The Dark Knight Rises

That's your title right there. The LA Times blog Hero Complex has a teaser for an upcoming interview where Christopher Nolan reveals three big pieces of information:

• The Riddler is not in the film (despite me declaring, a few posts ago, that it was looking like the Riddler was sure to be the villain).
• Warner Bros. has agreed to let him make the film not 3D (good news for people like me and Roger Ebert that hate 3D).
• And, as mentioned above, The Dark Knight Rises is your title.

He implies that we'll see new characters (see below) and also more of the characters we've seen in the previous movies. Obviously, Bruce, Alfred, Lucius Fox, and Jim Gordon can be expected to return, but will the Scarecrow pop up again? Are Harvey Dent and Ra's al-Ghul really dead? Time will tell.

There are also rumors that casting for a female lead has begun. People will obviously freak out about Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy (and maybe Talia al-Ghul, but maybe that's just me), but there's no reason to assume they're casting a villain. There are a lot of women in Bruce Wayne's life. So again, time will tell.

Maybe not Joseph Gordon-Levitt? And maybe Killer Croc?

Tom Hardy, who you may remember as the clone of Picard from the terrible Star Trek: Nemesis but hopefully remember as the forger from the not-at-all-terrible Inception, is reportedly taking on a major role in Batman 3. No word on who he'll be playing or if it's a villain, but everyone is jumping to the conclusion that he'll play the Riddler. I'm not sure about that.

Earlier rumors about Joseph Gordon-Levitt were based on some word that an Inception cast member would be following Christopher Nolan to the next Batman movie. So it sounds like Joseph-Gordon Levitt is out and Tom Hardy is in.

I've been lazy about posting here lately, but there's also been word that Mark Millar, shameless self-promoter/comic book writer/person often later found out to be wrong, claims to know who the villains are and that one is one of his favorites. Word of some filming in New Orleans combined with Millar's preference for things big and dumb would point to Killer Croc. But who knows.

None of this is concrete, but I'd say Tom Hardy being in the movie is very likely at this point. Joseph Gordon-Levitt could be involved or not, Killer Croc could be the main villain or a minor villain or not in it at all.