Bane's upper arms are looking a little cakey here and in the other shots from all that tattoo-covering makeup. Hope it looks alright in motion...

Empire has definitely scared themselves up some eyeballs by landing the first substantive post-principle photography TDKR piece, one which includes Nolan’s revelation that the film would take place 8 years after the The Dark Knight. It was definitely a bombshell, because it’s a huge detail that for all the publicly visible shooting and prying eyes, the production has managed to keep under wraps until Nolan nonchalantly drops it in an interview!

The speculation about what this means for the hero/his villains and how Warner Brothers might exploit that unseen near-decade of Bat-history has already exploded, and has done a good job of keeping people on their toes. What other details have been successfully hidden that Nolan isn’t willing to let out of the bag yet?

Regardless, along with the alternate covers of the magazine, the piece included a batch of new stills from the film, mostly of Bane and Batman in different dramatic poses. Now they’re all available as full-quality images, rather than shitty scans, so let’s take a look…

Bane in particular looks to be rather prone to speechifyin‘ and grand gestures. In one particular shot, we can now clearly see that Bane is laying into Harvey Dent in some manner, perhaps tearing down an eight-year strong martyr image? The caption also specifies that the camo-tumblers are Bane’s “custom-built” rides. Interesting.

Of course there’s also the obligatory director’s shot, though they don’t always feature a camera this mighty…

We’re a little over two-weeks from the IMAX preview of the film, a new trailer, and the inevitably immediate internet leaks of both, so it’s not long before the hype for this film boils over into full-on frenzy. Gird your loins, as it’s going to be a looooong 8-month endurance trial to be an internet user from then till July 20th, be it because you just can’t wait for the film, or because you just can’t stand the incessant bat-related noise!

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(via Collider)