Inevitably, someone is going to try to pass off these new Batmobile pictures as “OMG it’s the new Batmobile from Batman 3, lol!”  Much like this guy, who even went to the trouble of titling his video “Official Batman 3 Batmobile filming in Astoria.”  Never mind that this ridiculous hunk of plastic looks more like Joel Shumacher’s rejected concept art (“nope, doesn’t match the bat nipples”), or one of George Lucas’ racecar beds than anything Christopher Nolan would ever put in his movies. 

Well relax, because it’s from the set of the Russell Brand remake of Arthur, currently shooting in Astoria, Queens.   Here’s Russell Brand standing next to it.  The car almost makes his facial bone structure seem tasteful by comparison.  Anyway, my favorite shot is of the hipster standing next to it, trying to look unimpressed:

"I moved to Astoria last year. Williamsburg just got too corporate, you know?"

UPDATE: My apologies, this was the actual batmobile used in Batman Forever (the Val Kilmer one).  See? I knew it looked Shumachery.

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One measure of a pop culture phenomenon is the number of speculative and information-free news stories about it.  Case in point: The Dark Knight.  Yahoo Buzz, for instance, has this impressive wrapup of the next villain Batman will battle – don’t worry, it’s totally substantive:

iVillage is reporting that the Caped Crusader may take on the Riddler in "Batman 3." According to the rumor mill, Johnny Depp might sign on to play the nefarious super-criminal. But caveat emptor—this could be just as false as the one about Crispin Glover playing the Joker.

Slashfilm notes that there are additional possibilities floating around. For instance, Phillip Seymour Hoffman may play the Penguin or Angelina Jolie could don Catwoman’s skin-tight suit.

Still, the "official" rumor mill is just one of the ways superfans are checking in on the next Batman flick. Many seek the scoop themselves. We’ve noticed impressive searches on "batman 3 rumors," "dark knight sequel casting rumors," and "batman’s next villain."

Search terms, eh?  Why, it’s almost as if they’ve… planned an entire article around the most popular search terms!  The dastard!  But not to be outdone, Jake Coyle of the AP did some Pulitzer-worthy reporting to break the news that some people think Batman’s voice was too much!

"His Batman rasps his lines in a voice that’s deeper and hammier than ever," said NPR’s David Edelstein.

The New Yorker’s David Denby praised the urgency of Bale’s Batman, but lamented that he "delivers his lines in a hoarse voice with an unvarying inflection."

Reviewing the film for MSNBC, Alonso Duralde wrote that Bale’s Batman in "Batman Begins" "sounded absurdly deep, like a 10-year-old putting on an `adult’ voice to make prank phone calls. This time, Bale affects an eerie rasp, somewhat akin to Brenda Vaccaro doing a Miles Davis impression."

Brenda Vaccaro, ha!  I totally got that reference!  And what was up with Heath Ledger’s laugh?  I mean, am I the only one who thought he sounded like Lilian Gish auto erotic asphyxiating with Walter Pidgeon’s bowtie?  Am I right or am I right?  Stay tuned right here for more breathlessly retarded Batman coverage!