Summary

• Bane was set up to be Batman's ultimate rival, matching him physically and mentally.
• However, Bane's relevance was undercut by the revelation that Talia al Ghul was the true mastermind.
• Bane's potential as a unique and powerful adversary for Batman was lost due to the Talia twist.

The Dark Knight Rises was a poignant way to end the Batman trilogy that helped revitalize interest in Batman on the silver screen. It had Batman emotionally and physically vulnerable like never before, brought to the brink only to return stronger than ever to save Gotham City. Yet, one of its biggest mistakes can be found in its main villain. Or rather, it's the supposed main villain: Bane.

Promotion for the movie positioned Bane to be the ultimate enemy for Batman, a villain who could match him in physicality, intellect, and sheer brutality. However, as many fans will note, the movie pulled the rug out from under the audience's feet by revealing that Bane was not the true mastermind behind the events of the film, but rather Talia al Ghul, masquerading as a friend of Bruce Wayne's, was the one pulling the strings. It undid a lot of what made Bane relevant to the plot, demoting him to the role of loyal servant rather than the mastermind he had been portrayed as throughout the entire film.

This Version of Bane Was Set Up to Be Something Else

• The Dark Knight Trilogy's Bane was more grounded and positioned to be an equal to Batman.
• He led the League of Shadows following Ra's al Ghul's death.

In the film, Bane is set up as a revolutionary, someone determined to fulfill the mission Ra's al Ghul had set out to accomplish years ago before he died. He was a far cry from the musclebound, venom-addicted man in a luchador mask that most comic readers or cartoon watchers were used to. Bane became a more calculating, grounded character whose raw physicality was the result of hard work and discipline. Bane had become a physical and mental mirror to Batman, one that could act as a true equal, if not superior.

This was another aspect of Bane that gave him an edge over Batman. He was in the prime of his life, becoming known and feared throughout the criminal underworld, whereas Batman had disappeared to preserve the lie he had helped perpetuate about Harvey Dent. As a result, Batman had become weakened due to his inactivity, whereas Bane was ready to fulfill what he believed to be his destiny.

This contrast culminated in a fight deep below Gotham where Bane absolutely destroyed Batman. Aside from beating him within an inch of his life and then throwing him around like a rag doll, Bane also psychologically wore Batman down. He mocked how the Dark Knight's complacency had made him too weak to properly fight. Bane pointed out how his use of theatrics would work on the uninitiated, but that Bane was equal to him, so his scare tactics wouldn't work. Perhaps the biggest power move came when Bane caught Batman in the darkness that Batman had set up to give himself an edge. It proved how far Batman had fallen from his lofty position and that he was no longer the thing in the dark to fear. Bane ended up breaking his back, as was to be expected, and then left Batman to rot in the same prison that had forged him.

Bane's Relevance Was Robbed from Him by the Person He Loved Most

• Bane managed to outmatch Batman in every aspect of the film.
• It was later revealed he was merely a servant for Talia al Ghul.

In a twist that came before another major shift in the series' mythos, it was revealed that though Bane was set up as the leader of the current League of Shadows, he actually co-led it alongside Talia al Ghul, Ra's' daughter. Bane had indeed been born and grown up in the prison he threw Batman into, but then along came Talia, whom Bane devoted himself to protecting. He essentially raised her and helped her escape, getting hurt in the process and being trapped in his mask to just barely tolerate the pain his injuries caused him. Talia returned for him, and he has served her loyally ever since.

While this added a sense of nobility to Bane, as well as expanding upon how humanity can be found even in as horrible a place as the Pit, it actually did him a disservice. Here was a man who had been posed as Batman's perfect nemesis, the true rival in everything he had built himself up to be. Bane had robbed Batman of his health, his freedom, and his city, only for himself to be robbed of his place as the movie's primary antagonist.

In the end, Bane became nothing more than a pawn of Talia. Everything that had transpired was all by her design. Bane didn't even have a real reason to love or admire Ra's al Ghul, as he had rejected Bane from the League of Shadows because the man reminded him too much of the horrible conditions he had left his wife and child in. The instant it was revealed that Bane's primary motivation was Talia, he became smaller and more vulnerable. This was made painfully clear when Bane was shot out of nowhere by Catwoman riding on the Batpod, cutting him off mid-sentence and giving him a more embarrassing death than he deserved.

Bane Could Have Been Batman's True Equal

• Bane was robbed of his relevance by the Talia twist.
• Prior to her reveal, he was the perfect final antagonist for Batman.

The introduction of Talia at the end suddenly shifted focus away from Bane, something that he had more than earned by the end of the film. Yes, it was fairly obvious that the secretive child of Ra's al Ghul was going to be Talia in disguise, but it also wouldn't be completely out of the question if Bane had been that child instead. This is an alternate version of Batman, after all, one that has clearly not followed the set path of his story beyond the key parts of his life needed to help him craft the identity of Batman.

If Bane had been the true antagonist of the film, then it might not have come down to a car chase through the streets to decide whether Gotham would be destroyed by a nuclear bomb. It could very well have come down to a final fight between Batman and Bane as they attempted to literally wrestle for the fate of the city. Unfortunately, Bane and the audience were denied this privilege.

It's even more upsetting when recognizing that this was one of the first major attempts to turn Bane into something beyond the musclebound brute he is typically portrayed as. It may have even jumpstarted DC Comics' efforts to make Bane a more singular enemy for Batman than ever before. He deserved this chance to shine, and though it may have been taken away from him, the performance given to fans of The Dark Knight series is still captivating even today.