The Dark Knight Rises
"The Dark Knight Rises" prologue will screen in select IMAX theaters in North America starting on Dec. 16. Warner Bros. Pictures

The hotly anticipated The Dark Knight Rises official high definition trailer has been released by The Warner Bros. Offering more than expected, the trailer includes actual clips from the film and scenes that take us back to the events of Batman Begins.

After being started with the words, Every Hero Has A Journey across the screen, the trailer brings scenes of Batman Begins playing over Liam Neeson speaking about becoming a legend. If you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, then you become something else entirely, a legend, Mr. Wayne, a legend, says Neeso.

After that Commissioner Gordon is seen on a hospital bed breathing through an oxygen tank. The trailer also offers a sneak peek at Batman's arch-nemesis Bane.

Check out the official trailer here:

Throughout the last weekend, a bootlegged version of The Dark Knight Rises trailer remained a theatrical exclusive in front of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, while fans have been exploiting the net to get a glimpse of the 1.30 minute trailer. The unofficial trailers of The Dark Knight Rises have been hunting down by Warner Bros. due to copyright infringement.

Another trailer says, HE WILL BE BROKEN

Meanwhile, another trailer of The Dark Knight Rises has emerged online, which provides a clear glimpse of Batman's arch-nemesis Bane. Much of the mystery is surrounding Bane, one of the lesser known rivals of Batman yet one of the most dangerous. A key question among hardcore fans is if Bane will break the back of Batman, the accomplishment he is most known for.

Here is the trailer:

Bane, the villain

Bane. Warner Bros.

Unlike the popular nemeses of Batman like The Joker and The Penguin, the villain in The Dark Knight Rises is a less popular one.

Appeared in the 1997 film Batman & Robin, Bane is not only a human with super strength, but also an intelligent fearsome opponent to Batman. Apart from being a skilled fighter, Bane is an expert strategist and tactician. He can speak six different languages, including two ancient dead languages.

According to comic books, when Bane was a child, he was forced to serve the life sentence for the crimes committed by his Father on the fictional Island of Santa Prisca. The prison officials conducted a scientific research on him. A super-steroid called Venom was injected on Bane, and although the steroid killed all the others it was tested on, Bane somehow survived.

The steroid provided Bane enormous strength, but caused him to become dependent on the Venom. Later on, with his skills and using the Venom, he escaped the prison and went to Gotham City.

As of now, it's still uncertain whether the character of Bane, which has the reputation as 'The Man Who Broke The Bat', will be portrayed in the movie as it was in the comic books. The Dark Knight Rises will hit theaters and IMAX in the summer of 2012.