It's been quite a while since director Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises has left theaters. In fact, the film recently celebrated it's DVD/Blu-ray release (which we reviewed here), and the disc set revealed plenty of behind the scenes footage and gave fans of the franchise a peek at the early stages of the creative process. If you managed to be one of the lucky folks to get your hands on a copy of The Dark Knight Rises Blu-ray, then you may recognize some of the images we have posted below. We personally found it to be pretty interesting to see how the creative minds behind one of the most successful films in history came into fruition, and we hope you feel the same.

If you've wondered how Bane's mask came to be, or how many different versions of the design worn by actor Tom Hardy there actually were, you might find it surprising how designers decided on the way the mask would look in it's final stages. Beyond the mask though are examples of the different versions of the shoes worn by actress Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, as well as the different ideas for the texture the actress' final costume. Check out many of the images below and let us know what you think. Are there designs you think would have been better suited for the film, or do you think the final products we saw on-screen were perfect for the movie?

Source: Collider

the EMP rifle looks better but the rest is ARGH

so many of those Bane masks would've been to gimpy - good choice for the actual movie version!

It's interesting to see the progression of Bane's mask from something like the traditional one to Nolan's final design. I hope that it relaxes some of the nay-sayers.

I am sorry but after wayching all three movies back to back I could care less. Why is it so hard for movies to at least stick to the basic idea of the comic book it is based on instead of using the name and doing there own thing with it.

@monitor_earthprime: the point of the movie was to be a different interpretation.It wasn't really supposed to be a direct comic book movie.

Splendid!

Those Bane mask designs look pretty terrible if you ask me.

Glad they chose the one they did. Some of those are FUGLYYYYYY.

I actually prefer some of those Bane masks to the one they used.

Yikes, the majority of those masks look terrible! I'm glad they chose the one that was for the movie. Want that prop so much...

Some of those masks look like they would've been on creatures in a Guilmero del Toro movie.

that last mask would've been alot better, the one they went with had way to much going on with it.

AND MABYE CATWOMAN WOULD HAVE SUCH A LONG RAP SHEET IF HER HAIR WAS SHORT LIKE IN THE COMICS, THAT LONG HAIR OF HERS IS A FORENSIC OFFICERS DREAM...oh look a 3 foot stand of brown hair lets see if theres any hit in...whatever that thing the dudes on CSI use...

The movie blowed hard , why are we discussing it?

as drawn by nolan's 11 year old son

@evilvegeta74 said:

The movie blowed hard , why are we discussing it?

Because other people liked the movie.

@evilvegeta74 said:

The movie blowed hard , why are we discussing it?

Calm down. Now's not the time for rants. That comes later.

I always thought Bane's mask was one of the few bad things of TDKR (If you hated TDKR, who cares? I hated X-Men First Class! Eat it!) but now.... maaaan.... some of those other masks just SUCKED.

Hey Bane how do you eat? Oh you can't but you can still manage to punch holes in solid concrete, riiiiiiight. In comparison to the first two, a very, very, very poor film.

I'm glad they went for the mask they did, those other designs are rather poor.

@LordRequiem: totally agree. I left the theater just confused at how bad it was.

@Metron144 said:

@LordRequiem: totally agree. I left the theater just confused at how bad it was.

Double agree. Not a good movie. I've been in no hurry to add it to my bluray collection.

@GR2Blackout: I'm with you. I thought X-Men: First Class was a joke.

Seriously. People.

Whaaaat is with all the constant bitching and bitching and bitching? You nitpicking, miserable malcontents. Please, please, please just shut up.

the emp rifle looks exactly like the k-volt from crysis 2 though,

I greatly enjoyed the movie too, there are so many possibilities for future movies, I just hope the ones that follow are just as good...I think they should get David Fincher to take over.

@GR2Blackout said:

I always thought Bane's mask was one of the few bad things of TDKR (If you hated TDKR, who cares? I hated X-Men First Class! Eat it!) but now.... maaaan.... some of those other masks just SUCKED.

Shame about the film though...

Are you guys trolling? Some of you guys really didn't like the film?

That's strange.......

@evilvegeta74 said:

The movie blowed hard , why are we discussing it?

Could you stop pretending to be a fan ? I'm sorry but from all your comments it's clear that you dislike Batman and have next to no clue about his mythos so why do you keep coming to the TDKR forums expressing your disappointment when you are clearly not a fan to even begin with?@LordRequiem said:

Hey Bane how do you eat? Oh you can't but you can still manage to punch holes in solid concrete, riiiiiiight.

You must be a complete idiot.

Beyond awesome.

@monitor_earthprime said:

I am sorry but after wayching all three movies back to back I could care less. Why is it so hard for movies to at least stick to the basic idea of the comic book it is based on instead of using the name and doing there own thing with it.

I pay to see something original,not a mere rehash of a comic,also you blatantly ignored so many references from the comics and the story lines they used for the final product.

Year:One,The Man Who Falls,The Man Who Laughs,The Long Halloween,The Killing Joke,Knightfall,The Dark Knight Returns,Bane(one-shot),Vengeance of Bane,Birth of the Demon.

Dear everyone,

TDKR was awesome.

You are wrong if you say otherwise.

Deal with it.

With love,

me

<3

Man, those mask designs look so cartoon-y! Though there is something I like about the right one in the third row down...