…in as much as he’s very big, and has black mask.
The obligatory “Dark Knight Rises” viral campaign begins today, with this first teasing look at how Christopher Nolan and Company will try to transform BANE from one of the most singularly boring “Dark Age” villains into someone worth watching a movie about.
That’s Tom hardy under the mask, BTW, so I expect the DEAFENING roars of protest that a prominent Latino/South-American character is being played by a white actor from all the “racially conscious” white people who were OUTRAGED at making Heimdall black to begin any minute now…
…right?
MOVIEBOB CENTRAL 
Although I haven't been a huge Batman follower, so the “compromise” of a character doesn't bother me as much as it might a true fan, I still think it's pretty lame that they made him white instead of Latino.
The only reason I can think of is that they didn't want to take the chance of potentially offending anyone for having a vague Mexican wrestler stereotype. If that's the case, it's incredibly fucking stupid.
Hopefully the real case is that they just cast the guy who they thought was perfect for the role.
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I admit I have trouble remembering actors' names if they aren't mainstream recognizable. So Can anyone name a Latino actor who could fit the persona and stature of the character without using too much CGI? I'm trying right now and getting nothing.
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@Adam,
Marko Zaror. Chilean martial-artist late of “Kiltro” and the most-recent “Undisputed” sequel. He's built like a fucking house, but he moves around like Jackie Chan full of helium. Not sure he can “act” for shit, but it IS just Bane, after all…
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I'll be the first to say it's a disappointing choice, to be honest, particularly given that this makes it TWICE now that Bane's been cast white in a big movie, and THIS time the movie has a better-than-decent chance of not sucking.
Nonetheless, I rather like the look of him so far. In particular, the teeth-like studs on the mouthpiece intrigue me, as I get the impression the mask is going to look like the mouthpiece of a skull that way. Well-lit shot, too, so there's that.
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@Adam.
Javier Bardem might've been a good fit. He's certainly proven he can be menacing.
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*Does a google search*
Yeah, that could work. Looks a little on the skinny side for Bane but then again people are almost always bigger in person than what they look like in photos. A little movie magic could fix that.
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Heheheh, Anton Chigurh vs. Batman, now that would be something to see.
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Bob, as I said in you twitter, BANE IS BRITISH. His father was a British crimelord named King Snake. He was raised in a Spanish prison.
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@ steve
Shh! he's busy implying that anyone who didn't like thor is racist. Don't bring facts into this.
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@steve is right, Bane is south american by nationality, racially hes white/british.
I agreed with Bob about the whole thor thing as he outlined it in the Big picture episode, but he should have checked his facts.
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@Steve:
I once saw a documentary about a Vietnamese family that grew up in Israel. They spoke hebrew throughout the entire film.
A man born in Britain but who grew up somewhere else is more likely to have their “original” accent obliterated. For an example of this, actor John Mahoney from Frasier is British. Turns out that when you live and work in a place long enough, you tend to absorb the culture, and that includes the regional dialects.
So while I kind of prefer Danny Trejo as Bane in one of the newer cartoons, Tom Hardy as Bane is certainly plausible from a story-standpoint. Or at least, I hardly think it's the worst example of hollywood white-washing.
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@Phantos.
I must wonder if you even read my comment correctly. We are not discussing Bane's cultural upbringing, just his ethnicity. Moviebob is attempting to state a hypocrisy that people who hated Heimdell are being quiet with Bane because Moviebob THINKS Bane's ethnicity is Spanish. He is not Spanish, he is racially white, and more specifically mostly British.
There is no “white-washing” when the character being adapted is simply a very tan white man from the comics that grew up being spanish.
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Well dang, that changes everything. Forget what I said in the previous post — I plead ignorance since, like I said, I never really followed Batman. But Bob has no excuse here.
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It's my understanding that while Bane's father, King Snake, is British; his mother was native to Santa Prisca. So at the very least, he's bi-racial and has frequently been depicted with a closer-to-tan skin tone and speaking with a South American accent.
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This is true, his mother was from Santa Prisca, and was rumored to be somewhat close with Thomas Wayne. That said, this still doesn't mean that he's comparable to Heimdell's problem. Bane has been mostly portrayed as looking pretty white in the comics, and it really was only the animated series that added any color on him whatsoever. Oh don't get me wrong, every so often an artist would make him a bit tanner, and his first appearance showed a very saturated peach-coloring to him. But for the most part, Bane has looked white.
