If you are not aware what Christopher Nolan is doing beside the much geared up Inception, he is interestingly building up the DC Comics' movie universe. Warner Bros has appointed him the man who oversees the future DC Comic projects and it bears no secret to his skills of visionary as we saw in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Both movies are amazing and exceptional. Fanboys must be enthusiast to know what is going to happen in 2012. With his brother Jonathan Nolan and writer David S Goyer, Batman 3 will hit the theaters in the summer (July 20, 2012). This will followed by The Man Of Steel (Superman reboot) which will hit the holiday season. (Some said it is a perfect setup for human apocalypse!)
Nolan discusses several issues on the superhero movies with Empire.
Here's what he said about how he and David Goyer were trying to update Superman for the modern age, and what Supes and Bats stand for as heroic icons:
It was the first time I’ve been able to conceive of how you’d address Superman in a modern context I thought it was a really exciting idea. What you have to remember about Batman and Superman is that what makes them the best superhero characters there are, the most beloved after all this time, is the essence of who they were when they were created, when they were first developed. You can’t move too far away from that.
Christopher Nolan
Here's what he said about working with Goyer on the new approach of tackling Superman:
[...] while David Goyer and myself were putting together the story for another Batman film a few years ago, you know thrashing out where we might move on from the Dark Knight, we got stuck. We were just sitting there idly chatting and he said ”by the way, I think I know how you approach Superman”.. and he told me his take on it. I thought it was really tremendous. It was the first time I’ve been able to conceive of how you’d address Superman in a modern context. I thought it was a really exciting idea. What you have to remember about Batman and Superman is that what makes them the best superhero characters there are, the most beloved after all this time, is the essence of who they were when they were created, when they were first developed. You can’t move too far away from that.
Christopher Nolan
Here's what he said about the possibility of Joker in Batman 3:
“No”, says Nolan emphatically and unhesitatingly. He resists elaborating simply because, quite understandably, he says, “I just don’t feel comfortable talking about it”.
Empire Magazine excerpt/transcript
So it is true how much Heath Ledger's death two years ago have so much impact on the next Batman series - particularly to Nolan and to the character Joker itself. I guess with his answer, we shall put the Joker's idea of returning in Batman 3 can ends now.