FIRST LOOK AT BANE FROM BATMAN 3 THE DARK KNIGHT RISES!

Move over, Joker. There's a new bad guy menacing Gotham.
Warner Bros. released the first image from "The Dark Knight Rises" - a sinister shot from behind of a muscular Tom Hardy as Bane, the main nemesis plaguing Christian Bale's Batman in the final movie of Christopher Nolan's trilogy.

"The photo is a fascinating study of a back of man," said Harry Knowles, founder of aintitcool.com. "Any sort of decisions of costume looks is tough to see. But from [the teaser shot] alone I have to say, 'Damn he looks good!"

"I just look forward to seeing more," Knowles added.

The reveal came courtesy of a viral marketing campaign from the studio, where intrepid fans visiting thedarkknightrises.com could decipher a garbled audio file to open a secret photo from the movie.

One reader of SuperHeroHype.com uncovered the Twitter hashtag, "#thefirerises," in the audio file - which leads to a link showing the photo.

"It was a pretty innovative way to drive people crazy," Knowles saod.

Principal photography on the movie, which director Nolan told MTV News will be his last "Batman" installment, also stars Hardy's fellow "Inception" cast mates Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Comic book fans will recognize the villain - created by writer Chuck Dixon and artist Doug Moench - as the drug-fueled hulk that broke Batman's back in a 1993 issue.



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