Check Out Tom Hardy as ‘Dark Knight Rises’ Evildoer Bane

Tom Hardy as Bane in 'The Dark Knight Rises'

Holy smokes Batman! A new snap of Tom Hardy as The Dark Knight Rises‘ super villain Bane has the blogosphere going absolutely bonkers at the moment. The film’s new website — TheDarkKnightRises.com — was just unveiled, too, with a spooky sound bite.

So what’s this weird snippet all about? According to Slash Film, one ultra-smart super fan cracked the code behind it by analyzing “the visual spectrum of that audio file.” Come to find out, there was a hidden Twitter hashtag, #thefirerises, and “when tweeted, slowly revealed, pixel by pixel, some kind of image on the site.” Voilà! There’s Bane in all his bulked-up beauty!

The Dark Knight Rises, which is currently filming in select London neighborhoods, arrives in U.S. theaters next July.

Do you think the new Bane photo is totally badass or what? Tell us here.