By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Well, it’s finally here! A trailer for The Dark Knight Rises that gives us a look at Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, Tom Hardy as Bane, and the story itself. If you haven’t seen it yet, take a look before we dive in.

I remember seeing one of the first trailers for The Dark Knight, where we saw Heath Ledger’s Joker for the first time.   The trailer was an experience in and of itself, as it was our long-awaited payoff after the final scene in Batman Begins. Plus, seeing Ledger’s Joker was obviously amazing. It was simply a well done, suspenseful piece of film that left me clamoring for more. I don’t have that same feeling with this one. Initially, that made me nervous that TDKR has a case of “third movie syndrome” (see The Godfather Part III, Spider-Man 3, X-Men: The Last Stand, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, etc). But it’s actually starting to grow on me, and I’ve found myself with a renewed anticipation for it.

Though it’s inevitable, it’s not necessarily fair to compare TDKR to The Dark Knight. The latter had more going for it in terms of Batman mythology, i.e. characters that a lot of people knew. We had The Joker and Two-Face, arguably the two most notorious enemies Batman has. The Joker is certainly the most famous. These were two of the characters everybody wanted to see after Batman Begins, and The Dark Knight delivered on just about every conceivable level. A story like that is tremendously difficult to follow, and it’s going to prove tremendously difficult for TDKR to step out of it’s predecessor’s shadow.

Still, one of the many things I give Nolan’s Batman films endless credit for is the fact that they’ve made Bruce Wayne’s personal journey a pivotal part of this saga. In Batman Begins, he became the hero and the symbol. In The Dark Knight, he was forced to face the consequences of many of his actions. TDKR seems to continue this trend, as it appears he’ll have to bring himself to return to his hero role after a long time away. In many ways this runs counter to what the older Batman films did, especially the Schumacher films, which focused much more on the zany, colorful villains.

I’m very much intrigued by one of Selina Kyle’s lines in the trailer. As she dances with Bruce Wayne, she talks about a storm coming, and tells him: “You and your friends better batten down the hatches. Because when it hits, you’re all going to wonder how you ever thought you could live so large, and leave so little for the rest of us.” Obviously, this suggests an uprise against the wealthy. This would certainly be timely, considering what we’re seeing these days with things like the Occupy Wall St. protests. That kind of angle would undoubtedly make a lot of people angry. But I think it would go a long way in proving that superhero stories can be about more than action and suspense.

Incidentally, the action looks like it will be as thrilling as ever, and the acting seems great, but there are two things from this trailer that made me roll my eyes a bit. The first was the shot of the football field crumbling behind a player as he’s running toward the end zone, the event evidently caused by explosives planted underground by Bane. The show this guy running down the field while this gaping chasm is opening up, the ground is exploding, other players are falling in. But does he notice? NOPE. He gets to the end zone, turns around, and has an Wile E. Coyote “Yipes!” moment. C’mon, bro! You didn’t hear the sound of the friggin’ world caving in about a foot behind you? Were you that anxious to score a touchdown and do a silly little dance? See, this is why I don’t watch football…

My second bone to pick is the way TDKR is being marketed as the end of Nolan’s Batman legend. The trailer calls the film “The Epic Conclusion to the Dark Knight Legend,” and tells us “The Legend Ends.” This is stupid. Yes, I know these taglines refer to the fact that this likely Christopher Nolan’s last Batman movie. But even if Nolan and company don’t come back and do another Batman film, the franchise has brought in too much money for Warner Bros. to put it on the shelf after TDKR. Somebody’s going to have the unenviable task of following all of this with either a continuation, or a new continuity altogether. So why confuse people by calling this the “end” of Batman? Stop shoving that down our throats, guys. Because even you know it’s not true.

Is anybody else getting a vibe similar to Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns from this trailer? That book, which  (to put it mildly) revolutionized the Batman mythos, sees an older Bruce Wayne return to the Batman role after years away from it, to once again bring his own brand of justice to Gotham. TDKR certainly seems to be painted with similar textures.

If I seem like I’m being harsh on TDKR, I don’t mean to be. I’m just a die-hard Batman fan keeping a sharp eye on the latest installment of his favorite franchise. We’re certainly seeing our fair share of speculation, which is always great for business. For what it’s worth, I’ve also had that “Rise” chant stuck in my head for the last few days…

Front page image from darkknightrisesrumors.com. Image 1 from undertheradarmag.com. Image 2 from stuffwelike.com. Image 3 from collider.com.