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

nullWe 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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