Heavily rumored last week, Warner Bros. Interactive officially announced today that Nightwing will be a playable character in Batman: Arkham City. According to the press release sent this morning, Nightwing will be available as DLC (downloadable content) for the game in the Nightwing Bundle Pack which will release on November 1. The pack will include Nightwing, “complete with his own unique gadget and special moves,” a bonus Animated Series character skin, and two new challenge maps: Wayne Manor and Main Hall.

Also announced, the Robin Bundle Pack, which will follow on November 22 and will contain the Boy Wonder and his two exclusive challenge maps: Black Mask Hideout and Freight Train Escape.

Both packs will retail for $6.99 on the Playstation Network and 560 Microsoft Points on the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and developed by Rocksteady Studios, Batman: Arkham City builds upon the intense, atmospheric foundation of Batman: Arkham Asylum, sending players soaring into Arkham City – five times larger than the game world in Batman: Arkham Asylum – and the new maximum security “home” for all of Gotham City’s thugs, gangsters and insane criminal masterminds. Set inside the heavily fortified walls of a sprawling district in the heart of Gotham City, this highly anticipated sequel introduces a brand-new story that draws together a new, all-star cast of classic characters and murderous villains from the Batman universe, as well as a vast range of new and enhanced gameplay features to deliver the ultimate experience as the Dark Knight.

Does the addition of Nightwing add to your excitement for Batman: Arkham City? Sound off in our comments below.

Marvel Studios has released the first trailer for The Avengers. The two minutes worth of footage has plenty to be excited about, including several looks at the team in action, all set to Nine Inch Nails. You can watch the trailer over on Apple’s website. We’ll update the story when a working YouTube link is live.

UPDATE: Here’s a embed for the trailer:

The Avengers, directed by Joss Whedon, stars Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, Tom Hiddleston and Samuel L. Jackson. The team is set to assemble on May 4, 2012.

No stranger to superhero cover stories, this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly has an exclusive on Marvel Studios’ The Avengers, which includes several new set photos and terribly Photoshopped cover. Director Joss Whedon had this to say about the production of the film thus far:

There is a weird element of: they handed me one of the biggest movies of all time, and I’m making it up as I go.

Whedon also says that the team won’t be all friends, but that doesn’t hold true for the cast members: “I was like, well, if they hate each other, I guess we can use that,” he shrugs. “But they don’t.”

We’ve included all the images after the jump, but outside of Whedon’s quote, we won’t have much to go on until the issue debuts Friday. 

After a little unintended break, William and Dane return to discuss two of DC’s New 52 relaunches. Find out what we think of Scott Synder‘s Batman #1 and see if Supergirl #1 lives up to the incredibly high expectations we have for it. Also, we chime in on Jonathan Hickman‘s Ultimate Comics Hawkeye #2 and find out why we enjoy his version of the character so much.

You can stream the episode or subscribe in iTunes.

Hit the jump for the full show notes.

Fun fact: It’s still Monday on the west coast! Why did the chicken cross the road? Because a new BTPC strip is up! …That made no sense… hit the break.