Did Bane feel that he was the good guy?
I mean he said "I'm necessarily evil". So maybe he felt he was the good guy and wasn't evil for the sake of being evil? What do you think?
shareAbsolutely. The League of Shadows perceived themselves as saviours of humanity, and seemed to believe themselves to be the gardeners doing the weeding. Bane would have considered his actions - at the very least - necessary to "cure" humanity of crime-riddled Gotham City. He might have even thought of himself as benevolent.
Of course, there is the problem that Gotham's crime was reduced to near-extinct levels thanks to Batman and Gordon (although, arguably their results did not justify their methods). That means that either Bane (and the League) were wilfully ignoring this, or they were justifying their crimes and sins of revenge as "necessary evils for the sake of humanity". It's possible that Bane was also being duped by other members of the League (if you've seen the movie, you probably know who I mean; I want to avoid spoilers, so no names) into thinking Gotham was still a pit of evil.
I'm not sure if any of that was intentional, either, or if it's just another plot hole.
So, either Bane thought of himself a nuclear messiah, or he considered vengeance on Batman - the only ex-member to give the League such a black eye - to be a good in and of itself.
The peace was based on a lie and that to Bane and Talia made Gotham corrupt
shareI never quite noticed that actually, the fact that the League was ignoring Gotham's improved crime rate. Or if I had, I dismissed it. I should rewatch the movie and reexamine this to see if it actually makes sense.
My instinctive reaction was that they felt that the law reforms made in wake of Dent's death (the Dent Act or something?) were inappropriate, like what moviechatuser497 is saying. And the legalities, there's also the potential that they would also consider that the law reforms themselves were unjust: too much government power.
Economic inequality was still in play, but actually this reminds me...
Bruce's father helped to improve Gotham. Ra's basically said in Batman Begins the League tried to destroy Gotham using economics, but it was kept afloat by good people like Thomas Wayne.
So there's also just warped reality that the League is just being guided by the fact that Gotham must be destroyed period. So anything that's been happening in between...it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter if there are even any improvements. They don't care about it. They want to raze it all to the ground.
So yeah, I think might just go back to "necessary evil for humanity", and here, the necessity isn't their murders and nuclear explosions, etc.
The necessity is that Gotham has to be obliterated.
I feel like "improved Gotham" is maybe still bad, but more likely they view Batman as intrinsically immoral because he defied them. The kind of arrogant sons-of-guns who think they can wipe out whole civilizations (I think they cite Rome on their resume, don't they? Can't recall - been awhile since I've seen Batman Begins) are the kind of people who would view somebody who studied with them and rejected their philosophy as anathema. My read on it is that it's got to be revenge. If it's purely pragmatic, it doesn't make sense.
They *could* think that the Dent Act and the crime reduction that followed is immoral, but the rest of their ethos is "the ends justify the means".
So, either it's revenge, or it's "we started this (Ducard) and we're going to finish it", or else it's "you sinned, now you die". In other words, they don't respect repentance, only punishment - which you ably pointed out.
But, ultimately, I think they just hate that Batman proved them wrong. They were going to salt the earth and Bruce proved the earth there was fertile. They resent that; they hate him, and they want him broken.
Yup, Rome and...Constantinople I think?
It's so odd I never thought about any of this. Maybe all of the above. But actually, I do like your bit about
But, ultimately, I think they just hate that Batman proved them wrong. They were going to salt the earth and Bruce proved the earth there was fertile.
This makes a stronger point for why Bane would want him to watch, even stronger than revenge for Ducard.
So I'm thinking it's probably a mix of all of the above. They already sentenced Gotham to death, and it doesn't matter if it gets better, the sentence must be carried out. They may or may not dislike the Dent Act, but it's irrelevant in this discussion, because if they do, it's probably less about principle and just more about the fact that they want revenge and/or want to carry out their sentence. share
The LOS also believes Gotham is by nature corrupt. Even in Batman Begins, the city started to save itself after the Wayne’s deaths and Ra’s still wanted to destroy it because he felt that the movement back to harmony wasn’t legitimate.
Also keep in mind you are taking about “a gang of psychopaths” so their decisions don’t have to be rational.
Yeah, I realized that I was writing. It's like, it doesn't matter what bells and whistles the Wayne Foundation ends, they just think the city deserves to die.
Also keep in mind you are taking about “a gang of psychopaths” so their decisions don’t have to be rational.
lmao. Yeah, if everyone other than the top dogs of the league is like that henchman at the beginning who was so happy about being the one to start the fire...yeah...that says a lot about it. share