You’d have to be living under a rock to not be aware that on Friday, July 20th, the final installment in Christopher Nolan’s ‘Batman’ trilogy opens. ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ brings back stars Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon, Michael Caine as Alfred, Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox and Liam Neeson as Ra's Al Ghul as well as adding Joseph Gordon- Levitt as John Blake, Anne Hathaway as Catwoman and Tom Hardy as the villain Bane, but it’s Christian Bale as the Dark Knight that keeps people coming back. This week we look at five fun facts about Bale as his final appearance as the Caped Crusader h...

In honor of The Dark Knight Rises hitting theaters this week, we scoured the web for the most interesting trivia would could find for the caped crusader. Here's 10 things you might not know about the Batman franchise:

- Robin's troubled history: Before Chris O'Donnell became the only Robin to make it to the big screen, Tim Burton was considering having Batman's sidekick in Batman Returns. The leading candidate? Marlon Wayans. Later, when there was casting for a Robin in Batman and Robin, Christian Bale tried for the part and lost to Chris O'Donnell. We feel both of these decisions were for...

A man went on a gun rampage at a screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" eary this morning, killing at least 12 and injuring 38 people.

The horrific event occurred at a midnight showing of the new Batman movie, starring Christian Bale, in Aurora Colorado.

Early reports suggested a man wearing body armor threw tear gas or smoke bombs into the crowded cinema before opening fire.

Officials confirmed 12 people have died and up to 38, including four children, were taken to nearby hospitals.

A suspect has been taken into custody and cops have launched a search for explosives in a nearby parking ...

Gotham City is reborn. No longer a mecca for crime, it's also no longer in need of Batman. That's why, per the opening chapters of "The Dark Knight Rises," he's at rest, along with his damaged auteur, Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale). As Gotham City officials celebrate their contained victory, Wayne harbors in the peripherals. It's his place, after all. He's earned it. But while he stews in his billion dollar mansion, evil is festering somewhere below. An evil so tired of this makeshift harmony that it plots a drastic city-wide facelift: Give us our streets, share with us your wealth, grant us ...

The final installment of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, is upon us; and much like Heath Ledger's Joker the film's villains are once again posed to steal the show.

This time around we'll be reintroduced to three bad guys: Bane, (Tom Hardy), Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) and Ra's al Ghul (Liam Neeson). Both Bane and Catwoman made their first appearances in the original film run that Tim Burton started in the 1990s (and, fortunately, we'll be seeing a much different Bane in TDKR); and Ra's al Ghul returns to the series after his intro in Batman Begins.

But where do the...

Okay, the bottom line...'The Dark Knight Rises' directed by the mega talented Christopher Nolan, is not only the very best comic book hero movie ever made, but in my opinion, it's worthy of an Oscar nod. That's how good it is.

The film, which was written by Nolan and his brother, Jonathan, with story by David S. Goyer, picks up 8 years after the death of Gotham's, D. A. Harvey Dent, as well as the demise of Bruce Wayne'/Batman's (Christian Bale) soul mate, Rachel Dawes.

For those of you who may have forgotten, Dent is the dude who went psycho and became the super evil 'Two Face'. Commissi...

The cast from "The Dark Knight Rises" jetted from New York City on Tuesday to London on Wednesday for the European premiere of the highly anticipated film.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt looked playful yet dapper in a polka dot tie and navy blue suit. Fuzzy faced Christian Bale and his wife wore matching black ensembles.

Anne Hathaway, who plays the sultry catwoman, opted for a long gold shift dress embellished at the neckline with various baubles and beaded flowers.

Morgan Freeman was too cool for school in sunglasses and a purple button-down shirt beneath his black suit.

Check out photos from t...

Christopher Nolan's Batman series will reach its zenith this weekend when the capper on the trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, blasts its way into the geekosphere.

All you need to do to rise to the occasion is to have watched the previous two films, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, about a thousand times like we have… or simply read our easily absorbed recap below.

Think of it as Reader's Digest, but with more grappling hooks.

Bruce Wayne Enters the Ninja

At the start of "Batman Begins" Nolan reintroduces us to the Caped Crusader mythos "Memento"-style, flashing forward and backward t...

Anticipation is incredibly high for The Dark Knight Rises, opening July 20. Possibly more than anything else, fans are hoping the trilogy ends strongly and brings some sense of closure to the Dark Knight story that director Christopher Nolan has been telling.

Ending a trilogy can be difficult—just ask moviegoers unhappy with The Godfather 3. Many studios don’t even want the third movie in a trilogy to be the final word anymore, which means we’ve gotten a lackluster Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Terminator: Salvation and mor...

Batman was created by Bob Kane in the pages of Detective Comics. The Batman movies have had numerous writers, the latest being Christopher and Jonah Nolan. The final film in their trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, opens this weekend. It is still shrouded in secrecy, but you might find a clue in reading Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities.

“From my point of view, when Jonah showed me his first draft of the screenplay and it was 400 pages long or something, had all this crazy stuff in it,” Christopher Nolan said. “As part of the primer if you like, when he handed it to me, he was like, ‘Oh, ...

