And here… we… go!

Imagining a "Dark Knight" movie without Heath Ledger's Joker still hanging about was close to impossible a year ago today, but with the just-released "Dark Knight Rises" trailer, any and all concerns that Christopher Nolan's final dance with the bat couldn't possibly top his previous efforts should be put to rest. Keep reading for all of the details.

We know that eight years have passed since the conclusion of "The Dark Knight," but as recent comments as well as the new "Rises" trailer make plainly clear, Bruce Wayne — played expertly by Christian Bale — still has some tricks up his sleeve… even if those tricks keep his trusty butler Alfred uneasy.

"You are as precious to me as you were to your own mom and father," Michael Caine's gentle voice calls to both Bruce and the audience, as a young boy's rendition of the national anthem coolly hangs in the background. "I swore to them that I would protect you… and I haven't."

Alfred's words are followed by an ominous view of Gotham City and, subsequently, a scene of Bruce dancing dangerously close to an elegantly dressed Selina Kyle, played by Anne Hathaway.

"There's a storm coming, Mister Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches," she warns, promising that Bruce will one day wonder how he was "able to live so large and leave so little for the rest of us." Perhaps she'd be whistling a different tune if she knew about Bruce's secret underground lair.

Speaking of underground, it doesn't look good for the tectonic stability of Gotham. Adding credence to the rumors of an explosive earthquake device at the heart of "Dark Knight Rises," the new trailer shows Gotham's premiere football stadium crumbling to bits as a star player rushes towards the camera with pigskin cradled in his arms. It's not until he's in the end zone that he realizes his teammates have fallen into the pits of who-knows-where.

Shortly after, the metallic voice of Bane, the back-breaker himself, coos: "You have my permission to die." Cue spinal shivers.

The trailer culminates with shots of the desert-camouflaged Tumbler firing off at Gotham's city hall, Batman brawling in broad daylight, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's John Blake running away from something fierce, the Batwing rising (as we all knew it would), and the familiar rush of the "Dark Knight Rises" logo speeding at the screen with Zimmer's score washing over you with equal parts warmth, dread and insatiable appetite.

In short? A perfect trailer... as perfect as perfect gets, really. July 20, 2012 cannot get here faster.

Head to Apple to watch the trailer.

Tell us what you think of the new "Dark Knight Rises" trailer in the comments section and on Twitter!