Presented without much in the way of comment (well, just a little) is the first trailer for Christopher Nolan’s third, and presumably final, installment in the Batman franchise. This time around the new film is called The Dark Knight Rises and based on this new trailer it looks, in a word, awesome.

We know people use that word often and sometimes it tends to lose its meaning. However, in this case, it fits completely.

The movie looks awesome and like any good trailer you get a lot of info about the movie but don’t really know what’s going to happen in it. If only other trailers could do this, and be as good as this, and not give everything away.

Of course, you can be sure the folks responsible for this film know what they’ve got and know, with absolute certainty, the movie will do huge box office and people will flock to see it over and over again. So, they don’t really have to do that much to promote it. The movie pretty much sells itself.

July 20, 2012 can’t get here fast enough. Check out the trailer after the break.

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There’s been some pics of The Dark Knight Rises circulating around the web of Batman and thugs fighting on the steps of what may be Gotham City Hall. We’ll assume you’ve seen them because you’re rabid fans of the franchise.

Now Warner Bros has released something pretty much every rabid fan of the franchise may have wanted to see even more than Batman and Bane: the first official photo of Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. The photo, which appeared on the official website, TheDarkKnightRises.com, is sadly not all that sexy.

It is, however, a pretty good look at what Nolan is going for with his Catwoman and keeps pretty much in line with his vision for the films. Of course, what did you expect? According to sources, Nolan’s vision for the Catwoman costume is more “tactical, like the comic book,” “less sexy than Halle Berry and Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman costumes”, and would feature goggles.

That seems to describe what we’re seeing here completely. Maybe there’s some other version of her outfit that appears later in the film? It would be a shame to have a woman as attractive as Hathaway and not utilize all her talents to the fullest.

Check out the full version of the photo after the jump. And, a couple others we found from around the Internets.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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From the people that brought properties like Indiana Jones, Harry Potter and Pirates of the Carribbean to the world of LEGOs, it looks like they’re getting into the spirit of Comic-Con with a brand new announcement of LEGO Super Heroes, which takes place.

The new LEGO DC Universe SUPER HEROES collection will feature 13 iconic super heroes in LEGO minifigure form, including: Batman™, Robin™, Catwoman™, The Joker, The Riddler™, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn™, Bane, Bruce Wayne, Superman™, Lex Luthor™ and Wonder Woman™. Buildable characters will include Batman, The Joker and Green Lantern.

So now you can add to your favorite LEGO collections with a bit of a DC flair and even make some of your favorite DC heroes using the old mix and match LEGO technique.

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Judging from the box office success of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, quite a few of you have already had the chance to see this brand new teaser trailer for The Dark Knight Rises. However, for those of you who haven’t, or want to watch it again and again, we’ve got it for you right here now.

In it we get our first glimpses of the upcoming final, epic battle between Bruce Wayne’s Batman and Tom Hardy’s Bane. Plus, the teaser sets this up clearly as the third and final chapter of a trilogy that will set Batman on his eventual course to become the true Caped Crusader and Dark Knight.

I don’t have to tell you we’re all pretty excited around here for this movie to come out. Of course, as with endings of this type, it will be bittersweet. Still, can’t wait.

Check out the trailer after the jump. The Dark Knight Rises is directed by Christopher Nolan and features Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It hits theaters on July 20th, 2012.

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All things video games will be blowing up in the next week as Los Angeles is taken by storm with E3 news and announcements. We’ve got a few tidbits already before the show even happens, such as this little nugget about Catwoman being an official playable character in the upcoming Batman open-world game Batman Arkham City.

The game is written as a sequel to the massively popular third-person game Batman Arkham Asylum, in which you portrayed the Dark Knight (voiced by Kevin Conroy) as he took down some of the most well known names in his rogues gallery.

In this game, The Joker (voiced possibly for the last time by Mark Hamill) breaks free from captivity, again, to wreak havoc on the townspeople of Gotham City. The big news here is that the game will get a bit more female, as Catwoman has been announced as a playable character for several levels, instead of playing as Batman for the entire game.

