Batman 3 update, update... UPDATE!

Normally he's so sworn to secrecy, it's like Warner Bros has a gun trained on his family to prevent him from letting anything slip, but this week Chris Nolan has been spilling the bat beans all over Gotham City ' we now have a title, as well as villain denials and 3D possibilities. Oh well, is anyone really going to miss Jonathan Nolan?

First up, it has been announced that the third Batman film in the gritty comic-book franchise is to be called The Dark Knight Rises. Let's take a moment on that. Hasn't the Dark Knight already risen? Isn't that the whole point of Batman Begins'and, y'know, The Dark Knight?

Perhaps there's more to it though ' why would the Dark Knight rise specifically now? Well, think back to the first film, adopt your best working class Michael Caine voice and repeat after me: 'Why do we fall sir? So we might learn to pick ourselves up'. At the end of the last film, we see Batman run off into the distance as somewhat of a fallen hero. Maybe the third film sees him eventually regain public trust? A potential 'rebirth', if you will ' it's like a 'reboot' but it's grittier because its Chris Nolan.

Or, of course, there's always the theory that The Dark Knight who rises is actually former White Knight Harvey Dent, back from the seemingly dead? No? Ok maybe it just sounded nice and was close enough to the last film's title to make sure that dumb Joe Public know exactly who it's about.

Moving on, the other big news is that Nolan has confirmed that The Riddler will not be appearing in this third film. Sorry Joseph Gordon Levitt ' you started those rumours for no reason. Now go back and cry into your pile of 3rd Rock from the Sun videos.

But, if not The Riddler, who'll be the big bad? Well, it was revealed at the start of this week that Nolan was looking to cast a woman in 'a lead role' ' presumably one that can purr convincingly and looks great in either a rubber fetish suit or a revealing fur onesie. Only time will tell (and Nolan himself, eventually).

Last, and totally least, on the question of whether or not the new Batman film will be released in 3D, Nolan said he has successfully argued with Warner Bros to ignore the 3D craze and instead explore high-definition and IMAX cameras to continue the large scale Gotham he has built in the previous films. Can I be the first (ok, the forty-sixth) to say: 'Fuck yes.'

Still, you have to wonder if all of this would be different if Heath were still alive today. Would we get something akin to interactive breakdancing Joker?