Rush Limbaugh's Bane vs. Bain Conspiracy: Host Says 'Dark Knight Rises' Villain Is Attack on Romney (Audio)

Warner Bros. Pictures; Win McNamee/Getty Images

Rush Limbaugh sees left-wing conspiracy everywhere -- even Gotham City.

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Speaking on his syndicated radio show Tuesday, the right-wing host brought up the Batman sequel The Dark Knight Rises (or as he called it, The Dark Knight Lights Up), in particular focusing on its main villain, the Tom Hardy-portrayed hulking madman Bane. With Mitt Romney's time at the investment fund Bain Capital (and the questionable time at which he retired from it) filling non-entertainment news headlines, Limbaugh tied the two together, casting some tough accusations at director Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros.

"Do you think it is accidental that the name of the really vicious, fire-breathing, four-eyed, whatever-it-is villain in this movie is named Bane?" Limbaugh asked his listeners.

Limbaugh did note that the film, the sequel to the 2008 blockbuster The Dark Knight, has been in the works for a long time, with a summer 2012 release date long part of the plan.

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"So this evil villain in the new Batman movie is named Bane. And 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," he continued. "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 -- entertainment, 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're going to start paying attention to the campaign later in the year," Limbaugh asserted, "and Obama and the Democrats keep talking about Bain, not Bain Capital but Romney and Bain, that these people will start thinking back to the Batman movies, 'Oh yeah, I know who that is!' "

He then read from a Washington Times blog post that made the connection between Romney and Batman, as well.

Presumably, Limbaugh doesn't know the history of Batman and his enemies; Bane was not invented for this film, as he first appeared in 1993 in a storyline called Knightfall. That was a year before Romney made his first bid for elected office, his unsuccessful 1994 run against Ted Kennedy for the U.S. Senate.

There is some populist element in the film, as there is a take on wealth inequality in the story. Presumably, though, there is no politician in the film who founded an investment fund and later came under fire for contradicting his SEC forms.

Email: Jordan.Zakarin@THR.com; Twitter: @JordanZakarin