GQ recently spoke to The Dark Knight Rises costume designer Lindy Hemming about her work on the film, and she let slip a few details about a sequence that was apparently shot, but which doesn't appear in the film's final cut. Here's what Hemming had to say.
"The other thing that you should have seen during that sequence is him being injured in his youth. So one of the fundamental things about his costume is that he has this scar from the back injury. Even if he hasn't got the bulletproof vest on, he still has to wear the waist belt and the braces. In that scene in the prison, where he's learning to fight the same way Batman learned to fight, he's wearing an early version of his waist belt. It's showing support, but it's not the finished one he eventually wears. He's also wearing an early version of his gas mask, all glued together."
"Well, if you look at the film, unless they've cut it—and I'm sure they haven't—there's a whole early section for Tom Hardy where he's fighting and being taunted by people. He's got chains on him, and he's standing on a wooden thing while people are attacking him. And in that scene, he's wearing a much more ragged, primitive version of the mask... There was another section that showed you why he had the mask and where it came from."
So will we see this as a deleted scene on the Blu-ray / DVD release? Let's hope so! For much more from Hemming on everyone's look in the film (useful if you want to get your hands on that Bane jacket), head on over to GQ and/or read our breakdown of Bane's look, by Hemming, over here.