It’s been 14-years since Christopher Nolan ended his Batman trilogy with The Dark Knight Rises. The film was a commercial and critical success, though it feels that most people feel that it didn’t live up to the expectations that The Dark Knight. That was no denying that the Oscar nominated sequel was going to be a tough film to top, especially after Heath Ledger’s legendary performance. It could be argued that choosing Bane as the final villain wasn’t particularly the best follow-up to the 2008 film.
The Dark Knight Rises co-writer Jonathan Nolan brought up an interested topic during his appearance on Happy Sad Confused where he states that Bane was initially his first choice for TDKR. There was a genuine possibility that The Riddler could’ve been the final big bad for Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne. Now looking back at the final film of the iconic franchise, was Bane the right villain for The Dark Knight Rises?
The Mistake Nolan Made With The Dark Knight
Given the ending of The Dark Knight, it’s hard to not assume that Joker would’ve been reprised his role as the big bad in The Dark Knight Rises. However, there’s been no confirmation on that being the cases since Nolan didn’t write The Dark Knight with another sequel in mind. It would’ve been great if Joker finished off the franchise, but there’s no way that another actor would’ve escaped the shadow of what Heath Ledger previously did. Another key player is Two-Face, who was killed off too soon in The Dark Knight.
While it’s understandable that Nolan didn’t particularly map out an entire franchise, it certainly would’ve helped if he did. The unfortunate passing of Heath Ledger would’ve prevented Joker returning in the sequel. Nolan made the smart decision to not recast the character and simply move forward. However, Two-Face would’ve been a great primary villain for the final film and not killing him off would’ve built off his tremendous character arc from The Dark Knight. Hell, if Nolan really wanted Bane in the final film, he could’ve had Two-Face hire him as the mercenary to take out Batman.
The Bane Problem In The Dark Knight Rises
The issue wasn’t that Bane was the primary villain or Tom Hardy himself, but he ultimately turned out to be a worthless lackey once the twist was revealed. Bane SHOULD’VE been the main villain. The idea of bringing in The Riddler is sound, though I agree with the decision to not do so because he could’ve been too similar to Joker. Bane having different values made for interesting film in The Dark Knight Rises. He felt like a genuine threat to Bruce Wayne/Batman.
Joker was never going to kill Batman and Scarecrow and Ra’s al Ghul were never major threats. The Bane in the comics was a notorious and intelligent crime boss who also had the brute strength. It would’ve been great if that was kept throughout the ENTIRE film. Why did Bane need to be strictly Talia al Ghul’s muscle? The Dark Knight Rises was actually a compelling film with Bane leading the charge. The twist was overly complicated, though on paper, it does makes sense why Talia wanted revenge on Bruce Wayne/Batman.
The problem is that she just wasn’t as intriguing as Bane. It was disappointing to see Bane killed off with ease once the twist was revealed, as he was the true star of the entire film.
Was Bane The Right Villain For The Dark Knight Rises?
As previously stated, Bane was a great villain throughout the 2012 film. The mistake Nolan made was not making him the primary villain of the entire villain. The Talia al Ghul twist was unnecessary. Was Bane on his way to being a better villain that Joker? No, but to be fair, there’s not one other villain I could name who would’ve topped what Heath Ledger did. The closest would’ve been Two-Face, but he was killed in The Dark Knight so his return was never happening.
The Dark Knight Rises remains a solid conclusion to the Nolan trilogy. It gets too much hate simply because it didn’t top the previous entry. Even with the twist in the climax, it’s still a great end to a trilogy that elevated superheroes film to grander scale beyond mindless popcorn entertainment.
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