Dark Knight Footage Debuts

The following is from Wizard World's Kiel Phegley:

'DARK KNIGHT’ FOOTAGE MAKES ITS DEBUT
A full report on the first look at Christopher Nolan’s Batman sequel including the Joker, the Batpod and…Two Face?
By Kiel Phegley

Minutes ago, the capacity crowd at Wizard World Chicago was treated to the first look at “The Dark Knight” – the much anticipated sequel to fan favorite “Batman Begins.” With actors Christian Bale, Gary Oldman and Aaron Eckhart on hand along with Nolan and screenwriters Jonah Nolan and David Goyer, DC Publisher Paul Levitz led the crowd through a spirited and secretive Q&A before getting to a sneak peek at the Dark Knight’s most recent on-screen battle with his arch nemesis, The Joker.

Fans were only allowed to see it once, and while it might be some time before the footage will be released to theaters across America, Wizard Universe was on hand to witness the action and give a full report.

The footage started with a silhouette of a dark figure in front of one of Batman’s armored vehicles before quickly cutting to Bruce Wayne and Alfred delivering the brief lines heard in the “Dark Knight” teaser trailer.

“Some people just want to watch the world burn,” advises Alfred before the camera jumps to Batman in action on the Batpod, the new iteration of his motorcycle.

The action built up as the Joker was seen in full for the first time with a mess of white face, smeared red lipstick and sweaty, straggly green hair. Apparently, the clown prince of crime gets arrested at one point in the film, as the montage presented Jim Gordon (complete in SWAT gear) at the Joker’s booking, saying, "no prints, no ID, custom clothes, no tags.” The clown smiles with what appears to be blood over his face from the inside of an interrogation room.

Checking back in with Bruce Wayne, the billionaire playboy has a brief scene with Eckhart’s Harvey Dent where he says “Rachel’s told me everything about you.”

“I truly hope not,” responds Wayne.

The footage sped up at that point into an intense montage of action, featuring the following clips:

- The new batsuit rising up from a trap door in the ground and held in a chain metal case.

- Rachel Dawes (played by Maggie Gyllenhaal) close to an unidentified man either kissing him or being threatened by him as the camera rotates around them.

- The Joker and Batman battling in close quarters (possibly a hospital room). Batman throws Joker over a table and crashing into the ground while the clown smiles at him. It should be noted that the Joker was done up in his signature purple suit.

- Plenty of big, bold Batmobile action including a shot where the tank-like car drives through a wall of flame. In fact, flames were pretty much everywhere in the footage as it appears Joker does actually make the world burn.

- There is also a shot of a somewhat grim-faced Joker walking across a city street mercilessly firing a machine gun as well as a television close-up of the Joker laughing hysterically.

- Two major additions to the speculation that Two Face will appear in the film came in the form of a single shot of a spinning 50 cent piece and the final image: after the action montage has slowed down, the camera cuts to a bartender looking at Harvey Dent, whose only onscreen presence is his left shoulder and a bit of a reddish-purple scarred neck. “Dent! I thought you were dead!” the man gasps, to which Harvey replies, “Half.”