Although hard to identify at first glance, Deadshot may have appeared in The Dark Knight Rises as Bane’s (Tom Hardy) main henchman, Barsad. While not as powerful as Bane or as famous as the Joker, Deadshot is still an important member of Batman’s classic rogue gallery. His inhumanly precise aim and cold-blooded tenacity make him the most lethal marksman in the DC universe, rivaling the skills of other eminent DC characters like Deathstroke and Green Arrow. He has appeared in several adaptations to other media, including the DC Animated Universe and the Arkham games. In live-action, he has been portrayed by Bradley Stryker in the final season of Smallville, by Michael Rowe in The CW’s Arrow, and by Will Smith in Suicide Squad.
Following the groundbreaking success of Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker, Bane was chosen as the final villain for Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. The masked mastermind manages to singlehandedly break the Bat physically as well as mentally, but he doesn’t come to Gotham alone. At first sight, there seem to be no signs of Deadshot in The Dark Knight Rises, but some details point out that he’s right beside Bane throughout the whole movie.
Played by Josh Stewart, Barsad first appears as a soldier who delivers Bane to the CIA disguised as a captured mercenary in order to execute his plan to abduct the scientist who will build a nuclear bomb and destroy Gotham. As Bane’s second-in-command and an expert marksman, Barsad is no regular goon. The next time he appears, he sports a red scarf and a considerable supply of ammunition strapped to his vest while he effortlessly snipes down an entire SWAT team – traits that a more realistic interpretation of Deadshot would have in Nolan’s grounded universe. In fact, Deadshot was rumored to have a major role in The Dark Knight Rises along with Black Mask while the movie was in development, and it seems Christopher Nolan and writer David S. Goyer kept some vestiges of their first drafts for the final movie. Considering the attention to detail in all of Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, the design and characterization of Barsad is certainly not a coincidence.
This theory is supported by the director’s other nods at classic Batman characters throughout the trilogy. The Dark Knight Rises alluded to the existence of Killer Croc as a “giant alligator” living in Gotham’s sewers, but other characters show the same style of adaptation that Barsad appears to have. John Daggett (Ben Mendelsohn), the rival CEO of Wayne Enterprises, is a reference to Roland Dagget – creator of the classic villain Clayface. In The Dark Knight, the Riddler is referenced as Mr. Reese, a minor character with similar motivations and a similar name to his comic book counterpart, Edward Nygma. All of these characters wouldn’t have fit in the Dark Knight universe in a more comic-accurate form, and would have taken away from the main plot. Still, Christopher Nolan found the perfect way to homage them in his characteristic style.
Even though it isn’t as critically acclaimed as its predecessor, The Dark Knight Rises succeeds in bringing the core of Batman’s mythos to the big screen without the need to make the world around Christian Bale’s Batman more comic accurate than what Nolan’s vision had established. A maskless Deadshot with no cybernetically-enhanced eye makes sense in a world where Robin is a police officer and not a circus acrobat. The question is – who else was out there?
