Warner Bros.’ Batgirl has been in development for a very long time. Once a Joss Whedon project, the failure of Justice League and allegations from his ex-wife that he was a serial cheater got him kicked off the movie and put it on the back burner. But now, there are signs of life. Birds of Prey writer Christina Hodson is reportedly developing a screenplay and the studio are searching for an actress to don the cape and cowl.
Furthermore, sources close to WGTC – the same ones who said a Green Lantern show is coming to HBO Max and Han would return in Fast & Furious 9 – are telling us that Hodson’s script features Bane as the villain. And unlike many adaptations of the character, it’ll be faithful to his Latino origins.
Of course, the highest-profile take on Bane to date is Tom Hardy in The Dark Knight Rises, who ditched the Latino aspect of his character in favor of tying it in with the League of Shadows and Ra’s al Ghul. Christopher Nolan’s Bane was iconic in his own way, but quite a different character from the one who originated in the classic Knightfall arc.
His comic book origins are that he’s the son of a central American revolutionary who was sentenced to life in prison. However, his father escapes punishment, leaving the young Bane to serve his dad’s sentence in the hellish Peña Duro prison. Here, Bane being Latino is key to his character, as he’s a native of the fictional DC Universe country of Santa Prisca, a product of US interference in Central America and his masked costume design is intended to be reminiscent of luchador wrestlers.
Batman: The Animated Series got this right, with Henry Silva voicing the character with a strong Latin American accent in his first appearance (though weirdly, Silva dropped the accent the next time Bane appeared in The New Batman Adventures). Since that, it’s been a coin-toss whether Bane is Latino or not, though the character did end up being voiced by Danny Trejo in Young Justice, which is pretty much dream casting.
Let’s hope we get some movement on Batgirl soon. I guess Warner Bros. are figuring out whether they want it to be in the Birds of Prey or The Batman continuity. And as he’s rumored to appear as part of the team in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, this version may end up being the one we see in Batgirl.
