Watch Test Footage Of Bane And Catwoman From The Dark Knight Rises

Here’s one from the archives: a featurette from The Dark Knight Rises designed to introduce Bane and Catwoman into Gotham City.

Played by Tom Hardy and Anne Hathaway, respectively, each character gave the Caped Crusader a run for his billions, though it was ultimately Selina Kyle who fought alongside Bats when Gotham needed her most. Bane? Well, he was more about bringing DC’s most famous city to its knees, even if his plan proved to be a little wonky in the end.

But make no mistake, if Hardy’s hulking brute sought the ruination of Bruce Wayne – physically and mentally – then he certainly achieved his goal, culminating it the moment when Bane broke Batman’s spine, and seeded the comeback story to end all comeback stories.

All of this (and more!) is outlined in the archived featurette above, which includes an interview from director Christopher Nolan about the physicality that Tom Hardy brought to the role. Anne Hathaway, meanwhile, was perhaps the perfect choice for Selina Kyle, and was able to turn on a dime from damsel-in-distress to capable cat thief – a character transformation good enough to fool even the World’s Greatest Detective.

If nothing else, this video showcase for The Dark Knight Rises serves as a timely reminder of why Tom Hardy and Anne Hathaway landed their respective roles, and it won’t be too much longer before the former is back in comic book movie territory, what with Sony and Ruben Fleischer’s Venom waiting in the wings.

It’ll scurry into theaters this October and launch what is now being referred to as Sony’s Marvel Universe. Other Spidey-related projects in the works include Morbius, the Living Vampire and Silver & Black, which just recently suffered a production delay due to concerns over the script.