Summary

• Bane's physical dominance made him a unique choice for the antagonist in The Dark Knight Rises, standing apart from previous villains.
• The decision to use Bane over The Riddler was wise, as it allowed The Dark Knight Rises to avoid repeating past psychological-based villains.
• By forgoing The Riddler in The Dark Knight Rises, it paved the way for The Batman to completely reinvent the character in a more sinister manner.

Another iconic Batman villain was almost used instead of Bane in The Dark Knight Rises' ending.

The Dark Knight Rises, beyond Bane, is an interesting case study. There are many who deem it the lowest-ranked Dark Knight trilogy movie, yet it has its share of vocal ers. Interestingly, reveals about The Dark Knight Rises' story since 2012 when the film was released has raised the question of whether different decisions being made would have improved the film. One decision centers around Bane, and the fact that another villain was almost picked instead of him. While the choice would have been interesting, I am glad Bane ended up as The Dark Knight Rises' villain.

The Dark Knight Rises Using Riddler Wouldn't Have Felt Fresh

Bane Gave The Dark Knight Trilogy A Different Kind Of Villain

The villain that was almost considered for The Dark Knight Rises is The Riddler, as confirmed by Jonathan Nolan on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. Nolan explains that he wanted to use Riddler early in development, but that his brother Christopher Nolan - alongside David S. Goyer - opted for Bane. As Jonathan Nolan points out, this was a good choice. Using The Riddler for The Dark Knight Rises would have felt slightly repetitive with past Batman movies, specifically The Dark Knight and Batman Forever.

Where the former is concerned, Jim Carrey played The Riddler in Batman Forever. While the film itself was not too well received, Carrey was often singled out as a good, albeit exaggerated, element of the story. If Riddler had been used for The Dark Knight Rises, it would have been the character's second appearance in only five Batman movies. When taking into The Joker from The Dark Knight, Riddler would not have felt as fresh a villain as Bane.

Although The Joker and The Riddler have differences, they are a similar archetype of villain. Neither of them is the most physically imposing figure, and often combat Batman using trickery, manipulation, puzzles, and testing his detective skills. When factoring in Joker, the four Batman movies released between 1995 and 2008 would have used this type of villain twice. The Dark Knight Rises using Riddler would then have increased that number to three out of five. By opting for Bane in the 2012 film, the Dark Knight franchise chose a more unique villain than previous Batman movies had.

Why Bane Was The Right Batman Villain For The Dark Knight Rises

Bane Gave Batman A Physical, Brutish Threat To Overcome

As I alluded to, Bane was the right villain for The Dark Knight Rises due to his differences from the likes of The Joker and The Riddler. Throughout The Dark Knight Rises, Bane's villainy is conveyed via his ability to dominate enemies in combat. Be it the opening scene where he crashes a plane by killing those on board or the fight between him and Batman in the sewers beneath Gotham, Bane's primary weapon is his immense strength, honed fighting skills, and deceptive speed. In The Dark Knight, Joker's threat was never shown to be physical toward Batman specifically.

Bane does the same in The Dark Knight Rises, but those choices are entirely physical...

While the two engaged in some scuffles throughout, Joker only ever had the upper hand when tricking Batman, like utilizing attack dogs, for example. Instead, Joker's threat was entirely psychological. He made Batman think and make difficult choices. Bane does the same in The Dark Knight Rises, but those choices are entirely physical, such as Batman choosing whether to fight, or whether to try and escape from the pit with a broken back. For this reason, Bane proved to be the right choice for The Dark Knight Rises to give the film a different antagonistic presence from its predecessor.

The Dark Knight Rises Forgoing Riddler Meant The Batman Could Reinvent Him

Riddler's Absence From Nolan's Movie Gave 2022's The Batman A Boost

Where Riddler is concerned, the advantages of leaving him out of The Dark Knight Rises are two-fold. As mentioned, The Riddler is another psychological-based villain that holds little to no physical dominance over Batman, which would have made The Dark Knight Rises too similar to past villains. The second benefit is that Riddler's absence allowed 2022's The Batman to completely reinvent the character. If The Riddler had been used in 2012, Matt Reeves might have looked at other options for The Batman's villain as he had been used more recently.

That said, Riddler was not in The Dark Knight Rises, and Reeves changed how the comic book villain is perceived. Gone was the campy, goofy, exaggerated, over-the-top villain of DC Comics. Instead, the design of Paul Dano's Riddler in The Batman was dark and gothic, and the character's riddles took queues from more sinister real-life villains like the Zodiac killer. This redesign and reinvention of the character would likely not have been possible had he appeared more recently in live-action Batman films, making The Dark Knight Rises' choice of Bane as its villain even better.

Could The Dark Knight 4 Use Riddler (If It Ever Happens)?

The Riddler May Be A Villain That Is Best Avoided

Since The Dark Knight trilogy ended, questions over a fourth movie have often been raised. A sequel to The Dark Knight Rises has never been confirmed, but also never outright denied by Christopher Nolan either. Naturally, this raises the question of whether The Riddler could be a good villain to use if The Dark Knight 4 does happen. This discussion stems from the character almost appearing instead of Bane, but it may be too late to include The Riddler in another Batman movie in a way that feels fresh and unique.

Jonathan Nolan has stated he would like to craft another Batman movie, adding fuel to the Dark Knight 4 fire.

The core concept of The Riddler from DC Comics is straightforward and somewhat difficult to reinvent. The character has a goofier, more exaggerated style that was displayed by Jim Carrey, and The Dark Knight 4 would not have the tone to match this. Therefore, if The Riddler was changed to fit the tone of Nolan's universe, the villain would likely be too similar to The Joker and The Batman's Riddler. As such, I think it would be a bad idea for any potential sequel to The Dark Knight Rises to use The Riddler, with many more Batman rogues as the better option.