Fans Are Going Bonkers Over The Idea Of Bane In The Batman

Look, if anybody can picture Bautista filling Bane's shoes, it's us. It's not just his build; his voice, acting style, and proven action chops would have us totally flipping out it if he were to one day land the role. Unfortunately, we're about 99.9998 percent sure that that day isn't going to come today, next week, or next year (not that we blame fans for their pre-emptive flip-out).

First and foremost, there's the fact that The Batman's rogues' gallery is already pretty well filled out. Back in October, Zoë Kravitz nabbed the role of Catwoman; near-simultaneously, it was announced that Paul Dano had been cast as the Riddler. The following month, the news broke that Colin Farrell was in talks to play the Penguin in the movie, and since then, it's also been announced that John Turturro will be playing the infamous crime boss Carmine Falcone.

That's a pretty well-rounded gallery, and even the rumors that have flitted about like so many bats in a cave over the last year or so have failed to mention Bane. It also stands to reason that — assuming Warner Bros. would like The Batman to kick off a franchise, which is a pretty damn reasonable assumption — they're not going to load up the plate with all of Bats' most iconic villains right off the, er, bat. The Joker, for instance, is conspicuously missing from The Batman's villain lineup (although his cinematic fortunes have been doing just fine lately), and when it comes to truly threatening, formidable Batman villains, there are virtually none quite so threatening or formidable as Bane, who famously snapped Bruce Wayne's back during the events of the iconic DC story arc Knightfall.

There's also the fact that Bautista is lined up to be very, very busy for the foreseeable future. He has no fewer than three projects in various stages of pre-production, including Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, director D.J. Caruso's crime thriller The Killer's Game, and the animated... um, breakdancing mouse flick Groove Tails.

Of course, it's not outside the realm of possibility that Bautista is reaching out to Warner Bros. in the event that Bane will appear in a sequel to The Batman — but it should be noted that DC is being very cautious with its legacy characters these days, having learned its lesson from the failed universe-building attempt of the early DCEU efforts. Star Robert Pattinson, who should know a thing or two about whether he's signed on for a film or a franchise, has deflected talk of a sequel to The Batman — so it seems pretty likely that Warner Bros. wants to gauge how fans react to the flick before going ahead and greenlighting more installments.

That said, we can all hope. If Bautista does one day take on the role of Bane, we have no doubt that he'll absolutely kill it, most likely breaking the box office along with the Bat. As for that other theory: go ahead, Dave. Grab the Snyder Cut and just walk on out; that's the only way it's seeing the light of day any time soon.