People were a little surprised at the choice of villain for the final entry in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. The previous installment in the latest series of Batman films had made a (sadly posthumous) star of Heath Ledger, who delivered a barnstorming performance as psychotic supervillain The Joker, whose chaotic cunning and lack of limits placed Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne on the back foot from the off. Rumour had it that, with Ledger passing away between films, the third movie would see a similarly cerebral, psychological bad guy take his place. When Joseph Gordon-Levitt was cast, the scuttlebutt is he would be playing The Riddler, who has some similarities with the Clown Prince Of Crime. Nobody was expecting the announcement that followed JGL's addition to the ensemble: that fellow Inception star Tom Hardy was on board, and would take the part of lead antagonist Bane. Those unfamiliar with the comics replied, simply, "Who?", whilst fanboys were...actually, they were just as confused. Why is this buff Mexican wrestler, addicted to the DC Universe equivalent of steroids, going to be the star of Nolan's next "realistic" Batman flick? Well, by changing a lot of stuff, that's what. Since the Nolan reboot DC have done their best to dispel previous depictions of Bane, bar his debut in the Knightfall storyline which The Dark Knight Rises ultimately took a lot of inspiration from. If you were one of those confused fans or non-fans who wondered what was up with this metahuman luchador suplexing Patrick Bateman, allow us to recap some of the more...out there parts of the character that have been retconned due to his movie incarnation. These are ten things DC wants you to forget about Bane.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
