One of CBM's own,
Mikey Wood, has quite the eagle eye as he came across a rather fascinating science experiment that shares the same name as the working title of
The Dark Knight Rises. That title and the name of the experiment is
MAGNUS-REX.
Magnus-Rex Seismic Experiment - October, 2007
Magnus-Rex, a new seismic refraction experiment set out to shed light on the relationship between topography and Moho depth in southern Norway and to help determine if topography is compensated by crustal thickness. The project is the refraction component of MAGNUS, (Mantle investigations of Norwegian uplift structure), a multidisciplinary study of the lithosphere in southern Norway. - MAGNUS-REX
To break that down a little bit for you, in 2007 the Copenhagen
University, Oslo University, Bergen University and the Norwegian Geological
Survey conducted an experiment related to seismic activity. As you will read below, the experiment required setting off a series of small explosions set along three different seismic lines.
Three ~400 km long seismic lines were deployed across southern Norway, in October 2007 (Figure 1). A total of 26 shots of 100-400 kg charge size were fired along the three lines. Vertical
component seismographs were deployed every two km along each line to record the explosions. An instrument spacing of 750 meters was used along a 120 km section across the Oslo Graben. Three different structural domains are covered by the refraction seismic lines; the Southern Scandes Mountains, the Oslo Graben and Fennoscandian Shield crust. - MAGNUS-REX
What does all of this mean? Well, rumors have been springing up for sometime about what Bane's "Instrument of Your Liberation" as he call it, actually is. I've seen one rumor that suggests it's a neutron bomb, another says that it is an EMP bomb, which would shut down all electronics. But, another rumor that has been floated around for sometime is that Bane's device is an earthquake machine.
Just look at the first teaser that features crumbling buildings, something akin to Gotham being ravaged by a severe earthquake. And many people have also noticed similarities to the batman story, "No Man's Land." Which is a story that centers around the idea that Gotham is gutted by a massive earthquake.
Gotham City had suffered the results of a magnitude 7.6 earthquake in the earlier Cataclysm storyline. In response, the U.S government declared Gotham a "no man's land," destroyed all bridges leading to Gotham and forbade people from entering or exiting.
That last line is of interest as we have seen set photos of a huge pile of cars blocking off a tunnel. Which to a keen or lazy eye would indicate that the citizens of Gotham are being prevented from escaping, and also not allowing anyone to enter.
The city was swiftly carved up by gangs and various supervillains Batman had battled over the years, primarily The Penguin. Jim Gordon and several members of the Gotham police department stayed behind to protect civilians. Oracle and Huntress also ended up on the inside. Bruce Wayne (Batman) left the city to lobby the government to not cut Gotham off, but failed. Gordon and his men waited for his return, but by the time he returned more than three months later, they believed he had abandoned Gotham. - Wikipedia
In the story, with the absence of Batman, Huntress steps in as Batgirl to help keep order. If we adapted that tale to the film, that would mean Anne Hathaway's Catwoman could be helping Gotham during Bruce's leave. And we know from watching the second trailer that Bruce is imprisoned at some point in the film.
Another hint that "No Man's Land" is in fact the blueprint to
The Dark Knight Rises is that mysterious set video appeared of Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake. In that video it looks like the actor is marking a wall. At the time if left most of Batman fans confused, but if we look once again at the "No Man's Land" story arc we'll see another connection.
Batman and James Gordon's officers work separately to reclaim Gotham, piece by piece, by beating and subduing the gang leaders and then marking the reclaimed territory with graffiti. - Wikipedia
Shooting a scene in Pgh - Dark Knight Rises from victorbar on Vimeo.
Let it be clear that I am not saying that all of the "No Man's Land" storyline will be used, or what is used will be replicated for
The Dark Knight Rises, but there are quite a few similarities. Enough in my mind that I can speculate that Bane's device will in fact cause earthquakes.
The Dark Knight Rises hits theaters July 20th 2012 and stars Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth, Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon, Tom Hardy as Bane, Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake and Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate.