Is this viral campaign the beginning of the Dark Knight’s rise?

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Someone pointed out to me recently that a possible reason for all things being quiet on the DARK KNIGHT front was that Warner Bros. didn’t want their film getting lost in the AVENGERS shuffle. Which makes perfect sense to me, because the behemoth that is THE AVENGERS has consumed so much of the public’s attention that there was a good chance whatever THE DARK KNIGHT RISES did in the way of marketing would be pushed aside in favor of Marvel’s Mighty Team-Up. But once May 4th rolls ’round, even with PROMETHEUS coming out in a month, I’d say all bets are off and we’ll see a lot more from the final film in Nolan’s trilogy.

To that end today brings a new THE DARK KNIGHT RISES website that is comprised of an extensive police report on “John Doe AKA The Batman,” and it has all sorts of bits and bobs of information that delve into the socio-political climate that sets off the events of THE DARK KNIGHT RISES.  In it you’ll find talk of “Harvey Dent Day,” as well as the court ruling that Batman has been charged with a host of crimes including six counts of first degree murder and three counts of kidnapping (as well as the murder of Harvey Dent).  Meaning everything is happening just as Batman meant it to at the close of THE DARK KNIGHT.

But the really important bit can be found on page 3, with a statement that looks to be a direct call to us as an audience to participate in the viral campaign.

“Officers should also be directed to report any and all information pertaining to the investigation to the designated contact (#tdkr07202012 or [email protected]).  This includes submitting photographic evidence of graffiti related to any movement in report of the vigilante’s return so we can suppress it before it becomes a problem.  Officers should make sure that location services or store location is on in their camera settings.” 

This is followed by several pages of locations that are “areas of previous Batman sightings,” and while only international locations are listed “addresses for the US and Canada are currently being collated and will be added on April 30th 2012 at 8 am PST.”

You can find the full site by clicking right here.

Updated: thanks to the sharp eye and generous disposition of one of our readers, it seems that the submission of the aforementioned “photographic evidence” is leading to the frame-by-frame reveal of the next trailer (which you can watch in front of THE AVENGERS this Friday).  Check it out here.