Bane: From the first shot of Tom Hardy (similar to the shot that revealed Heath Ledger's hideous Joker grin four years ago), shaved bald and with a spider-like breathing mask clamped on his face, you can tell that Nolan has found a villain worthy enough to follow the Clown Prince of Crime. Before you even see Bane, an aura of mystery and menace is established around the man -- an aura that rapidly turns to dread and terror once Bane reveals himself.
We got a chance to speak with Nolan after the screening, and he laid out his rationale for selecting Bane as Batman's chief adversary: "I tasked David Goyer (co-writer on the story) early on, when we knew the shape of our story, with looking for a worthy antagonist. We examined really all the possibilities, and what we were looking for was an archetype. What we were looking for was a character that embodied a threat that we hadn't dealt with before, that Batman hadn't dealt with before in our films.
"Bane is primarily a physical presence," Nolan continued. "He's threatening in a monstrous way and very frightening in a physical way, and that's why we went for him. We didn't want to do any kind of watered down version of the Joker, which a lot of those characters are, and we really found something in him. He's got incredible intelligence as well and a really fascinating backstory that we were able to draw elements from into our story. I'm very excited for the world to see what Tom Hardy has done with this, because he's created this unbelievably unique character."
