New 'Batman' villain roundup part one

On last week's show we talked about "Inception" actor Tom Hardy being cast in the upcoming sequel to "The Dark Knight."

Yeah, I won't call it "Batman 3."

Oops.

During that news Stephanie and I both discussed which villain he might be playing.

I am in the mind that it's down to three characters: Black Mask, Hush or the Riddler. Here's why:

In the realistic world of Christopher Nolan's Batman these are the easiest choices that wouldn't require a giant leap in logic or changing the character much.

Black Mask used to be a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne, who grew to hate his parents for forcing him to be friends with Wayne. He also hated Wayne for "buying out" his company and humiliating him.

He created a mask out of the coffin of his dead father and went on to become a major force in the organized crime world of Gotham City. Sometime later the mask would become permanently attached to him, driving him a bit more crazy.
He also did horrible, horrible things to Catwoman and her family. Like worse than Joker kind of stuff.

Hush was also a childhood friend of Wayne, but with a different outlook. While Wayne lost his parents in a tragic accident he had no control over, Hush lost his father to a tragic accident he caused... on purpose. He later killed his mother when she kept comparing him to Wayne.

Crazy isn't even a good word to describe Hush. He literally wants to be Wayne, while trying to destroy and dismantle his life.

Recently he's even had plastic surgery to look exactly like Wayne in order to destroy the Wayne name from within.

And of course, the Riddler. Everyone knows the Riddler and he'd make a perfect choice.

Any of these three choices would fit perfect in the Nolan-Batman world.
Black Mask fits in with the mob control over Gotham set up in both films, so this is my educated guess for the villain.