There’s a secret comic book based villain in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy ender The Dark Knight Rises. Not Talia al Ghul, revealed to be Bane’s partner in rampantly destructive crime, but the masked man’s second in command, Barsad. Played by Josh Stewart, he appears throughout the film working with Bane, eventually killed by Officer Foley while escorting Talia in the climactic confrontation between his minions and Gotham’s police force.
Named after John Barsad, a character in Charles Dicken’s A Tale of Two Cities, the few scenes of note he appears in are forcing the army to keep citizens in Gotham, setting up the opening plane attack and most importantly, for this article at least, accurately sniping police officers near the films beginning. That scene proves so important because I submit to you that he isn’t just a random henchman; he is Nolan’s version of fan favourite Bat-villain Deadshot.
The professional alias of Flyod Lawton, Deadshot is a gun for hire who often claims to never miss, originally appearing in the early fifties masquerading as a crime fighter to gain control of the Gotham underworld, made iconic thanks to his wrist mounted guns. Over the years he’s become one of the most popular of Batman’s rivals and is now a big part of the wider DC universe as a nemesis to the Justice League.
I must admit, having never read any of the comic books (I’m only aware of Deadshot’s existence thanks to the seminal Arkham City), he strikes as a step down from some of the major players we’ve seen in the films before. But, not being a massive fan of Batman before working on Batman Begins, Nolan has always been more interested in what tells a good story as opposed to fan service.
Throughout the trilogy, Nolan has imbued his world with villains from the comics. Aside from the main antagonists of each film (two apiece; Ra’s al Ghul and Scarecrow, Joker and Two Face, Bane and Talia al Ghul), there’s been various interpretations of other comic villains. Aside from the numerous mafia bosses (Tom Wilkinson’s Carmine Falcone and Eric Roberts Sal Maroni), the most notable have been Victor Zsasz, a psychotic killer who marks each kill with a tally on his own skin, or the imaginative merging of League of Shadows leader Ra’s al Ghul and Batman’s mentor Henri Deckard into one character, both in Begins.
Technically, Deadshot has officially appeared in Nolan’s universe before. Gotham Knight marketed itself as a bridging of the events between Begins and The Dark Knight, showing how Gotham goes from dark and crime ridden to a brighter and more modern city. However, as it’s radically different Scarecrow design (more akin to the comics than Cillian Murphy’s interpretation) attests to, this is far from the case – it’s a cash in, named to ride The Dark Knight’s imminent success – making Deadshot’s appearance unrelated to the film trilogy.
Which brings us to Josh Stewart as Barsad, of whom we know very little of his personality or origins. He is clearly Bane’s most trusted lieutenant, always standing with him and given the most camera time out of all the goons. But most important is the aforementioned sniping scene. When Selina Kyle sells Bruce Wayne’s fingerprints and Gordon goes down into the sewers, Barsad takes out multiple cops. Always rifle in hand and wearing a vest full of ammunition, each element of his character is how you could feasibly imagine a realistic version of Deadshot. It’s too minor a part to gauge how faithful an adaptation of the original character it may be, but it seems to capture the essence of the marksman.
Obviously, his naming could make this theory seem a bit less probable, but given that he is never named in the film, it is possible this was a late in the day change, with his new title chosen due to its links one of the film’s source materials. I say it’s likely in an earlier stage of the film that he was going to be a more defined character and play a larger part in the plot. Early in the film’s development, there were even rumours Deadshot would be one of the primary antagonists (along with the Black Mask). It’s not clear how true those rumours were, but from the evidence it looks like he was meant to play a much larger role in the plot.
That was the case, at least, until one of Jonathan Nolan’s main influences on the film came into play. Selina Kyle was a late addition to the story, with Christopher initially unsure how to make Catwoman work within his world. Originally The Dark Knight Rises would feature Deadshot in a larger role than a typical henchman, but once Kyle’s anti-hero was added, running time constraints and the already numerous antagonists led to the focus on him being dropped. It is perfectly likely that, given the way Stewart looks and acts, that the decision to reduce his screen time didn’t come until after shooting finished.
