Bane of our existence: Trump speech has uncanny echo of Batman villain

Donald Trump has been compared to many things, but until now the Batman villain Bane had probably not been among them.

In his inaugural address on Friday, the new US president said his arrival in office had “special meaning” because “we are transferring power from Washington DC and giving it back to you, the people”.

As many were quick to point out on Twitter, that line had an uncanny echo of one spoken by Bane, the masked villain played by Tom Hardy in Christopher Nolan’s 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises.

“We take Gotham from the corrupt! The rich! The oppressors of generations who have kept you down with myths of opportunity, and we give it back to you … the people,” Bane declares in the movie.

Bane is the villain in The Dark Knight Rises, while the hero is a billionaire scofflaw with access to unthinkable destructive technology who favors brutally assaulting criminals.