Tuesday
Aug122008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008 at 11:32AM Fantastic (And Phony) 'Dark Knight Returns' Poster
Let me start by saying that this is, as near as I can
tell, 100% fake. I simply have no reason to believe it's real, despite the fact that it's an extremely well-made image. There are several reasons why I'm saying it's fake:
1) The website listed at the bottom isn't active.
2) We have zero confirmation that the villain in the
poster will be the villain in the movie.
3) It's highly doubtful the movie in question would use
the exact same motif for a new batch of posters.
4) Google it. You won't find much.
5) Chances are, the Zodiac Killer hasn't moved from the
Bay Area to Gotham, so the cipher (middle left, upper right) is a questionable
addition.
4) Isn't it a little early?
Now that we've established that this is almost certainly not real, let's
just applaud the great Photoshop work involved.
Big Picture reader Nick Harper sent us this phony poster for The Dark Knight Returns, with a release date of 2011. As we've established in other articles on this subject, if anyone knows what villains will be used, his name is Christopher Nolan. Neither he nor any producers nor the studio have said who Batman will battle next. Does The Riddler make sense? I guess so. I personally want the series to avoid using him, The Penguin, and Catwoman altogether (and not just for this movie), but it's not illogical to think he might pop up in the third chapter.
If you look closely, you'll see that there's a planted story in the middle of the paper about Harvey Dent. Near as we can tell, that story has been written a year after Dent's death/disappearance, and we're positive that the byline credits a reporter named Vicki Vale. That's a lovely touch. I don't know where in the hell this poster came from, but it's damn fine work. Again, I doubt they'd use the newspaper concept The Dark Knight employed, but if I were Warner Bros., I'd find out who made this poster, sue them for copyright infringement and then immediately hire them. In other wholly unsubstantiated Batman news (Holy Wholly Unsubstantiated Batman News, Batman!), Page Six reports that Angelina Jolie is so determined to play Catwoman - a role that also has not been confirmed - that she's taking sexy Catwoman lessons from Tera Patrick. Really? Tera used to be nice to look at before she had Mattel install a bunch of new parts, but does Angelina need to take classes from anyone on how to be sexy? "They are friends and keep in touch via e-mail," a 'source' tells the rag. "She and Angie have a girl-talk thing going." "After seeing reports that she'll land the lead role, Jolie asked Patrick what she thought," again, according to the 'source.' "Tera had such insights into the role that Jolie cracked, 'You should do it!'" I'm more inclined to believe the poster, frankly.
Reader Comments (34)
To me, having an article by Vicki Vale too contrived, and that's what gives it away. Not only that, she wasn't a writer. She was a photographer. It is an impressive poster though.
That's what gives it away? Not the fact that we have no idea who the villain will be? Are you sure she was a photographer? I thought in the original comic book version she was a reporter.
The Riddler has always known Batman's identity as well. That would be very untrue to the comics and Nolan hates being untrue to the comics. He's a fan himself. Duh. But very well made.
I think the poster is well done, if early. If their marketing crew would have released this closer to the actual date of the movie's "release", then it would have been a powerful advertisement, although I'm not saying it isnt. I think it's a great poster/ad and is very well made.
@ Seth
Nolan is not afraid to be untrue to the comics! Did you see The Joker in The Dark Knight? According to the comics The Joker's look wasn't makeup, it was chemicals. But the movie makes it clear that The Joker's look is completely artificial (minus the smile). I'm not complaining, it worked fine.
Awesome poster, pretty apparent it's a fake though.
I take back my comment about VV being a photographer. I thought she was in the Tim Burton original but 1)my memory is shaky at best and 2)according to that movie the Joker killed Batman's parents and Batman dropped the Joker into chemicals. So I can't really expect any consistency to that series and this one anyway.
At first glance her name in the poster just struck me as unbelievable. I don't know why.
Tell who ever made this to make more, I want one for every suggested villan for the next movie.
Some great design work here, and even well thought out. I'm very impressed.