10,9,8,7… Over here in London the countdown’s been ticking for years…6,5,4…

The big event’s almost here. The biggest show on Earth, featuring the finest male and female talent from around the world, at the peak of their powers. Expectation rises. A nation expects. The world expects. Can The Dark Knight Rises deliver gold?

GOLD-STANDARD COACH

A blizzard of publicity batters London: glossy magazine ads, arresting posters plastered all over double-deckers and the underground, Youtube trailers. Truth is, I don’t need any of this to tell me The Dark Knight Rises is going to be gold. ‘Directe...

Celebrities came out in full force for "The Dark Knight Rises" world premiere in New York City on Monday night. Anne Hathaway, who plays catwoman, looked glamorous in a long white, low-cut gown with silver sequins on the bodice.

Marion Cotillard also wore white, and resembled a ballerina in a flouncy frock paired with strappy high heels.

Christian Bale donned a black and white suit and was accompanied by his wife Sibi Blazic.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt opted for a gray suit with a skinny red tie - a stark contrast to Gary Oldman who wore a brown suit with a blue button-down shirt. The always c...

This weekend, Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars in the highly anticipated "The Dark Knight Rises," playing John Blake, a Gotham City police officer. He recently sat down with GQ magazine to talk about his career and his evolution from a child actor.

When he first started in Hollywood Gordon-Levitt says he was "a sort of serious little dude—snobby" and was concerned with adult issues like ecological damage. His former "3rd Rock From the Sun" costar John Lithgow recalls, "He was a very mature boy and now he's a very youthful adult. He's done a flip-flop."

Now 31, Gordon-Levitt worried he'd become ...

I took a break from the theater last week, so unfortunately I don’t have any mini-reviews for you in this column. Although this week, you’ll have the chance to see the epic conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy: “The Dark Knight Rises.” You could also watch a documentary about a wealthy family’s economic woes called “The Queen of Versailles,” or a rock documentary about LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy called “Shut Up and Play the Hits.”

MY PICKS FOR THE WEEK: “The Dark Knight Rises”

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

Eight years after the events of “The Dark Knight,” a new villain...

We've had our fill of superhero movies this summer, first with Marvel's Avengers and the second being the rebooted web-slinger 'The Amazing Spider-man. For those who have been waiting since 2008 for the series conclusion of Batman…Your time is very near.

As we countdown the days, minutes and seconds till the July 20 release of the much anticipated The Dark Knight Rises release, we thought we'd give you five good reasons you need to see this film.

The Director:
Christopher Nolan has not let us down yet and we don't expect him to this time. There has been such great setup in the first t...

Batman trilogy director Christopher Nolan ruled out mentioning The Joker in The Dark Knight Rises - because he didn't want to trivialize Heath Ledger's death with a throwaway line.

Ledger stunned audiences as the cartoon villain in The Dark Knight, but died before the second film in Nolan's series came out, and rather than reference The Joker in the final movie, Nolan insisted no one should even utter the character's name.

He explains, "I felt very strongly that The Joker was off-limits. I don't want to trivialize a tragedy like that by explaining it away in some fashion.

"I made the cho...

Anne Hathaway was the main guest on Thursday night's episode of the Late Show With David Letterman; appearing in support of her latest film, The Dark Knight Rises.

During her interview, host David Letterman revealed that he's already seen the movie - and his comments on the final installment in director Christopher Nolan's trilogy may have spoiled the ending!

Letterman told Hathaway that he was "amazed at how quickly" the two-and-a-half hour film goes by.

"What a deal this thing is," he says. "I'll tell you in all honesty. I went to the movie, and it's two hours and forty-five minutes. S...

A Batman costume fitting nearly ended in a panic attack for Christian Bale during his first audition for the movie franchise.

While promoting his new film "The Dark Knight Rises," which hits theaters on July 20, Bale admitted the dress rehearsal did not go well and he had to talk himself into getting used to the costume.

"I think the very first time I put on the suit it was at the audition. It was Val Kilmer's (costume from 1995's "Batman Forever") so it didn't fit very well and the claustrophobia was just unbelievable," he told Parade magazine.

"I stood there and I thought, 'I can't bre...

On Saturday, Anne Hathaway, Christian Bale and Gary Oldman were among "The Dark Knight Rises" stars who turned out to honor director moviemaker Christopher Nolan in Los Angeles. Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Joseph Gordon-Levitt also attended the event.

The director left his mark outside Hollywood's famous Grauman's Chinese Theatre during a hand and footprint ceremony.

Nolan Comingsoon.net, "There is something about the permanence of these things. I'm standing on Clint Eastwood's name right now and there's something about knowing that he actually wrote that. There's something very int...

Superhero flicks "The Amazing Spider-Man" and "The Dark Knight Rises" are two of the biggest releases this month, and they star some of Hollywood's hottest celebrities.

On July 20, Christian Bale returns as the caped crusader, which picks up following the events in the previous film. He battles the deadly bane (Tom Hardy) and Catwoman (Anne Hathaway).

Oh, but there's more. Much more.

Escape the outside heat and get hot inside by seeing your favorite male stars on the big screen this summer. Watch the cast of the stripper flick "Magic Mike" and Colin Farrell and Jeremy Renner from the Aug...

