It’s the coronavirus’ reckoning for Batman fans.
The public has turned to an unlikely ally in the fight against COVID-19: Bane.
Masks modeled after Tom Hardy’s depiction of the burly “Batman” baddie from the smash-hit movie “The Dark Knight Rises” have been selling like hotcakes since the advent of the pandemic. The bizarre trend comes just as governments around the globe are mandating that citizens don protective gear in public.
“The adult mask had quite a sales spike in April and early May, which is unusual for this time of year,” David DeJac, a spokesman for Costume.com, tells The Hollywood Reporter. DeJac says the site still has an extensive inventory of the rest of the Bane get-up, although there’s been a buying binge on the masks.
They might not be able to keep up with demand, either. The $20 trademarked masks are manufactured in China, where the supply lines are still reeling from the recent lockdown, according to the costume site.
Meanwhile, Etsy, which is a site known for making risqué Halloween costumes, has seen a similar spike in cloth Bane masks while latex versions are also available on Amazon.
“Now I can be safe from the pandemic as well as the LEAGUE OF SHADOWS!” writes one satisfied customer in the comment section.
Bane wore the elaborate face apparatus in the 2012 film to help numb a childhood injury, however previous versions of the character have used it to supply themselves with a super-steroid called “Venom.”
Unfortunately, there’s no evidence that the imitation “Batman” villain mask can slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The newspaper Stars and Stripes, which covers the US military, even used Bane masks as an example of ineffective anti-COVID accessories, along with Darth Vader, Hannibal Lecter and Groucho Marx-themed face coverings.
“A mask doesn’t have to be the Bane of your existence,” they quipped in the tongue-in-cheek article.
Etsy also posted a disclaimer on its site, warning that their masks aren’t “medical grade.”