"The Dark Knight Rises" Character Reveal!

Woah! Big news day, folks. So, for a while now we've known that Tom Hardy from Inception was cast in a as-of-yet undisclosed role in Christopher Nolan's third Batman film (titled The Dark Knight Rises). Rumors fluttered around about who he may play: Edward Nigma/The Riddler, Hugo Strange, and the list goes on. Before that, people chattered about other possibilities for the villains: Depp or Leo as the Riddler, Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the Penguin, etc. Well, today, we finally have some concrete details on the villain situation for Batman 3. According to a Warner Bros. press release, Tom Hardy will play Bane, the beefy villain best known for his strength-enhancing Venom serum and for breaking Batman's back. It will stand to be seen how Nolan adapts this fairly super-natural villain for his much more realistic take on Gotham, but here's hoping it is as far as possible from the version we saw in the despicably campy Batman & Robin flick. Yucko. My guess? Hardy's Bane is a beefy, well-trained thug who gets hired by the Gotham PD to track down the now-hunted Batman, but ends up taking matters into his own hands when the Bat slips from his grasp.

Bigger news still, however, is that Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada, Love and Other Drugs) has been cast as Selina Kyle/Catwoman! Great pick, if you ask me. Last time we saw Catwoman on the big screen was in the abomination Catwoman, played by Halle Berry in what was quite possibly the worst films of the past 10 years. However, Hathaway reminds me more of the Catwoman we saw in Batman Returns, memorably played by Michelle Pfeiffer, with her sexy leather catsuit and iconic "meow." Hathaway should bring a similar level of maturity to the role, and I am very excited to see what she can do. As for Nolan's take on Ms. Kyle, it appears Hathaway's feline fighter will have taken up the vigilante role left vacant since Batman's departure at the end of The Dark Knight, and this activity (presumably reckless and ineffective) is what incites Batman to return from the shadows.