8 Little Known Nuances In Tom Hardy’s Performance That Made Nolan’s Bane Awesome
4. Tom Hardy Loves Batman; Uses That To Fight Him Harder
When Batman and Bane finally get to their showdown at the end of the films first hour, it becomes woefully apparent Bruce Wayne is physically outmatched. I'm sure the lifts and added muscle helped, but what really pushed it over the edge was Bane's masterful fighting style. Although I think Alfred got it a bit wrong when he said it was aided by the power of belief; looking at the facts it's more like the power of ignoring your inner child.
Most people like to say George Lucas destroyed their childhood, but in The Dark Knight Rises Hardy cut out the middle man when he became Bane. A big Batman fan, he was mesmerised seeing the Dark Knight on set like the best of us would be and felt the metaphorical gut punch of giving the focus of his childhood hero a literal gut punch.
For all the training, much of Banes ferocity came from Hardys attempts to override his feelings, creating something incredibly furious and hard hitting. It's a warped reversal of traditional method acting.