I just hope Rachel is still doing some kind of role in the movie.

Honestly, I don`t care who plays Rachel Dawes character. Unless she has a really important role in the movie, it doesn`t matter. I mean Dawes hopefully isn`t going to be a focal point. I understand they pretty much grew up together but they aren't like MJ and Peter Parker. MJ is pretty intregal to the Spiderman story where as Dawes isn't. I just care about how they`re going to introduce Joker and what he`s going to look like. This is going to be so damn cool.

who cares about this character. Why try to fill her with a different actress when you can just drop her and bring in a new chick. Batman is like the Hugh Hefner of super hero's....

Madmanic...he could be the Howard hughes of super hero's also...but you have to consider just how deep the character of batman would realy be if he had a significant lady in his life...I think that there should be a female character that is more than they have been in the past... As a director you want to appeal to both genders for the sake of saling more movie tickets but at the same time it brings depth too your main character, now I understand that batman begins did not need so much of this to balance the movie out but it would be hard to continue forward with this same logic...If you are going to bring some sort of realism to the story it would be wise to have a female character in the mix, because as we all know us men would have killed ourselves off a long time ago if not for the level headedness of woman and there roles in todays world...

I took my wife to see Devil Wears Prada and actually enjoyed here bitchy performance. Emily Blunt is way better eye candy than Rachel McAdams in my opinion anyways. She's a bit more refined ... definitely Batman's type.

Blunt or McAdams...they're both excellent young actresses. If Dawes is going to be back, she'll probably be used as a reminder to Bruce Wayne that he isn't just Batman. It makes sense to use her character that way because of what she told Bruce at the end of BB; that the mask he wears isn't Batman, but Bruce Wayne. I can see her character striving to make sure Bruce doesn't completely lose himself to the bat.

In the comic books and in other versions, Bruce Wayne/Batman does have significant women in his life: mother figure Dr. Leslie Tompkins, love interests Selina Kyle/Catwoman and Talia al Gul, and sort-of niece Barbara Gordon/Batgirl. I wouldn't mind seeing any of these women and more, but if we can't get them, I hope that the movie producers at least get actresses who are talented.

Give me Zoe Duchamel any day of the week...personal fave But I like GeneD's suggestion...bring in a strong supporting actress to fill that void.

Man, why dont they just drop this Dawes character. Batman Begins would've been a million times better if instead of Dawes they would've introduced a young Harvey Dent. Unless they are planning on killing the Dawes character by the hands of the Joker they should drop it. I think McAdams would be a cool Harley Quinn or Poison Ivy.

I didn't see much point in the Dawes character. If they did drop Holmes (or she dropped out - makes no difference) they should create a new character. Don't recast. It breaks the illusion. It would be something, though, if they actually brought Katie Holmes back for a cameo to be killed by The Joker. That would make for some good angst. And draw in a lot more female fans. :-)