The thing is, it really doesn't matter if Tom Hardy is British, or white, considering Bane isn't a pure Latino/Spaniard, and has for the most part, been portrayed as looking white in the comics. Now to be fair, not even a lot of comic book readers know this info, so it's easy to be mistaken, especially when Bane does speak with a Spanish accent as well as have a Spanish cultural attitude to him.
Now what Moviebob could argue about is if they dropped the whole Spaniard thing all together. No accent, no culture, etc. That'd be something to get somewhat peeved about.
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For a white guy, you sure play the race card alot Bob.
In case of Heimdall it was fairly obvious in the whole norse setting. it doesn't take a genius or deep knowledge of comics he probably wasn't black in the comics.(ultimately if I didn't know better I'd assume he was meant be that way as everything in the film felt like it belonged there…so had little impact on my enjoyment of the film as everyone gave a solid performance.)
Bane however…you just proved yourself for how obscure Bane is to the public. Whether he was latin or not probably would slipped under the radar anyways since most people wouldn't know enough for certain to get worked up about it.
In the end I usually know these details, and rarely does it bother me. I mean no one seemed to care much that Wolverine was played by a 6'2″ aussie despite being a short canadian. As a short guy(5'4″) it did irk me a bit…the one role a short guy could have legitly played…and they took it from us runts..how dare they. I mean every damn lead in hollywood always the tall handsome beautiful people(heck they even cast a skinny guy as the blob.)…especially for comic movies. That said Hugh Jackman did a great job so I quickly got over it. Quality beats out accuracy for me everytime. Tom hardy will probably own as Bane…so thats all that matters.
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I don't really have much of an opinion as I'm not nearly as much a fan of Batman as I am Norse mythology, but seems to me that a British actor is playing a British character… I don't see an issue.
Now, of course, if there were ever a case where changing the characters race would have been wholly acceptable to me, it would be here. As much as Nick Fury was made all the more awesome by being played by Samuel L. Jackson, Bane would absolutely be all the more awesome if he were played by, say, Danny Trejo, or even giving another Latino actor a chance at being an action star.
So, no, I can't say I'm upset because nothing was actually changed (as far as we currently know), but I am irked that there was a genuine missed opportunity here.
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Hopefully they get a different speech coach for Hardy than for Bale.. I don't need to hear Hardy doing a gravel voice with a spanish accent.
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Mask is a little more Hannibal Lector and a little less Lucha Libre. Besides that I'm cool with the changes, My Favorite Bane is now and has always been Henry Silva.
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Am I the only on who thinks this Bane is a little too skinny?
We all know Batman & Robin sucked ass but THAT Bane had a closer build for what I imagine Bane to look like.
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Part the first: How much a comic book character looks like his comic counterpart has precisely zilch to do with how good the movie is. In X-Men and X2, the character rarely, if ever, looked exactly like their comic book counterparts, same with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, and those movies are awesome. Is it nice if they do? Sure, but comic book visual design often looks terrible on screen (To wit: If they kept Wolverine's costume in the films, it would look unbearably silly, and you know it).
Part the second: Bane as he is portrayed in recent Secret Six (which, if you don't read, you should):
http://www.4thletter.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/banepecs.jpg
Oh come ON. He's hairy and he has blue eyes, 2 traits which are absurdly rare among Latinos, much less Native South Americans.
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Um, Elessar, he clearly has brown eyes in that picture.
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Looks great to me. I always liked bain in th cartoons. Plus he's they guy that broke Batman's spine in the comics. He did what joker never did and that was put batman out of commission for a while.
The idea of a guy who hates batman to the point of subjecting himself to addictive destructive drugs sounds like the potential for a great movie. I just hope if there is any love interest in this film it only is hinted at, in the form of raz's daughter.
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Note about Nick Fury & Samuel L:
Jackson gave permission for the version of Nick Fury you are thinking of to be created using his image. On the condition that he got first rights at playing the character if he was in a movie.
So yeah it would have been impossible to white-wash Nick Fury, as the actual living person he is based on had exclusive rights to play him.
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