by Sean Gregory

Blu-Ray discs for the first two Christian Bale Batman movies: Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

In the last several years, Christian Bale has introduced us to a new, darker breed of Gotham’s famous man in black: Batman. In 2005, with the release of Batman Begins, the origin of Batman was again part of the show. I personally am a huge fan of Christian Bale, as he brings just an overall new element of living-on-the-edge to the decades old character. We were also introduced to a new Batman villain: Scarecrow. The Scarecrow’s plot injected a poison into Gotham’s water, ultimately sucking the city clean of its water supply and forcing the citizens to begin to hallucinate.

But, as with all good Marvel stories, Batman saved the day again. In the most recent installment of the Batman series, The Dark Knight, Batman was up against one of his greatest enemies of all: The Joker.  Portrayed by Heath Ledger, the Joker vowed to show Gotham “a better class of criminal”. With his off-color way of dealing with his foes and the helpless citizens of Gotham, the Joker terrorized Gotham and Batman, dodging any and all attempts to be caught. Batman found a way to get to the Joker, and he was finally apprehended by the SWAT team.

Ledger deserved every inch of the posthumous Academy Award he won for that spectacular role.

So now, what is left is the time-honored question: What’s next for Batman? In the final scenes of The Dark Knight, Batman has his colleague, Lt. Jim Gordon, call in the police to chase after him. When his actions are questioned by his son, Gordon responds that “we have to chase him, because he can take it. Batman is the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now.”

So how does that affect the direction that the directors are taking this series in? Who will be the next Batman villain? Ideally, one potential match could be the Riddler. The Riddler could be an informant to the police as to the whereabouts of Batman/Bruce Wayne. Johnny Depp would really shine in this historic role, in my opinion.

Or could it be the Penguin, and the story of Gotham’s mob? The Penguin would seen less likely, mostly because there is really no lead-in to an overweight man obsessed with birds and umbrellas.  Could the directors add a twist and bring back the infamous Joker? I find that to be highly unlikely, seeing as how the amazing performance by Heath Ledger would still be engraved in the minds of film goers.

So who will it be?  The Riddler, The Penguin, The Joker, or another, more sinister villain like the Scarecrow? I hope to see another installment to round out of the trilogy that Christian Bale started in 2005, and the rumor mill has begun to turn with stories of Batman movies coming out in both 2010 and 2011. Sadly, we film goers will just have to wait and see.