Hathaway will play Selina Kyle, the alter ego of Batman's love interest/enemy Catwoman, and Hardy will play the muscular Bane, who is addicted to the drug Venom. 

"The Dark Knight Rises" will be the third Batman film directed by Christopher Nolan. The Warner Brothers Pictures release will feature a screenplay by director Nolan and his brother, Jonathan, from a story by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer.

Hathaway appeared in the Public Theater production of Twelfth Night and the City Center Encores! concert production of Carnival! An Academy Award nominee for "Rachel Getting Married," her other film work includes "Love and Other Drugs," "Alice in Wonderland," "Becoming Jane," "The Devil Wears Prada," "Brokeback Mountain," "Ella Enchanted" and "The Princess Diairies."

Hardy, an Olivier Award nominee for his work in the London production of In Arabia We'd All Be Kings, has also appeared in London in Blood, The Man of Mode and Festen and at Chicago's Goodman Theatre in Long Red Road. His screen credits include "Inception," "Wuthering Heights," "RocknRolla," "Bronson," "Oliver Twist," "The Virgin Queen," "Star Trek: Nemesis" and "Band of Brothers."

"The Dark Knight Rises" is set for a July 20, 2012, release.