By: Scott Johnson on December 20, 2011
It’s interesting that two of the biggest topics of conversation about the second Dark Knight Rises trailer revolve around two characters who may or may not be in the movie. For months now, many on the Internet have been speculating that Robin and Talia Al Ghul will appear in The Dark Knight Rises. The Dark Knight Rises second trailer did not officially confirm or deny these rumors, but it sure did a lot to pour gasoline on the fire.
Rumors of Robin have often revolved around Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Officially, he is supposed to be playing the role of a Gotham City police officer named John Blake, but no one is really buying it. His young face lends itself to Robin speculation. Unfortunately, Joseph Gordon-Levitt only appears in one brief scene in the trailer. In his brief appearance, he does appear to be dressed more like a cop than the boy wonder, but of course that does nothing to end speculation that he might become Robin before the film’s end.
What is also helping to drive discussion of Robin are two reported easter eggs that appear in the trailer? Many have made note that Robin’s logo appears on a sign in the crowd scene for the Gotham Rogues football game. Others have also pointed out that the name Ward on the back of one of the football players’ jerseys is also the last name of Burt Ward, who played Robin in the sixties Batman TV show.
Of course, others have been quick to debunk these rumors. There have been some reports that extras were told to bring their own homemade signs to the game, so the Robin logo could have been the work of Batman fanboys. However, even if the sign was made by an extra, it’s doubtful that it went unnoticed by whoever put together the trailer. Because of the different style, the “R” really stands out, so it was likely included intentionally.
In the case of the Ward football jersey, the connection really does appear to be poor coincidence as the football player in question is actually Pittsburgh Steelers player Hines Ward, so the jersey is just showing his real last name. It does make for a pretty funny coincidence though considering the earlier Robin logo in the trailer.
Rumors of Talia Al Ghul have often revolved around Marion Cotillard. Officially she is cast as Wayne Enterprise board member Miranda Tate, but no one is buying that one either. Just like with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard only has one very brief scene in the trailer. She’s shown talking to Bruce Wayne at a fancy ball, where she pulls down her mask and smiles. Even though it’s a brief appearance, she does seem to fit the image of Talia Al Ghul very nicely.
Our guess is that all the rumors about Marion Cotillard as Talia Al Ghul are correct. It all just fits into place too perfectly for it not to be true. As far as the Robin rumor, our guess is that Robin won’t appear in costume in The Dark Knight Rises. However, we expect Joseph Gordon-Levitt will likely be more than just a cop, and we could see him introduced as someone who would either eventually become Robin (or take over for Batman).
