The shroud of mystery is slowly being lifted on The Dark Knight Rises, and Christopher Nolan seems more than happy now to shed a little light on the finale to his groundbreaking trilogy. One of the big questions surrounding it was when exactly it would take place. After the events of The Dark Knight, Batman finds himself on the other side of the law for the first time, a wanted fugitive after sacrificing his good name to maintain the reputation of Harvey Dent.
In the latest issue of Empire Magazine, Nolan reveals that The Dark Knight Rises takes place eight years after the last film. Presumably, Batman has been hiding in that time, but what exactly his activities were remains unclear. Nolan also notes that the 6-minute prologue attached to Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol "is basically the first six, seven minutes of the film...."
Nolan: It's the introduction to Bane and a taste of the rest of the film. With Bane we are looking to give Batman a physical challenge that he hasn't had before."
We've seen plenty of set photos of the brawls between Bane and Batman already, a welcome change from the psychological warfare he's dealt with from both The Scarecrow and The Joker. The question I have is just how closely Nolan will stick to the comics. Like, is there the possibility of Bane snapping Batman's back in some sort of downbeat, grande finale?Probably not, but that moments remains my favorite, and most shocking, in all the years I've been reading Batman comics, so part of me hopes for it.
The story also has few words from the costume designer on the purpose of Bane's creepy mask...
"He was injured early in his story. He's suffering from pain and he needs gas to survive. He cannot survive the pain without the mask. The pipes from the mask go back along his jawline and feed into the thing at the back where there are two canisters of what ever it is... the anesthetic."
A bit of a departure from the comic, but not too far off. It doesn't appear as if the gas gives him super strength or anything, though.
Comingsoon.net also wrangled up a few scans of the Empire story, featuring a few new photos. The one I find most interesting is Bane holding up an image of Harvey Dent. Is it possible that Bane and his backers are using Dent's good name to rally the city against Batman even further? Looks to be the plan. Those new shots are above(in case you missed them).
The Dark Knight Rises grapples into theaters on July 20th 2012!
