Heath Ledger gave us an interpretation of The Joker that we have never seen before. Jack Nicholson had a great Joker, but it was something similar to what we had seen from comics and even the '60s TV show. Heath Ledger's Joker completely blew Jack's out of the water. Ledger's was darker,creepier, and just more badass. Heath didn't play the Joker, he WAS the Joker. He single-handedly owned both Batman and Gotham. He destroyed Gotham's new hero, Harvey Dent, killed the love of Bruce's life, killed Commissioner Loeb, and brought the city to it's knees. The Joker beat Batman, which has never happened in a CBM; he was able to convince Harvey to spare his life and "introduce a little anarchy". Let's face it, the Joker wasn't the most physically-overpowering guy, but he did kick Batman's ass with the help of a few dogs in their final battle. Bane is known to be a tough, physical brute, but he is also a mastermind behind all of that muscle. He won't go to the bother of doing some of the things that Joker did, and his ultimate goal seems much bigger than what The Joker's was. But the Million dollar question is can he be as cool as the Joker was?
Traditionally in trilogies, the first one introduces everything, and you're impressed,but the second one REALLY blows you away, and the third one either sucks (Spiderman 3, X-men 3), or wraps things up nicely but isn't as awesome as the second one (Return of the Jedi). There some exceptions to this (Bourne Ultimatum, Revenge of the Sith), but usually the second movie in that trilogy sucked. Batman Begins was the greatest CBM at that time, but the The Dark Knight happened. Scarecrow and Ra's al Ghul were Cool because they had never been done before, but The Joker was on a whole different level. Can Nolan's Bane take it up a notch from the Joker? I believe that in terms of physically destroying Gotham and Batman,yes,he can take it up a notch from the Joker. If he is indeed with the League of Shadows and is trained just as good as Batman is at fighting, he will bring on a new challenge to Batman. They will go at it more than once,which is something Batman has never had to do. Bane WILL physically beat down Batman and most likely take him prisoner from what we have seen in the trailer. Breaking his back is lame IMO and Nolan will have Bane do something else to Batman. Breaking is back is too unrealistic, like who breaks someone's back when they fight? Plus Bruce was using a cane, if someone broke you're spine, you wouldn't be able to walk, period. Bane will blow away us CBM'rs, but to the casual movie fan that knows, a.) batman is a super-hero that has a lot of movies, b.) he has a Batcave with a s***load of gadgets and vehicles, c.) he has a sidekick named Robin, and d.) his arch-nemesis is THE JOKER. I don't believe Bane will be a pop-culture icon like the Joker is, but I do believe that Tom Hardy will OWN the part and it this movie will be a kick-ass finish to the greatest CBM trilogy of all time, if not THE greatest trilogy in movie-history.