As of right now, The Dark Knight Rises is probably the most anticipated comic book movie (rivaled only by The Avengers and The Amazing Spider-Man, but even those probably aren't as anticipated) after the phenomenon that was The Dark Knight (now considered perhaps the best CBM ever). Spider-Man 3 was also hotly anticipated at its time (after the success of the second Spidey movie), but now it's considered one of the weakest CBM's ever made. So what am I bringing up here? Keep reading....
Both Spider-Man (2002) and Batman Begins are commonly considered among fans to be the movies that have raised the bar of comic book movies the most (along with classics such as Iron Man and Superman [1978]). Spider-Man was, until The Dark Knight's release, the highest grossing movie of its genre, and it is still considered a masterpiece among many. Batman Begins was one of the first to take on a serious, much more realistic feel to a comic book movie, and many things about it are more believable than those in previous CBMs.
Both Spider-Man 2 and The Dark Knight (much more so the latter) are considered some of the greatest CBMs ever created (and some of the best movies ever, period). Spider-Man 2 continued the adventures of Peter Parker as he struggles to balance his relationship with Mary Jane and his duties as Spider-Man, all while taking on Alfred Molina's priceless version of Doc Ock. The Dark Knight, as stated before, is the most financially successful CBM ever, and probably even more so with the critics (it deserved Rotten Tomatoes' 94% approval rating). It also gave us perhaps the greatest villain portrayal to date (RIP Heath Ledger).
As said before, Spider-Man 3 was extremely anticipated following 2's success. With the promises of the black suit, Sandman, and even Venom for this movie, fanboys went through the roof. Then after its release, nearly everyone dissed it as a failure. From emo Peter Parker scenes to too little Venom (even to the casting of Topher Grace as Eddie Brock, and I personally didn't care for his performance), negative statements flew across the world. And as mentioned in a recent article someone wrote about SM3, part of the reason why most people didn't like it was likely because their expectations were too high.
The Dark Knight Rises finds itself in a similar position that Spider-Man 3 was in. With rumor after rumor, confirmation of Bane and Catwoman/Selina Kyle to be featured in this movie, and the fact that Warren Pfister read the script and said it topped TDK, fanboys are probably at Jupiter when it comes to anticipation. But the thing is, after Spider-Man 3 (please remember I did enjoy SM3, just not as much as its predecessors), should we really have our anticipations rocket-high? And with the likelihood that we won't get as strong performances as Heath Ledger's Joker (unless Anne Hathaway would own as Catwoman, which I think is highly possible), will TDKR will best its predecessor?
I'm not questioning whether or not TDKR will be good in the slightest. After all, Nolan said that he wouldn't even do a third movie unless the script would be as good as (if not better than) TDK; he even asked once how many third movies in a series are good.
Which brings me to my next question - can TDKR survive the 'threequel curse'? The curse that befell series such as Spider-Man, X-Men, Superman, and even the original Batman series. Rarely does a CBM series go without the third movie being spat on far more than the rest of the trilogy. With the exception of Superman, the second movie in all these series' is considered the strongest (same definitely goes for TDK unless TDKR beats it).
So in conclusion, the question that should ring out is: Can The Dark Knight Rises defy threequelitis and establish the franchise as the strongest in comic book history, or could it fall victim to the curse and face ridicule like Spider-Man 3? Guess we shall see on July 20th, 2012.