Not only has this feature been announced, but there’s even a pretty hot video circulating around the web showing off the Cat of 9 Lives and how elastic and flexible she can be when taking down the thugs of Gotham.

Check out the video after the jump, and catch Batman Arkham Asylum on shelves October 18th.

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Probably one of the most anticipated games of 2011, any kind of footage or information for Batman: Arkham Asylum is getting gobbled up by fans the moment it hits the web. A few months ago, we got the first trailer for the game, which didn’t show us much. Now we’re finally getting some gameplay.

In this new trailer, we see not only some new villains make an appearance, such as Catwoman, Two Face, Hugo Strange, and Joker, but some great new features in what looks to be an almost open-world style game. Basically, what would Grand Theft Auto be like if you were Batman.

Some great new features have been added that we can pick up on, including the ability to practically fly through Gotham City with the use of the grappling gun and Batman’s cape-gliding skills, and some advanced combat skills.

Sadly, still no word on whether local or online multiplayer will be added in this sequel, but we still have a solid 6 months before the game is released on October 18th.

Check out the all-new extended trailer after the jump, and let us know what you think!

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Nerds everywhere thought we could rest easy after years of contemplation and speculation as to who the next villain[s] would be in the Nolan’s third Batman film, and who they’d be played by.

Not long ago, we got word that Selena Kyle would be the film’s main villain, played by Anne Hathaway. Also joining the film would be Inception star Tom Hardy as the secondary villain Bane. Now the door of mystery has opened up once again as Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in talks to play yet another mysterious role in the film.

From Deadline.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in talks to reunite with his Inception director Christopher Nolan in The Dark Knight Rises for Warner Bros. I’m not sure what role he’ll play, but I’m told that he will be in the movie when Nolan starts production this spring.

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Welcome to another edition of  On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage during the week. Let is know if we missed something interesting.

Let’s get started!

• Will Smith is currently working on a remake of Annie with his daughter Willow taking on the titular role and having Daddy Warbucks played by himself. Nepotism Shmepotism.

• Let’s face it, horror is IN! Even Syfy is getting behind their newest reality show Face Off with a killer swag contest.

• Take a look at one of the ads Fox rejected for the SuperBowl. The sad part is that it isn’t even very clever, or very good…it just has cheating.

• In case you missed it, Pee Wee made his triumphant return to TV last week, as a guest star during SNL’s Digital Short. To say the least, he’s definitely not the classic Pee Wee we grew up with.

• Gamers rejoice as the world of portable gaming and 3D finally align with the Nintendo 3Ds. The only question is…where do I put my Avatar tail?

• In case you have trouble seeing Anne Hathaway as Catwoman in the upcoming Dark Knight Rises. This may help you visualize it.

• Tarantino fan? Porn fan? Then this one is for you. The Reservoir Dogs porno.

• We love animated shorts, and this one, titled I’m a Monster is definitely one not to miss.

• There’s a brand new film out of China about a married couple who are also retired super heroes. The best part? Their names are Mr. and Mrs. Incredible. This…sounds…familiar…

Somehow with all the news that comes out every day we missed this interesting bit of casting. Okay, the truth is we were a bit hungover after one of Managing Editor Matt Raub’s trivia parties last night and we just forgot to put this up. Sorry folks, you deserve better.

Anyway, what news am I talking about? Why it’s the news that Anne Hathaway has been confirmed as Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman) in the upcoming Batman Threequel The Dark Knight Rises. Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. have announced that the Oscar-nominated actress is joining the film and according to the report they could not be happier about it.

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Anne Hathaway, who will be a fantastic addition to our ensemble as we complete our story,” Nolan said in an official statement.

But wait, there’s more. Nolan also revealed that longtime cast member Tom Hardy will be playing the role of Bane: “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.”

