So Batman 3 is definitely full steam ahead. Today, in an interview with the LA Times’ Hero Complex Blog, Chris Nolan talked a little bit about the final installment in his Batman trilogy.

Although we had known for some time that Nolan would return to direct for the sequel to The Dark Knight, we now have confirmation that the film is moving forward. So, what do we know so far?

• The title is “The Dark Knight Rises.”
• July 20th, 2012 is the tentative release date.
• Christopher Nolan will direct a script written by his brother, Jonathan, based on a story by Chris and David S. Goyer.
• The villain is not The Riddler. And although Nolan previously pronounced Two-Face dead, that may have changed since then. Mr. Freeze is not up for consideration. One villain they haven’t ruled out is Superman, but I would be shocked if that was the case. He did hint at the possibility of the villain not being a comic-book character, which is not a bad proposal.
• Tom Hardy has been cast in a lead role, and the filmmakers are looking for a new female lead.
• Nolan said, “We’ll use many of the same characters as we have all along, and we’ll be introducing some new ones.” Ok, I respect the lack of information he releases on his upcoming film projects, but that is verging on nonsense.
• The film will be the final in Nolan’s trilogy and will bring the story to a conclusion, something rare and great to see in this era of milking a franchise until it disintegrates. I kind-of hope Bruce Wayne sacrifices himself at the end of the film.

Thoughts? Do you like the name? I’m not a huge fan, but it’s a nice twist on The Dark Knight and “The Dark Knight Returns” by Frank Miller. Villain ideas? Black Mask, Hugo Strange, a non-comic-book character possibly.

Alright, so that’s it for Batman 3, and I know it is enough to get me in the theater come summer 2012. Let’s try to forget about it for a year-and-a-half and enjoy the movie when it comes.

He’s battled the Joker, the Penguin, and The Riddler, but there’s lately been one elusive villain Bruce Wayne hasn’t been able to fight; piracy.

Shortly afterThe Dark Knight, WB’s last installment of the Batman franchise, was released in 2008, the internet was swarming with hand-held cam versions of the movie. Now it looks like the long shadow of the Bat has fallen on one of those perpetrators.

Robert Harrison of Grandview, Missouri, has been sentenced to two years of prison for illegally coping the film while it was playing in theaters. In addition to the jailtime, there are close to $25,000 of related fines heading Mr. Harrison’s way. He will be serving the sentence in a Federal prison.

The ruling that resulted in his conviction states the following:

The Family Entertainment and Copyright Act enacted in 2005 made camcording in a theater a federal felony (camcording in theaters is also prohibited by many state statutes) and established new penalties for pirating works that have not yet been released commercially. First-time violators can be sentenced to three and five years, respectively, for these crimes and fined up to $250,000.”

Once again, a reminder to the criminal underbelly, you can’t escape the Batman. And to all you would-be pirates out there, it’s a steep penalty for sailing these theiving seas.

Well folks, no need to wonder any longer. Spider-Man 4 director Sam Raimi has reportedly decided on at least one villain to throw at Spider-Man.

Completely blowing out of the water the numerous villains whose names had been tossed around to be Spider-Man’s potential nemesis in the fourth film, Raimi is going with Black Cat as the foe in Spider-Man 4.

While Black Cat was certainly not one of the names that came up in speculation about the movie’s villain, the choice is anything but random.

Raimi follows a strict rule when it comes to choosing his villains: the character can’t just be a threat to Spider-Man, but also has to somehow be linked to Peter Parker’s life. Black Cat fits this rule perfectly.

In the Spider-Man comic series, Black Cat is the cat burglar alter ego of Felicia Hardy, who at one time was Peter Parker’s girlfriend (before Mary Jane, of course), and goes from being a villain to eventually being a consistent ally to Spider-Man.

No actress has been officially cast as Black Cat yet, but word is that Rachel McAdams is being seriously considered for the part. Casting is also in the works to find a male actor to play a second, as of yet unrevealed, villain for the movie.

We may have just taken a step forward in finding out who’ll be Spidey’s nemesis in the upcoming Spider-Man 4.

During a question and answer session following a screening of Trick ‘r Treat, Dylan Baker announced that he had received a call regarding Spider-Man 4 earlier in the day, and that he had agreed to join the film.

Baker appeared in both Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3, playing the minor role of Empire State University’s Dr. Curt Connors. This is the role Baker will reprising in the fourth film, although fans of the Spider-Man franchise have to wonder how large the role of Dr. Connors will be.

During the Q&A, Baker said that he’d mostly be remaining in the background for Spider-Man 4, but given certain variables I have to question whether Baker is just trying to throw us off track.

One of the villains whose name has been tossed around to make Spiderman fight for his hero title is Lizard, who happens to be the alter-ego of Dr. Connors.

After having the character of Dr. Connors be a small role in the previous two Spider-man films, is it possible that the fourth film might see the development of Dr. Connors into Lizard?

With Spider-Man 4 confirmed to be going into production next year, audiences can’t help but wonder which of Marvel’s villains Peter Parker will be faced with next.

Unfortunately, with production not set to start until March 2010, it’s still too early to expect any specifics of the film to be revealed. However, director Sam Raimi has expressed his interest in potentially pursuing fan suggestions for Spidey’s newest nemesis.

MTV recently ran a poll on their website, asking fans to vote for their choice for the next Spider-Man villain. The results showed fan favorites to be The Lizard and Carnage. Raimi seemed pleased with the possibilities, saying ,”I love the Lizard…There’s a great story there in the Marvel comic books about Dr. Connors. I’m less familiar with Carnage.”

At this point, Gary Ross’s script for Spider-Man 4 is still unfinished, so nothing is yet set in stone as to who will be the villain counterpart to Spider-Man’s hero, but we can hope that Raimi will pass his interest in fan suggestions on to Ross, who will then write in a villain the fans want to see.

It seems the boys across the pond at DigitalSpy were allowed in to a pretty cool meeting with the folks from Heroes.

I am WARNING you now – do not read below the picture if you are afraid of spoilers.

1. Nathan Petrelli is apparently dead. We see him rushed to hospital, where resuscitation attempts fail. “There was nothing we could do,” a doctor tells the family. I don’t believe it.
2. Looks like Elle (Kristen Bell) is going to be spending a bit of time sparring with Sylar this season.
3. Angela Petrelli introduces us to “Level 5″, a housing place for the most dangerous criminals in the world – rapists, arsonists, killers. Presumably this is where the band of Villains escape from.
4. Matt Parkman is alone in the middle of a desert screaming for help.