The Dark Knight Rises Nolan succeeded in making a sympathetic villain.

[venus_ice]

The Good Guy Bane meme is great

 

[kvz5]

I can't decide who is more "evil": Bane or Talia. Right now, I'm leaning towards Talia. She has zero redeeming qualities to me. Both are still ruthless though.

Two-Face is really the only sympathetic villain for me. I guess a case can be made for Ra's (albeit weak). The Joker is not sympathetic but he is charming as hell.

 

[Mob1423]

Only half of Two-Face is sympathetic

 

[elgato]

He's in a villain in the straight sense of the word, he's a member of the village, he's a true anarchist, comitted to his ideas and to die for them, he's the one that goes against all the schemes and models the Gotham (american) citizens respect and follow, but he's also the only one that knew true love and redemption. The only think that could make him a villain is the culture some people have lived in. Nolan is a genious, and Bane is his best character yet.

 

[KalMart]

The Good Guy Bane meme is great

Priceless.

 

[dpguy]

I can't decide who is more "evil": Bane or Talia. Right now, I'm leaning towards Talia. She has zero redeeming qualities to me. Both are still ruthless though.

Two-Face is really the only sympathetic villain for me. I guess a case can be made for Ra's (albeit weak). The Joker is not sympathetic but he is charming as hell.

I think Talia is 100 times more evil. She's a woman born into terrible circumstances, but she escaped and grew up into a woman of beauty and wealth.

She had ability and opportunity to do good in the world, but instead chose to inflict death and destruction on a massive scale.

By contrast, Bane suffered an injury that disfigured him and left him dependent on drugs that have to be administered through a mask. His life has been one of undeserved suffering and imprisonment. That kind of life would transform almost anyone into a hateful, bitter monster.

To me, Bane's villainy seems more a product of the environment he grew up in, whereas Talia's evil seems more of a conscious choice.

 

[Shpati]

I think Talia is 100 times more evil. She's a woman born into terrible circumstances, but she escaped and grew up into a woman of beauty and wealth.

She had ability and opportunity to do good in the world, but instead chose to inflict death and destruction on a massive scale.

By contrast, Bane suffered an injury that disfigured him and left him dependent on drugs that have to be administered through a mask. His life has been one of undeserved suffering and imprisonment. That kind of life would transform almost anyone into a hateful, bitter monster.

To me, Bane's villainy seems more a product of the environment he grew up in, whereas Talia's evil seems more of a conscious choice.

The way she friend zoned Bane, that was pretty evil.

 

[RedSkull]

I thought Bane was a pedo...which makes him even less sympathetic. His thing with Talia is definitely...weird.

 

[AnneFan]

Bane could more than hold his own and was described as Talia's protector. Whether or not Bane decided to kill Batman instead of waiting, Talia had that emotional/nostalgic hold over Bane and it produced tears. I agree that "kill them all" Talia is the more through and through evil, as dpguy says, it's a conscious choice on her part.

 

[Roose Bolton]

I thought Bane was a pedo...which makes him even less sympathetic. His thing with Talia is definitely...weird.

How exactly was he a pedo? What? Because he saved a child's life?

 

[DJ Kornphlake]

How exactly was he a pedo? What? Because he saved a child's life?

Because obviously any older male that shows any sign of affection towards a younger female can only be based on sexual attraction.

 

[georgec]

How exactly was he a pedo? What? Because he saved a child's life?

Welcome to the 21st century.

 

[DACrowe]

Bane clearly idolized Talia. Whether it was a form of unrequeited love or that of a father loving his surrogate child (Alfred parable?) or something else, it is unclear.

But when you see a tear, there is a shred of sympathy just for the basic humanity at play.

 

[DACrowe]

Bane clearly idolized Talia. Whether it was a form of unrequeited love or that of a father loving his surrogate child (Alfred parable?) or something else, it is unclear.

But when you see a tear, there is a shred of sympathy just for the basic humanity at play.

 

[DoomsdayApex]

I don't necessarily believe that Bane was in love with Talia. From what was implied in the movie, Bane loved Talia likely as a little sister/surrogate daughter -- he was her protector/guardian. Whether or not more developed between the two while Ra's and Talia were both trained by The League of Shadows, that remains unknown to the viewer. It's basically left up to interpretation.

 

[RedSkull]

How exactly was he a pedo? What? Because he saved a child's life?

I bet he diddled her in prison. I bet that's why Ras hated him and he was ex-communicated. Look at how she touches his anus (face) when she says goodbye to him. There was definitely some romantic stockholm syndrome going on in da pit.

