Tom Hardy Appears Behind the Scenes of 'The Dark Knight Rises'

Where’s the big tube of Venom?

Oh right, they’re making a good Batman film. This is our closest picture to Tom Hardy as Bane—he’s fresh from the set of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises. Hardy was good enough to take a photo—or twitpic—with a fan who promptly posted the picture to his Twitter account.

As expected, Hardy has bulked up for the role of the Caribbean killer who famously broke the back of the Bat in 1993’s infamous Batman #497 (“Knightfall”). I have doubts that the character will retain his Spanish heritage, but I think that the physical threat of Bane will be well preserved (and then some).

Hardy was a standout in Nolan’s Inception last year—which is saying a lot considering he was playing alongside Leonardo DiCaprio. I wonder if he will bring any of that bad boy charm to the role of Bane, or if his will be that of a monosyllabic cold-hearted killer. We may have to wait for some official photos to be released before we can really speculate.

I think we can safely say that Poison Ivy will not be pushing his buttons.

The Dark Knight Rises is set to hit theaters on July 20, 2012.