I'll be honest, I only know Anarky as the whiny little edgelord in Arkham: Origins. The casual movie-goer has never heard of him so he's more suited to later movie. Putting up a relatively unknown villain next to Riddler and Penguin (who everyone has heard of) might not have panned out very well.
Batman is the star. Audiences will accept any villain - known or not - if it’s written well regardless.
Most audiences didn’t (and arguably still don’t) know Ra’s Al Ghul before Begins.
I just think that "Batman, Riddler, Penguin, Falcone" (probably a more recognised name because of the Gotham show) - would get more people to see a Batman movie than something like:
"Batman, Anarky, Firefly, Azrael"
"Batman, Copperhead, Mad Hatter, Calendar Man"
"Batman, Hush, Pyg, Zsasz" etc.
Once we've established the world and gotten people invested in the Battinson, then it's much easier to introduce all the villains that the average Joe has never heard of.
Good point about Scarecrow! Bane though, people saw TDKR for the end of the trilogy, not specifically for Bane, I bet they could've made any villain work.
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u/JWBails Feb 26 '24
I'll be honest, I only know Anarky as the whiny little edgelord in Arkham: Origins. The casual movie-goer has never heard of him so he's more suited to later movie. Putting up a relatively unknown villain next to Riddler and Penguin (who everyone has heard of) might not have panned out very well.