The previous installments in Christopher Nolan’s Batman franchise haven’t had much focus on female characters. The only female of any importance has been Rachel Dawes, who has been portrayed by Katie Holmes and Maggie Gyllenhaal. I don’t think we will be seeing either of them as Rachel Dawes in The Dark Knight Rises considering the many pieces she was in after The Dark Knight, courtesy of the Joker. It seems that Christopher Nolan has decided that there needs to be more of a woman’s touch in his next movie to compliment the sheer manliness of Christian Bale as Batman. It also seems like Commissioner Gordon might be getting a new lady friend.
According to Comic Book Movie, the script for The Dark Knight Rises features twice the number of women than seen in previous Batman movies. That brings the total for the next movie to two female characters! These ladies in question are Detective Sarah Essen and Julie Madison. Those of you who are familiar with the comics may remember Sarah Essen as Jim Gordon’s love interest, but he is already married with children in the previous Batman movies. Will Jim Gordon be having some extracurricular activities going on? It is rumored that Charlize Theron has been approached for the role of Sarah Essen.
Of course Batman can’t go without a damsel in distress to save, so Julie Madison makes sense as a character. She is basically a rich girl who falls in love with Bruce Wayne and seems to get captured by villains a lot. She has actually been in comic books and a previous Batman movie, just not one of Nolan’s. This gives Batman something to do in the evenings, and allows Christopher Nolan to cast some eye candy for the male masses. Of course this is still all rumor at this point, but it sure would be nice to see some more ladies with a prominent role in the Batman franchise.
