Seahawks Star Leonard Williams Channels Batman Villain Ahead of Super Bowl

When the Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl 12 years ago, they considered themselves the ultimate underdogs. Richard Sherman in particular embodied the idea that the media had written off Seattle as doomed to lose to Peyton Manning and the historic Denver Broncos offense, and badly.

This time around nobody can confuse these Seahawks with a plucky underdog attitude. Since before midseason it was clear that Seattle was at absolute worst tied with the Los Angeles Rams for the honor of best team in the NFL this season. They have since passed LA and proven they are now indisputably the team to beat.

Along the way, the members of Mike Macdonald's top-ranked scoring defense have cultivated an aura of invincibility, naming themselves The Dark Side - and aside from the Rams nobody has come close to piercing that armor.

Heading into the Super Bowl, this defense is leaning into their dominant bully identity more than ever, with defensive end Leonard Williams sharing a quote from Batman villain Bane on Twitter Saturday.

Leonard Williams goes full Bane

You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it… pic.twitter.com/JgHnneiVha
— Leonard Williams (@leonardwilliams) February 7, 2026

The complete quote follows Batman attempting a desperation move by turning out the lights when he was losing his fight against Bane underground.

"Oh, you think darkness is your ally. But you merely adopted the dark; I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't see the light until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but BLINDING!"

As for Williams' work on the field, he was a bit more Bane-like in the 2024 season when he totaled 11 sacks, 28 quarterback hits and 16 tackles for a loss en route to his first Pro Bowl since 2016. This year those numbers have dipped to seven sacks, 22 QB hits and nine TFL.

However, this version of the Seahawks defense doesn't need any one superstar to stand out - especially not at the line of scrimmage, where they have learned to work as one complete fist instead of an assortment of fingers. This has made them more dangerous. Even though no one defender managed to top seven sacks in 2025 the Seahawks led the league in pressures.

So, while Williams is the biggest and scariest member in the group, it's more accurate to identify this defense as an entire Legion of Super-Villains.

Good luck, Drake Maye. You're going to need it.

Leonard Williams goes full Bane

"Oh, you think darkness is your ally. But you merely adopted the dark; I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't see the light until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but BLINDING!"

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