Despite the best efforts of The Joker, Mayor Garcia, the mayor of Gotham City, actually managed to survive the events of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight. Had Lieutenant James Gordon not decided to dive in front of a gunshot, we would have a bit of surprising casting news to give you right now. Instead we get one that we should have expected all along.

Variety is reporting that Nestor Carbonell, who played the esteemed major in Nolan's second Batman film, is now in talks to join the cast of The Dark Knight Rises. Should the deal be completed, Carbonell will just be one of many actors returning to the franchise, including Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and Gary Oldman. After more than two years of waiting, production on the film is set to begin this summer in Pittsburgh and will be released on July 20, 2012.

This story reminds me a lot of a story that I wrote towards the end of last year. Just as when you're talking about doing a Muppet movie, why on Earth would you need to be in "negotiations" to be in a Batman movie? Sign on the dotted line, wait for production to begin and live the life envisioned by every comic book fan in the world. You can always feed your family with a paycheck from another movie.