OK, before we get started, let us all watch the trailer for The Dark Knight Rises one more time, shall we?
OK, have we managed to get all the giddiness out of our
systems? Excellent.
As Dru noted on our Facebook page, this trailer is best
described as quiet and apocalyptic. And really, what could be more fitting for
the final film in Christopher Nolan’s series? Over the past two films, Nolan has
examined the themes of faith, fear, and heroism, and everything about this
trailer, from the “hope is lost / faith is broken” taglines to the nightmarish
imagery of Gotham having gone to hell points to a film which is likely going to
go to some fairly bleak places. Hell, I'd almost say biblical, with Bane seemingly intent of punishing Gotham as if it were Sodom and Gomorrah.
But what can comic book fans learn from the trailer about
the upcoming film? Glad you asked.
1. Yeah, the film is drawing on the Knightfall
story arc.
Not that anyone has doubted it ever since Bane was announced
as the villain, or since the imagery of the broken bat-mask started popping up in
in the ad campaign, but this trailer clearly indicates that the idea of
Batman being "broken" by Bane will play a major part in the new film.
What is likely more interesting is the way in which Bane’s
motives for taking down Batman have changed. In the comics, Batman was something
of a personal goal, the man he had to take down in order to prove his greatness. Here,
Bane seems to declare that he is punishing Batman for…something. This is in keeping with Nolan’s approach of reinventing
Batman’s villains as a collection of terrorists rather than super villains, and
Bane might be the most overt change we’ve seen yet.
2. Turns out
there is a bit of Knightquest in this film as well.
Well, one narrative strand from Knightquest at any rate. In a nutshell, by the end of Knightquest, Bruce Wayne was healed of
the spinal damage Bane gave him in their last battle, and was ready and willing
to head on back to Gotham. Unfortunately, he had to do so minus Alfred, his
faithful butler, who was fed up with Wayne putting himself in mortal danger
every night, particularly after the events of Knightfall. Alfred would eventually return to the Batman family of titles, but it was years later before than happened.
A similar storyline seems to be playing out in The Dark Knight Rises, with Alfred
seemingly having enough of Bruce Wayne’s quest to save Gotham at the expense of
his health.
3. Is that a
bit of No Man’s Land I see in there?
Unlike Knightfall, No
Man’s Land is a storyline likely unknown to most non-comic fans of Batman. A year long Batman epic which played throughout every Batman book in 1999, No Man’s Land tells the story of Gotham
City after it has been devastated by a massive earthquake. Deciding that the
city is unsalvageable, the government of the United States evacuates all who
want to leave the city, and then blow the bridges, declaring the area a "No Man's Land." What’s left of Gotham’s population is
terrorised by the city's long list of homegrown maniacs, while the crime lords set themselves up as
the rulers of Gotham. Standing in their way is what is left of the Gotham
Police Department, led by Jim Gordon, and Batman.
From the looks of the latest trailer, it seems that Bane is
setting up Gotham as a No Man’s Land type era himself, taking out the bridges
and forcing the citizens of Gotham to deal with his chaotic rule. Standing in
his way will be Gordon, whoever Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s John Blake is,
Batman, and Selina Kyle.
If Nolan is indeed drawing upon all of these sources, then
his approach seems to have been to take three memorable-but-flawed stories, and
from each take their best elements: the core
concept of Knightfall, the emotional strain
of Knightquest, and the imagery of No Man’s Land. Mixed with Nolan’s
seeming ability to hit the cultural zeitgeist at the right moment, it looks
like we might just finally have a third film in a series which delivers on
audience expectations.
But what do you all think? Let us know in the comments
below!
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