The Plot And Villain Of The Dark Knight Rises Has Leaked. Maybe?

Last month the rumor dropped that the villain for The Dark Knight Rises was going to be Dr. Hugo Strange. The good doctor would be played by Tom Hardy, who could get his Bronson on and act like a truly scary motherfucker. Today those rumor got a be thicker. A bit juicier. A bit more substantial. Something meaty for you to suck on.

In other words, it may have been confirmed.

Harry Knowles, fat belligerent fanboy blowhard stoked the fires on this rumor today over at Aintitcool:

It seems that Chris & Jonathan Nolan and that David Goyer have been digging deep for the villain. In fact, Batman first went up against this guy in 1940 in the pages of Detective Comics. The word is, Tom Hardy is playing Dr. Hugo Strange, who has a bit of an obsession surrounding The Batman. Strange how common that seems to be in Gotham. In fact — it seems that Nolan and crew are exploiting that great Prey arc that was written by Doug Moench and illustrated by the great Paul Gulacy and Terry Austin — and ran from September of 1990 to February 1991.

So take it for what its worth. I’m inclined to believe it, but I’m far too much of a sucker. Why do I believe it? For starters, there seems to be more smoke with this than the usual castaway rumor. Secondly, as Slashfilm points out, the premise for Prey seems fit to be adapted into the Nolanverse.

It begins with a task force, headed by Commissioner Gordon, assigned to hunt Batman and devolves into Dr. Strange dressing up as, and psychologically toying with, Batman and Bruce Wayne once he figures out his identity. Interesting. Doesn’t Batman become a fugitive to be “hunted” at the end of The Dark Knight?

My final reason? I want to believe! Call up Fox Mulder, I badly want to fucking believe. The idea of adapting this story makes a lot of sense considering the themes that Nolan has strung throughout the first two movies. Wayne has wrangled with the notion of his own iconic status as Batman, and what it means for him to have kicked off this vigilantism within Gotham. As you see in the beginning of The Dark Knight, there is already an anxiety out of him regarding the potential for copycat Batmen, and others he’ll inspire.

How can he own such a powerful idea? How can he control it? And what are the ramifications of that shit?

And god dammit, it would be fantastic to see Tom Hardy, creepy as fuck, rocking out as Strange.

Color me hoping.