The Dark Knight Rises, 10 years after its release (what is time now?), is a bad miracle. While the film could never reach the highs that its predecessor achieved in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, there are still plenty of issues with its plot and characters that are still valid criticisms today. While the final act in Nolan’s Batman trilogy is not the strongest entry, there is one crucial element in it that has still remained relevant (and hilarious) to this day: Tom Hardy’s goofy-as-all-hell voice as the masked muscleman Bane.

While the third big bad in the trilogy is certainly intimidating (his first encounter with Christian Bale’s Batman making the case for that), the colorful choice for Hardy to speak like a circus ringleader with a broken megaphone is one that can only be described as masterful. It’s weird, it’s very confusing (especially considering Nolan’s previous issues with sound design in his films), and it’s profoundly silly. It’s the last thing you would expect from following the late and great Heath Ledger’s take on the Joker, but it's because of these things that make it unironically the best part of the movie, being so popular that it’s imitated in mainstream Batman films and shows following it like The LEGO Batman Movie and DC’s Harley Quinn. Bane’s voice in The Dark Knight Rises was the thing I never knew I needed from a Batman villain. It stood as a funny bright spot in a film that was far too concerned with being really serious.

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My first exposure to Bane Voice must have been around the same time everyone was exposed to it, in an IMAX theater with awful mixing. I remember buying a ticket to Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol for the sole reason that it was the only way to see the opening sequence for TDKR (I wasn’t into Mission: Impossible before watching Ghost Protocol, a mistake that was quickly corrected). I’ve been a fan of the character Bane ever since a friend lent me his copy of Batman: Knightfall, where I was enamored by his cold demeanor and awesome luchador-inspired costume. While the modern Nolan look for the character wasn’t my cup of tea, Hardy’s pitch black eyes and dangerously-bulgy muscles did make up for the costume’s minimal detail. Within moments after I sat on my seat to enjoy the then-unexpected, I was immediately taken by the direction and score while a CIA operative (AIden Gillen, just one of many actors whose careers skyrocketed from this) was trying to get information from hostages by threatening to throw them out of a plane. “A lot of loyalty for a hired gun!” he says as he cocks a pistol to a masked terrorist’s head, shoving his veiled head out the door of the aircraft.

And then: it happens. The interrogation suddenly stops because a booming voice has quickly taken control of the room, saying: “Hrmm mm mm, hrr mmm hrm hrm mnmm,” which is Bad Mixing Speak for “Or perhaps he’s wondering why someone would shoot a man, before throwing him out of a plane.”

Tom Hardy as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises
Image via Warner Bros.

One could imagine that everyone in the theater collectively sat up and cocked their heads in response to this strange, strange voice. It wouldn’t come as much of a surprise if people couldn’t even understand what Hardy said, something that was somewhat corrected once the film was released. It’s already a tall order when you have to follow up one of the greatest villain performances of all time, but it was an even taller one when the final villain who’s lined up to face the caped crusader is a big strong guy that sounds like Kenny from South Park.

There was no way it could’ve worked, and yet, it somehow worked tremendously.

Bane as a character is fairly one-note; he’s a textbook definition of a dumb guy who uses smart words to sound smart, but it’s the way he says them that make it so entertaining. “As I terrorize Gotham I will feed its people hope to poison their souls,” as a line doesn’t make a lick of sense. Put it through that voice modulator, however, and it comes off as the perfect line a Bond villain would say before things go completely wrong. It’s chewing scenery at its finest, with Hardy clearly having a blast creating chaos and breaking backs like a super villain Iron Sheik.

The critical aftermath of TDKR is a highly debated one. Its arguments range from the overall quality of the film, its depiction (or lack thereof) of class conflict, and its role in influencing the blockbuster trends that we see today, but Hardy’s vocal performance as Bane is a highlight that’s carried an unexpected legacy. While it isn’t a voice that’s menacing, it is one that’s fun to play around with. It’s why people like Doug Benson and James Adomian continue to imitate it in their respective takes on the character. Bane’s voice is also why we love Tom Hardy as an actor, who takes creative risks that, while possibly resulting in more mockery (see: Capone or Venom), are entirely unique to his dedication as a performer (see: Capone or Venom). The man simply does not miss, and when it comes to making the most out of a sticky situation with TDKR, he stuck to his guns and created one of the most memorable voices in modern day cinema. Now a decade removed from the film, the world is still a better place for it. Bane Voice rules, long may it reign.