When the announcement of Tom Hardy’s inclusion in Chris Nolan’s third and final Batman film was initially made, the rumour hounds went crazy over who he would play, with the top three options lining up as The Riddler, Hugo Strange and Bane, with the masked muscle-bound madman coming in a distant third in that particular race. So it wasn’t hugely surprising to find a vocal and vociferous opposition to the further announcement that the Brit would indeed be taking on the role of he who is often referred to as the anti-Batman.

But, given the time to reflect on the decision, and the way Bane (and also Anne Hathaway’s Selina Kyle) will fit in with the rest of the Nolan universe, I think the casting is genius. And here, my Batman-loving friends, is why:

It’s Tom fucking Hardy


He may have recently walked away with the Rising Star Bafta award, but we’ve known about Mr Hardy, and his particular skill-set for quite a while now, having watched him blossom in lesser heralded projects like the astoundingly good TV drama Stuart: A Life Backwards and Cape Wrath, as well as an irresistible performance as Picard’s counter-point in Star Trek: Nemesis. Since then, Hardy has transformed, equally at home playing thugs (in the forgettable Sucker Punch and brilliantly in The Take) and highly charismatic anti-hero types like Bronson and Eames in Inception. He will bring that charisma and machismo to the role, making Bane the anti-Batman of the comics, and hopefully adding a little swagger to Nolan’s world, the same way he did in Inception, and the same way Heath Ledger did for The Dark Knight.

He’s also a picture of masculinity, and a beautiful looking thing all round. If I had ovaries, I’d offer them to him to play with.

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Bane was the best thing about Batman & Robin…


Probably empty praise, considering that the film is best remembered for the atrocity of the Bat Nipples, but Bane was definitely the best malignant force at play in Batman & Robin. Arnie clearly had fun as Dr Freeze, but nobody was buying him as anything other than a big frozen joke, and Poison Ivy was presented a little too much like Catwoman to really count. Plus Uma hardly kills it. But Bane looked great, and he was animal enough to represent a real threat- it’s just a shame that overall…

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Joel Schumacher fucked him right up!

First off, the guy under the mask was a wrestler. Hardly a good starting point given the wrestling world’s association with proper acting (aside from Andre the Giant as Fezzick of course), and as such, Bane became a base-level muscle man. In the comics, Bane is super-intelligent, as well as super-strong, and yet Schumacher presented a Mongo-type behemoth who gutterally uttered single words and generally stumbled around like a giant man-sized toddler. Hopefully, The Dark Knight Rises will atone for those sins.

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He’s A Near-Polar Opposite to The Joker


While a lot of people (I’m looking at you, Mr Matt Holmes) proclaimed that the Riddler would be the next choice from the Batman Rogue’s Gallery to feature in Nolan’s Batrilogy, the simple fact remains that a Nolanesque Riddler would be way too similar to Ledger’s Joker. And such a move, even with a perfect casting decision behind it, would be counter to the definitely different phases of each of Nolan’s films.

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Brains v Brawn

Facing Bane will be the first time Batman will be faced with an opponent who could easily physically best him, and that’s aside from his hyper-intellect. You have to remember, this is the villain who broke Batman, snapping him like a twig over his knee during the “Knightfall” comic arc. What that mean’s for Nolan and Christian Bale’s bat, is that for the first time in the current trilogy, the caped crusader will be forced to use his wit and intellect as his primary means of dispatching a foe, rather than just his showy physicality. Either that, or we will be seeing some mighty impressive new bat-toys.

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He Doesn’t Require Much Suspension of Belief


And thus fits in to Nolan’s vision of the Bat Universe. There is nothing supernatural about him, and given Nolan’s resistance to focus at all on those magic aspects of Ra’s Al Ghul’s legend, it would seem a simple assumption that he isn’t turned on by any story that involves a sci-fi or supernatural element at all. Bane, for all of his superhuman characteristics is just the right proximity to real humanity to fit into Nolan’s vision. The director seems far more fascinated with the capacity for man’s evil, rather than hiding behind the excuse of so-called super-villains- even The Joker, Batman’s chief nemesis in the comic universe wasn’t untouchable and was more man than cartoon (a problem that made Schumacher’s villains disposable and silly).

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He’s The Right Type of Threat to Bring Batman Back


Bane is a one-man crime wave, and since the end of The Dark Knight heralds a newly cleaned up Gotham City it would take something as drastic as his malevolent influence on those streets to bring Batman, now a wanted fugitive remember, out of hiding. At the end of the day, almost every other villain in the Batman comic universe would find a more than adequate adversary in the shape of Gary Oldman’s Gordon in the current state of Gotham, so something special was needed here, and Bane fits that bill perfectly.

Further Reading: The Top Five Bane Comic Moments

  1. Knightfall- Bane breaks the Bat. Over his knee. That’s good old-fashioned clobbering.
  2. Batman: Vengeance of Bane- The big guy’s first appearance.
  3. Vengeance of Bane II: The Redemption- A clean Bane turns good guy (sort of) to smash a Venom supply ring.
  4. Batman: Legacy Ra’s al Ghul chooses Bane as his heir after the hulk impresses him in combat with the League of Assassins.
  5. Batman: Tabula Rasa Batman meets Jerry Springer as Bane informs Batman that they might be related, while also asking him for help to destroy one of Ra’s Al Ghul’s Lazarus Pits.

So, there you have it. Who needs The Joker?  Agree? Disagree? I want to hear your thoughts on Bane’s inclusion in The Dark Knight Rises…

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