Liam Neeson's comments in passing about "The Dark Knight" at Sundance will likely spark debate about whether his Ra's Al Ghul character will return as the primary villain in a third Batman movie.
Though there is plenty left to explore with the BruceWayne/Batman character and his inner demons, Christopher Nolan, his brother and David Goyer have few other options in terms of villains that are mainstream enough to attract a broad range of audiences to watch a third installment.
Every other villain does not fit into the director's grounded-in-reality Gotham City, Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Two-Face is dead, recasting The Joker would be a slight against Heath Ledger's performance and at best a poor imitation. READ RELATED POST!
Clever digital editing with shots of Ledger's Joker in "The Dark Knight" that never made it past the cutting room floor could perhaps provide a sense of brief continuity in a sequel, but that cannot carry an entire movie.
Neeson's Ra's Al Ghul can.
In "Batman Begins," the last time Ra's is seen alive is aboard the city-spanning rail train right before it crashes into a Wayne Tower parking lot. He curiously does not panic or try to find an exit, instead closing his eyes as though in a meditative state. What if he entered into a deep ninja mantra that would null the pain in case the crash was not fatal?
No one ever really dies in a movie, after all.
DC Comics' envisioning of the character as a mostly immortal eco-terrorist who uses mysterious green chemicals to rejuvenate his body would have excluded him from inclusion in the Nolan Batman movie series. This was changed in "Batman Begins" to Ra's using "cheap parlor tricks" such as having a loyal servant pose as him.
What if the reputation of Ra's Al Ghul in the movie as being immortal or employing supernatural methods is that of several men throughout the centuries who have taken on the mantle of leader of The League of Shadows?
It can be inferred that the man staking claim to the name itself is not so much important as the organization's directive of possessing a willingness to do what is necessary, and that at some point one of its members replaced by force a leader who failed to do so.
"The Dark Knight" introduced the concept of one defender of justice taking up another's mantle that lends itself to the father/son dynamic between Bruce Wayne and Ra's, who could use the billionaire's penchant for the power that comes with being The Batman with the vast resources of The League of Shadows. Bruce as The Batman did prove he could best his old friend in "Batman Begins," and if anyone could chillingly express the comparison between the two men in regard to their lust for more power it is Neeson.
Neeson is an actor who expresses frustration with not being able to find challenging roles. Returning as Ra's would satisfy this need by asking him to change the character from the self-righteous, megalomaniacal leader of a terrorist organization to a man humbled by the threat of his former adherents, who perceive his failure to destroy Gotham as blood in the water. His urgent, yet false plea for help would appeal to Bruce Wayne's more compassionate sensibilities.
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