The Dark Knight: What Should Be the Batman Movie? What Story is Next?

How do you follow perfection? The Dark Knight is being compared to Shawshank Redemption, The Godfather, Gladiator, and Braveheart. It's a perfect movie of sweeping scope captured by the cinematography. A list cast and excellent acting. A screenplay worthy of an Oscar. They've already broken records for the largest midnight showing and the biggest single day grosser. It took in a Bat-tastic $66 million on opening Friday. So another movie is for certain. But how can they attempt to meet this expectation?

Well, I'm perusing through comics to rate which Batman stories would translate best to blockbuster success.

5. Knightfall - Not that great a story, as much as it's a big event. The event involves Batman against every super criminal in Gotham. And the coup de grace; super strong Bane breaks Batman's back. Batman's replacemen Azrael later gets revenge and defeats Bane. Nolan would definitely drop the back breaking- because it would uproot an audience from the fantasy (too many question and logic arise). Yet, that would cause the diehard fans to attack the movie. Let's pass on this story.

4. Kingdome Come - It's a truly amazing story. But, too many roadblocks. It involves nearly the entire DC Universe. A reduced cast of heroes would still be a nightmare of special effects budgets. The bigger hurdle, is acclimating the moviegoers to characters that completely strange to them. Pass.

3. The Long Halloween - It's regarded as one of the top tier Batman stories. Problem, it's a mystery. The audience won't go for it in a super hero movie. Watching Batman follow clues and in the end the killer is still ambiguous and not fully resolved. Pass.

2. Batman/Superman: World's Finest - Warner Bros recently had a meeting. (Competitor Marvel Comics has a slate of movies aligned which result in a huge team movie The Avengers in 2010. Avengers will star Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and others. And the villain is likely to be the Hulk.) Warner Brothers realizes they need to align the library of DC characters to do the same thing. I'm afraid that a Justice League of America movie is just too remote a possibility for Warner Bros. But maybe, they can pull off Batman & Superman: Worlds Finest. They are polar opposites and two of the most recognized characters since Mickey Mouse. I'd give this a green light.

1. The Dark Knight Returns - The undisputed best story of the Batman Mythology. It's written by Frank Miller, the creative genius behind 300 and Sin City. The story: Twenty years in our future, Batman is only an urban legend. He hasn't been seen in 10 years. He's presumed dead- and an entire generation of Gotham has grew up not knowing his presence. But as crime wave hits Gotham, Batman decides to return- after a long absence. Now, Batman is at least in his late 50's, he's hunted by the law, and his reemergence brings the old gang back out of retirement (old gang is Two Face and Joker). Why the perfect sequel. Due to the aging process, there's no rush to make it. Secondly, the resolution of Dark Knight places Batman in the role of public menace rather than savior. That is the tone of DKR. Also, in The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan reinforces the point of Batman optimistically dreaming of a day when he isn't needed. The Joker. It's a shame that there won't be another Joker performance by Heath Ledger. But with the necessity for a Joker 20 years older... how about Jack Nicholson. He could almost reprise his role, while doing an amalgam Joker that's a tribute to the tone set forth by Ledger. Batman. I'd down for Bale in makeup. The guy can act. Or maybe they'd just rather wait about 15 years to make the movie with Bale as an aging hero. Or maybe cast an older, gentleman like Brian Dennehy, Clint Eastwood, or Bruce Willis. Heck, if you have a movie call The Dark Knight, why wouldn't you make The Dark Knight Returns.