This might be the week of The Avengers, but that doesn't mean there isn't room for a little Batman.
After teasing us with super cool toys and photos, Warner Bros. released the third official trailer for Dark Knight Rises online Monday night. (Not so coincidentally, it hits theaters on Friday attached to The Avengers.)
So what'd we see?
1. Broken Bats: "There's a storm coming," says Anne Hathaway's Selina Kyle as the clip kicks off. The focus appears to be on the comics storyline in which Bane (Tom Hardy), the pumped up terrorist in the freaky, tricked-out Silence of the Lambs-esque mask, snaps Batman's back and sending Gotham City into chaos. We get a few glimpses of the broken, bearded Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) and fleeting shots of the Caped Crusader's cracked mask.
2. Christopher Nolan Knows How to Blow Things Up: Buildings. Cars. Trucks. A Plane. A Bridge. A Gotham football game. Nolan definitely didn't skimp on the pyrotechnics budget.
3. New Friends and Old: Hathaway gets lots of screen time in the new trailer as both Kyle and her feline alter ego Catwoman. She appears to be taking Batman's side and has no problem getting in on the action. There's plenty of Jordon Gordon-Levitt's mysterious new cop John Blake looking all emotional. We also get to see franchise stalwarts like Commissioner Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine) and Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman).
4. New Ride: "My mother warned me about getting into cars with strangers," purrs Hathaway. Replies Bale with a snarl: "This isn't a car." And with that, we get our first good look at the Dark Knight's latest vehicle in action, the airborne craft dubbed The Bat by filmmakers (and toymakers). We also have a sighting of the Batpod cycle (be driven by Catwoman) and the Tumbler in camo mode.
5. Badass Batman: If this is indeed his last stand, Batman isn't going meekly. Bale goes mano a mano with Bane several times during the two-and-a-half-minute trailer. Yes, there's definitely a storm coming.
July 20 can't get here fast enough!