Bane may not be the most celebrated villain in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, but he still has some great quotes. We’re going to rank the best Bane quotes in The Dark Knight Rises by diving into the mind of the masked mercenary. Let’s be honest, it wasn’t easy to hear what he was saying underneath the mask — which is a shame because his dialogue was really good. With that said, now is not the time for fear, let’s jump into the best Bane quotes, with clips and script excerpts!
Bane Quotes Dark Knight Rises
15. “The fire rises.”
Bane • The Fire Rises Quote
This quote foreshadows what’s to come for Gotham. It’s a sort of harbinger of doom statement that establishes the central theme of rising from the ashes. However, there will be casualties along the way — as Bane says, “They expect one of us in the wreckage brother.”
FAMOUS BANE QUOTES
14. “Peace has cost you your strength. Victory has defeated you.”
Bane Speech • ‘Victory has defeated you’
You have to love this quote from Bane. Here, he tells Batman that it wasn’t a villain who defeated him, but his own success. How crushing is that? Even in victory, Bane says that Batman still loses. It brings to mind an old Bill Gates quote from Pirates of Silicon Valley: “Success is a menace, it tricks smart people into thinking they can’t lose.”
BEST BANE QUOTES
13. “Do you feel in charge?”
Great Bane Lines • Dark Knight Rises Quotes
Perhaps one of the most unsettling Bane lines in the film, “do you feel in charge” is also one of the best. It’s hard to blame Bane for anything in this scene though — as Daggett should’ve known, if you dance with the devil, you’re liable to get burned.
BANE QUOTES FROM BATMAN
12. “No one cared who I was ‘til I put on the mask.”
Bane Mask Quote • Plane Scene
From the get-go, it’s clear that Bane is going to be a big player in the story of The Dark Knight Rises. It’s also clear that he’s going to have some awesome quotes. Perhaps this quote from the first scene of TDKR is the most enduring of all of Bane’s quotes in the film.
BEST BANE QUOTES
11. “Speak of the devil and he shall appear.”
The Dark Knight Rises Quotes • The Man in Charge Scene
Who would’ve thought that the hulking brute that is Bane would wax poetic throughout The Dark Knight Rises? There’s no doubt about it, Bane has a penchant for speaking in riddles and metaphors. Maybe in another life he would have swapped the gauntlets for pen and paper.
BANE QUOTES ON THE GO
10. “Time to go mobile.”
Bane Quotes • Raiding the Stock Exchange
This Bane quote is an absolute favorite of mine. Everything about it is just so memorable, from script to screen. First and foremost, who would ever say “time to go mobile”? Not “time to go” or “let’s get out of here.” No, for Bane, it’s “time to go mobile.” Second, the delivery of the line in the film is just ~chef’s kiss~ incredible. It may not be the most important Bane quote in The Dark Knight Rises, but it’s certainly one of the best.
BANE BATMAN QUOTES
9. “Theatricality and deception are powerful agents to the uninitiated.”
To get the full scope of the insanity in these Bane quotes, we have to go to the script. We imported The Dark Knight Rises screenplay into StudioBinder’s screenwriting software to see how Bane’s dialogue came together. This scene below contains the entire “sewer fight scene” between Batman and Bane.
The Dark Knight Rises • Read the Sewer Fight Scene
With this quote, Bane gives us some subtle exposition. By saying that “theatricality and deception are powerful agents to the uninitiated,” Bane is implying that Batman’s usual tricks won’t work on him. Both men were disciples of Ra’s al-Ghul and trained with the League of Shadows.
BEST BANE QUOTES
8. “So you came back to die with your city?”
Bane Quotes • Batman vs. Bane
Batman and Gotham are nearly synonymous. With Gotham on the brink of collapse, Batman returns broken and bruised to confront Bane. Things didn’t quite work out as Bane planned, but he’s right in saying that Batman was prepared to die with Gotham.
BANE MONOLOGUE
7. “We come here not as conquerors but as liberators, to return control of this city to the people.”
