Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 21:16, 23 July 2012

Bane is a fictional character who appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The character's origin was in Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1 (January 1993), and was created by Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench, and Graham Nolan. Bane has been one of Batman's more physically and intellectually powerful foes. He is best known for breaking Batman's back in the "Knightfall" story arc. IGN's list of the Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time ranked Bane as #34.

Bane was portrayed as a tertiary villain by Robert Swenson in Batman & Robin as Poison Ivy's right hand man, directed by Joel Schumacher. Tom Hardy played Bane in the finale of the Christopher Nolan Batman film trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, as the film's main antagonist. Henry Silva voiced Bane in most of the animated versions of the character.

Publication history

According to his creators, Bane was originally intended as a "dark mirror" of the highly disciplined and multi-skilled pulp hero Doc Savage.

Chuck Dixon, Graham Nolan, and Doug Moench created the character for the Knightfall storyline, although it is unclear what elements were introduced by each of the two writers (Dixon and Moench). Dixon wrote the character's first appearance (Vengeance of Bane), with art by Graham Nolan. It is also unclear how much input was provided by Denny O'Neil (veteran writer of the Batman books, then Group Editor for the Batman family of books, and author of the novel adaptation of Knightfall). O'Neil had previously created Bane's hellish birthplace of Santa Prisca in The Question and the drug Venom in the storyline of the same name (published in the pages of Legends of the Dark Knight #16-20, and later reprinted as a trade paperback). In the pages of Azrael, O'Neil introduced Bane's perception of Venom as both an addiction and the weakness responsible for his earlier defeats. The link between Bane and King Snake was introduced by writer Scott Beatty.

Fictional character biography

Bane's origin story is established in the story "Vengeance of Bane". He was born in the fictional Caribbean Republic of Santa Prisca, in a prison called Peña Dura ("Hard Rock"). His father Edmund Dorrance had been a revolutionary and had escaped Santa Prisca's court system. The corrupt government, however, decreed that his young son would serve out the man's life sentence, and thus Bane's childhood and early adult life were spent in the amoral penitentiary environment.

Though imprisoned, his natural abilities allowed him to develop extraordinary skills within the prison's walls. He read as many books as he could get his hands on, built up his body in the prison's gym, and learned to fight in the merciless school of prison life. Because of the cultural and supposed geographical location of Santa Prisca, Bane knew how to speak English, Spanish, Portuguese and Latin. Despite his circumstances, he found teachers of various sorts during his incarceration, ranging from hardened convicts to an elderly Jesuit priest, under whose tutelage he apparently received a classical education. Bane murdered this priest upon his return to Santa Prisca years later. He committed his first murder at the age of eight, stabbing a criminal who wanted to use him to gain information about the prison. During his years in prison, Bane carried a teddy bear he calls Osito (Spanish for "little bear"), whom he considered his only friend. It is revealed that Osito has a hole in his back to hold a knife that Bane used against anyone who bullied him.

Bane ultimately established himself as the "king" of Peña Dura prison. The prison's controllers took note and eventually forced him to become a test subject for a mysterious drug known as Venom, which had killed all other subjects; the drug was administered by a doctor who bore a passing resemblance to another Batman foe, Hugo Strange. Later, in Vengeance of Bane II the very same doctor encountered Bane again in Gotham and it is confirmed that it is not Hugo Strange, who at that point in Batman continuity was a crazed psychologist and not a surgeon. The Peña Dura prison Venom experiment nearly killed Bane at first, but he survived and found that the drug vastly increases his physical strength, although he needs to take it every 12 hours (via a system of tubes pumped directly into his brain) or he will suffer debilitating side-effects.

"The Man Who Broke the Bat"

During the Knightfall storyline, Bane escapes Peña Dura, along with several accomplices based on the Fabulous Five (his minions Trogg, Zombie, and Bird, all of whom are named after 1960s rock bands — The Troggs, The Zombies, and The Byrds — and were designed to mimic three of Doc Savage's assistants Monk, Ham, and Renny). His ambition turns to destroying Batman, about whom he had heard stories while an inmate. He is fascinated with Gotham City because, like the prison, it is a place where fear rules—but in Gotham, it is the fear of Batman. Bane is convinced that the demonic bat that haunted his dreams since childhood is a representation of the Batman. Therefore, he also believes that fate has placed the two on a collision course.

Aware that a direct assault on Batman would be foolish, Bane instead destroys the walls of Arkham Asylum -- allowing its deranged inmates (including the Joker, Two-Face, Mr Freeze, the Riddler, the Scarecrow, the Mad Hatter, the Ventriloquist, Firefly, Poison Ivy, Cornelius Stirk, Film Freak and Victor Zsasz) to escape into Gotham City. Consequently, Batman is forced to recapture the escapees, a mission that takes him three months. Having run himself to exhaustion in the process of completing this mission, Batman returns to Wayne Manor where Bane ambushes him (having previously determined his secret identity). Bane attacks Batman in the Batcave, defeats him, and delivers the final blow: breaking Batman's back, leaving him a paraplegic. Bane thus becomes the only man to have "Broken the Bat". This iconic moment was befallen in the Dark Knight Rises.

While Bane establishes himself as the new ruler of Gotham's criminal underworld, Bruce Wayne passes the mantle of Batman to Jean-Paul Valley, also known as Azrael. As the "new" Batman, however, Jean-Paul grows increasingly violent and ruthless, allowing the villain Abattoir to fall to his death. Valley also refuses to recognize Robin as his partner. Using a sophisticated, armored combat suit in place of the traditional Batman uniform, Valley fights and defeats Bane at the end of the Knightfall arc, severing the tubes that pump Venom into his bloodstream, causing severe withdrawal. Valley then viciously beats the now-weakened Bane, leaving him alive but severely injured.

