One would not have expected the world of superheroes and Donald Trump to collide as often as they have since the divisive billionaire won the 2016 United States presidential election. Then President-elect Trump had previously been spotted with Marvel Entertainment CEO Ike Perlmutter and later the reclusive Perlmutter had reportedly been given a Veterans Affairs aide position in the Trump administration. Now the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump’s inauguration speech continued the unintentional (presumably) superhero theme with an address that echoed the words of a Batman villain’s own public message to the people from Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises.
Comic book and superhero fans noted that a portion of President Trump’s inaugural adress were similar to the speech given by the villain Bane after the masked antagonist seized control of Gotham City. Here is the portion of Trump’s speech:
“Today, we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another or from one party to another, but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the people.”
This was similar to message delivered by Bane to the citizens of Gotham:
“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.”
Not convinced? Compare both speeches for yourself!
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) January 20, 2017
Strange as it may be, this is not the first time the 45th President of the United States has had his name mentioned alongside Batman villains. Batman: The Animated Series star Mark Hamill, who has also voiced The Joker in countless films and video games, has amused fans by reading Trump’s tweets as the Clown Prince of Crime. Hamill’s latest effort included a reading of Trump’s scathing rebuke of Meryl Streep’s Life Time Acheivement award acceptation speech, in which she criticized the then-incoming President.