The Dark Knight Rises Begins Mysterious Viral Launch & First Photo

21 May 2011

Holy Batman!  Warner Bros. launched their viral marketing campaign Friday for THE DARK KNIGHT RISES that sent users on a treasure hunt to decode a message that eventually revealed the first photo of Tom Hardy as Bane. 

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES is only one week into production but the caped crusader has an official website (www.thedarkknightrises.com) for the latest Batman movie which doesn't open until summer 2012. However, the vail of secrecy surrounding the movie continues with the online marketing for the film which sent the online community into a frenzy.

After logging onto the site, there are no images except for mysterious audio clip playing of what seems to sound like chanting (listen below). Online users eventually decoded the chanting as "The Fire Rises" which led them to a Twitter site.  A link on the new Twitter page eventually led them back to the official Batman site to reveal an image of Tom Hardy as the villain Bane, the first photo from the Christopher Nolan movie.

This week, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES added more actors to the roster with Matthew Modine (Full Metal Jacket), Tom Conti, and Joey King joining other newbies Anne Hathaway (Catwoman) and The Social Network actor Josh Pence. The returning cast are the usual suspects with Christian Bale reprising the Dark Knight, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, and Michael Caine.

Wonder how they'll do the Catwoman reveal.  Can't wait.