The villains of Christopher Nolan's third Batman movie will be Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman, and... Bane, a 1990s 'roid freak who shattered Bruce Wayne's spine in the Knightfall crossover. Anne Hathaway will play Selina, while Tom Hardy will play Bane.


The press release quotes Nolan as saying 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." And about Hardy, he says: "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."

Obviously, it's looking less likely that The Dark Knight Rises will be based on the "Prey" storyline, or will be about Hugo Strange or whatever. It'll be interesting to see whether Nolan can take the 1990s wrestler-masked Bane and turns him into something more akin to Heath Ledger's Joker. The fact that Tom Hardy can act like a mofo will no doubt help, and having a villain who's sort of the Joker's opposite seems like a neat idea: Bane has a clear-cut goal (control of Gotham's crime world) and he mostly uses physical aggression to achieve his ends. I wonder if Bane will figure out Bruce Wayne's secret, like he did in the comics?


Update: There's already fan art showing Hathaway as Catwoman, by PretentiousHousefly on DeviantArt (via DCWomenKickingAss):

