With The Dark Knight hitting theaters (depending where you're from maybe last night) tonight everyone's got bats in the belfry about Batman - people are losing sleep voluntarily to line up for tonight's showing! Not since the last Star Wars film have more nerds and fanboys shown up in such... pungent numbers. You heard me nerds, take a shower!

With such an incredible show of support (hype?) for the upcoming performances of Christian Bale and the late Heath Ledger we here at Beer.com got to thinking about the next Batman flick... and who from The Dark Knight's massive villain stable will be making the transition to the big-screen next.

So, in celebration of The Dark Knight here's Beer.com's Top 6 Next Batman Villains!

Bane

Also known as The Man who broke the Batman, Bane is portrayed in the comics as a clandestine character, born into imprisonment for his fathers' crimes in a south american prison. The corrupt staff of the prison used the inmates for illegal drug testing, and Bane was one such subject. When the experimental steroid known as Venom was tested on the young man, it had... less desirable effects.

Like driving him batshit inasane (pardon the pun). Becoming addicted to Venom and requiring a constant supply of the drug, Bane decides to assert his prominence by taking out the world's #1 crime fighter - Batman.

Bane was briefly seen in Batman and Robin, as a henchman of Poison Ivy, but is such a deep, complex character (being known to fight against drug lords) he deserves some more exploration.

Recommended Actor: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnston

Clayface

This pile-of-mud villain has been a constant source of strife for Gotham's caped crusader, with a history stretching back to Detective Comics #40 (1940). The original Clayface was actor Basil Karlo, who was driven mad by the weight of a role in an intense horror film (Parallels to Heath Ledger?) and became a psychotic killer using disguises to carry out his crimes.

Later he would become imbued with radioactive quarts framents, turning his body into something entirely unrecognizable - a malleable pile of clay. With the ability to transform his body parts into objects, Clayface would be a special effects dream-come-true for any film maker (I'm looking at you, Michael Bay).

While he's never been seen in any previous Batman films, Clayface has always been a stubborn villain of Batman, and could be a great source of "Big Screen WoW".

Recommended Actor: Ron Pearlman

The Mad Hatter

Many of Batman's villains resort to gimmicks and themes, with The Mad Hatter aka Jervis Tetch being obsessed with Alice In Wonderland-themed crime... and mind control. An insane neurotechnician, Tetch grew infamous for his designing of headgear-based mind-control devices, and, like his namesake, grew quite mad.

While he's a touch campy, a re-imagining could do well for The Mad Hatter, as it did for Johnathan Crane aka The Scarecrow in Batman Begins. We could see him turning Batman's loved ones against him, or turning Batman against the city with the use of a cowl-mounted mind-control plot. How devious!

Another villain not seen on the big screen, it's not hard to imagine that he was next in line after the pun-tastic performance of Arnold Schwartzenegger as Mr. Freeze. With a technology-based villain yet not seen in the new incarnation of Batman, it would be an interesting dynamic to explore.

Recommended Actor: Simon Pegg

Black Mask

In a turn from many traditional Batman villains, Black Hood is a man who is out for the life of Bruce Wayne rather than his alter ego. While his true name and identity are unkown, he rose through the ranks of Gotham's crime families through murder and extortion, all while protecting his identity behind a mysterious black mask.

Eventually he found himself in charge of a group of thugs known as The False Face Society, a group of criminals all hiding behind masks. The parallels between Batman fighting crime behind a mask and Black Mask causing crime behind a mask has always been something of an annoyance to Batman, creating a true rivalry between the two men.

Black Mask isn't a widely known villain and hasn't appeared previously in film, and isn't a particularly dynamic character in terms of themes, gimicks, or powers - but he's a very psychological character that plays on Bruce Wayne's vulnerabilities rather than Batman's.

Recommended Actor: Denzel Washington

Killer Croc

A disfigured mutant crocodile wrestler, the man formerly known as Waylon Jones now goes by the name Killer Croc - he's just as much reptile as human now, much in the vein of Spider-man's The Lizard, only Killer Croc retains what little intelligence he had pre-transformation.

He may have a goofy name, but this brute doesn't rely on gimmicks like some Batman villains - he's a pure smash-and-grab crook, taking what he wants with his amazing strength, hardened skin, razor-sharp fangs, and the ability to hold his breath for a long, long time. Ok that last one's pretty lame, but still. Batman pursues Killer Croc to prevent him from harming innocents, as Croc's more animal instincts are known to override his sense of safety.

Killer Croc is a special-effects master's dream come true - he'd be a formidable physical opponent for Batman to battle, and the possibilities for his appearance make me shudder in fear alone. Re-imagined, he could be one bad-assed serial killer on the loose in Gotham's sewers.

Recommended Actor: Russel Crowe

Hush

A former childhood firend of Bruce Wayne's and a relatively newer Batman villain, Hush is Thomas Elliot, a skilled physician and fellow ivy-leaguer like Bruce Wayne. He becomes jealous of Bruce and his loving parents, as Elliot's parents were cold and uncaring. At a young age Hush set out to kill his parents, only to have his efforts thwarted by Bruce Wayne's father, Thomas Wayne.

Hush has used Bruce Wayne and Batman's history against him, tormenting him with visions of his past, his parents, former enemies, and former lovers. Eventually Elliot reveals his identity to a physically and emotionally exhausted Batman, who he knows is his childhood friend Bruce Wayne. This betrayal drove Batman into a frenzy.

The pure psychological factor involved in having a childhood friend spend his entire life attempting to thwart you makes perfect sense for a hero like Batman - with no powers, any ordinary man is susceptible to mental manipulation.

The mindgames Hush would be able to play on Batman would make for an amazing film.

Recommended Actor: Bruce Willis

With a rogue's gallery like Batman, there's plenty of options I haven't listed - Catwoman, The Riddler, The Penguin, and plenty others...

Which of these Villains would you like to see Batman take on? Let me know below!

Chris the Creep