Where Three Nolan Fans come up with a very interesting theory

I was on one of the innumerable Nolan fangroups and had this VERY, VERY, VERY interesting conversation with two other fans.
And our theory is...well.... check it out below. You'll discover it as we discovered it and this theory could potentially change all that we know about Nolan's upcoming The Dark Knight Rises.
Surajt drops the bomb first.  

So, I just finished Arkham City

How do you not love a game as beautiful, as amazing, as spectacular as Batman Arkham Asylum?
In 2009, Rocksteady made the Batman Begins of videogames. While other Batman games let us control the character, define his actions and lead him in directions, this one made us actually feel like him; whether it was facing off against Bane, beating up Joker's thugs, or scaring the living shit out of a bunch of armed criminals. Yeah. Asylum truly was a triumph that it let us actually feel like the protagonist.
And Arkham City just turns up that feeling a thousandfold.
Arkham City is 9 hours + of fanservice, amazing gameplay, beautiful graphics and Batman. I love how it gives you the illusion of being in a city, roaming a map larger than Arkham Asylum, when actually, the map is, if not as big as, smaller, than Arkham Asylum. Yet, it does a wonderful job of setting up that illusion, due to highly detailed environments and too many easter eggs to keep count off.



The combat stays, more or less, the same, with many added animations, a few more quick combos and a better response time than the earlier game. Batman's fight mechanics have been perfected by this new system, but I can't say the same for Catwoman. Her response time is not as great as Batman's, but she's got some pretty slick moves, so that makes up for it.


The movement mechanics have also improved greatly. Here, you have to jump from rooftop to rooftop, guide over buildings and can even divebomb into a group of thugs. As Catwoman, the movements feel very reminiscent of Spiderman; clinging to ceiling walls, scaling tall buildings.
Catwoman, while not handling to well during a fight, handles near-perfectly while in motion. She's quick. She's fast and flexible and nimble. So playing as her when roaming the city is an absolute treat.
Once you perfect the gliding mechanics, you'll no doubt spend hours and hours soaring over rooftops and singling out thugs, because it's absolutely wonderful. There's this amazing bit you can do while gliding : you divebomb into the streets, and if you get your timing right, and soar up, you'll accelerate farther and even achieve a greater height. It looks and feels brilliant and comes in very handy during a certain sequence (involving Ra's Al Ghul, bytheway).
The stealth mechanics, as usual, are brilliant. Batman's stealth sequences are quite different from Catwoman's, and they handle very, very differently in this case.And Detective Mode feels more realistic this time. And we are forced to use our normal vision as well, because these thugs aren't dumb. They've got signal jammers, laserscope snipers and thermal imagery and you'll need to make use of your normal sight to beat these guys.
Remember those Scare Crow sequences? He's not there in the game, but there IS something reminiscent of that and it doesn't deserve spoiling.
A bossfight involving Mister Freeze makes great use of these mechanics. This fight challenges you to vary your techniques, plan and strategize in more ways than one. I remember trying to fall asleep while thinking, 'I've got to beat this guy next. How do I do it?' and a thousand ideas popped into my head. The Mister Freeze fight is one of the most innovative and unique boss fights I've ever fought. Brilliant stuff.


The story, by Paul Dini, is, unsurprisingly, brilliant. Well, except it is predictable for Batman fans. When Hugo Strange mentions that there's some greater force behind him, you instantly know who this greater force is, if your Batman mythology is proper. What I hate about the story is most definitely the ending. You get something so crazy to be true, and so removed from Batman's continuity, that you simply can't believe it. And that, by the way, is the only major flaw in the game. The ending. I don't love it. I'm just okay with it, because something really clever happens before it. A very, very good third act twist. Also, the entire third act is brilliant. You just faced off against Joker and his thugs. You're standing on a crane, looking at Arkham City as it burns and crumbles to the ground. There's helicopters all over the place, shooting missiles, killing people, and you're helpless. You get a very The Dark Knight vibe off this and the amazing score helps as well.


The score is simply amazing. The way it builds up to a crescendo in the moments that lead up to the final battle, as you take on six-seven snipers off the rooftops is absolutely thrilling and feels like reliving the last moments of The Dark Knight where Batman rescues hostages dressed up as clowns from the building.
Darn. I wish we had more of that.
Also, besides the main story, there are side missions involving villains from Batman's amazing Rogue gallery. Of course, there's the Riddler, but then there's Deadshot, there's Mad Hatter, there's Azrael, there's Ivy, there's Zsasz and there's Hush. And I bet, they're going to release a Maxie Zeus Side mission as DLC soon. And I can't wait to buy it.
There's another side mission that involves helping "Political Prisoners". There're guys in Arkham who've been put in just because they picked a bone with Strange and you've got to save them from being eaten up by the Arkham thugs. A nice addition. After all, he's Batman. He's got to save people.
Another thing I absolutely loathe is that the thugs keep on calling Catwoman a "bitch". I mean, I can stand some foul language, but there's a limit and they cross it. But, then again, it keeps me on my toes. Anytime someone's about to say that, I kick him in the face.
The voice acting for most part, is very good. Daphne voices Catwoman, bytheway. A brilliant, brilliant choice. Penguin's accent is weird, but then it grows on you and you start liking it. Kevin Conroy fits Batman like a glove. Freeze, Strange, Joker and Harley Quinn are absolutely spot-on. Who I don't like is Ra's Al Ghul. The guy voicing him sounds too young to voice a psycopathic mastermind who's 600 years old. Two Face is also a bit off for me.


