‘Gotham’ Has Revealed A First Look At Its Version Of Iconic Batman Villain Bane

Among other things, we already know that Gotham‘s upcoming fifth and final season was inspired by comic book storylines like those found in No Man’s Land and Batman: Zero Year. Yet at the show’s recent New York Comic Con panel, audiences were surprised with the revelation that Bane, the masked antagonist most recently brought to life by Tom Hardy in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, will also be making an appearance in the series. Actor Shane West is playing him, and we now have our first look.

Gotham writer and producer Tze Chun posted a photo of West in costume on Twitter Monday morning, and it seems the costume designers did everything they could to avoid Hardy’s military-esque look. That’s because West’s costume consists of not just a complex, plastic mask and breathing apparatus, but also some kind of large, Darth Vader-like chest piece. What’s more, it seems the designers have found a way to inflate the arms and shoulders of West’s coat, thereby “pumping up” his muscles whenever Bane juices up.

Which is good news, really, because West is going to need those inflated arms when he recreates an iconic scene from the comics and breaks Batman’s Alfred’s (Sean Pertwee) back in the show. The fifth and final season of Gotham, subtitled A Dark Knight, premieres sometime next year.