Warner Bros. has released the teaser poster for the last entry of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises. The tease must be that the Dark Knight is no where to be found in this poster! What we do get is the shattered remains of Batman's cowl lying in the foreground as Bane walks away admidst a pouring rain.
So what do we learn from this stunning image? First and foremost that Batman has been defeated by Bane and presumably he has been incapacitated such that he can't even protect his secret identity. Otherwise the cowl wouldn't be left as it is. We may be even looking from the perspective of the fallen Batman as watches Bane walk away from the field of battle and the pretense of Batman's integrity is as shattered as what remains just out of his reach.
There are a couple of things that we can derive from the environment of this setting. We are dealing with two major elements here; it's raining and it's quite dark. The rain symbolizes that figuratively a storm has arrived and swept up in its ferocity is Batman's career and possibly his life. The fact that it is dark shows us that this battle took place at night and as legend goes, Batman owns the night. Or, at least he used to.
"The Legend Ends" is stretched across the poster notably right over the back of Bane. We could deduce from this as some sort of Easter egg to Batman's fate. *Spoiler Alert* As the story goes in the comics it is Bane that broke Batman's back and the designers of this poster have found a clever way to insert this fate.
I think it is worthy to note that although the center of the poster reads, "The Legend Ends" if we truly are looking from the perspective of a fallen Batman the words, "The Dark Knight Rises" marks the starting point for a resurgent Batman as he brings himself to his feet and begins the fight anew. I can almost imagine, if this poster ran like a movie, the gloved hand of Batman suddenly appearing. It finds its grip and we are no longer looking from the angle of a sodden street but from aspect of a rejuvenated warrior.
Perhaps Bane, in his arrogance, has forgotten one of the basic tenets of warfare and that is to never turn your back on your fallen opponent. He just might get up.
Great piece, yet again! I think your synopsis based on the image above is an accurate assumption if ever I saw one.
ReplyDeleteNolan has done such a good job thus far of staying truer to the essence of Batman, in my opinion, than any other film/televised iteration of Batman lore. Because of that, I think it completely possible that Bane ends up being the downfall of Wayne (I could resist the rhyme)to conclude the trilogy.
Regardless of Bruce Wayne / Batman and Gothem City's state at the end of The Dark Knight Rises, I know C. Nolan will do us right.
As a final side note: As ominous as the image above appears, the title "The Dark Knight Rises" lends to the idea that in the end Batman will live to tell his tale.