of the Nolan trilogy. It would make sense for Batman to start out "small".

But Tim Sale's art was much more frightening.
Tainted87
Tainted87 - 10/7/2012, 4:11 PM
@ellispart3
Gotta agree with you there. Also makes it kind of ironic that the Riddler in Arkham City is repeatedly reminding Batman that he can't bludgeon his way through his puzzles. In that sense though, it would have been a better fit for Batman to face an enemy he can't just through elbows at.
Niuhll
Niuhll - 10/7/2012, 7:59 PM
I've always liked Scarecrow in the comics, there was just something about it only being a Mask as opposed to a full costume, especially so in his brief cameo in TDKR, with the tattered suit with some straw poking out of it. I really liked that look, was one of the only times i'd of been happy to see the Comics take that on fully, not that i have a problem with the ones we've had in the past.
lokibane2012
lokibane2012 - 10/7/2012, 9:40 PM
@SotoJuiceMan

Telling everyone who disgrees with you to just shut up is the most immature thing on this page.
SageMode
SageMode - 10/7/2012, 11:46 PM
Any comic book character that gets Nolanized is just gonna be an empty shell of its comic book counterpart.

SOTOJUICEMAN

Well, given the fact that in a previous article you openly admit to being a Nolanite really doesn't give you any credibility as far as stating a non-biased view towards any criticism about his movies. Smh
SageMode
SageMode - 10/7/2012, 11:52 PM
ELLISPART3

Batman a phenomenal fighter in the Nolan films? All he did we throw haymakers and tackle his opponents of the edges of cliffs.
EtriganTheDemon
EtriganTheDemon - 10/8/2012, 9:34 AM
Complain all you want, Nolan's Batverse is better than the sh!t Burton and Schumacher dished out.

He successfully weaved almost every major Batman event in the past 20 years into three epic films.

Yeah, Batman only threw haymakers
Yeah, Ra's Al Ghul wasn't really immortal
Yeah, Scarecrow ended up being a joke by the last film
and yeah, Bane was yet another henchman in the end

But honestly, it was a fresh take on a dying superhero (yeah, I said it)

before Batman Begins, who the f@ck liked Batman other than comic book readers? Nolan simply revived him, brought him back to his glory days similar to Miller's DKR.

Stop complaining, save it for the reboot cause I can assure you it will be the laughing stock of Hollywood. No one will accept Killer Croc or even another Joker (other than Heath's) as a villain in today's society. Other than me, of course.

ellispart3
ellispart3 - 10/9/2012, 9:22 AM
@SageMode
in terms of the film, he was a fantastic fighter. he took on multiple assailants and used his league of shadows training to tactically take down opponents using stealth. you're right, he incorporated hay makers and tackles and a few elbows, but at the end of the day he was a top notch fighter relative to the advisories he battled. in reality, if you see someone take on and defeat multiple people, armed with pipes and chains or even knives and guns, he or she would be regarded as a pretty bad ass brawler. regardless of the technique they used, may it be hay makers or a series of savate kicks.

@EtriganTheDemon
it's hard to say whether the reboot for batman will be a "laughing stock of hollywood" when we know little to nothing about it. A new batman with more fantastical elements to it can be refreshing. of course people can accept killer croc or another joker, it's all about how well it's done. how they interpret the character. no i would say they may stray away from using killer croc in a franchise reboot to not stir up comparisons to the amazing spider-man reboot. they may also stay away from the joker in the same fashion as nolan who saved him for a sequel. i wouldn't be surprised to see mr freeze again for the reboot honestly.

personally, i wouldn't mind seeing a good gritty crime noir-ish type flick using batman as the detective (probably no chance of that if they are planning on using batman in justice league and making him relevant on a larger scale). and please, use more internal dialogue. it's integral in building a character in comic books, but is generally missing in action in the film adaptations.
dezdigi
dezdigi - 10/9/2012, 12:55 PM
I absolutely love the Nolan series but it's time to start thinking Justice League and shared universe stuff!
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