Tom Hardy portrayed the villain Bane in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises.
Bane is a masked revolutionary who seizes control of Gotham City and defeats Bruce Wayne physically and psychologically. Hardy’s performance used posture, movement, and a distinctive voice to make the character imposing even when much of his face was concealed by a respirator mask.
The Dark Knight Rises was released in 2012 and was the final film in Nolan’s Batman trilogy. Christian Bale returned as Bruce Wayne and Batman, while Anne Hathaway played Selina Kyle and Joseph Gordon-Levitt portrayed police officer John Blake.
Bane had previously appeared in other Batman adaptations, including Batman & Robin, but Nolan’s version is substantially different in tone and story. A frequent mix-up is identifying Bane as a creation unique to the movie: the character originated in DC Comics and first appeared in 1993.