Benedict Cumberbatch Overlooks Ruined London In First Poster For 'Star Trek Into Darkness'

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by Oliver Lyttelton
December 3, 2012 6:22 AM
19 Comments

We remain continually impressed by the extent to which J.J. Abrams is able to keep things under wraps on his major movies; less than six months to release, and all we know about his "Star Trek" sequel is that it's got a title -- "Star Trek Into Darkness," a vague logline, and the internet's boyfriend Benedict Cumberbatch as the villain. But Abrams' mystery box can't stay shut forever, even for a guaranteed hit like next summer's blockbuster, and the floodgates are soon to open, with a trailer on its way next week and nine minutes of IMAX footage from the film set to play before "The Hobbit; An Unexpected Journey" next week.

To set up for those, Abrams has debuted a teaser poster for the film (via HeyUGuys, among others), with a "Dark Knight" esque-motif showing a character looking out over a trashed city. From the glimpse of the iconic Gherkin building, many online have surmised that the city is London, while the figure is almost 100% certain to be Cumberbatch's villain, said by some to be original series character Gary Mitchell, who has presumably brought this destruction on the British city. GAAAARRRRY!

To remind you of that official synopsis released a few weeks back, it read:

“When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis.

With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction.

As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.”

Well, the poster certainly seems to tie into much of this. But is it just London (which also gets a kicking in next year's "G.I. Joe: Retaliation") that's under attack? Or do the hints of a 'personal score' for Kirk suggest that he might be hit closer to home? Given that this is a UK poster (note the reversed date on the bottom), it could well end up being one of a series, with the back of Cumberbatch's head on a world tour of smoking cities.

Anyway, feel free to speculate away in the comments section , and we should get some firm answers in the next couple of weeks, in the lead up to that trailer debut. And the film itself hits theaters on May 17th, 2013.

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More: Star Trek Into Darkness, Benedict Cumberbatch, J. J. Abrams

19 Comments

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BobN | December 5, 2012 2:44 PMReply

"...all we know about his "Star Trek" sequel is that it's got a title -- "Star Trek Into Darkness..."
One thing we can be sure of: it'll have lots of annoying, out-of-place lens flares. Lose the lens flares, JJ.
Chopsocky Hillbilly | December 8, 2012 5:36 PM

The lens flares give it a shiny, futuristic feel. Lose the annoying, out-of-place judgment flares, BOBN.
Niles J | December 3, 2012 10:10 PMReply

Benedict Cumberebatch is going to own this role, like he does every other role he plays... This guy is fantastic and this film will be great.
Ctrl-Opt-Del | December 3, 2012 8:48 PMReply

Stupid arguing about dates aside (no way is "right" or "wrong", although I will say that small-medium-large makes a heck of a lot more sense than medium-small-large), I've seen this same poster with the American style date & StarTrekMovie.com at the bottom, so I think the London skyline is generic to all the posters "foreign" (world) and "domestic" (US); implying that London is indeed a key location that will feature in STID. Makes sense, given the fairly large number of British actors cast in secondary rolls in addition to the villain...
Marko | December 3, 2012 12:27 PMReply

I thought Ryan Gosling was the internet's boyfriend. Or is he just the Playlist's boyfriend?
Alan | December 5, 2012 11:43 PM

No, but Michael Fassbender is. Also, Bends should be the next Batman. And The Joker. And Robin. And Catwoman. And he should direct the film. And compose it. That would be awesome, 'cause then Gabe can post his endless hints about Fassbender's private life on Hollywood Elsewhere. 'cause they never get old, and make Gabe look like the Hollywood player he obviously is, yo.
Tom | December 3, 2012 12:16 PMReply

Not a bad poster, but something feels a bit off that the first bit of marketing for a STAR Trek film is so Earth bound.
G | December 3, 2012 9:28 AMReply

Is that you, Terminator Salvation?
A. Nonny Moose | December 3, 2012 8:59 AMReply

I'd just like to point out that the date on the poster isn't reversed, it is the correct way around for the majority of the world. It's only the US and Canada that cling on to writing their dates backwards
Ken in Toronto | December 5, 2012 9:58 PM

I write the date whichever way I can remember too - sometimes with the date first, other times the month - A lot of people do it haphazardly here.
A. Nonny Moose | December 3, 2012 11:19 AM

I take it back Canada, you guys are all right
MJ | December 3, 2012 9:51 AM

*US, stupid autocorrect.
MJ | December 3, 2012 9:50 AM

Cultural differences are not "backwards", in the use we verbalize dates like "May 17th", so the written style follows that as well.
MAL | December 3, 2012 9:31 AM

Leave Canada out of this. We don't typically write our date with month first! Nor do we still use imperial measure.
cattt | December 3, 2012 8:13 AMReply

Dark in the title, crumbling buildings in the shape of heroes' logo, villain with his back turned, now where have I seen this before...?
CFH | December 3, 2012 8:39 AM

Why does every marketing department have to copy Nolan's films? First the dark/gritty tone, then Inception BRRRHMMM, and now this...
Mark | December 3, 2012 8:26 AM

Star Trek: Into DarkknightrisesNess
marnie | December 3, 2012 8:10 AMReply

"the internet's boyfriend Benedict Cumberbatch." PERFECT.

also, I'm damn excited about this movie because, at the very least, it looks pretty gorgeous. I hope it lives up to its hyped-up non-hype. Did that even make sense?
Tom | December 3, 2012 6:29 AMReply

LOL @ "...and the internet's boyfriend Benedict Cumberbatch" You win at life.