So, let’s add Deadshot to the legions of classic Batman characters that Nolan has brought to life on the cinema screen. It may not be a particularly eye catching or memorable inclusion, but that comes from length constraints and the vast quantity of ideas that The Dark Knight Rises juggles. His inclusion stands as an interesting Easter egg that also works as a view into the creative process behind the film.
It’s worth noting that while I’m not the first person to bring this up, there’s been a startlingly minimal response to this possible inclusion. In a film full of well defined characters and breath taking spectacle, it’s easy for one minor character to be ignored. What do you think? Is Barsad actually Nolan’s interpretation of Deadshot? Or have I spent way too long looking into this brilliant trilogy ender, seeing depth that isn’t there? Have your say in the comments below.
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10 Comments
He is not deadshot. And Liam Neeson plays Ra’s al ghul. His fake name in Batman begins was Henri Ducard. Not Deckard.
I think jake smith is right and a guy who doesn’t know the name of a character isn’t allowed to make up new ones.
I see where you are going with the comparisons. It is hard to tell if it is intentional. There are in fact other characters that could be allusions to comic book representations. For example the character that is about to shoot John Blake after he throws him down a crevasse played by Douglas Christopher Judge bears some (physical) resemblance to the Tally Man (second one). Both are African American and the Tally Man commenced his villainy during a year long absence of Batman…in the Dark Knight Rises it is six months …but still in the absence of Batman. In the comics he was a resident of Arkham Asylum and the possible comparable role in The Dark Knight Rises is never seen until after the prisoners are released suggesting he could have been a released prisoner who joins up with Bane. Even the comic book stats on Tally Man are conspicuously consistent. He is listed as being 6’2″…Judge is 6’3″ both taller than average. Hard to say for sure but like with Deadshot there are some interesting parallels.
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Tally_Man_II_(New_Earth)
“I must admit, having never read any of the comic books…”
This is where you stop and find something else to write about.
Damn. You nerds are really butthurt by this guys opinion.
except deadshot already exists in the nolan universe. Batman: Gotham Knight, happens inbetween Batman Begins and the Dark Knight and Deadshot is in it
Batman: Gotham KNight was not done by Nolan, and the producers have admitted it’s not necessarily meant to be canon. You can’t hold Nolan down by someone else’s work.
Also, to those squabling over the name, Officer Blake is clearly (more than clearly) a nod to the Robin character, however he doesn’t have the actual name of any of the Robins, only a legal name of “Robin John Blake.” With this nod and amalgamation already in play in TDKR, I’d say it’s perfectly possible that Barsad is, if nothing else, an intentional nod at the Deadshot character.
You should stop writting and grab a comic book. Jesus ! stop having an opinion for everything and even if you do stop acting/writting like you know what you are talking about. he is Deadshot just because he killed 1 cop with a sniper ? if Deadshot is only about being a good sniper then im Deadshot too, my last name is Lawton anyway.
He would be a Nolanized version or a reference to the character if his name was Floyd or Lawton or if he had an eye patch for better targeting or if he had some of the characteristics of Deadshot !!
Hi. To an extent, you guys are right on point with your comments. But believe me, when you want to take batman into hollywood, you are going to either come out with some garbage like what happened in the 90s, or you are going to have 2 people that know what their doing (in chris nolan’s college thesis he has a batman sticker on his door) get lucky to interpret it the way they want. Believe me, it works better when the people making it know what theyre talking about. And they did. Even if they didn’t, after TDK pulled in the biggest weekend boxoffice ever, I’m sure they learned about it. Get real. And that is definitely supposed to be deadshot. A Real-life interpretation. That’s why he doesn’t take the last shot, because he never misses.
Barsad was Nolan’s interpretation of the ‘sewer grate sniper’ from Batman: The Cult, which was the main source of inspiration of the film’s plot.
In ‘The Cult’ the sniper takes out national guard members on the street, while in the sewers other national guard officers are getting slaughter underground, in the film they are replaced with SWAT. The sniper also shoots Gordon and puts him in hospital, later on Batman visits him secretly at his hospital bed, both in the film and the comic.