Johnny Depp to play villain in Batman film

Johnny Depp and Philip Seymour Hoffman will appear in the next Batman movie, starring Christian Bale as Batman, some time next year.

The actor was linked to the role of The Riddler earlier this year and now one of the superhero franchise’s stars Sir Michael Caine has confirmed both Johnny and Philip Seymour Hoffman will appear.

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Michael – who played Bruce Wayne’s butler Alfred Pennyworth in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight - told MTV: “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 Ledger as The Joker? 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, ‘S**t, they’ve done it again!’ ”

Johnny recently described the prospect of playing The Riddler as “fun”.

He said: "I heard about that. It seems like it'd be a fun gig for a while, yeah."

Work is expected to begin on the next movie, starring Christian Bale as Batman, some time next year.