New poster for The Dark Knight Rises

[ Click on the poster to see it in hi-res ]

The Dark Knight Rises has released a new banner poster ahead of its long-awaited opening next month, featuring Bane surveying his handiwork as Gotham begins to crumble.

The new poster features one of the collapsing bridges we saw in the trailer, with Bane standing in the foreground, looking rather pleased with himself. Look at the way he clutches his lapels like a smug trader fiddling with his braces! He's quite happy with how this is turning out…

The new poster comes hot on the heels of a raft of new viral material establishing the state that Gotham finds itself some eight years after Batman's disappearance. Organised crime has taken a serious hit thanks to new legislation, and Harvey Dent is celebrated as a fallen hero, responsible for cleaning up Gotham's streets.

However, it's this self-congratulatory attitude that Bane will be about to capitalise on, choosing Harvey Dent Day and the celebratory exhibition match put on by the Gotham Rogues as the perfect time to make his monstrous presence felt…

The Dark Knight Rises will open in the UK on 20 July 2012. With hype this excessive, it has a lot to live up to, but if anyone can deliver, it's Christopher Nolan…