Yesterday we shared what we believed to be the beginnings of the viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight Rises, which stemmed from a pair of mock-up CIA documents released online. Although seemingly having nothing to do with Gotham City or stories we know from the Batman universe, the man pictured in one of the documents was identifiable as a member of the cast of The Dark Knight Rises and his character, as described by the documents, matched the description of his role in the film.
Today we have another document, confirming this to be the case, along with information for how The Dark Knight Rises viral will launch tomorrow with "Operation Early Bird." We also have an early look at what will be revealed next.
Empire and Wired each posted a document yesterday, and today, the third piece of the puzzle comes from an official Twitter account for The Dark Knight Rises, @thefirerises. It's another mock-up CIA document, mostly blacked out like the previous two, but it again focuses on the recovery of Dr. Leonid Pavel, a character played by Alon Aboutboul who' described as a "mad scientist."
The first two documents included a CIA bulletin that profiled Pavel, revealing his scientific background in "nuclear fuel cycle technology and reactor designs," hinting at potential weapon implications. The second document was a transcribed conversation between the CIA and the militia who were protecting/holding him.
This new document continues that story, revealing a CIA mission to retrieve the Pavel from the militia:
Take note of "Operation Early Bird" as it's the next clue in the viral. Now, if you go to operationearlybird.com we see a website with a countdown timer, which ends at 10am PST tomorrow, December 9th.
Some savvy users already uncovered what the site will reveal tomorrow when Operation Early Bird begins: a map at www.operationearlybird.com/map.html which was quickly taken down, but not before someone nabbed a screenshot.
The map lets users enter coordinates, but for what? It's only a matter of hours now before we find out!
Be sure to look over yesterday's viral clues, along with today's, and start piecing together your theories. Share your ideas and thoughts in the comments and with me on Twitter @rob_keyes.
The Dark Knight Rises cast sees the return of Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Nestor Carbonell and Michael Caine along with franchise newcomers Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Juno Temple, Josh Pence, Daniel Sunjata, Burn Gorman, Diego Klattenhoff and Alon Aboutboul.
The Dark Knight Rises hits theaters July 20, 2012.
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Source: SHH Forums