Ok, so i think it's time we had some debate thrown into this thread now.
To everyone who's said Harley Quinn should be one of the villains, i have GOT to ask, how can you make a captivating 2 hour action film with a career sidekick as the main villain?
In neither the comics or the cartoon, has Harley ever shown the aptitude or genius to devise a plan that comes anywhere near the level of those dreamt up by Joker, Two-Face or Riddler.
She is also not the type to hold an entire city to ransom or threaten record number of lives in order to achieve her goals.
Harley is a fun loving, lunatic who embraces unpredictability and mahem. She isn't a sadistic torturer or power mad despot or horribly mutated revenge freak like everyone else in Bat's Rogue Gallery, and if they DID use Quinn, in any of the forms that i've just listed, you wouldn't be watching Harley Quinn at all, you'd just be watching someone in the outfit, and using the name and the Joker obsession gimmick. Those would be the only real elements of the Harley Quinn character they actually be using.
If she's not being treated like dirt and slapped around by Joker, or she's not robbing banks with her pet hyenas, then it's not Harley Quinn.
Since there definitley won't be a Joker in this movie, one of the major aspects of her character will never be explored in the film, and all it'll do is aggravate Harley Quinn fans more than anything.
Don't get me wrong, i love Harley. She's got to be my favourite female character ever, and i'd probably sell my soul to make her real, but i still wouldn't go into a Batman film, knowing Harley Quinn to be the main villain, and expect it to actually be good.
'The Dark Knight Rises' is a title that suggests Bruce is going to reclaim his spot as Gotham's guardian having saved the city from some eternally bleak future, something that Harley Quinn's character couldn't cause, and wouldn;t even attempt to do anyway, because it's not in her nature.
Now someone is going to say 'it doesn't have to follow the comics to the letter, there's room for creative control so they can use her however they want!' and of course you'd be right, but consider this:-
-In Batman Begins, Ra's Al Guhl leads an international society of assassins, and hides his true identity, having lived for centuries JUST LIKE in the comics (ok, they didn't explore the immortality side of it, but it was hinted at)
- In BB, Scarecrow is hired by Ra's to help him poison Gotham's river with fear chemicals. Crane thinks they're going to hold Gotham ransom, Ra's knows otherwise. So Scarecrow had the same MO he has in the comics. But more than that, he was hired by a bigger villain to do their dirty work, and was subsequently deceived, which ALSO happens to the Scarecrow on a regular basis in the comics. Big bosses like Penguin and Joker have used him for his fear gas, and then fucked him over at the last hurdle on multiple occassions.
- In TDK, the Joker causes absolute havoc and deals death just about everywhere he goes, even allowing himself to get caught by the GCPD, in order to further his real plans, which no one can ever work out other than him.
There's two lines from the comics that describe the Joker very well, and one of them is actually used IN the film.
"Joker's plans make sense to him and him alone"
"Nothing is ever that simple with the Joker"
So again, despite maybe not being as camp and flamboyant as we expect from the Joker, the main core of his character remains unchanged in TDK.
- In the comics, Harvey Dent is portrayed as an overworked, stressed out DA who's getting increasingly more and more violent and reckless as his career goes on. He eventually becomes disfigured and becomes Two-Face, a man who cannot make any decision without having to flip his two headed coin first.
The circumstances of Dent's character DID change in the film, but once he became Two-Face, it was comic book Two Face 'til the very last scene.
So based on that, why would they suddenly give Harley Quinn's character a complete overhaul and revamp, when they've stuck so closely to the source material for every villain previously?
And SAMCRO, i really don't think Hush is going to be used either. Hush's character debuted by manipulating the entire Rogues Gallery simultaneously with Riddler's help. There is no Rogues Gallery in Nolan's films, and they'd be forced to create an entirely independent story for his character.
Now that's not impossible, but considering that a lot of comic book fans DIDN'T enjoy Hush's actual debut in the comics (which i found ridiculous, i thought it was an excellent story arc), i doubt Nolan and co. could come up with anything better.
And again, and of course i'm spitballin' here because i don't know, Hush exists to kill Bruce Wayne. Thomas Elliot has no interest in Gotham, only killing Wayne, and like i said earlier, 'The Dark Knight Rises' sounds like 'save Gotham from a nuclear weapon' kinda film title, as opposed to 'avoid being murdered by my childhood friend' kinda title.
That's why i still cling to the idea that Black Mask should eb the main villain. The guy actually manages to take over the entire city in the comics by killing two people. He kills two individuals (and some random civillians along the way for the pure hell of it) and becomes Gotham's undisputed Crime Lord, and apart from his face looking like a black skull, he is a straight up, normal human being, perfect for Nolan's 'No Meta-humans' universe.
Now doesn't that sound like someone that might be a better idea for a movie villain, than Harley Quinn?
