As far as bad guys in franchises go, they don't get much better than Bane. The "Dark Knight Rises" villain is a former member of the League of Shadows; his iconic mask and garbled voice have inspired cat videos all across the Internet; and, of course, he has an affinity for hanging out in darkness. But is that all he's about?
Not so fast.
Though Tom Hardy made Bane one of the most popular villains in recent memory, there's one major thing the character does that fans may have missed, and it could change the entire way you look at the movie:
Bane is knitting.
That's right, Gotham. Just like your grandmother and people who make their own clothes, Bane enjoys the fine art of string work. He probably even has a Pinterest account to get ideas for new projects. How fun, right? It's easy to miss when it happens, but you can clearly see him playing with rope or string during the movie, perhaps knitting or crocheting.
An example of Bane's skills can be seen on display during the courtroom scene:
Fan forums also circulate this image, which can be seen in a Warner Bros. "Dark Knight Rises" featurette:
Shocked? So were the people who noted the peculiar finding on Reddit:
Granted, everybody needs a little "me time" now and again, but it seems pretty out of place for someone set on destroying a city to all of a sudden have a penchant for arts and crafts.
There's actually a major reason why this is in the movie, which Warner Bros. confirmed to HuffPost Entertainment, and a little background on the film finally reveals the truth.
The Dark Knit Rises: The Major Reason Behind Bane's Knitting
As director Chris Nolan has said, when he did his draft on the script for "The Dark Knight Rises," it was "all about" Charles Dickens' novel A Tale of Two Cities. This inspiration is illustrated by Commissioner Gordon's eulogy for Bruce Wayne at the end of the film, which is taken directly from the book:
When you consider that info, it's apparent that Bane's knitting is actually an Easter egg in the story. As one Tumblr user points out, it's easy to see Bane as a representative for Madame Defarge. She's a villain from A Tale of Two Cities who has a passion for two things in particular -- killing and knitting, as seen in this excerpt:
“Eh well! How then?” demanded madame, tying another knot, as if there were another enemy strangled.
It can be argued that Defarge's knitting represents a couple of different things. In the story, she literally knits a list of condemned names into her work, but some say it's also meant to symbolize the callousness with which she carries out her treachery. Defarge performs her seemingly innocuous activity while sentencing people to death, which is exactly what Bane is doing in the courtroom.
The similarities between the characters don't stop there. Defarge has had terrible wrongs committed against her and her family in the past and believes innocents should die for their families' crimes. Sound familiar?
Warner Bros. confirmed the Easter egg to HuffPost, saying suspicions that Bane's apparent knitting is a reference to Defarge are "accurate." The company chose not to elaborate further.
So there you have it. And for anyone who questions his unusual hobby, just think who's going to be laughing when you're freezing to death in Gotham's nuclear winter and Bane is nice and toasty in a brand-new, handmade pair of mittens.
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