Every Batman Movie Villain Ever Ranked From Worst To Best

Tom Hardy's Bane had an incredibly hard act to follow after Heath Ledger's Joker, and though he never reaches the same era-defining heights, he's nevertheless a fantastic villain in his own right.

From that opening James Bond-esque CIA plane hijack sequence, Bane is cemented as an incredibly intimidating threat, evidenced by both Hardy's immense transformation and that voice.

Hardy renders Bane as both Batman's greatest physical and intellectual threat throughout the Dark Knight Saga, a man capable of breaking the Bat and also of weaponing Gotham's disdain for the hypocritical elite into outright anarchy.

While it's undeniably disappointing that Bane turns out to be Talia al Ghul's mere loved-up lap-dog - and his non-event of a death rings especially sour - Hardy's interpretation makes Bane a true larger-than-life presence that slots effortlessly into Nolan's more literal-minded vision of Gotham.