Warning: Major spoilers ahead for The Batman. If you haven’t seen it, I’d highly recommend watching it and coming back to this article!

Now that The Batman has come out, I think most audience members would agree that the acting was phenomenal for the film. Robert Pattinson played a more depressed and grungy hero, Paul Dano was an unhinged Riddler, Zoe Kravitz brought a ton of charisma and new ideas to Catwoman, Jeffrey Wright played arguably the best Jim Gordon we’ve seen so far, and Collin Farrell as Penguin blew me away with his hilarious dialog and mobster voice underneath untold pounds of makeup.

We already know The Joker is being played by Barry Keoghan (Eternals, Dunkirk) as we saw him towards the end of the film. This is a really interesting choice and is definetely a casting decision that pretty much no one would see. However, many said the same thing about Heath Ledger for the same role and for Robert Pattinson as Batman. Regardless, I’m super excited to see what he brings to the table in a sequel, but what about all the other villains in the caped crusader’s rogues gallery? Here’s my fan-casting for the rest of Matt Reeves’s trilogy.

Mr. Freeze – Giancarlo Esposito

Alright, I’m well aware he’s the popular choice for this character mainly due to Esposito’s history playing ruthless villains. However, if they model the movie after the Heart of Ice episode from Batman: The Animated Series, I think Mr. Freeze could be the actor’s greatest performance. Whoever plays Freeze in this iteration would have to be sympathetic and understandable, yet terrifying and threatening. Much like Thanos in the MCU, Mr. Freeze views himself as the hero of his own story and Esposito would have to be more than simply a villain. I can’t wait to see Esposito’s back and forth moral debates with Pattinson’s Batman, and I think this casting would knock it out of the park.

Harvey Dent/Two Face – Jon Hamm

Hamm is quite a bit older than Pattinson so the two would have a tougher time playing two sides of the same coin. Paul Dano’s iteration of The Riddler worked so well partly due to his similar age to Bruce Wayne and his moral similarities to Batman. If the sequel were to loosely adapt the classic story The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, Hamm would be an amazing choice because the guy just looks like a really good district attorney, but he can also easily bring a darker form of justice to criminals.

Poison Ivy – Anya Chalotra

I recently watched The Witcher, and Anya Chalotra is incredible as Yennifer. It’s not the most dramatic performance ever, but she just commands the screen every time she’s on because you can’t help but sympathize with her. Poison Ivy actually shares a pretty similar backstory with Yennifer as well in that both were shunned from abusive families and both had to fight the world to be seen as worthy. Chalotra hasn’t been in much else, but just based on The Witcher alone, I think she could turn Poison Ivy into one of the most complicated villains/anti-heroes we’ve seen so far.

Hush – Taron Egerton

Egerton is a strong choice to play Tommy Elliot/Hush as he was able to pull of brutal scenes in the Kingsman movies while demanding screen presence in Rocketman. Egerton would have to act almost purely with his eyes as Hush, but he would have to seem like a convincing surgeon and a good friend as Elliot. It helps a lot that the actor is within the same age range as Robert Pattinson so the two could definitely be childhood friends.

Calendar Man – John Malkovich

I could really see John Malkovich playing Calendar Man almost like Hannibal Lector. He’s definitely a lower tier villain in the comics, but he could continue the mystery noir aspect of the first film forcing Batman to utilize his detective skills once more. Some of these other villains don’t really lean into this, and I think the detective scenes were some of the best in the film. Malkovic is such a versatile actor that I think he could definitely terrify audiences as a cryptic serial killer. He would distinguish himself from Paul Dano’s Riddler by being far more soft spoken. We don’t even have to see him murder anyone, he could just have a few bone chilling lines and scare people with his eyes.

Harley Quinn – Anya Taylor-Joy

Anya Taylor-Joy is quickly becoming one of her generation’s best actresses with phenomenal performances in Split, The Witch, and The Queen’s Gambit. At this point, I’m convinced she could play any type of character so it would be great to see her as a crazier, more unhinged Harley Quinn to match Barry Keoghan’s Joker. The two are around similar ages and could play far younger clown prince and princesses. It’s really hard to see anyone playing Harley Quinn after Margot Robbie’s iconic performance, but if anyone were to potentially top that, Anya Taylor-Joy would be the one to do it.

Clayface – David Tenant

David Tenant always brings a huge amount of theatricality to everything he’s in, and Clayface’s whole thing is that he’s an actor. After seeing him in Jessica Jones, he’s an obvious pick for really any villain in Batman’s rogues gallery, but I think he could transform Clayface into one of the best comic book villains we’ve seen yet. I could see this iteration of the character being less goofy and more sinister. Everyone in Gotham has lost someone, especially after the ending of The Batman, but this villain can prey on citizens by masquerading as their loved ones, revealing their darkest fears. For this reason, I think a movie with Clayface should have…

Scarecrow – Matt Smith

This is just me having a bit of fun. If Clayface can mold himself into Gotham’s hopes, Scarecrow can crush them with constant fear that their loved ones will continue to perish. The two can pretty much takeover Gotham since it’s in such a vulnerable state. It would also just be super fun seeing Matt Smith bounce off of David Tenant as the two were previous leads in Doctor Who.

Hugo Strange – Ben Kingsley

Ben Kingsley has proven himself time and time again that he can command a screen, and I could see Hugo Strange becoming a big overarching villain over the next two films especially since Arkham Asylum had a personal history with Bruce Wayne in this movie. Kingsley could easily pull off a Nurse Ratchet type character with a terrifying presence not only to Batman, but also to the dozens of crazed inmates at Arkham Asylum. He could keep characters like The Riddler and Joker in check while manipulating other villains to harm Gotham’s heroes.

Bane – Dave Bautista

I mean I don’t even think I have to say anything to convince anyone on this casting. This is the most obvious choice for the character, and Bautista has more than proven himself as a worthy actor. The guy has the physique and could probably break the real Batman’s back in an actual fight today.

That’s my list! Are there any actors and actresses you would cast for these characters? What about other characters that I haven’t thought of? Please feel free to let me know in the comments, and I’ll be sure to get back to you. Thank you 🙂

Twitter: @MohitPuvvala