Credit: DC / Warner Bros.Batman is never short on villains to fight — his extensive Rogues Gallery probably has more individuals than Arkham Asylum could ever house at a single time. And we’ve never been short on seeing them in action, in whatever form of storytelling media that might be.
But when we think of his foes, we tend to gravitate toward live-action films. That’s not to say DC Comics hasn’t given us some great iterations over the decades, but it’s the Batman movies that have helped to embed them within our collective pop culture psyche.
The Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher Batman Era
Long after Adam West’s 1960s’ Batman gave us the first live-action Rogues Gallery — Cesar Romero’s Joker, Julie Newmar’s Catwoman, and Meredith Burgess’ The Penguin, etc. — Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992) introduced quasi-gothic iterations of these characters with Jack Napier/The Joker (Jack Nicholson), Selina Kyle/Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer), and Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin (Danny DeVito).
Joel Schumacher’s two follow-ups (of sorts), Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997), featured even more Gotham City supervillains collectively: Edward Nygma/The Riddler (Jim Carrey), Harvey Dent/Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones), Victor Fries/Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger), and Pamela Isley/Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman).
By this point, the likes of Two-Face and Poison Ivy had joined The Joker, The Riddler, The Penguin, and Catwoman in the ranks of well-known Batman villains.
Related: Upcoming ‘Batman’ (1989) Sequel: Every Returning Character Explained
The Dark Knight Trilogy Villains
But future Batman movies wouldn’t dial down their number of villains; we’d only see more emerge from the shadows of Gotham City. Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy also has its fair share of Rogues Gallery members, perhaps more than the Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher films combined when you include those hiding in plain sight.
However, while The Dark Knight (2008) is the most memorable entry of the three due to Heath Ledger’s outstanding performance as The Joker, Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012) helped to push obscure names — Ra’s al Ghul (Liam Neeson), Jonathan Krane/Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy), and Bane (Tom Hardy) — into the spotlight.
Now, these names are as synonymous with Batman as the usual suspects.
The DC Universe and DC Elseworlds’ Rogues Gallery
But while the most recent reboot, Matt Reeves’ The Batman (2022), gave us three of the most commonly used Rogues Gallery villains in Oswald “Oz” Cobblepot/The Penguin (Colin Farrell), Edward Nash/The Riddler (Paul Dano), and The Joker (Barry Keoghan), non-Batman-specific movies such as the DC Universe (DC) installments Suicide Squad (2016), Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey (2020), and The Suicide Squad (2021), and other DC Elseworlds entries like Joker (2019) have also utilized, and helped to “iconic-ize”, other villains, namely Dr. Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie).
And we haven’t even touched upon the live-action series Gotham (2014 — 2019), which features a huge number of villains, many of them also of the more obscure variety.
Collectively, all the Batman movies and television shows have helped to make his enemies as iconic as the crime-fighting vigilante himself. Granted, there are still many Gotham City supervillains yet to become household names, but there’s one who’s about to get the live-action screentime he’s deserved for quite some time.
Related: Michael Keaton’s New ‘Batman’ (1989) Series Explained
Upcoming Batman Projects
Thankfully, we’ll never be short of new material, whether comic books, animated shows, movies, or video games, where Batman’s many foes are concerned. And, with this year marking the Dark Knight’s 85th birthday, there are several new Batman installments in the works.
Joker: Folie à Deux (2024), Batman: Caped Crusader (2024), “Batman: Arkham Shadow” (2024), “Batman: Resurrection” (2024), The Batman Part II (2026), and The Brave and the Bold (TBA) are just a few examples of what we can expect over the next few years.
In addition to those upcoming projects, there’s a new film titled Gotham Noir in development. And, as it’s described as having “horror elements”, we’re about to see the darkest iterations of some of those Rogues Gallery villains ever brought to life in live action.
Costume/prop maker and movie critic, Chris Stanley, best known for his YouTube channels, Chris Stanley and Cosplay Chris, is producing the film and starring as Bruce Wayne/Batman.
Stanley has teamed up with Sarah Leiker (director, actor) and Danielo Barcelli (director) of Luxxe Media, and Womp Stomp Films founder, producer, and director Vincent DiSanti (a well-known figure in the horror fan film community), to create the first Batman horror film.
In an announcement for the film shared by Chris Stanley, Barcelli says, “Seeing as Batman has always had characters that are quite horrific in what they do, we felt that it was only fitting for the entire tone of it [Gotham Noir] to be that reminiscent of Batman [1989], Batman Returns, very Tim Burton, but this time [with a] heightened level of horror, action, drama, and suspense.”
Barcelli certainly isn’t wrong about some of those villains, as Gotham Noir has just released its first official trailer that teases one of the most terrifying characters to have ever emerged from Gotham City’s rotten underbelly — but you probably have no idea who he is.
Watch the teaser below from Luxxe Media:
Even if you’re a lifelong Batman fan, you might not be all-too familiar with the grotesque-looking figure in this trailer. But rest assured that he has not been created for Gotham Noir — “Professor Pyg” is indeed a certified member of the Caped Crusader’s Rogues Gallery.
And like all those other Gotham City villains, Professor Pyg, AKA “The Pyg” (also stylized as “Pig”), has appeared in several DC Comics over the years, including “Batman: The New 52” relaunch in 2011. He also appeared in the 2015 video game, “Batman: Arkham Knight”.
But unlike The Joker, The Penguin, The Riddler, and the others, all of whom have enjoyed several live-action outings over the decades, Gotham Noir marks only The Pyg’s second appearance in live action, following a brief appearance in Gotham‘s Season 4 episode “Let Them Eat Pie” in which he’s played by Michael Cerveris.
As such, The Pyg isn’t an iconic villain. But Gotham Noir may change that. While it’s only a fan film, there’s every chance it will make some sort of impact on fans and perhaps even capture the attention of Warner Bros. and DC, who may wind up feeling inspired when it comes to official future installments.
However, it might be wise for them to avoid giving this disturbing character a role in the more accessible content. Before becoming The Pyg, Lazlo Valentin was a scientist who suffered a mental breakdown, after which he decided to don a terrifying pig mask. Now, he kidnaps his victims and uses chemicals and surgical instruments to turn them into human-animal hybrids.
We think you’ll agree that he sounds and looks like a character who belongs in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and not Batman. But seeing as Gotham Noir is a Batman horror movie, he’ll fit right in. In fact, it’s fair to say he’ll be causing most of the film’s violence.
But it isn’t just The Pyg bringing the blood and guts — Batman himself will be a very Dark Knight. “This is a very brutal Batman,” Bruce Wayne/Batman actor Chris Stanley (and one of the film’s producers) says in the Gotham Noir behind-the-scenes stunt training video.
Gotham Noir stars Chris Stanley (Bruce Wayne/Batman), Kourosh Karimian (Commissioner James Gordon), Richard Cotter (Alfred Pennyworth), and Sarah Leiker as Selina Kyle/Catwoman. The film will also feature other “familiar faces from the Rogues Gallery.”
How You Can Help Gotham Noir
Gotham Noir is surprisingly ambitious for a fan film. It’s being crowd-funded via Kickstarter where the goal is $100K, and the film is said to have an estimated runtime of 1hr 47 minutes. Be sure to visit the campaign to see how you can support this exciting project.
The film is a not-for-profit fan project, so any profit the film makes and what is left over will be given to charities outlined in the campaign.
Gotham Noir is a fan film; it isn’t affiliated with Warner Bros., Time Warner, or DC Comics.
Are you excited about Gotham Noir? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!