My own self

The seconde one is f*cking gorgeous. I nearly want to print it out and plaster it to a wall. It could easily be the poster for the next Batman movie.

As for casting choices... The ideas of Kirsten Bell and David Tennant in the next Batman movie are both very interesting. I know for a fact that they're both really, really good actors that could hold their own against a lot of the heavy weighters, but they're body of work are sadly to thin to land this gig. Nolan's made a habit of choosing actors with solid cinematic experience for his leading vehicles, and since the franchise is now the most successful one to come along since LotR went away (and LotR never made as much money as tDK, but I bet it'll end up with more Oscars...), the director can pretty much have his pick of the crop. That's why I don't see these two anywhere near the next movie, because Tennant would have to star in at least 1 big hit aside from Dr. Who, which he doesn't have the time to do because he's doing Hamlet these days, and Bell's biggest cinema role was in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall"...

Cool posters though, and I totally agree with your sentiments; I just don't see it happening.
This time around.

This one's pretty slick as well:
http://joshmc.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/quinn1.jpg

Oh, I don't think she'll be in the movie - I don't even think Quinn will be in the movie, it'll be too difficult for them without recasting Joker. I just thought Bell as Quinn was a very good casting choice. Not that Bell wouldn't be good at most things, but I think she's a really good choice for Quinn. I must say, however, I never, ever thought seriously that she'd be considered for the movie, even if they by some awesome mircale decide to use Harley Quinn in it.

Speaking of what I actually DO think will happen in the movie, I have a feeling they'll use Riddler (to delve into the one big almost unopened side of Batman's persona - the detective) as the primary villain, and probably use a secondary like in the previous two which is likely to be a woman since they lost their only female character. I hope it'll be Talia al Ghul, because I feel they should tie a third movie closer together with the first for the sake of the series' as a whole, but I can see Catwoman being a good choice too. If they want to be really surprising, maybe The Huntress, but that might be too close to the sidekick-issue Nolan - smartly - wants to avoid. (If they don't use the Riddler, and thus free up the big male-villain-spot, I'd really like for them to bring back Two-Face, or (less so) Scarecrow, again to tie the series of movies closer together.)

The BIG rumour that's been going around for ever now says that Johnny Depp will play the Riddler and that Phillip Seymour Hoffman will get the part of the Penguin. Dunno if it's much more true even if Caine said a studio exec said so; Nolan kind of has to write the script first methinks and I find it weird that there's no more women in the mix, but that being said you probably couldn't find two better actors in Hollywood today. They're outstanding and should make for a highly entertaining third film.

Nolan (Or was it Goyer?) said sometime months back that Penguin was a strong example of the type of character they wouldn't use in their more realistic take on the franchise, so while I've heard that rumour too, the inclusion of Penguin in it makes me feel it's a little dismissable.

However, it does make sense, if you look apart from the lacking female character, the two characters do seem to compliment each other. Riddler would bring the tension, the madness, the challenge and open Batman's detective skills for the movie, Penguin (assuming they use the classic running-for-mayor-plot) would be the criminal element literally trying to take over the city again after Dent's fall, now with the added twist of freak Joker introduced in DK.

And while Depp would make an excellent Riddler, Depp is rumoured to be in everything between heaven and earth these days, including Joker before Ledger was official, so I'm holding my horses there, too. As I said, though, I find Riddler to be a likely candidate for the movie, regardless of actor. (But absolutely not a shoe-in or anything, just likely.)

Yeah, tell me about it. I keep very loose tabs on who's rumoured to be in what, but the last couple of days has seen me bombarded with all kinds of craziness. For example, one day Will Smith was going to be a big Pharaoh type of character, then the next we heard he was up for the part of Cap. America. He'll probably be in the next Batman movie before we know what hit us

I don't think there's any major black Batman-villains. There's a fairly prominent cop who's black, but I can't think of any villains.


Anyway, it's all irrelevant if the world ends tomorrow when they fire up their doomsday machine.

Never going to happen. There's just no sense in the arguments for it, even if "death by black hole" would make for an original sounding obituary (if there were any papers left to print it, which there wouldn't...). There's a better you'll suffer a bad gender switch while shaving than the world going ka-blooey over that thing.

"would make for an original sounding obituary"

I think it'd get old after the first billion or so.

"There's a better you'll suffer a bad gender switch while shaving than the world going ka-blooey over that thing."

Probably. However, that means there's still a chance!

Someone should do a web comic where Stephen Hawking gets to experience his much discussed Singularity first-hand. Much geeky fun to be had there

I've no idea what Hawking's Singularity is, so I didn't get that joke...

I don't know the specifics either, really, but the general theory is that all the energy the black hole sucks in gets stored in something no bigger than your average atom - or the Singularity.

What? I'm not saying it would've been a good joke?

Ah, I see.