The Batman is proving to be a hotly anticipated ticket at the multiplex this year. When the teaser was first released at 2020s DC FanDome, audiences were graced with a pretty radical version of Batman lore. Dark, gritty, and very reminiscent of film noir, director Matt Reeves seemed to go above and beyond to show fans a hyperreal version of Gotham and its notorious citizens.

Casting Robert Pattinson as The Dark Knight raised a few eyebrows, but if we are to go by the reviews currently trickling in, he seems to be the quintessential Batman.

Reeves features the Riddler, Catwoman, and Penguin as adversaries in this film, but Bruce Wayne has a ton of enemies with their own quirks and features. If a sequel, or hopefully, an entire universe is greenlit, who should be facing off against the caped crusader next?

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The Obvious Choices

     Warner Bros. Pictures

While some eyes would turn to the Joker – undeniably the most iconic of Batman villains – he has been depicted on screen multiple times before. Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix undoubtedly portrayed him best, and he has been featured in various iterations of TV Shows. But, there are far darker choices within the walls of Arkham.

Arguably, no other villain is more visually arresting than Poison Ivy. Her backstory is relevant today, and her abilities will make for a truly visual cinematic spectacle. Interestingly, she has not received the realistic film interpretation that other Batman villains have in the past few years. With her mastery in botany, she could really deal some damage to Gotham while standing for a message about climate change.

Mr. Freeze, a tragic character who Arnold Schwarzenegger famously played, is also incredibly visually arresting. If Reeves’ Riddler is based on the Zodiac Killer, could Mr. Freeze be based on a disgruntled Gotham science tycoon – a la Theranos’ Elizabeth Holmes? Reeves himself has expressed interest in bringing this character to the big screen. Still, a story about a husband trying to find a cure for his terminally ill wife would undoubtedly compliment that mood that Reeves has already established in The Batman.

Re-Imaginings

Cillian Murphy excellently played the Scarecrow in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins. Some critics have noted that while Murphy played the role well, the character of the Scarecrow wasn’t realized to his fullest potential. His calling card being a potent fear toxin, the villain can be reimagined by Reeves in a multitude of ways, and they all fit within the gloomy, psychologically jarring Gotham that he has envisioned.

More political than malicious, Two-Face is another villain whose backstory has already been explored by Nolan. But perhaps Reeves’ version could mirror the Harvey Dent who was present in Batman: The Animated Series. Someone who struggles with duality is infinitely more sinister than Aaron Eckhart’s portrayal.

The Untouchables

While exhaustive, Batman’s rogues gallery has frequently been showcased in different forms of media. As explained before, one particular villain who, perhaps, should not be portrayed so soon is the Joker. Joaquin Phoenix played the role so perfectly that the bar has been set very, very high. That said, there are unconfirmed rumors that Barry Keoghan plays a character who lies in the similar realm of the Joker.

Bane is another such character who has had an infamous depiction in film. Tom Hardy owned that role, and although the film wasn’t loved by critics and fans alike, Hardy’s transformation as the roided out madman was particularly well received and will be hard to beat.

Bane and Joker are out of bounds because of stellar performances in the past. Still, other villains like Killer Croc (who had a role in Suicide Squad), Man-Bat, and Clayface may not fit within the tone and realism that Reeves is attempting to create in this new iteration of Batman mythology. Similarly, Harley Quinn, played by Margot Robbie, does not fit within this universe, primarily because of the creative choices that have been made with that character by Warner Bros – unless they wanted to reboot the role.

Now that the review embargoes have lifted, critics are praising Reeves’ rendition of The Batman. Suppose this general favorability translates to the box office. In that case, we may very well get a trilogy of films set in this universe, and that opens up a lot of possibilities for more prominent villains to grace our screens.

The Riddler has historically been characterized as being very cheesy. Still, Paul Dano’s Riddler has received positive reviews. If we’re to go by the success of 2018’s Joker, audiences love gritty, dark retellings of these iconic characters (it is, after all, what DC Comics is known for, compared to the light humor present in Marvel). While Reeves has his work cut out for him, he has proven his ability to take these complex characters and spin them into relevant and menacing icons today.