Bane creator is a conservative
Though conservative pundit Rush Limbaugh insists that Batman's latest villain Bane was named in an effort to smear Mitt Romney in the wake of the Bain Capital controversy, the character's creator Chuck Dixon insists that he is a conservative, and that the character was created in 1992. Warner Bros.

It's no secret that Rush Limbaugh says some pretty dumb things, but on Tuesday, he may have made his most bizarre statement yet. Limbaugh alleges that it's not accidental that Dark Knight Rises villain Bane has a name phonetically identical to Mitt Romney's private equity firm Bain Capital. But according to Chuck Dixon, the man who created Bane for the Batman comic books, Limbaugh couldn't be more wrong.

Graham Nolan and I created [Bane] as a Batman villain back in 1992. Graham and I are both staunch conservatives, so from our angle there is no liberal agenda, Dixon told a nationally syndicated radio program, The Schnitt Show.

Because Bane was created in 1992, there should be no way to tie his origin in with Bain Capital, which was little known at the time. And according to Dixon, Bane is much closer to a radical liberal than a conservative anyway.

As for his appearance in The Dark Knight Rises, Bane is a force for evil and the destruction of the status quo, Dixon said in a separate interview with ComicBook.com. He's far more akin to an Occupy Wall Street type if you're looking to cast him politically. And if there ever was a Bruce Wayne running for the White House it would have to be Romney.

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's now this make-believe controversy? Bain, Limbaugh said on his radio show.

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

This isn't the first time Christopher Nolan's Batman franchise has been accused of a political agenda. After The Dark Knight premiered, many accused Nolan of using the film to support George W. Bush's policies in the war on terror.

In response to the controversy, Nolan told Entertainment Weekly, I don't feel there's a left or right perspective in the film. What is there is just an honest assessment or honest exploration of the world we live in -- things that worry us, as I like to say it.

The Bane character previously appeared in 1997's critical flop Batman & Robin.

Listen to the full interview with The Schnitt Show below. Chuck Dixon comes on around 3:17.