Limbaugh: Batman villain 'Bane' could be conspiracy to defeat Romney

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh on Tuesday suggested that Hollywood liberals have been plotting for years to release the third and final Batman movie before the election in 2012 with a villain who's name sounds like GOP hopeful Mitt Romney's former company, Bain Capital.

"Do you know the name of the villain in this movie?" Limbaugh asked his listeners. "Bane. The villain in 'The Dark Knight Rises' is named Bane. B-A-N-E. What is the name of the venture capital firm that Romney ran and around which there is now this make-believe controversy? Bain."

"The movie has been in the works for a long time, the release date has been known -- summer 2012 -- for a long time," he added. "Do you think that it is accidental that the name of the really vicious, fire-breathing, four-eyed, what-ever-it-is villain in this movie is named Bane?"

"And now there's discussion out there as to whether or not this was purposeful and whether or not it will influence voters. It's going to have a lot of people. This movie, the audience is going to be huge. A lot of people are going to see the movie, and it's a lot of brain-dead people, entertaining the pop-culture crowd. And they're going to hear 'Bane' in the movie and they're going to associate 'Bain' and the thought is that when they start paying attention to the campaign later in the year and Obama and the Democrats keep talking about Bain -- not Bain Capital -- Romney and Bain that these people will think back to the bad man."

According to The Unofficial Guide to the DC Universe, Bane first appeared in Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1 in January 1993. It wasn't until November of that same year that Romney took a leave of absence as the CEO of Bain Capital to challenge Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy (D).

In December 2008, Batman director Christopher Nolan told USA Today that he already had "rough outlines" for the third "Dark Knight" film.

Although it was widely assumed Romney would run for president in 2012, he officially announced his exploratory committee to seek the Republican nomination in April 2011.

Listen to this audio from The Right Limbaugh Show, broadcast July 11, 2012.

Watch this trailer from The Dark Knight Rises.

(h/t: Media Matters)