While early write-ups of the Dark Knight Rises footage screened this week at CinemaCon reported that Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne could be spied making out with Anne Hathaway’s Selina Kyle in the film, a new report from the Wausau Daily Herald also suggests a glimpse of Bale kissing Marion Cotillard.Cotillard, of course, officially plays a character called Miranda Tate–but many fans have speculated that identity is only a cover for Talia al Ghul, the daughter of Batman Begins villain Ra’s. Batman and Talia have a long and complex dating history in the comics, including but not limited to spawning Damian Wayne, the current Robin, either after a passionate night together or as a result of creative eugenics on the part of the Talia, depending upon which version of the story you prefer.Catwoman is, to the non-comics-reading public, Batman’s would-be girlfriend. Everything else most fans know about her is subjugated to the fact that she’s a villain with whom Batman has some degree of a romantic relationship–a relationship that’s frequently played up in other media and was in fact arguably the main plot point in Tim Burton’s 1991 film Batman Returns.There seems to be a whole lot going on in this film, with the potential for a Knightfall-style injury for Batman as well as earthquakes, social uprising and general bedlam in the streets. It’s hard to see where one–let alone two–love interests might fit into the film, although it IS the final film in Nolan’s series, suggesting the possibility that Bruce might actually end up with one of them in the end (assuming he survives). Maybe having such an active love life is actually a good thing, though, given Batman Incorporated writer Grant Morrison’s recent comments in Playboy that there’s something inherently homoerotic about the Batman-Robin relationship…!The Dark Knight Rises will be in American theaters on July 20.