 

[Norek]

I don't necessarily believe that Bane was in love with Talia. From what was implied in the movie, Bane loved Talia likely as a little sister/surrogate daughter -- he was her protector/guardian. Whether or not more developed between the two while Ra's and Talia were both trained by The League of Shadows, that remains unknown to the viewer. It's basically left up to interpretation.

True. In the flashbacks, you can see how devoted the Protector was in taking care of her ever since she was a baby.

 

[Great Mind(s)]

He tried to nuke Gotham in Batman and Robin 16#



In terms of "evil" I'd say Nolan's villains would be ranked like:
Joker
Talia
Bane
Ra's
Two-Face.



Joker was essentially mephistopheles, the Devil or rather the closest thing in Nolan's world. His entire goal was proving that people were essentially as twisted and evil as he was. He kills randomly and without reason. No redeemable qualities whatsoever.


Talia was an absolute nihilist, she was damaged first by her experiences in the pit and then by her time with Ra's. Ultimately she seemed like a sociopath and was fully prepared to burn 12 million people in order to end her own miserable existence.

Bane had been presumably born and raised within the pit, and suffered unimaginable cruelties on a near daily basis. He fought and killed just to survive, and yet he proved that he still had a basic sense of humanity left when he chose to protect an innocent child. Now we can brush that off in light of his actions in Gotham but if we really look at it, this is a man who has never been shown any form of kindness in his life yet still manages to show some, even at the risk of his own survival-basically going against everything he's learnt in the pit. Now he was still brutal and cruel, that's undeniable but given all the facts I think that this is a man who was desperate to try and find reason with his life, he found it in The League of Shadows and now follows it,and Talia, to the extremes. I'd say he's a complex guy. More so than Joker and Talia.


Ra's al Ghul. Now this man was an extremist and a fanatic who's methods were absolutely deplorable yet he seemed like he genuinely wanted to make the world a better place, he, like Bruce, wanted to ensure that no one else suffered like he did. He was just too lost in his own pain to realize that the methods he used made him the very thing he was fighting.

Two-Face is THE text book tragic villain. He starts as a man who truly believes in the system and the decency of others. It's not until the Joker sinks his teeth into him and takes away all that he loves that he absolutely loses faith in all systems in all people, yet even at his very worst, he still tries to hold onto some semblance of justice, in the form of his coin. This was a good man who others failed.

This 100% spot on. Just add Catwoman in there, despite everything she was a master thief who killed people and found it fun. Or she was just trying to sound cool to impress Batman. I'd put her as most sympathetic and obviously not a full villain. But neither was Harvey Dent. I'd say they kind of moved in opposite directions.

 

[Ravage]

I don't necessarily believe that Bane was in love with Talia. From what was implied in the movie, Bane loved Talia likely as a little sister/surrogate daughter -- he was her protector/guardian. Whether or not more developed between the two while Ra's and Talia were both trained by The League of Shadows, that remains unknown to the viewer. It's basically left up to interpretation.

I believe so too. Too bad the movie went with so many holes in that area that your average viewer can never see this difference.

The man lived in a dark prison his entire life (as he said) and must've been pure as gold (since the other prisoners never went into full combat mode amongst each others, they were like fated friends rather than wild cellmates.) Bane must've been interested to see a small child for the first time ever in his life and tried to protect her when things get rough with other prisoners going wild about her.

Maybe he found her very similar to himself and doest want another child to rot in darkness as he did for least 20 years.

There is nothing wrong with that and if you call this pedo, you must be the king of pedos for having/adopting your own child and supporting him/her. What the hell man?

 

[jb007]

To me the tragic villian in the trilogy is Ras Al Ghul. Leaving his wife & daughter. Only to have her (his daughter) rain & lead the League of Shadows.

What an ironic twist.

 

[Nevincer]

I think everyone in this thread is wrong. Nolan did finally succeed in creating a sympathetic villlain this go around, Harvey wasn't relatable because he got the girl. Bane on the other hand got friendzoned. We've all been there. I shed a tear for him and wanted to give him a brohug.

 

[MultipleJesuses]

I found Bane to be incredibly sympathetic. When the tears rolled from behind his mask, thats when I decided this was the greatest movie ever made.

 

[Batman jr.]

I felt nothing but love for Talia The Stabbing *****.

 

[The_Raganork]

yeah Blake is the most sympathetic villain I've seen yet

 

[Batman jr.]

yeah Blake is the most sympathetic villain I've seen yet

He's actually the Riddler: he himself doesn't know the answer to the question "wtf am I doing in this cave?", so he goes up to ask the kids.