Gary Collinson ponders the fate of Bane in The Dark Knight Rises…
“Without getting into specifics, the key thing that makes [The Dark Knight Rises] a great possibility for us is that we want to finish our story,” says director Christopher Nolan on his plans for the third and final installment of his Batman movie trilogy. “In viewing it as the finishing of a story rather than infinitely blowing up the balloon and expanding the story… unlike the comics, these things don’t go on forever in film and viewing it as a story with an end is useful.”
From the moment The Dark Knight Rises was first announced, Nolan promised that the blockbuster sequel to Batman Begins and The Dark Knight would provide a definite conclusion to his epic saga. Coupled with the appointment of Bane (Tom Hardy) – the man responsible for breaking the Bat – as the film’s antagonist, and we were left with one burning question… will Batman (Christian Bale) die? If the marketing campaign is anything to go by, it’s certainly a possibility – and Nolan no doubt has the clout with Warner Bros. to pull it off if he so desires – but there’s also another question that everyone seems to have overlooked – what’s to become of Bane?
To present Nolan’s trilogy as a complete story, there’s simply no way that Bane can live to see the end credits of The Dark Knight Rises. Even if Batman dies, his sacrifice would be worthless if the people of Gotham still find themselves under Bane’s control and locking him away just ain’t gonna cut it (I mean, if he can escape a plane, then I’m sure he can escape Arkham). No, Bane has to go, so the question is, who’s the one to kill him? Let’s run down the contenders…
Batman
Usually in films like this, the climactic battle sees our hero vanquishing his foe, but as we all know, Batman’s war on crime is governed by a ‘no kill’ policy’. It’s his one golden rule… he didn’t break it for Joe Chill, the Scarecrow or Ra’s al Ghul (well, from a certain point of view), and he didn’t break it for the Joker either – despite the fact that the Harlequin of Hate was directly responsible for the death of Bruce Wayne’s true love, Rachel Dawes. With that in mind, we have to presume that Bane will also get off on this technicality, leaving just two options – Batman won’t kill him, but he won’t save him either, or the two enemies will take each other out, Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty-style. I suppose either one could be a possibility.
Selina Kyle
From what we’ve seen of Gotham’s feline femme fatale in the marketing material for The Dark Knight Rises, it’s probably safe to assume that Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) won’t share the same moral code as the Caped Crusader. Catwoman does have previous when it comes to dispatching villains in the Batman movie franchise, although Christopher Walken’s Max Shreck is hardly in the same class as Bane. In all honesty, both Bane and Batman would come off looking pretty weak if Selina Kyle managed to take the monster out – unless of course it’s some kind of double-cross / sneak attack, but that runs the risk of coming off as an anti-climax. Plus, if she did kill Bane, then Batman would have to take her down… and the trilogy really isn’t going to come to an end like that, is it?
John Blake
Regardless of whether he turns out to be Robin, Azrael, Chief O’Hara or just plain old John Blake, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Gotham City Police Detective is one of a select number of characters who could potentially put an end to Bane, and do so legally (the others being Gary Oldman’s Commissioner Gordon and Matthew Modine’s Deputy Commissioner Foley). It was obvious from the moment that Gordon-Levitt joined the cast that John Blake would turn out to be important to the plot, and while the majority of people seem to believe this means he’ll be taking to the streets as a masked vigilante, perhaps it’s a lot more simple than that. Let’s face it, if some unknown GCPD extra took Bane out there’d be an uproar, but if it’s JGL then I’m sure we could live with that.
Miranda Tate
Another character shrouded in mystery is Marion Cotillard’s Miranda Tate. According to the actress herself, Tate is a “a very, very small role… [and] a good guy”, which just doesn’t seem to tally with the Pittsburgh spy photos showing her dressed in strange attire, leading a group of Bane’s mercenaries and climbing atop a camouflaged Tumbler. Given that we’ve seen very little of her in the footage revealed so far, it’s clear that she’s either “a very, very, very, very small role”, or telling porkies. We’re going to assume it’s the latter and Tate is actually cover for Talia al Ghul, in which case she could conceivably turn against Bane and kill him to redeem herself.
Joffrey Baratheon
Okay, maybe he’s a little preoccupied playing the Game of Thrones in Westeros, but there had to be some reason for the kid in Batman Begins, right..?
So, how do you think Bane will meet his end in The Dark Knight Rises? We’d love to hear your thoughts…
Holy Franchise, Batman! – Available now via Amazon.
Gary Collinson is a writer and lecturer from the North East of England. He is the editor-in-chief of FlickeringMyth.com and the author of Holy Franchise, Batman! Bringing the Caped Crusader to the Screen.
Originally published June 20, 2012. Updated November 6, 2019.
