It's Catwoman and Bane for The Dark Knight Rises

Just announced, Anne Hathaway has been cast as Catwoman in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises. And apparently Tom Hardy (Inception, Bronson) will play Bane, the muscle-bound villain last scene in 1995's Batman Forever.

I don't know, Catwoman and Bane just don't seem to jibe in Nolan's gritty, reality-based Caped Crusader crime sagas. Nor does Anne Hathaway for that matter. I think the next logical step for that world would have been the Riddler. And Tom Hardy would have made a cool one.

Mr. Nolan deserves the benefit of the doubt, though. If anyone can make these two characters work, it's him. We'll have to wait until July 2012 to see how it all plays out.