Love at First Sight
Title: Love at First Sight
Pairing: Bane/Blake
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own or profit from any of this. Christopher Nolan reserves all rights to The Dark Knight franchise.
Note: I'm thoroughly enjoying The Dark Knight Rises fandom right now. I put together some drawings, doodles really, that celebrate my favorite pairing. Also, I have no idea how to size this stuff. I put it under a cut, but if it's giving people problems, I'll try to make it smaller. I already cut everything down by half.
I'm a Bane/Blake shipper, mostly because I ship Arthur/Eames from Inception, but also because the movie left me certain that Bane was still alive and that Blake would become the next Batman (or Robin/Nightwing), so naturally they'll face off at some point.
Even though they never shared screen time together, I think there's something undeniably compatible about their characters. Ignoring the fact that an idealist like Blake would never see past Bane's transgressions (mass murder) without some Stockholm Syndrome scenario (thank you kink meme), the movie leaves them at crossroads where they could really use each other.
Bane lost Talia, whom he spent half his life protecting. He's clearly a genius strategist and capable of running his own schemes, but before The League of Shadows got their hands on him, he was motivated solely by the need to protect and preserve the only shred of innocence in his midst. With Talia dead, he needs someone to protect, an ideal or innocence to believe in again. Blake might have lost some of his idealism by the end of the film, but he's about as optimistic as they come.
Though Blake clearly has good instincts (he was ahead of everyone the entire film), he's not exactly qualified to don Batman's cape and cowl just yet. His police academy training doesn't afford him the skill set necessary for the job. He needs someone to train him, but Wayne is busy globe trotting with Selena. The movie makes a point of drawing parallels between Blake and Wayne, both of them orphans, both of them angry in their bones, both of them idealists who fight for what they believe in, etc. Wayne was trained by The League of Shadows. Blake should have the same training. Any former members of the League of Shadows hanging around town?
For clarification, the 4th panel refers to this: novelization. I don't know if it's really in the novelization, I haven't vetted the source or anything, but it stuck in my head.
