in

Next Batman villain revealed?

The original plan – and I don’t think this is giving anything anyway, since we all know how inexorable the killer clown is – was for Heath Ledger to return as The Joker in one more ‘’Batman’’ flick – after this month’s “The Dark Knight”.

It goes without saying that Ledger won’t be back – and according to series’ star Gary Oldman (Jim Gordon), neither will the purple-jacketed villain.

The actor – who sounds about as pleased as piss to be back playing Gordon in the ‘’Batman Begins’’ sequel, and I say that acerbically – tells MovieWeb that The Riddler could be the Rogue Batman faces in sequel number two.

Be interesting to see Chris Nolan’s interpretation of that character – to many, The Ridller’s a zany nimrod that Jim Carrey played in ‘’Batman Forever’’. He was about as threatening as a sprayed fly. No doubt the new ‘Riddler’ will still wear some kind of question-marked costume, but he’ll be a tad more menacing than Ace Ventura’s incarnation. Maybe Paul Bettany? Hey… what about Johnny Depp? Heck, I’ll do it.. if the costume doesn’t ride up my ass!

Bale replacing Cruise for 28th Amendment?

Stop-Loss [DVD]