THE DARK KNIGHT RISES – Villains Announced

It is finally becoming reality.

The production of the third Batman movie is rumored to be coming to Detroit to shoot in May, and today they revealed who will be raising hell in Gotham City.

First off, the beautiful Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman. One of the most famous Bat-Villains, as well as one of the most important chess pieces in Batman Mythology, she is sure to fill a void left by the death of Rachel Dawes. Selina Kyle is the inevitable perfect match for Bruce Wayne, just as Catwoman is for Batman. Batman’s control-freak issues are what usually keeps them apart, though it seems clear to me, that when he eventually walks off into the sunset Gary Cooper-Style, it’s her hand he’ll be holding.

That however wasn’t always so clear, and what Nolan and Goyer opt to do with her will depend on which version of the comic book temptress they draw from. In the early days she was a more cleat cut villain, later becoming a borderline Do-Gooder. Everything in the first 2 movies points to the fact they’ll look at the current version from the last 20 years or so. Almost an early version of Jeph Loeb’s in HUSH, where her relationship with Batman is more blurred than black and white, but actually close to good than evil.  A version where she isn’t so much a villain as someone who walks close to the line, just the other side of Bats.  She’ll still be a criminal, but I don’t expect any sort of team-up with villain #2…

Who is villain #2?

Bane. Who is Bane you might ask, and by asking show off your age. Those who grew up on the 1960’s TV show won’t remember his name since that aired about 25 years before his birth into the comic lore. Shortly before DC Comics killed Superman, they broke Batman.

Bane may have arrived in Gotham looking like an Lucha libre, but he quickly cemented his reputation with Batfans by out playing Bruce like Bobby Fischer. Releasing all the inmates from Arkham to run amok in Gotham so he could observe Batman’s methods in trying to recapture them all. After weeks of hunting the Joker and the rest of the Rouges Gallery, Batman returned to Wayne Manor one night, exhausted, only to find the house wrecked and Alfred unconscious.  Bane then proceeded to pummel out hero, before eventually snapping his back, literally, breaking the Bat.

The last time Bane appeared on-screen was the schlock-fest BATMAN AND ROBIN, when Joel Schumacher turned the franchise into a 90-Minute gay joke, and Bane was a brainless henchmen who worked for Poison Ivy. Well this time around, expect the character to have some depth…

Welcome to Gotham City Tom Hardy…

 

Say Hello to the best actor you’ve never heard of. I love this guy and I’m thrilled he is involved. So of you may recognize him from INCEPTION, but his better roles (BRONSON and the BBC Mini-Series THE TAKE) never hit it big in the US, but they know him in the UK.

Hardy bulked up above for his turn in Bronson, and will need to get even bigger to play Bane.

Bane’s goal will no doubt be the opposite the Joker’s. He’ll look to control Gotham’s crime, not disrupt it.  And while he will be physically intimidating, it’s his genius IQ that Batman has the most trouble with, and you’ll no doubt see the Detective side of the Bat-personna come out more this time around in order to defeat Bane.

Nolan and Bale have said this will be their final Bat-film, completing Nolan’s trilogy vision. I absolutely love the casting here, and unlike the previous film have no doubts what-so-ever.

This move gets 2 big thumbs up from the biggest Bat-Fan you know…

For more info on Bane, click here and check out the Gotham Villains article I wrote a while back…