What remains in question is whether it is possible to top Heath Ledger's interpretation of The Joker as the ultimate foe to take on director Christopher Nolan's The Batman.
That Nolan's Gotham City is set in a world much closer to reality than previous Batman movies rules out every villain except one.
Liam Neeson's Ra's Al Ghul, who trained Bruce Wayne's mind and body in his journey to fight criminals in "Batman Begins," is the only villain who could pose a worthy challenge.
Ra's would be a suitable foe because he not only caused the poverty that made Gotham a crime haven, he challenged Bruce Wayne's assertion that anyone could save the city, the objective that has thus far been the basis of the conflicts in Nolan's movies.
Like Bruce, Ra's has money and influence that he uses to serve justice, though by starkly different means. He surpasses the threat of a simple criminal or chaotic force.
How this formula would change if he showed up again is that his daughter from the comics, Talia, would show up and ask for The Batman's help in rescuing Ra's from the clutches of a rogue League of Shadows, which considers their former leader weak after failing to carry out the organization's objective to destroy Gotham in "Batman Begins."
Because Bruce might not want to help rescue an enemy, the ninja terrorist group would also kidnap Alfred as a way to flush out the man that turned on them, so he and Talia would work together. Maybe they would fall in love along the way.
When they finally save the captors, it would turn out that Ra's, who does not have long to live as a result of the train crash he barely survived at the end of "Batman Begins," set up both kidnappings to determine if The Batman is worthy to succeed him as leader of the league after his death.
A subplot in "The Dark Knight" was Bruce's struggle to define the moral limitations of The Batman in combating crime. He makes one ethical compromise toward that end in foiling The Joker's plans, which involves using sonar to tap into every phone conversation in the city.
His growing addiction to being The Batman and the power that comes with operating beyond the law is a concept introduced late into the movie that could be explored in more detail if Ra's offers him unlimited resources with which to combat criminality, and Talia's hand in marriage to sweeten the deal.
Maybe Bruce's refusal pushes an insulted Ra's to proceed to carry out some desperate final solution, which despite his daughter's dismay causes the two men to fight each other to the death.
This is more or less what happens in "Batman #232: Daughter of the Demon," which was published by DC Comics in 1971. Whoever Nolan chooses to write the screenplay for the next movie should review it and the other appearances of Ra's Al Ghul in the comics and in cartoons. They show how The Batman's efforts to stop him becomes a maddening obsession that challenges his skills as detective, a hand-to-hand combatant and as a hero.
Following comic books would be redundant, but maybe Ra's relationship to Talia would remain a mystery before Bruce, with Lucious Fox's help, solves some manufactured criminal conspiracy in Gotham involving minor bad guys.
Nolan's screenwriter could also come up with a clever explanation for how Ra's survived in "Batman Begins." Maybe the League of Shadows recovered his almost lifeless body from the wreckage. Perhaps when he closed his eyes before the crash into the underground parking lot of Wayne Enterprises he was performing an ancient ninja technique to block out and survive the overwhelming pain that was to come.
Other villains from the comics that could challenge Bruce Wayne in the board room and The Batman on Gotham's mean streets in a sequel as secondary foes are Dr. Hugo Strange or Black Mask. The Scarecrow, The Penguin and The Mad Hatter are some smalltime comic book bad guys that could team up to eat up some screen time as well.
Artist Jim Lee's less cartoon-like, sexy redesign of Catwoman's suit makes her prime nip with which to lure The Batman, but she would only provide some interim sexual tension. Face it. She is basically a tease whose interaction with The Dark Knight would reveal nothing deep about his personality.
Los Angeles Times journalist Geoff Boucher's recent plug for the inclusion of Angelina Jolie, a seasoned and sexy actress, in Nolan's Gotham City works, but perhaps she would be better utilized as more complex character than Catwoman.
Wasn't Talia the one true love of both Bruce and The Batman in the comics? She was also very attractive.
Fanboys who take issue with the Academy Award winner's acting ability should not worry about Jolie being able to convincingly portray the daughter of a very commanding and revered man. Who is her real-life father again?
The search for other worthy villains that use mental, not supernatural clout, to outwit The Batman ala The Joker may prove to be more difficult.
Good luck trying to find someone who both has the acting chops and is ripped enough to convincingly break his psyche and back as Bane.
Hush would require that Nolan introduce every masked criminal and freak in town to manipulate as part of an intricate plan for revenge against Bruce perpetrated by yet another childhood friend, which is impractical. Maybe young Tommy Elliot was at home killing his parents during the flashbacks of Bruce's childhood in "Batman Begins."
Choosing a villain that deliberately leaves clues behind for The World's Greatest Detective to use to solve his crimes worked on TV in the 1960s, but would be frivolous to moviegoers already critical about comic book movie adaptations. The Riddler would have to sit out this Batman movie franchise.
Harley Quinn, who is more of a misguided victim of The Joker than a villain, does not make much sense without Heath Ledger. And Mr. Freeze adds more of a sob story than a methodical threat to the mix.
Everyone else is either too frivolous or does not have enough mainstream appeal.
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