Catwoman and Bane announced as the Villains in The Dark Knight Rises

Today Christopher Nolan reveals two major announcements on the upcoming Dark Knight Rises set to be released in July 2012. After months of speculation weather Anne Hathaway will join the cast of the new film, today’s announcement reveals that she has indeed signed for the role of Selina Kyle, who’s alter ego is non other than Catwomen, a role made famous by Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns (1992). Tom Hardy’s character has also finally been revealed, he will play Bane one of Batman’s most formidable rogues best know for breaking Batman’s back in the comics.

The 411...

The news comes quickly after all the Marvel announcements in the last week or so, Spider-man, Captain America and the Thor movies have all released set pictures of the lead roles in their superhero outfits, it could have been almost predictable that the forces behind this DC superhero would have to announce something quite soon, and now Batman fans prayers have been answered.

Catwoman was one of the most popular villains fans wanted to see return in Nolan’s vision, and if the character does follow similar to Tim Burtons Batman Returns, could also be a new love interest for Bruce Wayne.
Anne Hathaway (Devil Wears Prada, Love and Other Drugs), now donning the tight black vinyl and whip is said to be ecstatic with excitement, and fans everywhere seem to be more than happy with the news.

But if the news wasn’t a big enough announcement on Hathaway, Tom Hardy’s role which for a long time was speculated to be Dr Hugo Strange, finally gets confirmed as playing Bane.
The character of Bane was last seen in the disastrous Batman and Robin (1997), which saw him being portrayed as a big brut with no brains, rather than the comics depicting him as quite a clever formidable adversary of the Dark Knight, even responsible for braking Batman’s back.

The Dark Knight Rises, released July 20th 2012 will be Christopher Nolan’s final Batman story, and what a story it’s shaping up to be. More announcements and further characters are due to be confirmed very soon, and speculation points to the fact that Catwoman and Bane will not be the only villains we see in the upcoming feature.

What do you think about the new villains? Are you happy with Anne Hathaway being cast as Catwoman?
Leave your comments below!