Caution: Extreme Nerdiness Ahead
Okay, as everyone may or may not be aware, WB just announced the casting for 2012's Dark Knight Rises. Tom Hardy is listed as Bane and Anne Hathaway will be playing Selina Kyle otherwise known as Catwoman. When I heard about Anne being cast as Selina I made a sound that only dogs and Al Gore can hear. True story.
Now as a DC fangirl, and a Batman fanatic, I've kept my ear to the ground and my eyes on the web and I'm still a little bit surprised. Happily surprised, but surprised never the less.
The use of Catwoman isn't especially surprising. I mean they killed Rachel Dawes, who now acts as a Gwen Stacey figure for Bruce, so they HAD to cast a new female lead. There are several SEVERAL women to chose from: Talia al Ghoul, Harley Quinn, Posin Ivy, Vicki Vale...the list goes on and on. Now keep in mind that the movies going to run about two-and-a-half hours so the charecter needs to be understood (at least partially) in that time. Also they have to be able to function on their own without another charecter egging them on. That takes care of Talia (who's basic shtick is her beloved vs her father) and Harley Quinn (who is completly tied to the Joker and always will be. That's how the charecter was designed. It's part of her psychosis. No Joker means no Harley, period) As for Vicki Vale...I am of two minds on this. On the one hand she became somewhat intresting in the comics while she was tracking down the whole Bat family. It was like a redhead creepy version of Lois Lane. Vicki has been done before, though, and frankly Nolan can do better. As for Ivy, it's not only been done (poorly) but she simply does not fit the Nolan universe. Take away the green skin and plant powers (which would not fit in the gritty realistic Gotham we've been presented with) and what do you have? A pissed off eco-terrorist who spends most of her time protecting the rainforest or something. So, Catwoman is obviously the best answer.
Selina Kyle has been around a LONG time. She first appeared in Batman #1 and has been portrayed by 4 actresses ( I do not count Hale Barry because she DID NOT PLAY SELINA KYLE!) Selina's backstory and motives can be as simple or complex as the story needs. Remember back in BtAS she was a catburgler and animal rights activist. In the late 90s she ran for Mayor of New York City. She's had and given up a daughter. Like I said, Catwoman is very very flexible. She's also Batman's one true love, but it's a star-crossed love. Niether can give up being who they are, even for eachother, but they also can't deny that they have this...connection.
Now casting Anne Hathaway to play Selina? I was somewhat surprised. I had resigned myself to seeing Angelina Jolie take the part. I like her well enough but never liked the idea of her playing Catwoman. Anne, though, now there's a great idea. She's age-appropriate for the role, in great shape, and I feel that she has more then proved herself as a serious actress. Besides someone has already photo-shopped her into Catwoman's costume.
So yeah let's do that! Actually I think this is a manip from one of Adam Hughe's covers for the 2000s Catwoman run. Good stuff.
Now as to Bane. Bane, despite Shumacker's horrendous disaster, is a powerful and very layered charecter. He is the man that broke the Bat. He is a master tachtician and taught himself several languages and scientific studdies. He is incredibly strong and then if he uses Venom he is beyond strong...he's damn near unstoppable. Now do I think that Bane can translate well to the movie screen? Yes. My only gripe, and it's a small one...is that Bane is Latino and this guy is not
So can Hardy pull off Bane?
That's a good question.