We get our first look at the teaser trailer for the Dark Knight Rises. Mostly reused footage and audio from the previous movies, with a short scene with Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) in a hospital bed talking to Bruce Wayne. Its hard to make out what he is saying, but he’s basically telling Bruce, the city needs Batman.

[UPDATE – Crazy] It looks like the video is getting taken down everywhere. I found another one and placed it after the jump, so check it out.

Let us know what you think in the comments!
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The first teaser poster has been unveiled for the third movie in the current Batman film franchise. The Dark Knight Rises will feature Tom Hardy as Bane, Anne Hathaway as Catwoman (as we discussed here) and Christian Bale as Batman/Bruce Wayne. Not much more is known about the film and the poster does little to add to that knowledge.

Yesterday Warner Bros. announced that The Dark Knight Rises had started filming, as well as launching the film’s official website. Along with this launch includes a social campaign that revealed the first photo of Tom Hardy as Bane.

At launch the official website was just a black image with some odd chanting playing. A deditcated fan looked at the visual spectrum of the chanting and noticed it contained a twitter hashtag of #thefirerises. As fans tweeted using that hashtag, on the official site an image started to be filled in using the twitter icon of people using the hashtag. The image is still being filled in, but /Film has posted the details of this social campaign and the high res photo of the finished picture.

We’ve known for a while that Tom Hardy would be in the next Batman flick, but we didn’t know who he would be. Speculation fuleed by plot rumors put him as Dr Hugo Strange, but an official press release from Warner Bros has eliminated rumors and confirmed another cast member.

Tom Hardy will be Bane, a Batman villain notorious for breaking the caped crusader’s back during the Knightfall plot in the mid-90s. Bane’s power is derived from a super potent steroid-like substance called Venom that amplifies his musculature.

Additionally, Anne Hathaway has been cast as Selina Kyle, better known as Catwoman. A very popular character for decades in the Batman mythos as both a villain and a hero, its unknown what role she will play in Nolan universe. One thing is for sure: it will likely be better than Halle Berry’s attempt.

Read the full press release:
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UPDATE: Read HERE for newer information about Tom Hardy in The Dark Knight Rises

Tom Hardy, known for his portrait of infamous British convict Charles Bronson, has agreed to take a role in the next Batman film.

Deadline reports that Hardy will reteam with director Christopher Nolan after the highly successful Inception. The role itself is being kept secret, its unknown if he’ll play a villain or hero but it will be a lead role. Begin speculation!

This news comes just days after Rhys Ifans was cast in Spider-Man, again in an secret role. At least the Spider-Man folks had the decency to tell us what side of the law Ifans will be on. Though I suppose considering Nolan’s Batman franchise, the good and bad guys are never quite so starkly portrayed.

Hardy also becomes the first person of note cast in the movie, though Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Michael Cane, and Morgan Freeman are all expected to reprise their roles.
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