A hero is only as good as his villains.  Batman might be the most-awesome hero ever, but if he's beating up a bunch of nobodies, there is no drama and no hook to draw people in.  We want to see our heroes evenly matched or even at a disadvantage for a while before ultimately triumphing in the end, rather than just having a cakewalk through second-stringers. 

People want to see Thor vs. Loki, Cap vs. Red Skull, and Spider-Man vs. Green Goblin, not Thor vs. Mongoose, Cap vs. Doughboy, or Spider-Man vs. White Rabbit. 

The use of all of the misfit villains in The Lego Batman Movie worked because the entire concept was absurd.  My entire family uses the "I squirt ketchup" line from Condiment King when we have french fries, or the "I did something" line from Killer Croc when we accomplish an insignificant minor task around the house.  They could get away with including all of the "lame" villains because it wasn't supposed to be taken seriously. 

Now, if they want to play this new movie for camp, in the style of the 1960s Batman TV show, then sure, use some throwaway villains like Kite-Man or Killer Moth as early henchmen for the main villain, but make sure people know going in that it's going to be campy.

  

Absolutely agree. Out of the Marvel villains, the only ones I can think of that anyone might have been familiar with were Red Skull, Loki, and Thanos. I liked seeing Klaw, Killmonger, Vulture, Whiplash, Iron Monger, etc. in the movies, and am looking forward to Mysterio and whomever they pull out of their toybox next.


I'll work backwards on this. Even if the next Batman movie was the greatest movie ever made and they did it with The Ventriloquist as the villain, DC has squandered a lot of the audience's good will over the years and people will be skeptical of it. They make misstep after misstep, and I don't think the movie-going public is willing to give them the benefit of the doubt as readily as they will for Marvel.

I think GotG 2 was a pretty poor movie, but I'm willing to give GotG 3 a shot, and while Dr. Strange was pedestrian, I'll go see the sequel. Marvel has time and time again surprised me with using second-tier characters and making something good out of it (Ant-Man is one of my favorite MCU films, and I even liked, for the most part, Ant-Man and the Wasp). I'll look at a MCU project and think, "yeah, it looks kind of crazy, but they've done good with lesser characters before, so here's my money", while DC can't even get their big guns right and so I may or may not go see it (although I do think DC has, by and large, done well with their TV properties like Green Arrow and Flash).

As long as Harley Quinn isn't in this film. I'm just about tired of the character.

I don't want to see another origin tale or a version of his origin or a version of a version of his origin. Doing so would be a disservice to the fans I believe. Honestly, if you don't know the origins of Batman, Superman, and Spider-Man by now then you've been living under Ayer's Rock in Australia and I wish you good luck.

As for Pattison, okay, fine, we'll see how he handles/portrays the role. Until then, I'm not going to bash this casting choice in a kneejerk reaction. I recall the hullabaloo when Keaton was cast for the role since he was primarily known for his comedic roles up till that point.  As such, to this very day, he remains my favorite film Batman which says quite a bit.

They do need to move on from the Joker. When you have had about as many different Jokers as you've had different Batmans over these years, it can get frustrating. Penguin and Catwoman is different though I wonder why those two always seem paired together in this manner. I would love to see Two-Face again.

As for other esoteric villains from his gallery that may deserve some attention, Maxie Zeus may be interesting as well as Black Mask. I'd really be interested in seeing what they could do with Tommy Elliot.

I agree that they need to get away from The Joker, no question.  Penguin is fine if they model him more after the Gotham TV show version and not the Danny DeVito version; otherwise, he's just too silly and wouldn't be seen as any kind of threat.  

If they have to go to the "big name" villain well again, I'd be onboard with a new version of The Riddler.  Not in the mugging, goofy, Jim Carrey-esque style, but a serious challenge to Batman's skills as a detective, not a superhero.  The movies too often than not forget that aspect of Bruce Wayne, instead focusing on the gadgets and the heroics, but what if his adversary were someone not his physical equal but instead his mental equal?  Someone who would require actual thinking to defeat rather than kick-punch-batarang, and who could set up deathtraps that would push Batman to his limits?  Also, how about someone who isn't homicidal (Ra's al Ghul, Joker, Scarecrow, Bane) and who is after the challenge of besting the Batman, not killing thousands of people?

As for villains I'm still waiting for Clayface or a proper Riddler.

I'm tired of all of this nonsense ... we have too many actors playing Batman and I'm probably will pass this one up and wants something else.

I would love to see a Golden Age Version of Alan Scott's Green Lantern instead.

And now Paul Dano has been cast as the Riddler.