Jonah Hill, Jeffrey Wright in talks for "The Batman"

Justin Kroll of Variety has reported that trusted sources indicate Jeffrey Wright is being eyed for the role of Commissioner Gordon in the up coming DC Film, The Batman.

Also reported, Jonah Hill is also in talks for an unspecified role. Many pundits are leaning towards the Riddler. I’m hoping for Penguin, personally.

They are both fantastic actors, but I hope Wright is playing Riddler. Because he would kill it.

Now, some of you may remember reports that WB, Matt Reeves and Cathy Yan were trying to figure out which project is using what villains. If I recall, both wanted to use the Penguin. Seeing as he doesnt seem to be in Birds of Prey I’m hoping it’s because hes in Batman. Black Mask and Penguin can be used very similarly (crime boss) so I’m hoping that’s what happened.

If Wright is Gordon…we just lost another redhead. It would definitely disconnect these films from DCEU.

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I forgot to ask for you thoughts. Do you like these casting choices? Do you have a character you would love to see either actor portray?

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I’m hearing reports that Wright has been cast as Gordon, and I think he’s going to do a fantastic job (though that also depends on how much screen time this version of Gordon gets. Outside of the Nolan films, the character hasn’t really be given a lot to do on the big screen).
Penguin definitely seems to be the popular theory for Hill at the moment, but I remember hearing reports that Firefly and the Mad Hatter were going to be in the movie, so I’m placing my bet on one of those two.

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I can’t stand Jonah Hill :cry:

I’m not sure how I feel about it. They’ve both proven they’re great actors, but i’m not feeling it if they’re Gordon and Penguin/Riddler. I’ll keep it at that because I still have faith this movie could blow everyone away.

Jeffrey Wright would be a great Jim Gordon. As for Jonah Hill, he’d be an interesting Scarface/Ventriloquist.

@biff_pow Same here. He has a goofy stoner vibe that doesn’t fit either character especially if the film has a serious, noir tone.

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Oh, I think Hill has some good acting chops. He could nail the more monster-type Penguin. That’s an interesting thought on the Ventriloquist, though.

As I said in a different thread, I’d sooner see Jonah Hill as The Ventriloquist.

The Riddler’s been done in live action movies and TV over the years. Let’s let a new (to live action) character get their turn and show the non-comic reading moviegoing audience that there’s alot more variety to Batman’s rogues gallery than characters that have already appeared in live action, and several times at that.

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Well, I read a tweet from Justin Kroll a minute ago that  essentially says that Jonah has had the offer for over a month but wants more money, reportedly twice the amount of Pattinsons paycheck. So I assume the role is very substantial, like main antagonist. Maybe his team is just high-balling them during negotiations. He's a good actor, so hopefully that means the role is meaty and requires a strong actor. Idk, I hope its Penguin. Ventriloquist could be interesting, but I've never felt the character was strong enough to carry a movie.

I’ve seen so many internet pundits saying that Hill as Penguin is “too spot on” which I think is just dumb. Why must all characters be changed for film? “Wouldnt want them to look like their comic book counterpart.” Why do people love Chris Reeve as Superman? Because he completely embodied everything familiar about the character, including but not limited to looking almost exactly like the character.

@Vroom, idk man. We fans have seen the Riddler in alot of things, but general audiences probably arent watching things like Hush and Gotham. Hopefully, the character and story differences would be like night and day, like Tommy Lee Jones “two-face” vs Aaron Eckhart’s. Hopefully.

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They haven’t done Riddler right in the movies yet, so would like to see someone competent do it. Loved the Gotham version. As for Hill? Maybe there’s stuff out there I haven’t seen, but nothing I’ve seen impressed me.

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@Zombedy Fair point and I agree to an extent. However, most non-comic reading moviegoers think Batman has a small handful of adversaries. Joker, Riddler, Catwoman, Penguin, etc, etc.

By adding new characters to the mix, they can see that he does indeed have more foes than those that are household names. This action would also make those “new” characters into household names.

Outside of fandom, Scarecrow, Ra’s Al Ghul and Carmine Falcone weren’t all that well known prior to Batman Begins. One of the many precedents set by that movie was having a new cinematic iteration of Batman face off against new (to movies) villains.

If Christopher Nolan could make that work in 2005 (and he did), then Matt Reeves certainly should be able to in 2021 (I have faith he can).

@msgtv As far as I’m concerned, any Riddler that can wear a snappy light-up jacket and accompany it with a fun line about jogging at night has been done right :wink:

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@Vroom, also a fair point. That was one of the best things about the Nolan movies, the characters they used and how they used them. Having Victor Zsasz as just a background trial, for example, Scarecrow being more dangerous as a legitimate Dr. and League agent, tying Falcone in to Joe Chill. Calling Ra’s “Henrey Ducard” wis a brilliant misdirection. So on that note, they could make Ventriloquist or a lesser known villain amazing. Fair. I really hope Reeves is taking a similar approach.
No matter what, there will be a main villain and usually the actor playing that guy is well established like Liam Neeson, Jack Nicholson, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Bridges, Hugo Weaving,…John Travolta and they almost always get paid more than the actor playing the hero. So, I just think that if hes asking for a ton of money then he probably was offered the main villian. Riddler is a puppet master and Penguin is all about manipulation and control, and so is “Scarface”. The trades are reporting Hill for Riddler but Penguin has also been heavily rumored to appear as well. So I’m just hoping hes not Penguin over Riddler. Either way, Jonah would play it way different than Carey or Devito’s respective portrayals.

Dang, now I’m stuck on how Nolans Ventriloquist would have been…

Sorry, *hoping he IS Penguin over Riddler

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I kinda wish we could have seen how The Dark Knight Rises would have been with Leonardo DiCaprio as The Riddler. I guess in this corner of the multiverse the closest we got to a Nolan Riddler was Mr. Reese who discovered Bruce’s secret identity and whose name can be seen as a play on the word “mystery”.

If the new movie really wanted to focus on the detective aspect of Batman, have a mature tone, and use a new villain, then they could have made it a mystery/crime drama story featuring Calendar Man as a serial killer. Or they could have made the movie title “The Batman” have double meaning by featuring Man-Bat as a villain who somehow frames Batman, and have Batman trying to clear his name. There’s infinite possibilities for introducing lesser known Batman villains.

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@Beagle, I totally thought that they were trying to set up Riddler with Mr. Reese, but I didnt even catch the play on “mystery”, pretty cool.