Some of the character designs didn't sit in with me, either. Deadshot looks like that fat Rebel guy from A New Hope and Penguin and Mad Hatter are too tall for their characters. Ra's is another character that felt too overdone. He's got tattoos and shit now. WTF. Tattoos? On Ra's Al Ghul? Are you freaking serious? Talia's costume has also been sexed up more, but I could stand it. Can't say the same about Harley Quinn, though. Wish she had the BTAS costume on.
But, let us not forget, that these are but minor quibbles in an amazing game. Just go and fucking buy it. Support the game industry. BUY IT.

Remember how hyped The Dark Knight was, and then it came along and exceeded expectations? That's what happened with Arkham City. This is a serious game, for Batman fans, of Batman fans, made by Batman fans that even non-Batman fans can enjoy. It's a fucking brilliant marvel of a game.
9.5/10

WONDER WOMAN #1 is BRILLIANT.

Wow. Just wow. Wonder Woman #1, along with Swamp Thing and Animal Man, may be one of the best things to come out of the DCnU stable. And I love it. I absolutely love it. I've read it three times already, it's that good. I love it that they've made one of the most iconic characters of the DC universe so badass again, especially after the crap that JMS pulled before this relaunch.
First off, the writing is brilliant. Very clever writing indeed. Reading it the first time, you'll be left bored, uninterested, but somehow unwilling to stop, and then BAM! The cliffhanger/revelation/plot twist hits you and then you finally realize what a brilliant piece of work this is. The artwork is pure Cliff Chiang. I love the pencils and the inks, but the color makes it feel like reading a Fables comic (or maybe that WAS the aim).
Also, Wonder Woman ain't a total slut here, unlike the rest of the women of the "new" DC universe (More on that later). She's still strong, she's still got the class and she's still badass. They've nailed it. Chiang and Azzarello  have totally nailed her character. THIS is the Wonder Woman we know from Kingdom Come, this is the Wonder Woman we know from the Dark Knight Strikes Again, this is the Wonder Woman from the Justice League animated series. She's strong, can act a bit like a jerk, but she still wants to help people. She loves helping people, actually, demonstrated by her willingness to help a certain Zola, who finds herself surrounded by amazing, terrific circumstances.
The only problem with the book is the first reading. It will leave you uninterested, UNTIL the last page. But you have to bear with it until you get to the revelation, unfortunately.
And the cliffhanger. Oh what can I say? It's brilliant. Also, it's very obvious. We should have seen it coming, but we don't, actually. And if I even speak a word of it, I risk spoiling it. It's just, absolutely, amazing. You have to read it to find out.

4.5/5

On Nolan.

--------------UNDER CONSTRUCTION------------------------------
Nolan has made a different character out of Batman and Gotham. I love it, but is it perfect (to me)? Nope. I love the movies, but they don't really feel like Batman movies, they feel more like tributes. Every exchange between Batman and Joker was awesome but it felt at times, they were just dialogues reflecting upon Batman's relationship with the Joker and not like they are these two characters, these two opposites who are yet so similar, which Batman and Joker really are. Even in Begins, it felt as if they were just building up to his legend and explaining that he is destined to be a legend. The Nolan films feel more like a reflection of Batman rather than Batman himself. But I love them. I freaking love 'em Nolan flicks.
And continuing my long critical appreciation of the Nolan films, let me add that in my opinion, the Batman animated series, helmed by Bruce Timm, Alan Burnett and Paul Dini, had the perfect Batman and the perfect Gotham and the perfect Rogues gallery. (Until Season 4 atleast, then it went totally bollocks). So I love those series even more. It had the right amount of gothic darkness, right amount of tragedy and the right amount of wackiness. It was just...perfect. But they screwed it up when it came to season four and by the time that Batman joined their "Justice League: The Animated Series" roster they had screwed the character up. But the first three seasons were GOLD.

COMIC BOOK TRAILER DISSECTION....

So a bunch of Comic Book movie trailers released in the past few days. I had waited for EACH of them eagerly, with bated breath, and look what I got; a shitsap, a lotr wannabe and CGI animated nerdgasm.
Let me start with the shitsap AKA the Green Lantern Trailer.

I know RIGHT! What the fucking hell was that? Green Lantern isn't supposed to be Iron Man. He ain't some pampered billionaire playboy who gets fucked by almost every girl he passses by, the Lantern is an interplanetary cop who relies on willpower and faith to power the ring. What I just saw felt like the fucking Iron Man. FUCK IRON MAN! The Dark Knight was the way to go, but no, we got a fucking Iron Man'd Green Lantern and an apocalyptic letdown that was liked by AICN's HEADGEEK and those pathetic shitsaps at ComicBookMovie.com. And just look at Ryan fucking Renolds, he'd be a shitty Deadpool too. But he is an extremely shitty Green Lantern. And with the mask on he looks just fucking dreadful. They could have cast Ben Stiller for all I know.


"I know, RIGHT!!!" Fuck you.




Up next, something watchable. THOR

Looks epic, right. Nope. It won't be. Coz you've been "a bad and greedy boy." Are you fucking serious? This shit wouldn't have worked even on a little kid's picture book. But hey, Thor does look great. Just look at the Destroyer kicking some ass. Loki is spot on. But I'm worried about Odin. He just doesn't seem right. But it's Anthony Hopkins, so it has to be good, right. I so hope it doesn't suck. FUCK YOU, MARTIN CAMPBELL for ruining GL.



Next comes gold. And this one isn't a movie trailer. It's a trailer for the upcoming ARKHAM CITY.

Don't be surprised if you just jizzed your pants. That was my reaction too. HUGO FUCKING STRANGE! Just look at that guy, did you ever think he was gonna BE THIS BADASS?! And the CGI, I think its safe to say that we have crossed the uncanny valley. Just look at that cop's reactions to the injections, BATMAN FIGHTING. It all fits, it all makes complete sense. And it looks fucking epic. SO BRING ON ARKHAM CITY!