# When Gotham Is Ashes, You Have My Permission to Die A Bane line from Christopher Nolan's 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises, the quote was clipped from the trailer and turned into a snowclone within days of the film's July 2012 release. It fueled a wave of image macros, most notably Bane Kitty, which did the heavy lifting of carrying the meme across Tumblr, Reddit and FunnyJunk that summer. ## Origin The quote was first heard in the theatrical trailer for The Dark Knight Rises that played in front of IMAX screenings of Mission: Impossible, Ghost Protocol in December 2011[1]. The film itself opened on July 19, 2012, with the release overshadowed by the mass shooting at a midnight screening in Aurora, Colorado[4]. A Facebook fan page titled after the quote was registered by a user named Craig Harrison on December 19, 2011, right around the trailer's run, but the page sat dormant until it was revived on July 24, 2012 after the film hit theaters[5]. The earliest viral meme built on the line, Bane Kitty, surfaced during the fourth week of July 2012 on FunnyJunk and quickly jumped to Reddit's r/AdviceAnimals[6]. - **Platform:** Film (The Dark Knight Rises) / Reddit, Tumblr, FunnyJunk (viral spread) - **Creator:** Unknown - **Date:** 2012 ## Overview The line is delivered by Bane, played by Tom Hardy, in Christopher Nolan's 2012 superhero sequel The Dark Knight Rises[1]. Once the film was out, fans flattened the quote into two snowclone templates, "You have my permission to X" and "When Y, you have my permission to die," applying Bane's slow, muffled cadence to petty daily grievances and non-events. The standout early image macro was Bane Kitty, a kitten in a Photoshopped Bane mask captioned in LOLcat spelling as "When Gotham Iz Ashez, U Haz My Purmishun 2 Die"[2]. The format works because Hardy's growl was already a running joke before the film opened, with the IMAX prologue drawing complaints that Bane's voice was borderline unintelligible[3]. Pairing a cute animal or trivial subject with that overwrought villain speech is the entire gag. ## How to Use The format is a snowclone, so people typically swap in a goal and a punishment. Common conventions include "When [mundane task] is [done], you have my permission to die" or "You have my permission to [trivial action]," captioned over a Bane image or over any character delivering an unearned ultimatum. Phonetic LOLcat spelling, as in Bane Kitty, is often used to lean into the absurd mismatch between villain menace and a soft subject[2]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is When Gotham Is Ashes, You Have My Permission to Die? It is a Bane quote from The Dark Knight Rises that was turned into a 2012 snowclone and attached to image macros like Bane Kitty[2]. ### Where did When Gotham Is Ashes, You Have My Permission to Die come from? The line is spoken by Bane, played by Tom Hardy, in Christopher Nolan's 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises, and first aired in a trailer attached to IMAX showings of Mission: Impossible, Ghost Protocol[1]. ### What does When Gotham Is Ashes, You Have My Permission to Die mean? In the film it is Bane telling a hostage he will be allowed to die once Gotham is destroyed, which fans flipped into a joke template for petty everyday grievances[2]. ### How do you use When Gotham Is Ashes, You Have My Permission to Die? Users plug a mundane task into the snowclones "You have my permission to X" or "When Y, you have my permission to die," often over a Bane image or, in the LOLcat spelling, a cat in a Bane mask[2]. ### Is When Gotham Is Ashes, You Have My Permission to Die still popular? It is a classic 2012-era Bane meme that peaked that July alongside Bane Kitty on Reddit, Tumblr and FunnyJunk[6]. ## References 1. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Knight_Rises]() 2. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/when-gotham-is-ashes-you-have-my-permission-to-die]() 3. [https://whatculture.com/film/the-dark-knight-rises-prologue-reaction-whats-with-banes-voice.php]() 4. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zVSZPzkx64]() 5. [https://www.facebook.com/pages/When-Gotham-is-ashes-you-have-my-permission-to-die/310481445653089]() 6. [https://www.reddit.com/r/AdviceAnimals/comments/xasuh/bane_kitty_strikes_again/]() 7. [https://www.funnyjunk.com/funny_pictures/3921883/Bane+Kitty/]() 8. [http://senorgif.memebase.com/2012/08/07/funny-gifs-my-permission-to-dance/]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/when-gotham-is-ashes-you-have-my-permission-to-die Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library