‘The Dark Knight Rises’ is Set Eight Years After Predecessor

Christopher Nolan’s third Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises, is set eight years after The Dark Knight, the director noted in a recent interview with Empire.

“It’s really all about finishing Batman and Bruce Wayne’s story,” Nolan explained. “We left him in a very precarious place. Perhaps surprisingly for some people, our story picks up quite a bit later, eight years after The Dark Knight. So he’s an older Bruce Wayne; he’s not in a great state.”

Of the film’s primary villain, the brutish and calculating Bane, Nolan added that he wanted to put The Caped Crusader to the ultimate test in the conclusion to his trilogy.

“With Bane, we’re looking to give Batman a challenge he hasn’t had before,” Nolan said. “With our choice of villain and with our choice of story we’re testing Batman both physically as well as mentally.”

How physically? Actor Tom Hardy—who plays the baddie who infamously broke Batman’s back in the comics—went into sickening detail about Bane’s fighting technique.

“It’s about carnage,” Hardy said. “The style is heavy-handed, heavy-footed, it’s nasty. Anything from small-joint manipulation to crushing skulls, crushing rib cages, stamping on shins and knees and necks and collarbones and snapping heads off and tearing his fists through chests, ripping out spinal columns. He is a terrorist in mentality as well as brutal action." 

Ouch. The latest issue of Empire is on newsstands now. For more on this story, click here.

Selina Kyle and Bane Confirmed for 'The Dark Knight Rises'

Warner Bros. announced today that Anne Hathaway has been cast as Selina Kyle in Christopher Nolan’s third Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises. The studio press release—which you can read in full at Deadline.com—does not specify whether or not Selina becomes her sultry alter ego Catwoman in the anticipated Dark Knight sequel, but let’s all hope she slips into some skintight leather at some point in the film. Hey, geeks can dream.

The studio also announced that Tom Hardy (Nolan’s Inception) has been cast as Bane, the hulking behemoth who broke Batman/Bruce Wayne’s back in the 1993-94 Knightfall storyline. In that arc, Bane—a steroid-fueled criminal genius—freed all of the most dangerous inmates at Arkham Asylum, forcing Batman to go up against all of his most diabolical foes simultaneously. After taking Batman to his limit, Bane tracked the Caped Crusader to Wayne Manor, beat him within an inch of his life and broke his back over his knee. As a result, a wheelchair-bound Bruce was forced to hang up the cape and cowl for an extended period of time.

“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,” Nolan said in a statement.

Nolan’s made interesting choices in casting Hathaway and Hardy, and as was the case in casting Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight, these decisions will almost certainly pay off.

The Dark Knight Rises hits theaters on July 20, 2012.