‘Dark Knight Rises’: New Batman to Face Tom Hardy

Tom Hardy arrives at the premiere of Warner Bros. Inception at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on July 13 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)

The next installment of the Batman film series, Dark Knight Rises, will include Tom Hardy in its cast. He is widely reported to be playing the yet-unnamed villain and will face off against a new Batman.

Christopher Nolan, who directed the previous Batman film The Dark Knight, announced two days ago that the film would not feature one of Batman’s many arch-villains, the Riddler, disappointing many who had believed the Riddler to be featured in the new movie.

Nolan also said that “Dark Knight Rises” would be filmed in 2D, in contrast to the many big-budget movies that are now being filmed in 3D.

Now the focus is on Hardy and the role that he will play in Dark Knight Rises. On Saturday night, several entertainment websites including MTV.com were reporting that Hardy’s role in Snow White and the Huntsman will instead be played by Johnny Depp, suggesting that Hardy will instead be focusing more on his role in Dark Knight Rises.

Meanwhile, Christopher Nolan is still scouting for a female lead for the film, according to a separate article on MTV.com.

Dark Knight Rises is high on the movie visibility list, especially with Nolan’s recent successes with The Dark Knight and the wild-card Inception, both of which topped the North American box office, with The Dark Knight going on for record hauls.