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Does the dark knight contain clues on the riddler, penguin and catwoman?

In a logical and quite brilliant piece of deduction, it's been suggested that characters in the Batman blockbuster The Dark Knight have been set up to become the villains Penguin, Riddler and Catwoman. A commenter on The Geek Files has found possible clues in the film that indicate William Fichtner (right) could become the Penguin and that Joshua Harto's role is set to evolve into the Riddler. He also theorises that Bruce Wayne's Russian ballerina girlfriend Natascha, played by Beatrice Rosen, will become Catwoman. Fichtner played the gun-toting bank manager who encountered the Joker in the opening robbery sequence, while Harto was Coleman Reese, a Wayne Enterprises employee who believed he'd figured out Batman and Bruce were one and the same. This is unproven speculation of course, but it has a lot more logic than most of the online 'reports' where various names are randomly thrown into the air. The commenter, called Brozic, recently added their views to an earlier article I'd written on villain possibilities for the next instalment. Brozic said: "The actors have already been decided and revealed in the Dark Knight." Read on to find out more! He explains: "Look at the clues: Joshua Harto (pictured left, who played Coleman Reese) is the Riddler. The scene with him planning to blackmail Bruce Wayne is where he develops his hatred for both Batman and Bruce Wayne. Not only this, but his name is Mr. Reese... "Mysteries". An alias of the Riddler." "Next, the Penguin. William Fichtner. Disregard his bird-like appearance and there's still an abundance of clues. To start with, he's too good of an actor to be signed solely for two minutes as a bank owner. "Secondly, while breaking into the vault, one of the guys mentions that it's a 'mob bank'. Penguin, in his original role, and in Batman: The Animated Series, is a mob leader. "Thirdly, he gets shot in the leg which explains the Penguin's limp (meaning his waddling walk?). And finally, the Joker foreshadows the change when he says, "What doesn't kill you makes you stranger", alluding to a change in the bank manager." Brozic adds that he believes Batman's girlfriend Natascha (Beatrice Rosen, right) will become Catwoman. He said: "This one is not nearly as clear.. but it seems to fit. Natascha, the Russian ballerina that Bruce Wayne is dating, fits the romance between Batman and Catwoman's aliases, and also the Russian portrayal of Catwoman in the Adam West television series. The ballerina idea also helps the idea of why she would be light on her feet and acrobatic." Of course, there's plenty of other speculation going around. Comments by producer Charles Roven regarding Heath Ledger's Joker that "we have to separate the actors from the role" have been interpreted to mean that another actor could play the archvillain, while Aaron Eckhart spoke about his role as Harvey Dent/Two-Face to MTV, saying: "I think Harvey - if he's not dead - is in a serious coma, and I'm not sure he's coming out. They might pull the plug on him.." That was interpreted by some sites to mean Two-Face is coming back. I'm going to dismiss the Joker and Two-Face ideas because a) the quotes are being made to mean something they never said b) it would cheapen the first movie if Dent came back c) it's time for other villains d) fanboys are always unable to let go, I've seen this so often with other films (the X-Men franchise in particular)

Public Comments

1. GOD I DINT EVEN BOTHER TO READ THAT DARN THANG GOSH U WROTE ALOT sorry for shoutin
2. I don't know enough - or care enough - about the Batman universe to know if these theories are reasonable or not. I think that most likely the people are making the assumption these characters will appear in future movies and looking for characters that might evolve into them. I almost get the impression they expect the Christopher Nolan movies to follow the same basic pattern as the series started by Tim Burton.
3. woahh that is so cool! i never realized that but it actually does make sense! lol :]]
4. I think all those characters from the Dark Knight just magically becoming super villains is a little hard to perceive. If you look at the comic books batman met most of alter egos of the villians after they had turn to a life of crime. With the Dark Knight ending with Batman as a villian in the eyes of the Gotham's citizens i don't think it would be wise for Warner Bros. to have all Bruce Waynes colleages to suddenly turn against him.
5. i dont know how u ever got that idea
6. I'm pretty sure that the dark knight(film not batman himself) tells you that the joker is being controlled by the riddler indicating the riddler is an already established villain, which makes it possible that mr resse is the riddler but he might not be. Hints at catwoman being the next come from morgan freeman in the film, Didnt see anything hinting at the penguin though, but it's almost certain that the riddler will be the next villain.
7. He explains: "Look at the clues: Joshua Harto (pictured left, who played Coleman Reese) is the Riddler. The scene with him planning to blackmail Bruce Wayne is where he develops his hatred for both Batman and Bruce Wayne. Not only this, but his name is Mr. Reese... "Mysteries". An alias of the Riddler Why would he hate Bruce Wayne when Wayne saved his life by using his lambo as a cushion, remember the scene when the joker gave them an hour to kill Mr. Reece or he'd blow the hospitals up. After the crash they eye ball each other, i took that as a thank you from Mr. Reece. Isnt William Fichtner a bit tall for the penguin, remember the penguin whenever used in either a tv show or film was short (Danny DeVito short)!!!!
8. I like the idea that Joshua Harto could become the Riddler. I've heard rumors that Johnny Depp or David Tennant are other candidates for the role, but Chris Nolan's first Batman movie, "Batman Begins" (2005) introduced the Joker (by name only) at the end, so perhaps Nolan is doing something similar with TDK ("The Dark Knight" - 2008). Too bad Heath Ledger is gone. Incidentally, William Fichtner is a cool actor. He was effective in "Contact" (1997) and "Heat" (1995).