Can the Batman Bane-Bain Capital Joke Actually Help Romney's Brand?

Posted by Abe Sauer on July 17, 2012 10:03 AM

It was inevitable that Bane, the villain from this week's Batman reboot, The Dark Knight Rises, and Bain, the Wall Street investment firm run by Republican candidate for President Mitt Romney, would collide. With the new Batman film out this week, the time was ripe.

After the jump, a gallery of some of better (and worse) Bane-Bain fan photoshop work as well as a legitimate question if the crossover could actually improve Mitt Romney's stiff, joyless brand as the GOP frontrunner gears up for November's US presidential election.

Via

One legitimate question is if all the joking about Romney related to a character from what might be the most popular movie of the year might actually make the heretofore statistically boring, wooden candidate more likable. Yes, Bane is a villain, but so was the Joker in the last Dark Knight movie, and he remains wildly popular. Moviegoers like — and like to connect with — the rebellious bad guy, just as long as he has character.

What's more, humorous mockery of Romney — like in the images above — could incite some sympathy from U.S. voters. More importantly, the funniness of the whole thing could rub off on Romney, leaving his current brand of distinct humorlessness seemingly, even if not by his own effort, a little more lighthearted.

For what it's worth, the man who created the comic book character Bane has weighed in:

"I saw it on FB like two hours ago. Ridiculous. Tho' I got a cold feeling in the pit of my stomach that Rush (Limbaugh) may pick up on this. And that would be the second time he pegged me and Graham as liberals on his show… Overgrasping Dems? Hey, if it gets Obama supporters into theaters. Maybe they'll buy thousands of Bane toys to throw at Romney. It all adds to MY Bane capital. I wonder if the Romney campaign will contact me?"

Ironically, it seems Americans are only capable of having political discussions via the Dark Knight platform. It was the last Batman film, The Dark Knight, that resulted in President Obama's comparison to the Joker. That mash-up became one of the most iconic anti-Obama images ever.

Top Image via Flickr

More about: Batman, The Dark Knight Rises, Mitt Romney, Politics, US, Characters, Bain Capital

Steven Janiszewski says:

Mitt Romney is a predator, a crook, and a liar. He is worse than the character Bane; worse than his record at Bain, his running the S.LC. Winter Olympics, and his tax returns can reveal. As a Mormon, Romney worships Mammon. He doesn't care about anything else. If elected, he would dismantle the federal government and restructure (destroy) the economy. His kleptocratic administration would make his exploits at Bain look like acts of compassion. To gain an existential understanding of the cult that produced Mitt Romney, and to get your socks scared, off read The Assassination of Spiro Agnew, available at:

www.amazon.com/.../B0083EGJXC

It dramatizes the Mormon superiority complex manifesting as racism, sexism, jingoism, and an anti-federal government temperament.
It shows the similarities between Islam and Mormonism and reveals the secrets of Mormon mind control.

Here's a review:

With a clarity of language and vision unsurpassed in contemporary American prose, Steven Janiszewski's Assassination of Spiro Agnew takes us into a U.S. mazed with madness and Mormonism and all things Utah, a U.S. that was then and still is. Do we need a novel, even as brilliant as this one, about a young man on a divine mission to assassinate the Vice President because he is too liberal? Yes, now more than ever. Readers, welcome to a masterpiece.

www.tomwhalen.com

Read The Assassination of Spiro Agnew.

July 17, 2012 11:14 PM #

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