The fact that there’s yet to be an official announcement from the studio, or definitive commitment by director Chris Nolan (who at the moment is busy with his dueling magician movie The Prestige) and writer David Goyer (who’s working on getting his Blade TV show running), doesn’t prevent “reliable sources” and “trusted insiders” from offering up an endless string of casting possibilities for the vaporsequel to Warner Bros.’ successful Batman Begins.

Although the Dark Knight’s second movie (which will either be titled Batman Keeps On Keepin’ On or Batman Drives Across Some Rooftops, I’m pretty sure) is still early in the script process, if the rumors are to be believed the characters appearing in the next film include Harvey Dent/Two-Face, Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin, Talia Head and the clown king himself, the Joker. So much for not making the same overcrowding mistakes of the previous franchise killers!

The latest conjecture finds Rachel Weisz playing the daughter of Ra’s Al Ghul, who comes to Gotham seeking revenge on Batty Bruce for punching the hell out of her dad and then dropping a monorail on him (spoiler!). On top of that, the studio’s number one pick for Batman’s grinning lunatic nemesis (the Joker, not Killer Croc) is apparently Johnny Depp, which is a staggering surprise!

Hey, speculation is fun! For your edification, here’s a partial list of other actors who (since last summer) are supposedly either interested in, being pursued for, or fondling themselves while thinking about roles in the sequel:

Liev Schreiber
Justin Timberlake
Steve Carell
Crispin Glover
Josh Lucas
Adrien Brody
Bob Hoskins
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Isla Fisher
Lachy Hulme (who?!?!?)
Paul Bettany

Great Gorshin’s Ghost! Just think of who they might get when they actually decide to start making the movie!