First Look: Anne Hathaway As Catwoman in THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

Warner Bros have released the first official photo of Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle / Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises, via their official website. The still debuted at TheDarkKnightRises.com under the file name 'selina_kyle.jpg". Now one thing we must be aware of by now is that Christopher Nolan is happy to play it loose and free with the comic book canon and is happy to mould the iconic Batman characters into shapes and sizes that suit the story he wants to tell. He is of course respectful to the source material and the spirit and the essence of what they have been about for so many decades but if he finds a way to change-up what we expect from characters... he won't hesitate to it. A few cases in point; Henri Ducard and Ra's Al Ghul are two completely separate characters in the comic book universe but Nolan here made them into one for storytelling purposes and it worked. Nolan decided that The Joker's smile would be made up of a permanent cut on his face and not just make-up or a permanent white scarring. This is completely against how fans had read the character for years but we all loved it so much that it has now become more common to see a permanent cut scarred Joker as the modern day image of the character. The tumbler, Nolan's version of the Batmobile is completely unlike anything that was ever in the previous films or comic books but again, has become an iconic and accepted part of the character. So... baring that mind.... what do we make of this first look of a very different looking Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises? We've heard previously that the costume would be more €œtactical, like the comic book... less sexy than Halle Berry and Michelle Pfeiffer€™s Catwoman costumes" and you can definitely see that in the image above. But doesn't everyone find it interesting that the image is tagged 'Selina Kyle' and not 'Catwoman'... and in the image above, her identity is clearly on show.... it is no doubt Selina driving the Batpod! She isn't trying to hide that fact. Is The Dark Knight Rises Selina's journey into becoming Catwoman? Is she an ally first to Bats, helping him against Bane's threat to Gotham, before becoming a villain later? Lots to discuss... What do you think of the image and our first look at Selina Kyle in Christopher Nolan's universe?