Apr 22 2008NYCC Report: WB's Surprise 'Dark Knight' Trailer

Warner Bros. was scheduled to have a surprise panel at the con, and I had heard from a few people that this surprise was going to be something to do with Speed Racer. So it wasn't that much of a shock when the husky kid playing Spritle took the stage and started talking about the candy-coated car race hallucination flick. Though it was a bit surprising when this boy started orating like a political candidate, explaining, "This is my first Comic Con... but it won't be my last. (Actually, not that surprising now that I see this publicity shot of him).

But as it turns out, the real bombshell wasn't that this chubby little man could run for office. It was a new Dark Knight trailer! Here is what I recall:

- The whole thing was very Harvey Dent and Joker-centric--about the same ratio of Dent/Joker to Batman as the ratio of people on the convention floor dressed as Joker and Two-Face compared to those dressed as a pudgy Colossus with a metallic shirt on to simulate bare-chestedness. (6:1?)

- Joker singles-out Rachel Dawes at a classy party, and it feels sort of reminiscent of Joker's infatuation with Vicky Vale in Tim Burton's Batman. Not really though.

- Joker seems like less of a maverick than I thought he'd be, as he's shown trying to rally other crime bosses to kill Batman. He closes by saying, "Here's my calling card." Guess what it is! Yeah. It's a joker.

- There's a shot of a vial of liquid crashing to the floor, then a shot of a panicked Harvey Dent, his face pressed to the same floor. Something gave me the feeling the liquid may have been some sort of acid.

- Harvey Dent explains a theory to Bruce Wayne: "Either die a hero or watch yourself become the villain." Then a giant graphic comes up that says "IT'S FUNNY HE SAID THAT, BECAUSE, STRANGELY ENOUGH, HE WILL LATER BECOME THE VILLAIN KNOWN AS TWO-FACE!"

- It will be about two weeks before the new trailer is available to the general public. No suggestions were made as to how to spend these 14 meaningless days.

The end.

Previous Articles