Bane and the Mutant Leader
December 21st, 2011




In regards to my post about Miller and Nolan, Santino and I were chatting and he picked up on something which I had noticed, but didn’t want to say out-loud. I’ll let him explain it in his own words:

So. Theory.

 At the prologue screening, we got a t-shirt. It looks like this:
Now, this is a kind of stylized take on the Bane mask in Nolan’s movie. (They also had a stylized take on the Batman logo; I didn’t get that one.) But it reminded me of something else. I was thinking, thinking, let it go, got back to thinking … and then it hit me:
That’s not the best image from the book, but it’s the best one I found on Google Image. (I think the image that it most resembles is about midway down page 99 of the 10th anniversary paperback edition of The Dark Knight Returns.) Point is: It looks like the mutant leader.
So let’s consider what we know:
  • TDKR is set some years (8?) after the events of TDK.
  • Bane is able to command a mob to fight with cops or Batman or both (I don’t remember that happening in Knightfall; I do remember it happening in The Dark Knight Returns).
  • According to the trailer, it’s “peacetime” in Gotham. I assume if the cops aren’t busy, Batman probably isn’t either. Is he officially out of commission? Possibly because of a law passed in the wake of the death of Harvey Dent? Or because he’s pacified the city?
So here’s my theory: What if the Bane of TDKR is really more of a Bane/Mutant Leader hybrid? Someone who incites the 99 percent to tear the city down from the inside? And what if Batman rising is him taking control of that mob (like, say, at the end of the The Dark Knight Returns)? That means the “big idea” of the TDKR is…..the need of an enlightened 1 percent to lead the 99 percent? Something along those lines?
Well. Santino’s theory makes a lot of sense. It fits with Nolan’s method of taking pieces of the comics lore and melding them. In this case, taking the foundational structure of the Mutant leader–remember, his goal in Miller’s Dark Knight Returns is to take over Gotham and transform it into an entirely new kind of society–and then layered Bane’s character over that motivational chassis. All of it in service of a Big Idea.
(I’m already on record as really wanting a movie about the Mutant gang.)
For some reason, Santino was nervous about doing a second DKR post. Which is crazy. I don’t plan on writing about anything else for the next seven months. Obviously.
By the by, if you haven’t already, check out his new site at SonnyBunch.com. It’s good to have him back.

  1. SB December 21, 2011 at 5:46 pm

    What, you’re telling me people are more interested in theories about the most highly anticipated movie of 2012 than my random thoughts about “Sucker Punch,” one of 2011’s biggest flops? I find that hard to believe.

    2. REPLY

  2. Brian Faughnan December 23, 2011 at 11:06 am

    Should we stop casting pearls, just because the swine don’t appreciate them?

    I know, I know: the eternal question.

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