The Dark Knight Rises New Poster: The Legend Ends

SPOILER WARNING: There is some brief discussion of the Dark Knight Rises prologue below. Don't say we didn't warn you. The Legend Ends. Three words landing like granite fists from out of the coolest teaser poster we've seen in a long time. Warner Bros have today unveiled this teaser poster for Christopher Nolan's upcoming trilogy-ending 2012 film, suggesting that the Bat is about to be dealt a catastrophic hand by fate, with some help from the hulking figure of Tom Hardy's Bane. And it's more than a little exciting... Way to establish an iconic image to help kick off what is sure to be one of the strongest and most essential marketing campaigns in recent memory. In the mythology of the character, Batman's mask is a fundamental construct of his dual personality, not only functioning as a physical barrier to hide behind it is also a metaphorical shield, and the idea of it being broken and cast aside by Bane suggests something seriously exciting. So what does it mean? Are we going to get precisely what we have wanted from the moment Bane was announced as a part of Chris Nolan's final Batman offering? Surely, surely, that broken mask is the most explicit hint yet that Bane breaks the Bat, and those of you who have seen the 6 minute prologue already will no doubt testify to further hints therein, without giving too much away. Personally, I don't believe that this means the actual end of Batman. It is too explicit, and it seems too strange that Nolan has allowed a hint of this nature out without there being more to it than we can read right now. With Nolan, nothing is ever as simple as it immediately seems, so this frankly astonishingly cool new poster will no doubt launch as much fervent debate for its apparently blatant message, as it will inspire frank assertions that it definitely means that Batman will die. I want him to though. And I want it to be by Bane's hands. I just don't think that's what is coming. The Dark Knight Rises is released on July 20th 2012.