We’re a little more than a month away from seeing ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, the conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s epic, game-changing Batman franchise, so movie-related merchandise will start to surface around this time. Things like action figures, children’s books, and companion magazines are likely to pop up in stores shortly, and they may even contain what some may say is spoilerish material.
The fine folks at Comic Book Movie have highlighted ‘The Dark Knight Rises: The Secret Files Scrapbook’ as one of those pieces of movie companion literature to contain some new and possibly spoiler-filled items. Two such tidbits contained in the book are descriptions of Catwoman, played by Anne Hathaway, and Bane, played by Tom Hardy. These blurbs give a little background information on the characters and mention some of the gadgets that these Arkham Asylum regulars utilize in the upcoming film.
Here’s the description for Selena Kyle:
“SELINA KYLE – is a world-class cat burglar and mistress of disguise. She’s cunning and devious, but has a deep sense of honor. As Catwoman, she targets Gotham’s wealthiest. Her weapons usually include infrared goggles, bladed high-heel boots, and a belt filled with lock picks.”
And here’s the one for Bane:
“BANE – Little is known about Bane. He was born in prison and trained in the darkest forms of deception by the League of Shadows, but rumor has it he was cast out due to his extreme behavior. Bane is a ferocious hand-to-hand fighter who is willing to do anything in order to take down his opponents. Bane is in peak physical shape, but he must wear a breathing apparatus that feeds him with pain relieving gas due to an old injury. He’s never been photographed without his mask and only a handful of people have seen his face. While his true motives remain a mystery, he appears to be building an army of followers in the dark tunnels underneath Gotham in order to create his own League of Shadows.”
Something missing from Bane’s description is his use of the super-steroid known as Venom. In the comics, that’s what gives Bane superhuman strength, but it’s noticeably absent in the movie description of the character. I could see some comic enthusiasts being upset about the dismissal of Venom and this new breathing apparatus, but I’m not too concerned about it. We’ve seen that version of Bane on screen already in ‘Batman & Robin’, and as Christopher Nolan’s done with everything in the franchise, he’s changed things up and presented pretty awesome variations of these classic characters. I’m predicting that Nolan is going to play up Bane’s cerebral nature and intelligence with this portrayal rather than solely relying on the brute strength that earned him the nickname “The Man Who Broke The Bat”. Of course, I could be completely wrong, but judging by the footage that we’ve seen so far, I think Nolan and I are on the same page here.
Directed by Christopher Nolan, ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ starring Christian Bale, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine opens on July 20th.
