How Harley Quinn made Bane so hilariously lovable
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The new Harley Quinn Valentine's Day special (now streaming on HBO Max) focuses heavily on Bane. Perhaps that shouldn't be too big of a surprise, since Harley Quinn's most recent season confirmed that it is definitely a Batman story, and Bane has often played major roles in Batman stories like Christopher Nolan's 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises or the 2019 comic book arc "City of Bane." But in contrast to the hulking behemoth first drawn by comic artist Graham Nolan and the guttural revolutionary so memorably portrayed on screen by Tom Hardy, Harley Quinn's Bane (voiced by James Adomian) is a hilarious loser who has gradually become one of the show's most lovable characters.
As EW critic Darren Franich recently wrote about the new special, "it's funny when Bane acts normal." Harley Quinn has mostly depicted this strongman supervillain in pedestrian situations: making small talk with other baddies in the Legion of Doom break room, drinking coffee out of a tiny mug, or (most recently) desperately trying to impress a lover on Valentine's Day. Instead of a call to revolution, that deep voice is deployed to bemoan his lack of respect from other characters.
"I'm basically just imitating the iconic, insane Tom Hardy performance from 10 years ago," Adomian tells EW. "I mean, it's a pretty influential performance, and a lot of other people have made fun of it. So I know I'm part of a long line, but it was really well done on this show where they make him into a sitcom loser — the put-upon, unwanted member of the group. He's a low-status Bane, which is very funny to me."
Everett Collection; HBO Max Tom Hardy as Bane in 'The Dark Knight Rises'; James Adomian's Bane on 'Harley Quinn'
Adomiam may be humble in discussing his deft voice work on the show (he also voices other characters, like Clock King and one of the Snyder Cut-obsessed nerds in a memorable season 2 cold open), but executive producers Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker are more than happy to sing his praises.
"James is so good at everything," Schumacker says. "Yes, he started from a Tom Hardy-ish place, but then he added this amazing mashup of stupidity and genuine pathos. He's put a ton of thought into it, and he's an amazing improvisor. Those things can create magic. James is a magician."
Bane isn't the first supervillain Adomian has played. On podcasts like Chapo Trap House and Lovett Or Leave It, he has impersonated national political figures like Sebastian Gorka and Elon Musk by hilariously dialing up their Bond-villain qualities. At South by Southwest in 2019, Adomian's Musk pretended to shoot a rocket into the sky with the intention of it falling back down and destroying the Austin-based festival.
"I guess I'm attracted to playing supervillains. It's a rich vein to mine," Adomian says. "When I was a child I loved Goldfinger, and I would watch it every time it was on TBS that I could. I have always wanted to do that kind of scenery-chewing performance that megalomaniacal villains are allowed to do."
Some iconic Batman characters have only shown up for an episode or two of Harley Quinn before being violently dispatched, but Bane has stuck around for the long haul. Even a season 2 battle with Harley (Kaley Cuoco) and Poison Ivy (Lake Bell) that ended with the supervillain getting his muscle-juice tubes disconnected (a classic method for dispatching him in DC comics) didn't set him back much. Bane came roaring back in season 3, desperate to avenge a perceived sleight (namely, that Ivy never returned the pasta maker he gave as a gift for her aborted wedding to Kite Man).
"I do remember thinking at one point, 'This is such a deviation from the comics canon,'" Halpern says. "I started to doubt our characterization. Bane's canonical version is so hyper-intelligent that I kept saying, 'Okay at some point we have to reveal that this was all a ruse and Bane's a genius and he's playing 4-D chess,' but all the writers threw tomatoes at me, and they were right to do so. What James Adomian is able to do with his voice performances continues to be the key to the character's staying power. It's the gift that keeps on giving."
Warner Bros Television Bane shows off his prison pit to Harley and Ivy on 'Harley Quinn'
Bane's steroidal muscles were played straight in the '90s, a decade of superhero comics that favored strength and spectacle over clever schemes and plots. But not only are they largely ineffectual in Harley Quinn, they also lead to Bane spending A Very Problematic Valentine's Special plagued by insecurity about… well, the most infamous side effect of steroids.
"I think on some level, anyone who works out as much as Bane does (and juices as much as Bane does) is probably dealing with some deep-seated insecurities, and a lot of our comedy is inspired by the embarrassment of exposed vulnerabilities," Schumacker says.
Even so, the Valentine's Day special has some good news for Bane. Even as he struggles with body dysmorphia in the most literal fashion imaginable, he does score a date with a beautiful dominatrix.
Looking ahead to Bane's role in Harley Quinn season 4, the producers tease that "there's more pasta-maker drama in store for him. And possibly an overseas sojourn with unexpected ramifications."
Adomian has a more holistic outlook. "We know he can do explosions, and we know he can beat people up," the actor says. "He can kill people. He can blow things up. But the real challenge for Bane, I think, is to find a small little corner of respect for himself, and maybe learn to like himself."
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