The Dark Knight Trilogy has been hailed as one of the best superhero trilogies of its time, standing head and shoulders about Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy and all the Batman films that came before it. However, while perfect in almost every way, the film has come under fire for some decisions made by director Christopher Nolan, when it came to casting.
Given that two of the three principal antagonists of the trilogy were based on people of color, the fact that they were portrayed by white actors has come to light, 10 years after the film series wrapped up. Many have questioned Nolan’s decisions, where these three principal characters were played by white actors rather than being ethnically accurate. Was this a case of Whitewashing, or just Colorblind casting?
Ra’s al Ghul
The Ra’s al Ghul that we see in Batman Begins is not the immortal assassin that exists in the comics. There are a lot of things different about the character. For starters, Ra’s is a title that is passed from person to person, rather than a name. The film also does not include any Lazarus pits that keep the character young and in fighting condition. As is the case with Nolan’s version of the story, there is an attempt to make the Batman mythos as realistic as possible. Given the title-passing, Liam Neeson’s Caucasian Ra’s might have become more palatable, but it disappointed fans nonetheless.
Bane
Bane is a biracial character. While Bane’s father was White, the character had a Latina mother. The Nolanverse Bane was played by Tom Hardy, who is British, and not bi-racial. This was a more disappointing and outrageous turn of events for fans, as Bane did not get the same treatment as Ra’s, whose race-bent screen counterpart had an explanation behind it. Despite the brilliant portrayal by Hardy, fans are still more than a little miffed about the whitewashing of the character.
Talia al Ghul
Ra’s al Ghul’s daughter and the mother of Batman’s son is played by a French actress Marion Cotillard. Given that Ra’s was also White in the Nolanverse, it made sense that Talia would be at least biracial. However, the character was played by a wholly Caucasian actress, who also delivered quite the performance as the character.
However, it still stands that the Nolanverse took very interesting characters from the Batman mythos and turned them white. While it did not diminish them, it did take away from representation, which has become an important aspect of casting in comic book films, and was even back then (what with films like X-Men doing it justice.)
