Pros
1. It's Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale
As a big fan of Nolan, say what you want about TDKR, the guy hasn't let me down yet. With The Dark Knight Trilogy, Nolan created not only the best superhero trilogy of all-time (I mean come on, is it really debatable?), but IMHO the three best superhero movies of all-time yet. He made each movie compelling basically in their own way, and made me get invested into the main hero, as well as the other characters, in a way I've never been able to before in a superhero movie even other ones that I love. So of course I would be thrilled to see Nolan take over the DC Universe as an overseer, and I can't imagine what he could do with a JL movie. And considering the mess the studio seems to be in, and they don't seem to know what they exactly want to do with this movie, they NEED someone like Nolan, if they still plan on getting this huge movie out by summer, 2015 especially with Avengers 2 and Star Wars 7 coming out at the same time.
As for Christian Bale, it's the same extact thing. For me, at least in live-action so far, no other actor that has played Bruce and Batman before, compares to what Bale did for me in the role. And that's actually get me to care not only about Batman himself, but the actual human being behind the mask, Bruce Wayne himself. Now some people would probably say that was just because of the strong writing of the character and not the actor, but I beg to disagree as I think he give both a charismatic and likeabilty side to Bruce Wayne, this is especially notable in Batman Begins, and The Dark Knight Rises (where I think he gave his best performance in the trilogy). And as Batman, he was meancing, and bad-ass. And you know what, I like that Batman gowl he had, it totally fit with the series. So to be clear, he was not only a great Batman, but an excellent Bruce Wayne, which to me is even more important if you actually want to care about what's going on. Can I see other actors in the role? Sure, I think such actors like Michael Fassbender, Karl Urban, could be great choices, but that doesn't mean I'll like them as much, or that I'll be ready for a new Batman by 2015, considering the trilogy just ended.
2. More time to spend with excellent characters.
As perfect as I felt the ending of The Dark Knight Rises concluded the trilogy, I still can't help, but be happy at the idea that TDKR might not have been the last we see of not only Bale's Bruce Wayne, but Michael Caine's Alfred and other great characters that were still alive after TDKR. One of the my favorite things about Christohper Nolan as a director, and as a screenwriter as well, is the amount of depth he gives to the majority of his characters making them so memorable in all of his movies, and how I can spend time watching the movie they're are in for hours (as long as the movie lives up the characters). So if keeping this Dark Knight universe going in a JL movie means more of Bale's Bruce Wayne, Caine's Alfred, extc, then sign me up.
3. Bale and Cavill look like the perfect duo.
Regardless of the realism of TDK trilogy, I can easily see Christian Bale and Henry Cavill fitting well together on screen. Now, regardless I haven't really seen much of Cavill's past work, expect for Immortals (I hardly remember his performance in the movie), but visually both their Batman and Superman look very similar (as you can see in the picture above) mainly the way their costumes are, and the tone for Man of Steel so far looks very dark and as realistic as a superhero like Superman can get, so I could see at least these two universes (DK & MOS) being connected with each other. And, Bale and Cavil other than the fact they're both british, seem like two actors that could really connect on screen together, which is important especially if it's a World's Finest movie. And would be interesting to see an older Bruce Wayne paired up with a younger Clark Kent.
Cons
1. How do you fit unrealistic characters like Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, The Flash extc?
This is without a doubt my concern. Nolan's Dark Knight we all know was very grounded in reality in many ways, that's a huge element I loved about those movies, and how they really felt like the world we live in today. Sure, you can definitely say TDKR had its unrealistic moments (and so did the first two), but everything else surrounding the plot still had a realistic feel to me. It was easy to connect with Bruce Wayne as a character, because he actually felt like a real human being. But, if you throw in characters like an amazon princess, a guy that can talk to fish, a hero that got a ring from an alien, and a superhero that can run basically a mile within five seconds, I'm very afraid I'll lose that feeling to these movies while rewatching them knowing there's these kind of characters out there somewhere. But, obviously I still haven't seen Man of Steel yet, so hopefully if this rumor does hold out true, that will answer this question. I pray that Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer, and Jonathon Nolan will be behind the screenplay for this potential movie as I don't think I'll be able to trust anyone else.
2. Where do you continue after TDKR?
Considering the fact that at the end of TDKR, we saw that both Bruce Wayne and Batman were declared dead and Bruce had retired leaving everything to Robin John Blake who we assume is basically his heir. Do you bring Bruce back from the dead AGAIN? Will Gotham ever realize that Bruce and Batman are the same considering they always come back at the same time? What happens to Blake? Kill him off, keep him as Batman of Gotham, but Bruce Batman of the whole world, or make a swift transformation into the superhero Nightwing? The latter would be my vote as it seems the most logical to me as long as they can fit it in without being too much. And also where does Selina Kyle aka Catwoman come into this? Do you just drop the character and the relationship she had started to form with Bruce at the end of Rises or do you continue that element and have Bruce return with her as well? I would again vote for the latter as I would love to see more of the character, and it seems like Hathaway is dying to reprise her role again, and if you bring back characters like Blake and Kyle, that at least gives you two established characters already to work with especially for a WF's movie. Obviously, I have tons of questions, and I know they could just treat it like a normal comic book where everything is basically forgotten about, but I would hate to see the series handle like that.
And while I love Bale's Bruce Wayne and Batman as a character, considering the fact that he had much trouble defeating Bane in TDKR, because he went on a 8 years hitaus, wouldn't he kind of stick out as a weak link compare to other superheros with super powers. I mean granted they could have him calling the shots, or being the strategist of the group, but I personally want to see Batman in all of the action. So because of this, I think JL movie would have to take place not too long or any longer than like three years after Rises, unless they somehow make him an even powerful Batman.
My Final Thoughts: As you can obviously tell from this long article, I'm very in the middle on this rumor. In many ways, it's the best thing that could possibly happen to the DC and Warner Brothers studios right now, but at the same time it could really change The Dark Knight trilogy and whether that would be in a good or really bad way obviously remains to be seen especially since this is still a rumor, something that needs to be taken with a grain of salt. But, this is Christopher Nolan, and if he really has an idea of how to make it work, than I have complete faifth in him, and I really hope no one, but him, Goyer, or his brother John would be in charge of writting this movie.
But, I want to see a World Finest movie before a Justice League movie. This way we could have a movie where the main focus is on the core relationship between Batman and Superman, where there are lots of arugments and fights between them, but throughout the movie they build an obvious mutual respect and partnership with each other. And obviously throw like one or two villains into the movie. And then at the end of the movie I would have them the two of them basically recruiting members for the JL team, that includes Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, but I would wait to use for heroes like Aquaman and Martian Manhunter for a potential sequel, and instead use Anne Hathaway's Catwoman, and like I already said make JGL become Nightwing, I personally think that would be really cool to see, although 7 members might be pushing it a little bit for one JL movie, but it's an idea. With that being said, we really need to see how good Man of Steel is, because if that movie doesn't live up to the majority of peoples expectations, it will likely kill a chance for a JL movie for the next 10 years. But, I have faifth Zack Synder will hit it out of the park with MOS. I'm really excited for MOS.
If they do recast Batman though and reboot instead, my personal pick would be Michael Fassbender, as I think he's physically fit enough for Batman, definitely has the look of a Bruce Wayne, and certainly has all the acting chops required for the role.
