Now that the summer of superhero movies is nearing its end, with all four of 2011's comic book movie tentpoles having been released, three of which were Marvel films and the one Warner Bros./DC Entertainment flick not meeting expectations, DC is attempting to take some of that spotlight. At Comic-Con two weeks ago, Warner Bros. had nothing to show audiences, while Marvel was releasing Captain America: The First Avenger alongside a first look at The Avengers.

With that out of the way, Warner Bros. is now dominating the headlines with casting news, a change in date for Man of Steel, the first look at Henry Cavill in his Superman costume and now, our very first official look at Anne Hathaway as Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises.

Since filming of The Dark Knight Rises moved over to Pittsburgh, we've seen plenty of set photos and videos that reveal not only some of the vehicles and characters of the film, but plenty of potential plot spoilers. Such images gave us a better look at Tom Hardy in his Bane outfit and what may be the lowdown on Talia al Ghul.

This new photo however, wasn't snapped by onlookers watching the crew shoot the film from a distance, and instead was released by Warner Bros. officially. It presents Selina Kyle in what appears to be her Catwoman outfit, or at least part of it, while riding the Batpod, putting to rest any speculation that Hathaway Selina Kyle character may not become Catwoman in the film.

Anne Hathaway Catwoman Costume

 

She's got the leather outfit on, so cross that off the list. Not too surprisingly, the outfit worn by Hathaway here is spot-on the rumored Catwoman costume description we reported on in June, which hinted at a less sexy, but more tactical form-fitting outfit with goggles - something a world class thief may actually wear.

The tech-heavy glasses (look for them in Target and Walmart next summer) shouldn't be too surprising, considering what we've seen from Batman's vehicles and gadgets in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. From the Tumbler and the Batpod, to the 3D sonar glasses Batman used through a cellphone network - as illogical as that may have been - director Christopher Nolan isn't shy about introducing a little science fiction in his films about the caped crusader, which is especially true if the Lazarus Pits we've seen photos of play into the story of The Dark Knight Rises the way we think they might.

Looking past the surface details of this Catwoman photo, there are greater implications to be discussed. Firstly, Hathaway is riding the Batpod. Why? Did she steal it or at this point in the film, can we assume she's working alongside Batman to fight what may be multiple villains in the story?

The Dark Knight Rises cast sees the return of Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Nestor Carbonell and Michael Caine along with franchise newcomers Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Juno Temple, Josh Pence, Daniel Sunjata, Burn Gorman, Diego Klattenhoff and Alon Aboutboul.

The Dark Knight Rises hits theaters July 20, 2012.

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Source: Warner Bros.