Two of the next Batman movie’s villains have been confirmed, and they are to be played by Anne Hathaway and Tom Hardy.
Well, we’ve got our first bit of real news about The Dark Knight Rises beyond the fact that we know it exists. We’ve got characters and we’ve got names. Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle and Tom Hardy as Bane. Christopher Nolan said about Hathaway, “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Anne Hathaway, who will be a fantastic addition to our ensemble as we complete our story.” Nolan also talked about working with Tom Hardy again, who he last worked with on Inception. “I am delighted to be working with Tom again and excited to watch him bring to life our new interpretation of one of Batman’s most formidable enemies,” Nolan said.
Now for those of you not in the know, here’s a little background on these characters. Selina Kyle is the civilian identity of Catwoman. She is at times Batman’s foe, at times a love interest. During the past few decades her character has grown from a simple thief with a cat motif to a woman of great complexity. She has become an anti-hero who struggles to defend her home turf and the people she cares about in Gotham City. Batman has grown more lenient on Catwoman over the years as she has proven herself to be a valuable ally of his, but he still doesn’t fully trust her.
While many people could have guessed that Selina Kyle would pop up in the sequel, as in the last movie Rachel Dawes went boom, Bane is the real big surprise here. So let’s talk about Bane. Bane is a bad ass. Bane is the only man to have ever broken the Bat. He is an insanely strong mercenary who increases his already titanic strength through a drug called Venom that he continuously pumps into his body with a series of tubes connected to his body. He is also a tactical genius. His greatest achievement came when he created a massive supervillain break out from Arkham Asylum in order to wear Batman down. Bane then tracked Batman down and fought him at his weakest, ending the fight by breaking Batman’s back over his knee. And Nolan is putting this guy in the new movie. Oh shit son. This just got real.
Now, we must remember that Nolan likes to adapt his characters to fit his world. See Joker with makeup and scars. Selina probably won’t even be called Catwoman and Bane probably won’t have tubes filled with Venom hooked into his arms and skull. And hell, we don’t even know what roles these two will play. But at this point we should all have learned to trust in Nolan and his decisions. The man knows what he’s doing. He’s not gonna do to Bane what happened to him in Batman & Robin. Ugh, just thinking about that horrid… sorry, I need a moment.
The Dark Knight Rises will be released July 20, 2012.
