3. Bane
Arguably the most underrated performance in the whole trilogy, Tom Hardy is magnificent in this film. Even under the mask, he creates such a character, that you wouldn't even know the actor who portrays it. Hardy created a whole new appearance for the role, adding 14kg to his weight and shaving his head. The voice he adds to the character is....
different from the Schumacher version. It's also quite awesome. You manage to grow a custom to it after only a few times of hearing it. It gives an element of sophistication to the character which was written off as a mindless goon in 1994 - a goon that barely walked and glowed green. It also shows a bit of humanity in him too, just like at the football stadium when listening to the National Anthem - 'What a lovely, lovely voice...'. Other than that, mind, he's quite a heartless S.O.B. But that's what the Nolan franchise is all about. It was only a matter of time before someone this dark and brutal came into the franchise and took it as his own. What he did to the rescue agents that came into Gotham after his 'revolution' was quite shocking. It wasn't very suitable for a 12A film, yet, we all knew something this dark would happen. That's just the type of guy Bane is. Although we can never say that the performance of Bane was better than Ledger's Joker, we can say that Hardy came close. His intimidation and unmatched strength differed from Joker's insane menace. Ledger stole the show and Hardy couldn't, but Bane was the villain the Nolan Trilogy needed. Someone to push Wayne to all his limits. A straight forward villain who told the world what he was going to do, and then did it.