Got a pinch of salt handy? Good, because it may come in handy for what you're about to read. A member of the Superhero Hype Forums who claims to know someone close to the production of The Dark Knight Rises has what they believe to be a legitimate description of the prologue which will soon be released in theaters alongside Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. "Rocketman" describes his source in the following way: "Someone I know who is fairly close to production has seen a written description of this prologue...this guy has given me legit stuff all the way back to pre-production and even the Pittsburgh shoot."
- Josh Pence / Young Ra’s Al Ghul is in this significantly, along with a Young Bane.
- We are getting the League of Shadows. (We knew this)
- We see a friendship between Little Boy Bane and Little Talia, and believe it or not, this is going to mirror Young Bruce and Rachel in the very first scene of Batman Begins when they’re children. We won’t see footage of this scene intercut into the prologue, but the word "mirror" is written a few times. There seems to be a huge deal of "reflection" happening in this movie. Things will mirror other things. I have no clue what that means, but it seems fascinating. Talia is to Bane what Rachel was to Bruce – not really a lover, not really a sister-figure, but rather a good friend who shared childhood memories together, some being traumatic.
- This "Unnamed Mad Scientist" that we’ve seen around the sets, played by Alon Aboutboul, is the guy who essentially “created” Bane, and he is a bastard. He performed horrific experiments on him and it will be in the prologue. This man has supposedly helped to create the “Doomsday” device that we’ve seen in the pictures, but I use the word “Doomsday” because I haven’t been told what it is.
- The result of Bane’s health condition comes from a fire (as we all probably could’ve guessed). Ra’s Al Ghul’s wife (Talia’s mother) is trapped in this fire with Bane, along with Talia. Ra’s has only time to save Talia and Bane, but Bane is the last to escape and is severely injured / scarred. This is “tough to watch”, and mirrors Harvey Dent barely making it out of the warehouse. Ra's' wife is viewed as a "witch"/"gypsy" in their village, and Ra's is a "wizard". They're essentially "burning the witch at the stake", and Bane is an unfortunate casualty. (Again, a mirror to his supernatural side) - Villagers arrive with torches like it's the townspeople arriving to kill Frankenstein's monster - in this case, the monster isn't Bane - it's Ra's' wife.
- The brief snippet of Bane crawling up the well in the teaser will be in the prologue. This is part of Bane’s training, administered by Ra’s. Again, this will “mirror” the very first scene of Batman Begins, when Young Bruce falls down the well. It’s essentially the same exact shot. Young Bane RISES UP, Young Bruce FALLS DOWN.
- Among the Batman Begins shots inserted into TDKR: Bruce with longer hair and beard walking through the Chinese prison, Bruce inhaling from the bowl of the hallucinogen, Bane being one of the masked LOS members who was standing in the anonymous pack while Ra’s sicked bats on Bruce from the chest. We see Liam Neeson, but not in terms of new footage here.
- The only new footage we see of Liam Neeson is right when Bane emerges from the top of the well and, Ra’s is standing there waiting for him, impressed. Ra’s training Bane throughout his life mirrors the montage of Batman Begins ("My anger outweighs my guilt"), only this time, through clever editing in montage, we see Josh Pence age quickly into Liam/Ra’s Al Ghul through quick cuts, each cut making Bane a little taller. The ice set is there, though we can't know visually if it's the exact same location (since it's on paper.
The above description is paraphrased from an email a source who hasn't actually seen the prologue but has,
"read a two-page treatment of notes that were essentially an outline of how this whole thing plays out." Bear in mind that these forums have been notoriously unreliable at times and spot on at others, so stay tuned for more details and descriptions as they emerge.
STARRING:
Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman
Michael Caine as Alfred
Gary Oldman as Commissioner Jim Gordon
Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox
Tom Hardy as Bane
Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake
Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate
Josh Pence as Ra's Al Ghul
RELEASE DATE: July 20th, 2012