"Dark Knight Rises" teaser trailer arrived online

The "Dark Knight Rises" teaser trailer arrived online today, promising plenty of chaos and carnage to hit the streets of Gotham City in July 2012.

It's a short, minute-and-a-half look at director Christopher Nolan's final flight with the Batman, but despite the brevity, the teaser still has a lot of information worth chewing on. After the jump, take a look at what we know (and what we can guess) about the final "Dark Knight" movie based on the teaser.

Bad things are coming to Gotham, and it looks like they've already come to Commissioner Gordon. Batman's number one law enforcement ally is in rough shape in this trailer, even worse off than when he had to fake his own death in "Dark Knight." What happened to poor old Jim? Can he survive whatever it is that's put him in the hospital? This is Nolan's last Batman movie, so I wouldn't consider anyone safe at this point—not even the Caped Crusader himself.

Speaking of the Caped Crusader, we knew that Bats was in trouble after taking the heat for Harvey Dent's death, but we certainly didn't expect him to throw in the towel altogether. That seems to be the case, however, as we hear Bruce tell Gordon that Batman might not exist anymore—even though "he must, he must," as Gordon pushes him.

Does any more need to be said? We don't get a whole lot of Tom Hardy in this trailer, but he's the only new character to make an appearance, and we're okay with that — it's been a little while since Batman had a worthy physical opponent, and if the brief glimpse at his one-on-one fist fight with Bane is any indication, it looks like Bruce has met his match.

If we're to judge only on the Bane photo and his presence in the teaser, you might think that he's the central villain of "Dark Knight Rises." I'm not sure it's that simple. There are plenty of rumors of League of Assassins connections in the latest flick, and that eerie chanting we've heard before and now again over the "Dark Knight" logo strikes me as a clear sign that the Assassins are coming to Gotham.

Just like the final "Harry Potter" movie's marketing campaign stressed the finality of the franchise, so too does the "Dark Knight Rises" trailer emphasize that this is the epic conclusion to Nolan's Batman series... which means, as I said before, that all bets are off. Gordon can die. Bane can (and probably will) die. Heck, even the Batman himself might not make it out alive. This is the end of a trilogy in Nolan's eyes -- in other words, anything is fair game now.