Riddle me this: Will Johnny Depp star in the new 'Batman'?

It’s the question fanboys have been agonizing over for weeks: Will Johnny Depp portray arch villain the Riddler in director Christopher Nolan’s third film installment of “Batman”?

Holy casting coup! Michael Caine, who plays Bruce Wayne’s butler consigliere Alfred in Nolan’s “Batman Begins” (2005) and “The Dark Knight,” claims the rumors are true and that Depp has been locked in for a role.

Sources at the movie franchise’s studio home Warner Bros., however, say that as of now, there is no truth to Caine’s claims.

Intrigue bubbled up Tuesday when Caine was interviewed by MTV at the Toronto Film Festival. Asked which actor he’d like to see face off against the Caped Crusader, Caine said: “They’ve already got them in mind. It’s Johnny Depp as the Riddler. And the Penguin is Philip Seymour Hoffman. I read it in the paper.”

Pressed on the issue of where he got his information, Caine said he heard the news through someone at the studio.

"I was with [a Warner Bros.] executive, and I said, ‘Are we going to make another one?’ They said yeah. I said, ‘How the hell are we going to top Heath?’ " –- referring to Heath Ledger’s critically acclaimed performance as the Joker in “The Dark Knight” –- “And he says, ‘I’ll tell you how you top Heath –- Johnny Depp as the Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman as the Penguin.’ I said, ‘. . . they’ve done it again!’ ”

Casting doubt on Caine’s credibility, Hoffman has denied accepting the role and claims never to have met Nolan.

And in a similar swirl of inuendo last month, pop diva Cher shot down rumors that she will star as Catwoman in the upcoming “Batman” sequel.

-- Chris Lee

Comments

[Danni]

I think Johnny Depp for the Riddler is a brilliant idea! Johnny is so versatile he can do just about any role! Yeah i have to admit Heath Ledgers performance in The Dark Knight was outstanding (i've seen it twice so far!), and so Johnny's always up for a challenge and i think he will do fantastic as The Riddler! x

[johnny depps biggest fan]

i love johnny depp and i hope that johnny depp will become the new batman villian. he deff tops heath way more.

[Tim]

Although I think Depp would be fine, I really think Riddler should be played by James Woods. He more physically resembles Riddler and could certainly do dark quite convincingly.

[Bakubear]

I like Depp, but shame they cast him for this. I'd rather see either a relatively unknown actor, or David Tennant as the Riddler. xD