See Dave Bautista As Batman’s New Bane

David Bautista is rumored to be in talks to play Bane in the new Batman franchise. Here are some early possible looks for the character

By Doug Norrie | Updated

dave bautista

Earlier today Giant Freakin Robot had the exclusive scoop that David Bautista was being actively pursued for the Bane role in the upcoming Batman universe. It’s an exciting prospect for the actor who, from a physical presence alone, could more than fill out the villain’s uniform. It helps that he can straight up bring it on screen as well, making this exciting possible casting news. Well now, with the word that Warner Bros is circling Bautista for the role, we’ve got some fan art that attempts to put him in the part. There are a couple of different looks for the actor, both of which look very different from recent versions. 

Take a look at some different possible versions of David Bautista as Bane:

https://twitter.com/WillGray_06/status/1065134508897329152

It’s always such a cool time at the outset of possible new casting around a character to see different takes on what the guy could look like. Both versions here obviously play up the idea of David Bautista taking a much different look than what we saw with Tom Hardy’s version in The Dark Knight Rises. That latter version had less to do with the physique (and he was big) and more to do with the general gestalt of the character from the fur-lined jacket to the quasi-military vibe. These two Bautista looks are different, closer to some of the other animated versions we have of Bane, even a closer resemblance to the version in 1997’s Batman & Robin. 

Whether the studio would go either of these directions with the David Bautista version of Bane remains to be seen. We are still in the rumor phase. But these two have much more that wrestler-style vibe we’ve seen in the past. The muscles are on full display of course, but there’s more spandex, considerably less clothing and both play more on the steroid-like Venom infusion the character has in the comic books. That’s the green stuff you see running through his veins.

Whereas Christopher Nolan tried to ground that version of Bane much more in reality, these have a stronger comic book influence. If David Bautista were to take the part, it would make a lot more sense for them to go in this direction. After all, Bautista is, in fact, a retired professional wrestler, having been in the ring from the early 2000s until around the 2010 range when he started appearing in movies. That’s when he really made his mark playing Drax the Destroyer in The Guardians of the Galaxy

dave bautista

Before he plays Bane (if it even happens) David Bautista has plenty coming in the movie pipeline to keep him busy over the next couple of years. He’s set to reprise his Drax role in Thor: Love & Thunder as well as the third movie in The Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. But he’s branching out as well beyond Marvel already, having linked up with Warner Bros in the upcoming Dune production which is set to release in theaters and HBO Max later this year. And finally, Netflix’s Army of the Dead about a zombie-fighting military unit is set to hit the streaming platform in May. So it’s an exciting time for the actor. And will be made even better if we see him become the roid-out killer Bane in the Batman universe as well.