Tom Hardy is Bane in a first photo from The Dark Knight Rises

Brad Sturdivant May 20th, 2011

We are getting our first official look of Tom Hardy as the villain Bane from THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. Oohh, exiting! It’s not a great photo, but it’s a pretty good teaser- hats off to you Warner Bros. As we reported yesterday, filming has already started for the Christopher Nolan directed film and will be shot on three separate continents. We also discovered that Nolan would be utilizing the IMAX technique much like he did in THE DARK KNIGHT. Now all we need is a teaser shot of Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle (or will she definitely turn into Catwoman in this film?).

THE DARK KNIGHT rises stars: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Marion Cotillard and Gary Oldman. It hits theaters on July 20, 2012. Is anyone else as excited as I am?

Tom Hardy as Bane