First Image of Tom Hardy as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises

Posted by on May 20th, 2011   Filed under: Action, Books/Comics, Internet
Source: Joblo

As of yesterday, production is officially underway on Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, and Warner Brothers have wasted no time in getting a new viral campaign launched for the film. After the phenomenal viral marketing they did for The Dark Knight, it only makes sense that they would try to repeat the success. To kick things off, they set up a mysterious page over at www.thedarkknightrises.com that plays an audio file on loop. The internet quickly went to work and discovered the Twitter hash tag #TheFireRises buried in the sound spectrum. As people began tweeting using that hashtag, an image gradually began to take shape. That image has now been identified as our very first look at Tom Hardy as Bane!

Bane is known for his massive physical strength, which he gained by being a test subject for an experimental drug known as Venom. He wears a mask that pumps the drug directly into his brain through a series of tubes. He is also highly intelligent, making him one of Batman’s most dangerous adversaries.

In the picture, Bane is clearly wearing some sort of mask, although it does not appear to be connected to anything. So far I’d say that Tom Hardy has the right physique to make the character believable without being too exaggerated. What do you think of this first image? Are you a fan of the viral marketing that they have been doing for the Batman films? Follow @thefirerises on Twitter for more updates.



  • 1138sw

    looks cool! Nolan is god now so the chances are this third installment is gonna be good!

    Hardy is definitely a bulked up guy but I wonder if they’re going to CG him bigger. If Nolan does it right it could be cool.

  • Napalm

    His back looks humongous! Maybe they’ll make him big using CG which could be cool.

  • Mel

    Personally, I think it looks a little goofy, but Nolan definitely gets the benefit of the doubt.

  • Oliver

    Looks creepy! Nolan has earned my trust, so I’m confident the look will work. I’m more curious how they’ll approach the Catwoman costume with the series’ more “realistic” approach.

  • Derek McFarland

    It’s hard ta believe that, that’s Handsome Bob from
    RocknRolla. But then again he was pretty ripped in,
    Bronson. I got a feeling that Nolan won’t use CG on Bane… It just doesn’t seem like the direction Nolan takes with his version of this franchise. But I could be wrong. All in all, I’m pretty sure Nolan’s gonna go out with a bang; especially if this is supposed to be the last of his Batman movies.

  • kyri

    Dark night has tons and tons of cgi Derek, so does inception. Nolan LOVES cgi he just uses them wisely, in a way that they do not pop out like turds. (greetings james)

  • Scuv

    Finally its on its way. The image looks pretty cool. In any case, Nolan has earnt everyones trust so any haters should calm the fuck down and simmer in the pool of magnificence.

  • Dave

    People who didn’t like the Joker amongst first glance were silenced when that first trailer came out. I’m sure the same thing will happen to the naysayers of this. This peaks my curiosity even more now for how Anne Hathaway is going to look and how it’ll all connect together.

  • Ryan Marlow

    I think the tube injection system may be out of line with the realistic feel of the Nolan Batman (and isn’t it creepier if he just injects himself?) Looks fine. I’m pumped. :-) I doubt any CGI will be involved (well maybe some thobbing veins?)

    The real challenge comes in the Catwoman outfit. They’ll probably go with a variant of the sleek jumpsuit with goggles.

  • I admire Nolan so much, ever since MEMENTO. and he keeps doing things that earn more admiration. This is how to be an artist.

  • Derek McFarland

    @kyri
    I’m aware that Nolan uses CG in plenty of his films, and does them well. I didn’t say Nolan doesn’t.
    I said he probably won’t use CG on “BANE”.
    Now are we “allll” paying attention?

  • How do you know?

  • Nelson

    The image is definitely cool. Knowing how talented Nolan is and knowing that they will probably give him whatever budget he requires of them to make this film, it is super exciting.

    My only regret, just like with “Man of Steel”, is that the movie is so far out, as far as release date. These are two movies that I will be anticipating, day-by-day, until they come out.

    Sometimes I wish there were a movie of this magnitude, that I was super interested in, that would just creep up on me and be released under my personal radar, so that I would be pleasantly surprised when I found out about it just PRIOR to the release date, instead of several months ahead of it.

    This is kind of the situation for me with “X-Men: First Class”, because it seems like the production of the movie just zoomed by and now it’s only two weeks away.

    Granted, when I first heard about First Class I was less then thrilled and I was apprehensive, but judging solely by the trailers they have done a surprisingly good job on the movie.

    I think Nolan is someone that definitely paces himself when directing a movie and he probably films a scene ad nauseum until it reaches perfection in his mind, so if Matthew Vaughan can come up with something like First Class working with the material he was given to work with,and the time he was allotted, I am confident that the new Batman film will perform equally as well.

  • Johnnyboy

    Why does fucking CGI have to be the solution to everything, when there are other ways!? They didn’t use CGI when they made the Hobitts look small in LOTR, just simple traditional camerawork. In fact, it was commented that scaling with CG made it look weirder too.

  • I first I was somewhat disappointed because I expected something more faithful to the idea of comics, but considering the comic book’s mask is a wrestler’s mark, and that he already gets at the heart of the matter, which is the mask have the technology that injects the poison that doubles the power of Bane, I think that although there is not visually very cool, I think functionally speaking should be inserted in the plot as well as in the standard Batman’s uniform was in TDK, and with this picture fans can now say with excitement that has started the show. As the image itself, seems to me that the photo is a scene of escape from prison and that Bane is pulling a “friend “along with him.

  • Kasper

    Looks fucking badass. End of story!