This quote is taken from the Bane monologue on the football stadium speech. This scene is really where we see Bane’s plan come to fruition. It’s more anarchic than you might expect. Check out the full speech below, you won’t want to miss what he does to Dr. Pavel:
Best Bane Quotes • Read Stadium Speech Scene
It’s easy to get stuck on Bane’s voice and his near-obsession with mobility, but the masked mercenary did actually have a well-thought out plan for destroying Gotham. A good villain should operate in a way that’s believable to the audience, which is something Bane does. He uses issues of wealth inequality to incite the impoverished and create chaos.
Bane Speech to the People
6. “The powerful will be ripped from their decadent nests, and cast out into the cold world that we know and endure.”
Bane Quotes • Blackgate Prison Speech
Sometimes it seems as if Bane was ripped out of a Shakespeare play and cast out into the world of Gotham city. His speeches in The Dark Knight Rises are filled with imagery and strong verbiage. It’s said that Bane was as much of a scholar as he was a brute, which definitely explains his masterful control of words.
DARK KNIGHT RISES QUOTES
5. “It would be extremely painful… for you.”
This quote is taken from one of the best scenes of The Dark Knight Rises when Bane hijacks the plane. The quote is just the beginning of the chaos though — read the entire scene below.
Bane Quotes • Read the Plane Hijack Scene
What would happen if you were to take Bane’s mask off? “It would be extremely painful…for you.” Here, Bane says that it’s not a good idea to mess with him, that any pain you might inflict on him, he’ll return two-fold. Throughout the film, we see that Bane is a man of his word, and is never to be trifled with.
BANE BATMAN QUOTES
4. “As I terrorize Gotham I will feed its people hope to poison their souls.”
Bane Quotes • An Evil Promise
Bane was born in despair and cultivated by hatred. So it makes sense that he turned into a sadistic sort of psychopath. Bane won’t rest until his enemies feel the same pain he felt as a prisoner in what he calls “the worst hell on Earth.”
BANE QUOTES DARK KNIGHT RISES
3. “The Bomb is armed. The bomb is mobile. The identity of the triggerman is a mystery.”
Watch the Bane Stadium Speech
Bane is usually pretty poetic with his words but this quote shows that sometimes you gotta just come out and say it. There are three things Bane wants Gotham to know:
- The bomb is armed
- The bomb is mobile
- The identity of the triggerman is a mystery
It doesn’t get much more straightforward than that.
BEST BANE QUOTE
2. “Then you have my permission to die.”
This quote is actually the end to a great section of dialogue between Bane and Batman. Looking for the rest of it? Don’t worry, you can read the whole interaction below:
Best Bane Quotes • Read the Prison ‘Hole’ Scene
What a brutal way of torturing somebody. A lot of people have argued that Bane’s plan didn’t make much sense in The Dark Knight Rises, but this quote shows that what he truly wanted was for others to experience his pain.
BANE I WAS BORN IN THE DARKNESS
1. “You think darkness is your ally. But you merely adopted the dark.”
This is it — the number one Bane quote on our list. The legendary Bane darkness speech is full of great quotes, longer than we’ll include here. If you’re looking to see the rest of them, check out the scene below:
Best Bane Quotes • Read "Born in the Darkness" Scene
The final cut of the scene is even better than it is in the script, thanks to some excellent performances from Tom Hardy and Christian Bale:
Bane • Born in the Darkness Quote
The best Bane quote in The Dark Knight Rises is also one of the most iconic. It’s true that Bane was born in the darkness, but Bruce feels he was born in the darkness as well. When his parents were killed, Bruce was reborn in the darkness as Batman.
But just because they both embrace the darkness doesn’t mean Bane and Batman fight for the same goal — Bane fights for chaos while Batman fights for stability. This quote serves to house Bane and Batman under the same roof, metaphorically speaking.
But rather than work together, the two disciples of Ra’s al-Ghul were destined to battle against one another. This scene contains a bunch of other great Bane quotes. Here are some of them:
- “I was wondering what would break first — your spirit…or your body.”
- “I was born in it molded by it. I didn’t see the light until I was already a man and by then it was nothing to me but blinding.”
- “The shadows betray you because they belong to me.”
UP NEXT
The Dark Knight Rises script
There’s a lot more to The Dark Knight Rises than Bane quotes. In this next article, we break down The Dark Knight Rises script by looking at characters, plot, and dialogue. Make sure to download a copy of the screenplay so you can follow along!
