The DCU’s Best Replacement For Nolan’s Least Loved Villain Just Got Way More Likely
Summary
- Dave Bautista is the perfect Bane replacement in the DCU, fixing criticisms of the villain’s past live-action portrayal.
- Bautista’s superhero experience and passion make him an ideal candidate for the character.
- Gunn’s plans aim to make the new DCU more comic book-accurate, and Bautista’s casting as Bane would align with this vision.
The new DC Universe has the perfect replacement for the least liked villain from the director Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy, and recent comments from the actor in question have made the potential DCU casting more likely. Nolan is riding on a high with his latest movie, Oppenheimer, sweeping Hollywood’s awards season, which is likely to culminate with Nolan getting his first win for Best Director at the 2024 Academy Awards. Before that, Nolan brought to life some of the best Batman movies DC has ever made.
There are many reasons for the success of The Dark Knight trilogy. Among them is Christian Bale’s Batman, with the actor perfectly balancing the Bruce Wayne and Dark Knight sides of the character. Nolan’s Batman movies were also hits due to their impeccable cinematography, score, story, and more. If Bale’s Batman was great, the villains he went up against were just as exciting, if not better — as was the case for Heath Ledger’s Joker. While The Dark Knight trilogy had great villains, one of them has been criticized, and the DCU’s upcoming movies have the perfect actor to solve that.
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Dave Bautista Wants To Play A Marvel Or DC Villain
The Actor Played Drax In Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Franchise
The Dark Knight Rises featured Tom Hardy’s Bane as its main villain. While the actor delivered an intense performance in the role, with an iconic moment from Batman comics getting adapted on the big screen, Bane was ultimately the target of criticism from DC fans. The villain’s characterization was not ideal, changing his background, giving Bane a muffled voice, not using the actor’s classic “Venom” substance from the comics, and more. James Gunn’s DCU will reboot Batman in The Brave and the Bold, and the movie has the perfect actor to bring a comic book-accurate Bane to life — Dave Bautista.
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Bautista played Drax the Destroyer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Gunn having cast the actor for his Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. While the actor played an MCU hero, he is ready to turn a new page. Speaking to io9, Bautista revealed that while he might be done with Drax, the actor still wants to be part of either Marvel or DC projects. More specifically, Bautista wants to play “an ominous villain” with a bigger role than he had as Drax. The actor’s comment connects to his long-running Bane casting rumors.
The Guardians Of The Galaxy Actor’s DCU Bane Rumors Explained
Bautista Is The Most Popular Fancast For Bane In The DCU
Gunn has revealed that even though he is no longer part of the MCU, the director has plans to bring some members from the cast of his Guardians of the Galaxy movies to the DCU. In fact, that has already started to happen, with Gunn’s brother, MCU Kraglin actor Sean Gunn, already having three roles to play in the new DCU. Cosmo the Spacedog actress Maria Bakalova also has a confirmed role in the DCU, with Gunn having teased that he has characters in mind for multiple MCU actors.
That could translate into Bautista finally playing Bane in a Batman movie, as the actor has become the most popular star to take on the villain in the eyes of fans. Bautista himself has commented on playing Bane in the past. In 2021, Bautista revealed that he marched into DC’s offices to ask to play Bane. The actor has since been the top candidate for the role if Bane were to appear in the DCEU, and now Bautista could get his wish with Gunn in the DCU. Bautista has also recently shared Bane fan art, leading to more speculation.
Why Dave Bautista Is The Perfect Bane Replacement
The DCU Should Bring A Comic Book-Accurate Bane To Life
Bautista has the superhero movie experience to play such a major villain in the DCU as Bane, with the actor’s passion for the role serving to make him the ideal candidate for the character. The DCU has to do some heavy lifting to turn things around after the final projects in the DCU disappointed. As Gunn has talked about before, DC Studios plans to make the new universe more comic book-accurate than the old one was, and by casting Bautista as Bane, DC would be doing right by the Batman villain.
Bautista has the physicality needed to play Bane; however, the actor could also make him the nuanced villain he is in the comics. One of the architects behind the DCU is DC Comics writer Tom King, who was responsible for the “City of Bane” arc in Batman comics that used the full potential of Bane as not only a physical threat to Batman, but also an intellectual one. In movies like Blade Runner 2049, Bautista showed that he has what it takes to play Bane’s mastermind side, which would suit the comics-accurate DC Universe.
Source: io9
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