The New 'Star Trek' Poster Is Ripping Off 'The Dark Knight Rises'

The poster for Star Trek: Into Darkness came out overnight, and several outlets are already seeing double. Let's take a look.

We've already noted that certain upcoming superhero movies (cough, cough, Iron Man) have taken a cue from the Dark Knight playbook, what with the gritty aesthetics and all. Now, another sequel in a related (if not entirely similar) genre seems to be doing the same thing, at least with its first important bit of marketing. The poster for Star Trek: Into Darkness came out overnight, and several outlets like Entertainment Weekly, Den of Geek, and Total Film are already seeing double. Let's take a look.

Here's the new Star Trek poster:

Jeff Labrecque at EW explains that that figure is not Chris Pine's Captain Kirk, but in fact the villain played by Benedict Cumberbatch, rumored to be Khan. (At IGN, Jim Vejvoda compared the poster to a more classic source: a Caspar David Friedrich painting.)

Now, here's The Dark Knight Rises poster it's being compared to:

Note the rubble and the famous logos therein.

While Nolan's Batman films have always gone for this type of look, it's a new path for J.J. Abrams's sleek Star Treks, what with all their lens flares. The poster for The Dark Knight Rises mirrored that of its predecessor:

Not so for the Star Trek franchise, which went for a futuristic look for its first outing — as is appropriate:

We'll have to see if footage of the film, set to screen at showings of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, follows suit.