Bane and Catwoman announced as villians in The Dark Knight Rises!!

This is fantastic news! I knew that Catwoman was a dead cert, but that fact that Nolan wants to use Tom Hardy as Bane is mindblowing. Literally. My brains are all over the floor.

Finally something to take away the taste of Franken-bane from the abysmal Batman and Robin (1997).

For those who don't know, Bane was introduced in the early 90s as a man bent on destroying the Batman. He was physically enhanced by a super-steroid called 'Venom'. This would basically double his speed and muscle mass. He blew open a hole in Arkham Asylum, letting all the inmates go free. He waited until Batman was exhausted from recapturing them and then broke into Wayne Manor and broke the Batman's back. Following this we had a year of a replacement Batman before Bruce Wayne eventually recouporated.

The casting of Tom Hardy is great, I'd be happy for him to play anyone, but I'm not so thrilled about Anne Hathaway. I would have much preferred Eva Green or Naomi Watts, who were both rumoured to be in the film last week. Oh well, in Nolan we trust.

More on this when I catch my breath - until then (from NY Times):

"January 19, 2011, 12:51 PM

Roles of Anne Hathaway and Tom Hardy Revealed in ‘Dark Knight Rises’

By DAVE ITZKOFF

Batman has found a nemesis for his next cinematic adventure – and it looks like a love interest, too. On Wednesday, Warner Brothers Pictures announced a new cast member and clarified the role of another for “The Dark Knight Rises,” the third Batman movie to be directed by Christopher Nolan, the “Inception” and “Memento” filmmaker. Joining Christian Bale, who returns as Batman and his daytime alter ego, Bruce Wayne, is Anne Hathaway (of “Love and Other Drugs”) who will play Selina Kyle; the film will also feature Tom Hardy, a co-star of “Inception,” as a villain named Bane.

As comic-book fans know, the Selina Kyle character is the secret identity of Batman’s sometime paramour (and sometime foe) Catwoman, and Bane is a muscular bad guy powered by an addictive drug called Venom. But a news release from Warner Brothers gave no descriptions of how these characters would be utilized in Mr. Nolan’s film; Mr. Nolan said in a statement only that Ms. Hathaway was “a fantastic addition to our ensemble as we complete our story” and that he was “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.”

“The Dark Knight Rises” is planned to be released on July 20, 2012, with a screenplay by Mr. Nolan and his brother, Jonathan Nolan, from a story by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer."

The same reported on Deadline.