With Heath Ledger unable to return as The Joker and the confirmed death of Aaron's Eckhart's Harvey Two-Face, the question remains which infamous foe can outwit The Batman in a sequel to "The Dark Knight."
Instead of getting bogged down with a villain-of-the-week guessing game, fans should consider that director Christopher Nolan left behind ample plot elements for the dark hero (Christian Bale) to combat when he returns.
On the mean streets of Gotham, a power gap remains. The Joker can obviously not return, Two-Face died and the mob was weakened when it spent half of its combined financial resources to pay The Joker for the extermination of The Batman.
Whoever challenges their criminal mantle must have a ruthless drive for power and money. That might nix the chances of Catwoman and The Riddler, who is shown as The Batman's next foe in a mock poster recently posted on the Web. They are not mobsters.
At his company, Bruce Wayne invested a lot of money developing a sonar-based radar system that was ultimately destroyed. Though he owns a majority of the stock in the publicly-traded company, Bruce might have to answer to the board of directors for a costly, secret project that seemingly delivered no substantial result.
He might have to do so without the help of Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), who said he would not work for Wayne Enterprises as long as the system exists. But it was broken.
If anything, a sequel would have to address whether Fox remains the head of the company. READ RELATED POST
Both the mayor's office and the police department also have something for which to answer.
On their watch, The Joker killed several people, blew up a couple of high-profile buildings and undermined a major criminal case.
In addition, the police were complicit in the abductions and murders of the city's two district attorneys and in the activities of a vigilante charged with five murders.
What might occur in a sequel is the election of a new mayor, as well as an internal investigation or replacement of Gary Oldman's James Gordon as the city's police commissioner. Whoever takes either job would likely go after The Batman as well.
How about a Julianne Moore-portrayed crusading Sarah Essen leading the charge?
Whatever challenges await The Dark Knight in a sequel should at least reflect the unavoidable consequences of his actions as a vigilante.
As the character said himself in "Batman Begins," "It isn't who I am underneath but what I do that defines me."
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