On July 20, the caped crusader returns in "The Dark Knight Rises." Warner Bros. just released some new film stills from the highly anticipated series conclusion.

Anne Hathaway shows off her curves as Selina Kyle, AKA Catwoman, while Christian Bale flexes his muscles as Batman. Tom Hardy plays masked terrorist Bane.

Bale recently admitted he will miss stepping into the superhero costume. He told Collider, "For all the discomfort and the heat and the sweat and the headaches and everything from it, when you sit back and watch the movie at the end of the day, you go, 'Well, that's f**kin' c...

Playing a superhero is hard work - and potentially deadly. Andrew Garfield nearly suffocated on the set of "The Amazing Spider-Man" after he discovered his spandex suit wasn't waterproof.

The actor plays Peter Parker, who embraces his incredible destiny after uncovering one of his father's most carefully guarded secrets. Garfield nearly passed out while shooting an action sequence because he failed to learn proper breathing techniques required for the scene.

He told the New York Daily News, "I had to get wet, and I just kind of dove in and didn't realize that water on the mask made it imp...

The latest Dark Knight Rises trailer focuses on Batman's extended absence, a powerful foe, and some gentle ribbing over Bruce Wayne's age... and his "wife."

While quite a bit of the trailer features footage we have already seen, we are slowing getting more glances at Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) and a graying Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale). The film takes place several years after The Dark Knight, so Batman is beginning to show his age. That means trouble when a physical brute like Bane (Tom Hardy) becomes his main rival.

It's not all dramatic this time around, though. Lucius Fox (Morgan Free...

Christian Bale won't miss wearing his Batman getup because he had a difficult time breathing when he wore it. The actor has revealed he nearly fainted while filming "The Dark Knight" trilogy because of the restrictiveness of the suit.

He told Empire magazine, "When it gets cold the cowl is extremely tight, and it gets better the warmer I get it; it becomes more flexible. But, after a couple of takes, I was trying to breathe properly in my nose. I was starting to see stars and I said, 'I have to take this off.'"

He added, "And thank God, on this one (film) I can - on (first movie) Batman B...

Christian Bale is experiencing mixed emotions ahead of the release of his final Batman movie, insisting he will miss stepping into his superhero costume.

The actor is preparing for the hotly-anticipated release of The Dark Knight Rises this summer, and admits hanging up his Caped Crusader outfit was a sad moment.

When asked if he'd miss his Batsuit, he tells Collider, "(Of) course I will, yeah. Yeah, definitely. For all the discomfort and the heat and the sweat and the headaches and everything from it, when you sit back and watch the movie at the end of the day, you go, 'Well, that's f*...

Last month Anne Hathaway chopped off her hair for her role as Fantine in the big-screen version of "Les Miserables." The film centers on the obsessive quest of Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe) as he spends years in an effort to capture escaped convict Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman). It opens December, 2012.

We spotted short-haired Anne shopping in Miami yesterday. She's in town to celebrate Valentino's 80th birthday celebration. The actress wore a blue dress, sandals, and sunglasses.

Anne plays Catwoman in "The Dark Knight Rises." The story picks up after the events of "The Dark Knight," w...

For superhero fans, there's only one thing in this world that could possibly be more exciting than "The Avengers": a Justice League movie. Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and the rest of DC Comics' legendary heroes, all in one film? Superhero nirvana.

With "The Avengers" blasting away box office records, that dream may finally become a reality. So we thought now would be the perfect time to reveal our dream cast for "The Justice League." Because someone needs to assemble these heroes, and it might as well be us.

Batman

Christian Bale has already announced he's done with...

The movie industry earned $4.3 billion last summer at the U.S. box office to make it the best summer ever (I thought piracy was killing the industry?) but don't expect the mark to last for long. There's a team of superhero movies coming along, and each one could break records.

The Dark Knight Rises and The Avengers look to score over $400 million each and should be boosted with IMAX and 3D premiums. Thus far, The Avengers have already made $218 million overseas. There's also PIXAR's Brave and The Amazing Spider-Man - Pixar is always good for a cash infusion, but we'll have to wait and see ...

Well, that didn't take long. Soon after Warner Bros. started a viral market campaign involving the search for Batman graffiti across the world, fans sent in their findings and unlocked the third trailer for The Dark Knight Rises.

The three minute trailer features more Batman than we have see in previous trailers, as well as some fighting scenes involving Catwoman (Anne Hathaway). Interesting to note is how often Joseph Gordon-Levitt is featured in the trailer: Is his character, John Blake, more integral to the plot than previously believed? I have my own guesses, which involve back-break...

When The Dark Knight finally released, it was riding a huge wave of buzz thanks in part to an intricate viral campaign that included websites like WhySoSerious. Now, with only one more trailer left to reveal, The Dark Knight Rises has finally gotten into the viral act, asking fans across the world to search for hidden messages.

On thedarkknightrises.com, a Batman dossier has arrived that lists addresses marked with "Batman graffiti." Fans can email or tweet photos of the graffiti, and each successful submission unlocks a single frame of the final trailer. That's right... fans are being giv...