Devin Faraci over at Badass Digest is claiming to have some major scoops about the storyline for Chris Nolan's third Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises.

Specifically, Faraci drops spoilers about  how Bane (Tom Hardy) and Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) will fit into the plot, while revealing just who and what Batman will be up against in this third chapter.

Needless to say, if you are sensitive about movie spoilers being leaked on the Net, you need to stop reading now. Just to reinforce that idea:

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Possible Dark Knight Rises Spoilers Below!!!

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Still with us?

Allegedly, Batman will not be battling Bane and Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises - instead he'll be taking on the combined strengths of Bane, Talia al Ghul and The League of Shadows, with Catwoman being that gray character who ultimately becomes an ally to Batman. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character is said to be allied with The League of Shadows as well - though whether that means he's playing criminal empire heir Alberto Falcone, or another role (Black Mask) has yet to be determined.

Faraci is quick to suggest that there is partial info or even disinformation being purposely spread by Camp Nolan to keep...well, all of us here on the Interwebs from getting all the Dark Knight Rises info before he can even shoot the thing. That said, Badass Digest is standing by their source for right now, so we'll see if this all pans out.

If this rumor does turn out true, it would backup years of speculation amongst fans that Nolan was going to re-introduce story elements from Batman Begins that would bring the story of Bruce Wayne's transformation into a super hero full-circle by the end of The Dark Knight Rises. In fact, as far back as two years ago when we were still all wondering what Batman 3 would be about, I pitched a storyline in the comment thread that involved Talia al Ghul being lured to Gotham (thanks in part to The Joker's rampage of madness and chaos) in order to finish her father's work "purifying" the city and punishing her daddy's killer (Batman).

Gordon-Levitt could still play Alberto Falcone (as is the popular rumor), whose position as heir to the Falcone crime empire would also include ties to the League of Shadows established by his father (Tom Wilkinson in Batman Begins). Tom Hardy's Bane would likely be Talia's suitor/enforcer - until her attraction to Batman causes him to make a play to seize The League (and subsequently Gotham) for himself. Or maybe he and Talia will be in it together all the way, who knows? Since we know now that Hathaway is pretty much confirmed to play Catwoman (not just Selina Kyle), she would be an ally for Batman with questionable motives - kind of a double-agent character (if this were a spy thriller), with Nolan providing plenty of double and triple-crosses, just to keep us guessing.

I always figured Nolan might have something like the scenario above in store for the third and final chapter of the Bat Saga, and it would be pretty much be as complicated, smart, themeatic, insightful and downright exciting as his other Batman scripts have been. Here's hoping that I'm on the money.

Badass Digest's spoilers also support earlier news that Nolan was looking for two female leads for Dark Knight Rises, one of course being Hathaway for Catwoman.  Could recent rumors of Marion Cotillard being in talks for Batman 3 and Talia al Ghul being a villain in the film combine to form the truth, with Cotillard playing the daughter of Ra's al Ghul (Liam Neeson in Batman Begins)? A cat fight (excuse the pun) between Hathaway and Cotillard sounds mighty fine to me...

We'll of course keep you updated on how this pans out, but it's an exciting rumors no?

The Dark Knight Rises in regular and IMAX theaters on July 20, 2012

Source: Badass Digest