The conclusion of Nolan's wildly successful Batman trilogy aims to gross more than $1 billion worldwide.
In the ending, there is a new beginning.
The third trailer for Christopher Nolan‘s third and final Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises, hit the web on Monday night after a day-long viral scavenger hunt campaign, and immediately proved well worth the effort fans put into finding and pasting together the clues necessary to unlock the clip.
Seemingly loosely based on Frank Miller‘s 1986 Batman comic limited series The Dark Knight Returns, the film features a story that takes place eight years after the conclusion of 2008’s The Dark Knight. Christian Bale‘s Batman is seemingly out of commission, or at least very unprepared to face off against the psychotic menace of Bane, played by a Tom Hardy whose voice is much more clear than it was in earlier trailers.
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Bane’s warpath brings Gotham to its knees and puts Batman on his (broken) back, though the combination of Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman), Alfred (Michael Caine) and John Blake (newcomer to the series, Joseph Gordon-Levitt) believe in his return, even when all seems lost.
The trailer features Gordon-Levitt and Anne Hathaway, who plays Selina Kyle/Catwoman, quite heavily, telling a story of struggle and misplaced trust amid the crippling of a city.
The trailer will be attached to the summer’s other huge superhero film, The Avengers, when it is released this Friday; The Dark Knight Rises hits theaters on July 20.
