As Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States on Friday, the Internet was its usual savage self, launching endless series of memes and mashups as fast as Trump could speak the words.
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One of the most popular mashups has been the one comparing part of Trump’s fiery inauguration speech to the portion of a speech Tom Hardy’s Bane gives during The Dark Knight Rises. Well, the creators of the Bane character are now speaking up in response to the Trump mashup’s viral popularity, and their take may not be what some fans were expecting.
Talking with Heat Vision, Bane co-creators Chuck Dixon and Graham Nolan shared their support of Donald Trump, with both men having voted for him in the election. Dixon expressed a wish to “see the federal government shrunk down to a manageable size,” while Nolan thinks, “He couldn’t be worse than the entrenched establishment we’ve had for many years.”
When the subject of the Bane comparison was brought up, neither man seemed upset by it, politically or personally. Both agreed that (as Nolan put it), “Politicians and public figures are fair game for jokes and satire.” In fact, Dixon kind of agrees with the comparison, saying, “Is he like a Batman villain? In many ways he is. But our last guy in that office often reminded me of a Bond villain. So there you go.”
Meanwhile, Nolan was upfront that there were limits to the mockery, stating, “I think that sometimes these entertainers/comedians cross the line and are mean spirited, though. Some trolls are even going after the President’s young son, and I think that is despicable.”
When asked to envision life under “President Bane,” Dixon said, “He’d be an all-term president and probably serve as vice president and most of the cabinet, too. Except secretary of agriculture. Bane has no interest in where his food comes from. Only that it’s hot when it arrives. Or someone will pay.”
Nolan added, “He wouldn’t be a leader in any democratic sense but rather a dictator in total control. He would kill off all of Congress as well as the Supreme Court. No need for those other pesky branches of government. I would not care to live under a Bane presidency. But in the world of Bane there is also the Batman. So we have nothing to worry about.”
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