WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Harley Quinn, now streaming on DC Universe.
DC Universe's Harley Quinn is an irreverent adult animated series that delights in taking an absurd look at the world of Batman’s rogues gallery, often portraying them as extremely violent, neurotic egomaniacs. While the primary focus of the show is Harley’s toxic relationship with the Joker and Poison Ivy’s attempts to help her move passed it, a number of other Bat-foes are given their own moments to shine.
One of two absolute standouts is the man who broke Batman’s back, Bane, (seen here as a mild pushover) and the other is the man who leads a life of crime with a kite strapped to his back, Kite-Man. The latter’s lack of self-awareness and inflated ego is funny, but it pales in comparison to the meek and frustrated Bane who speaks in a pitch-perfect parody of the voice used by actor Tom Hardy in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises.
Making his first appearance in the pages of Batman: Vengeance of Bane, the character has mostly been depicted as an imposing, formidable mastermind capable of bending Gotham City to his will (with the exception of the 1997 Batman & Robin film that turned Bane into Poison Ivy’s mindless henchman). Although the aforementioned Dark Knight film stayed true to the character’s genius and physical prowess, the decision to play him with a strained, sort of wheezing old man voice baffled and confused many audience members when it was first released in 2012.
The voice has gone on to live a life of its own in accordance with the endless impressions and re-dubbings of the audio that have been shared online. Like Darth Vader, the voice is synonymous with the character itself at this point. So, it isn’t surprising that Harley Quinn would want to reference it. But the show actually goes way beyond a mere shout-out -- to the point of practically confirming that this is the very same Bane from the Nolan movie.
In the second episode of the series, Harley becomes convinced that the only way to prove that she is more than just the Joker’s ex-girlfriend is to gain admittance into the Legion of Doom. She plans to do this by rolling into a party at the Gotham Mint where the Legion is supposed to be attending, and show them how well she’s doing without him. Her logic here is that a lot of people have made a name for themselves at parties. Bane, for instance, decided to blow up Gotham Stadium during trivia night.
We are then treated to a flashback of Bane answering a question about what NFL team has won the most games at Gotham Stadium. He gets the question wrong, folds his arms and moodily declares, "I’m gonna blow up Gotham Stadium."
One of the major set pieces in The Dark Knight Rises was Bane holding the entirety of Gotham Stadium hostage after setting off explosives that cause the field to collapse below the players’ feet. By showing the very moment he bitterly decides to form this plot, the series lets us know that it is intentionally calling back to Tom Hardy’s performance.
Much of the rest of the episode is devoted to a subplot involving Kite-Man doing his best to impress Poison Ivy, and failing in spectacular fashion. Bane, on the other hand, is pushed to the sidelines for a number of cutaway jokes, mostly at his expense. While it's funny to see such an obscure villain get so much screen time over a more iconic adversary, it still can’t beat hearing that instantly recognizable (and a little confusing) voice come out of such a huge yet submissive figure.
DC Universe's Harley Quinn stars Kaley Cuoco, Lake Bell, Diedrich Bader, Alan Tudyk, Rahul Kohli, Christopher Meloni, Tony Hale, Ron Funches, Wanda Sykes, Natalie Morales, Jim Rash, Giancarlo Esposito, Jason Alexander and J.B. Smoove. New episodes are released on Fridays.