DEPP AS RIDDLER? HOFFMAN AS PENGUIN?

Even though "Dark Knight" helmsman Chris Nolan is on the down-low, the interwebs are ablaze that Warner Bros. suits know exactly who they want the third Batman film's villains to be and who they want to play them.

Talking with MTV News, Michael Caine revealed that he not only heard the rumors of the various villain casting choices for the next film floating throughout the media, but that he brought up the topic with a Warner exece who seems to have confirmed that some of them were right.


He says:

"I was with [a Warner Bros.] executive and I said, ‘Are we going to make another one?’ They said yeah. I said, ‘How the hell are we going to top Heath? And he says ‘I’ll tell you how you top Heath — Johnny Depp as The Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin.’ I said, ‘S–t, they’ve done it again!."

Hoffman's name as a British or Russian arms dealer version of 'The Penguin' first floated around in 2006, right after "Batman Begins" but before the villains of "The Dark Knight" were set. Depp's link to 'The Riddler' is more recent but the most talked about of the rumors and Depp himself recently said he'd be open to considering the opportunity.

Personally, I hope they keep it to one villain -- Depp would have a field day. Why do these Bat-films insist on stacking up bad guys??