So basically Nolan is both thrilled and delighted. That’s a good way to start a project as massive as this one undoubtedly is. I think I’m thrilled and delighted as well. Hardy is awesome and will make a great Bane. Anne Hathaway should do well as Catwoman too and should have no trouble sexing things up for the Caped Crusader.

What about you guys? Do you like these casting choices or who would you have preferred to see as Catwoman and Bane?

After months of speculation about the sequel to The Dark Knight, at least now we have some info that’s confirmed. In a new interview over at Hero Complex, Christopher Nolan reveals that the title of the next Batman film will be The Dark Knight Rises, which seems to suggest the film will be about Batman reclaiming his hero status in Gotham City after ending the previous film as a wanted man.

Sadly, for some of you at least, Nolan also said the Riddler will not be the main bad guy in the third film. Although, he didn’t rule out the Riddler making some kind of appearance. In addition, Nolan also said in the interview that Warner Bros. has agreed to not go 3D with The Dark Knight Rises. Instead, Nolan will do what he did with The Dark Knight and use a combination of high-definition and IMAX cameras to give the film its distinctive look.

Finally, Nolan revealed some tidbits on what other characters may be appearing in the film. “We’ll use many of the same characters as we have all along, and we’ll be introducing some new ones,” Nolan said, without revealing any names. Of course, we can assume some of the characters that will appear in the new film which have to include the core group of Batman/Bruce Wayne, Alfred and Commissioner Gordon.

For my money, I would like to see Catwoman make an appearance with, perhaps, some support by the Riddler. With Nolan’s take on the Joker working so well, I’m sure he can help Catwoman become the big screen villain she deserves to be. What about you guys? Who do you think we’ll see in the film?

Even though Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment didn’t make the big announcement about Batman: Arkham City until after Comic Con, they did make sure to let us get our hands on a more kid friendly Batman title. Based off the animated series of the same name, Batman: The Brave and The Bold, which is coming to both the Wii and Nintendo DS, takes classic 2D side scrolling gameplay mixed with hand drawn animations to present a mix of modern and retro to the screen.

Each level is built as a cooperative experience pairing up Batman with either Robin, Aquaman, Black Canary, Blue Beetle, Captain Marvel, Green Lantern Guy Gardner, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Plastic Man or the Red Tornado facing off against the schemes of any of the game’s various villains. These villains include Catman, Catwoman, Gorilla Grodd, Mongul, Starro and Two-Face. Like the comic book and the show, Batman: The Brave and The Bold focuses on the idea of Batman teaming up with another hero to take on some villainous force he would not have been able to take on solo. Each level features a different hero and drop-in, drop-out gameplay allowing for players to hop in even mid-level.

The game contains a full five minutes of original animation created by WB Animation, the same team that works on the Batman: The Brave and The Bold series. These are seen throughout any of the game’s 2D cutscenes. Everything in the game is hand drawn before being digitally scanned and then animated. Because of this production style, the game contains around 15,000 individual animations. The game definitely stands out amongst all of the other 3D computer animated titles currently being shown.

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Welcome to another edition of The Pull List Comic Reviews! Superboy’s Adventure comes to an end, Daytripper continues to be trippy and the Rhino gets a happy ending that may actually stick. As always, WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.

PULL OF THE WEEK:

Adventure Comics #6
DC Comics – $3.99 US
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Francis Manapul
Score: 9/10

Superboy has been trying to “find himself” and determine if he’s more Superman than Lex Luthor, since his genetic make-up is made from both of them. Unfortunately, it’s Luthor who finds him first and serves notice that for all his intellect and power, Luthor still has that nasty little streak in him.

Honestly, this has been a fun, engaging run by superstar writer Geoff Johns. Equal parts adventure (which works great with the title) and drama, all revolved around Superboy’s own identity crisis, this arc hit all the right buttons without coming across as preachy or whiny; a testament to the writer’s considerable talent of making relevant topics matter in the pages of a comic book.

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