While ABC 7's shocking news footage of yesterday's arrest depicts Hollywood Blvd.'s own Angry Batman as a hero consumed by picketer-taunting, cop-resisting rage, the Whip It Out Comedy blog remembers a time when a certain Chinese Theatre-haunting caped crusader was a more laid-back type, given to taking breaks from keeping his section of the Walk of Fame safe from fake villians by dipping into the stash in his utility belt and chilling out with some of his superfriends.

The fitfully peaceful, tourist-clogged badlands in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre were once again plunged into a state of superhero-induced lawlessness yesterday, when a frustrated Batman, momentarily abandoning his longtime mission of the avenging the downtrodden, angrily whipped off his cape, raised his bewinged gauntlets, and threatened to enact his trademark brand of vigilante justice upon the nefarious picketers who would deny him a long, satisfying BatDump. Reports ABC 7 (there's incredible video on their website as well) on the caped crusader's shocking arrest:

As Katie Holmes gets set to star opposite Queen Latifah in Mad Money—the all-gal, low-budget buddy comedy that promises to do for her career what Taxi did for Jimmy Fallon's—comes the announcement that Maggie Gyllenhaal will be taking over as The Dark Knight's D.A. Rachel Dawes, the role Holmes originated in Batman Begins:

We thought a handsome companion item to our post about Alec Baldwin threatening to shit on an Arnold Schwarzenegger documentary is this photo, brought to our attention by our friends at BestWeekEver.tv, of a lovingly handcrafted Christian-Bale-on-the-crapper figurine, as precious and detailed as anything Hagen-Renaker has ever produced, and sure to only increase in value with time. The eBay craftsman selling "The Bathroom Man" is willing to hand sculpt your purchase to look like you, but why have a boring, non-celebrity such as yourself immortalized talking a miniature, poorly aimed crap (or are those cinnamon buns?) on the floor, when you can proudly display an unmasked Batman doing the same? And for those for whom the $139.99 price point is not an issue, may we suggest ordering a second sculpture, featuring the likeness of Bale's The Prestige co-star, Hugh Jackman—a handsome, bookend companion that would complete a diorama scenario of the two magician nemeses going head-to-head in a mantelshelf crap-off.

The rumors swirling around Comic-Con last week that Heath Ledger was cast as the Joker in The Dark Knight, the Batman Begins sequel, were confirmed today by THR. The choice is sure to send ripples of controversy throughout the highly factious fanboy community, who'll debate endlessly whether or not the role should have been awarded to an actor most famous for starring in Brokeback Mountain. Their concern wouldn't be that he'd make the supervillain too effete, mind you, but rather that the guy who played Ennis del Mar wasn't capable of going nearly gay enough with the role: Requiring a face full of makeup, a Manic Panic Green Envy dye-job, and the need to punctuate every statement with a round of ear-piercing shriek-laughter, the Joker is one part that requires an actor to really embrace his inner drag queen.

I'd like to thank Chris Nolan, who directed Batman Begins. I want to thank him for getting rid of those bloody nipples, and for giving the Dark Knight back some dignity...