While famous figures from both sides of the aisle have often been quick to dismiss the ongoing rivalry between Marvel and DC, that hasn’t stopped the fans from continuing to find new topics to fight about, with a recent tweet from The Atlantic staff writer Jemele Hill inspiring fresh debate on the relative merits of two major villains.
The post that started it all was a mere five words long:
“Thanos or Bane? Let’s argue.”
Since the question was posed, the internet has offered a whole load of thoughts on the matter. On the one hand, you’ve got those on the side of Thanos who don’t see how this could even be up for debate:
“Thanos or Bane? Let’s-“
*snaps* https://t.co/Nv6frGjJV7— lauren warren (@iamlaurenp) March 5, 2019
Bane even died in a cartoonish way. Got hit by Catwoman crashing in on a moped. Thanos would never.
— ???GIMME ALL THE TROPHIES ??? (@Lex_Naija) March 5, 2019
Tryna figure out how in any universe Bane vs Thanos is even up for discussion ??♂️??♂️??♂️??♂️??♂️??♂️??♂️ pic.twitter.com/93IpHV0qoV
— Jay Papi’ (@BIGMONEY_JAYYY) March 5, 2019
Thanos literally made half of the entire universe disappear and kicked every single Avenger’s ass. Bane couldn’t even take over a single city, protected by one rich dude, who isn’t even a superhero and has no powers. That’s like saying “LeBron or Austin Rivers? Let’s argue.” https://t.co/EMfGAnGJnH
— Daniel George (@DanielGComedy) March 5, 2019
If we focus solely on the movie versions, it’s true that there’s no question who’d win in a fight. To put it simply, Thanos can kill half the universe with the mere snap of his fingers whereas Bane, well, can’t. But when it comes to which character is more compelling, many have argued that the Dark Knight Rises villain wins out:
If you’re asking who would win in a fight, Thanos would beat Bane without breaking a sweat, infinity stones or not. He’s a titan. If it’s whose performance was better, Tom Hardy is 3 car lengths ahead of Josh Brolin.
— Rusty Westerholm (@RustyWesterholm) March 5, 2019
This isn't even a contest. Bane broke Batman without a bunch of all powerful infiniti stones. His motive is he just wants to burn everything down because society is too corrupt. That's more interesting than some arbitrary bullshit about getting rid of half of everyone. https://t.co/8sbwKkh72e
— Chett Manley (@ChettManley) March 5, 2019
Hmmmm………. Tough question. I’ll say it depends on what we are comparing here. Physical powers? Ideology? Their respective personal stories?
Bane’s story and personality are far more interesting but Thanos’s powers are not up for discussion. https://t.co/zkgvptb63H
— Puff Mammy. (@PaolaAudrey) March 5, 2019
But regardless of which of these two villains is “better,” some have felt the need to point out that at the end of the day, they’re both pretty bad guys:
Thanos is a Malthusian galactic despot and Bane exploits anticapitalist sentiments but is really just an autocratic strongman. Can't with either of them… https://t.co/6rwzM0WQee
— aléxandros! (@bodega_gyro_ao) March 5, 2019
While Thanos has so far come up victorious in his one major big screen outing, Bane’s cinematic track record hasn’t been quite so favorable, having finished both The Dark Knight Rises and Batman and Robin in defeat. Still, seeing how the DCEU has yet to find its Bane, surely there’s every possibility that the character may some day make a comeback, be it in Matt Reeves’ The Batman or James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad.
In the meantime, 2019 is set to be another big year for Thanos, though we wouldn’t count on things going quite so well for him this time round when Avengers: Endgame hits theaters on April 26th, 2019.
