6 Common Misconceptions About The Dark Knight Rises

4. Bane Is Just A Henchman

One of the biggest complaints about the movie is the revelation of Bane's backstory. We're led to believe that he's the child of Ra's Al Ghul, who escaped the prison pit as a young boy. As it turns out, Ra's had a daughter, Talia (who it's revealed is pretending to be Miranda Tate), and the child was, in fact, her. Bane was the man who helped her, and was severely beaten because of it. Later, when Ra's brought the League of Shadows in to take over the prison and avenge the death of his wife, he found Bane and took him under his wing. According to Talia, Bane was banished from the League because Ra's saw him as a monstrosity and a constant reminder of the Pit. Many have claimed that Bane being an ally of Talia's makes him nothing more than a henchman, but I think that's the wrong way of looking at it. Bane wasn't just her servant, but a partner in the plan to destroy Gotham. He's not just hired muscle, and does many things on his own accord. He is responsible for a coup in West Africa that brings John Dagget exclusive access to resources there. Bane uses this as leverage to get Dagget on his side and bring mercenaries into Gotham City. Bane is the one who crashes the plane in order to kidnap and fake the death of Dr. Pavel, and leads the occupation of Gotham City. Oh, and let's not forget that he single handedly beats Batman and breaks his back. Sure, he may be doing these things under Talia's direction, but Bane is a smart, calculating villain that undoubtedly has input into the overall plans. Plus, he doesn't follow every order she gives him; she asks him to keep Batman alive in time to see Gotham's demise, but Bane turns to him and says, "We both know that I have to kill you now." To simply call Bane a henchman takes away all of the evil and badass things we've watched him do throughout the film. The fact that he's working with Talia doesn't make him a lesser character, it simply fills out his backstory while tying his actions into Ra's Al Ghul's original plan to destroy Gotham.