The Dark Knight Rises takes over Odeon and Empire in London's Leicester Square for European Premiere

London's Leicester Square was taken over tonight by the European premiere of the eagerly awaited Christopher Nolan directed The Dark Knight Rises where the stars of the film including Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Morgan Freeman and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were in attendance at the event that took over not only the Odeon but the Empire cinema too!

Bringing a close to the epic Batman retelling that began with 2005 hit Batman Begins, The Dark Knight Rises picks up the story eight years since Batman vanished into the night, turning, in that instant, from hero to fugitive.  Assuming the blame for the death of D.A. Harvey Dent, the Dark Knight sacrificed everything for what he and Commissioner Gordon both hoped was the greater good.  For a time the lie worked, as criminal activity in Gotham City was crushed under the weight of the anti-crime Dent Act. But everything will change with the arrival of a cunning cat burglar with a mysterious agenda.  Far more dangerous, however, is the emergence of Bane, a masked terrorist whose ruthless plans for Gotham drive Bruce out of his self-imposed exile.  But even if he dons the cape and cowl again, Batman may be no match for Bane.

Speaking about the premiere and the importance of bringing the film to London, Christian Bale who stars as Bruce Wayne aka Batman for the third and reportedly final time said "It's really something else, it's nice because it's my home country and everything, and you know there's so many people involved with the movie, so many of the cast and crew are English. And we shot so much of the movies in England; all three in fact.

So this is stunning, I used to hang out here so much, so it's nice to bring it back."

When asked about how it feels to hang up the cape and cowl, Bale added "It makes it bittersweet, but we are happy we made it to three, people were sceptical about the first movie we were making. Chris always said to me "let's not expect to make more than one", I'm really flattered that people shave been interested enough in our incarnations to still be excited to see us still."

The Dark Knight Rises opens in IMAX and cinemas nationwide on Friday and also features Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Aidan Gillen, Juno Temple, Matthew Modine, Joey King, Nestor Carbonell, Brett Cullen, Burn Gorman, Michael Papajohn, Tom Conti and Chris Ellis. The Dark Knight Rises Film Page THE DARK KNIGHT RISES OPENS ON FRIDAY JULY 20