Warner Bros Pictures has just released one of the most anticipated teaser posters for the year. After a long hiatus from celluloid, Batman will finally return to screens on June 17, with the Christopher Nolan directed Batman Begins.

After goofing around in previous incarnations with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Chris O'Donnell, the Bat legacy on screen had been gradually reduced to a joke. Now, the Dark Knight's mythos rests firmly in the capable hands of Memento director Christopher Nolan.

The film appropriately stars the dark and troubled Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne, the millionaire with all the fancy toys who decides to fight crime in Gotham City, New York's darkest pop-culture caricature.

The cast is further bolstered by the venerable Michael Caine playing Alfred the Butler, Gary Oldman playing Lieutenant James Gordon, Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, Ken Watanabe as the evil Ra's Al Ghul and the inimitable Liam Neeson as the real bad guy, Henri Ducard.