One of the most highly anticipated Blu-ray releases for the holidays is Christopher Nolan’s (pretty goddamn incredible) conclusion to his gritty Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises (reportedly due to hit the streets on December 7th). The 2 hour 45 minute long movie already seems plenty rich in terms of both running time and plot, but one narrative thread that was left truncated on the cutting room floor was to include Bane’s transformation from standard prison scum into an intelligent and bone-crushingly fearsome fighter.
A recent GQ interview with Costume Designer, Lindy Hemming contained a few spoilers that the dear lady let slip regarding the deleted sequence. Roughly 20 to 30 minutes of origin-ish backstory set in the prison would have included scenes of younger
Bane being severely injured (leading to the scarring seen on his neck and torso during a short scene early in the film), acquiring a primitive mask and harness, being taunted by other prisoners and, bringing the story of this villainous doppelgänger full circle, scenes of Ra’s al Guhl training Bane via the same mental and physical combat/defense techniques that Bruce Wayne studied during his time with the League of Shadows.
The folks over at Nuke The Fridge have sources that say this sequence, in its entirety, could be coming to the Blu-ray disc. Now, Nolanverse fanboys will gladly tell you the traditionalist director simply does not do director’s cuts, but there’s plenty of petition-like clamor for Nolan to do that very thing and release his “bigger vision” of Gotham’s reckoning on Blu in time to make it a stocking stuffer. For now a bat-rumor… but should it become reality, HD-Report will update you with the specifics.
