Joker's Hair

[Dark Knight Detective]

I love your hallucination idea, Joker. I too feel that this concept was best left to be handled for Burton's third film, because not only could Nicholson return, but we'd still have Keaton as Batman (honestly, I couldn't imagine Clooney's Batman having such great chemistry with Nicholson's Joker)!

[The Joker]

I couldnt either, Dark Knight Detective.

I think with Burton still at the helm, Nicholson returning for either a few hallucination scenes, or as an actual undead villain would have been something really special.

With Schumacher, eh .. Nicholson returning under his direction could have gone either way. It might have been entertaining, but it also might have been really over the top and completely devoid of any of the memorable darker elements and scenes that we saw with Nicholson in 1989.

[Dark Knight Detective]

I couldnt either, Dark Knight Detective.

I think with Burton still at the helm, Nicholson returning for either a few hallucination scenes, or as an actual undead villain would have been something really special.

Indeed!

With Schumacher, eh .. Nicholson returning under his direction could have gone either way. It might have been entertaining, but it also might have been really over the top and completely devoid of any of the memorable darker elements and scenes that we saw with Nicholson in 1989.

Not to mention that there wouldn't be a confrontation of the "opposites". Clooney's Batman was full of corny one-liners & over the top action, & that's not an opposite to Joker's hilarious yet killer clownish behavior. Whereas Keaton had it all; the darkness, brooding manner, silent demeanor (I could go on ), etc.

To me, you can't have one without the other, no if's, and's, or but's.

[The Joker]

Not to mention that there wouldn't be a confrontation of the "opposites". Clooney's Batman was full of corny one-liners & over the top action, & that's not an opposite to Joker's hilarious yet killer clownish behavior. Whereas Keaton had it all; the darkness, brooding manner, silent demeanor (I could go on ), etc.

To me, you can't have one without the other, no if's, and's, or but's.

Yeah, Clooney's Batman playing opposite of Nicholson's Joker would have been one of those times where I think ALOT of people would have said at some point, "Man, I sure wish it was Keaton up there instead!"

But then again, that was happening since 1995's Batman Forever. 

[Dark Knight Detective]

Not to mention that there wouldn't be a confrontation of the "opposites". Clooney's Batman was full of corny one-liners & over the top action, & that's not an opposite to Joker's hilarious yet killer clownish behavior. Whereas Keaton had it all; the darkness, brooding manner, silent demeanor (I could go on ), etc.

To me, you can't have one without the other, no if's, and's, or but's.

Yeah, Clooney's Batman playing opposite of Nicholson's Joker would have been one of those times where I think ALOT of people would have said at some point, "Man, I sure wish it was Keaton up there instead!"

But then again, that was happening since 1995's Batman Forever. 

Yes, I wholeheartedly agree. It's just one of those situations that makes one think, "Man, there could never be a replacement for the original actor. He just had that aura to him that his successors do not."

[Azrael]

I don't like the word "zombie", even for a horror/supernatural Batman concept, because of its connotations with horror creatures of limited intelligence - like in Romero or the 28 Days/Weeks movies (where the zombies show some intelligence, yeah, but still zombie-like) or totally zero (like in most other zombie movies, or Resident Evil/BioHazard games) as well as varied levels of bodily decay (an one-eyed Joker without a jaw and half a skull missing? I don't think so).

I think undead/ghost Joker could work better, but if zombies (or vampires, werewolves, were-bats) are allowed to exist in a fictitional universe, then I think their master is allowed to exist as well, and the Joker would deal only with the cream of the crop of evil basterds! Of course, we delve into Batman: Red Rain/Bloodstorm territory here 

Still, the Batman universe, especially the movie one, was always a semi-"""realistic""" one (men jump off high buildings in a heavy rubber suit, but ghosts are not "real"), so hallucinations caused by some crazy device (or drug) made by Scarecrow or Mad Hatter would be what they might have done.

I agree that Clooney's Batman opposite Jack Nicholson would be f*ing weird...

In retrospect, I love that the continuities of the two series were never bridged with something like that. I have already read articles where the Schumacher films are put in the same group as Batman Returns ("cartoony sequels", one said), we wouldn't want B89 references in Shumacher's Batman Part III, even if it was a half-decent one, the old series was trashed the exact moment when Tommy Lee Jones spoke his first line as Two-Face.