Legacy

Further following the events of Knightfall, Bane recovers from his Venom addiction while serving time in Blackgate Prison, as seen in Vengeance of Bane II: The Redemption (1995). He eventually escapes from prison and returns to Gotham, where he fights alongside Batman to take out a criminal ring that is distributing a Venom derivative to street-level thugs. Following a victory over the criminals (and the revelation that behind it is the same doctor that performed the surgery on Bane years earlier in Santa Prisca), Bane proclaims that he is "innocent" of his past crimes and urges Batman to stop hunting him. He then leaves Gotham (without fighting Batman) to begin a search for his father.

Bane's search brings him back to Santa Prisca. In search of leads, Bane questions the Jesuit priest who had taught him while he was in Peña Dura. The priest explains that there were four men who could possibly have been his father: a Santa Priscan revolutionary, an American doctor, an English mercenary, and a Swiss banker. While searching for the Swiss man in Rome, Bane encounters the League of Assassins and eventually Bane impresses Ra's al Ghul so much that he chooses Bane as his heir (an "honor" he had previously bestowed on Batman).

Ra's al Ghul and Bane then launch a plague attack on Gotham in the "Legacy" storyline. Bruce Wayne, again costumed as Batman, gets his rematch with Bane in Detective Comics #701 and finally defeats him in single combat.

Following the "Legacy" storyline, Bane appears in a one-shot publication called Batman: Bane (1997) and fights Azrael in the "Angel and the Bane" storyline. He then surfaces in the story arc "No Man's Land", serving as an enforcer for Lex Luthor during Luthor's attempts to take control of Gotham under the cover of helping it to rebuild, but Batman convinces Bane to leave after a brief confrontation between Bane and the Joker. Following a fallout with Ra's al Ghul, Bane later embarks on a campaign to destroy Lazarus Pits around the world, and in the process, encounters Black Canary.

"Veritas Liberat"

According to the Jesuit priest that Bane speaks with, there is a possibility that Bane's biological father is an American doctor. In researching this issue, Bane comes to the conclusion that he and Batman share Dr. Thomas Wayne as their biological father, with Dr. Wayne allegedly becoming close to Bane's mother during his time in Santa Prisca. Bane alerts Batman to this possibility and during the time that the DNA tests are being performed, stays at Wayne Manor and fights alongside Batman on the streets of Gotham in the "Tabula Rasa" storyline. Ultimately, it is revealed that Dr. Wayne is not Bane's father, and Bane leaves Gotham peacefully (and with Batman's blessing and financial backing) to pursue leads in the snowy mountains of Kangchenjunga.

Bane eventually finds his father, who turns out to be the unscrupulous King Snake (validating the English mercenary hypothesis), and not El Jefe del País de Santa Prisca, in the "Veritas Liberat" storyline. Bane, with Batman looking on, helps foil King Snake's plans to unleash a powerful weapon upon the world. Bane saves Batman from being shot by King Snake, but is mortally wounded in the process. Batman then saves Bane by bathing him in a Lazarus Pit, and leaves him with a clean slate.

Infinite Crisis & One Year Later

In Infinite Crisis #7, Bane fights alongside the villains during the Battle of Metropolis. During the battle, he breaks the back of the hero Judomaster, killing him. No reason was given for his actions in #7, though in Infinite Crisis' collected edition, one of the many changes made to the original series was Bane saying "I finally know who I am. I am 'Bane'. I 'break' people." while breaking Judomaster's back.

Bane resurfaces in the One Year Later continuity of JSA Classified #17-18 searching for the Hourmen (Rex and Rick Tyler), asking them for help. To win their trust, he tells them how, prior to the Battle of Metropolis, he returned to his homeland to put an end to the drug lords' government and in the process discovered that a new, more addictive strain of Venom had been created. In his furious carelessness to wipe out the drug trade, he was captured, and reimplanted with the cranial tubes, hooked to the new Venom, and now unable to shake off his addiction without dying from the withdrawal. Bane was forced to work as an enforcer for the drug cartel, unable to escape. Believing that Bane sought Rex Tyler's expertise in chemistry, Rick lets him approach his father, only to discover that the story is a ruse. Bane, who had never truly been addicted to Venom, had in fact wiped out the drug lords, and destroyed every research note on Venom. He discovered in the process both strains of Venom derived from Rex Tyler's early research on Miraclo. He discovers from the Tylers that no written notes exist of Rex's work, captures Rex, and steals Rick's equipment, planning to kill Rex and force Rick to take the last of the new Venom, living forever as an addict. Rick manipulates Bane into using Miraclo and demolishing the building as he and his father escape, burying the mercenary in the rubble of the very same Santa Priscan penitentiary where his story began.

Eventually, Bane resurfaces in Santa Prisca and leads the country to democratic elections. Upon discovering that the elections were rigged by Computron, he uses his influence to enforce martial law, plunging the country into a civil war. Computron offers information to Checkmate who ordered him to rig the elections in exchange for their help to escape the country. Fire and Judomaster's son, Thomas Jagger, are sent on the mission, with Jagger debating whether or not to seek revenge for his father's murder. He fights Bane in order to allow Fire to escape, defeating him easily, but chooses not to kill him.

At the end of the miniseries Suicide Squad: Raise the Flag, Amanda Waller recruits Bane into the Squad. In Outsiders #50, he appears once more to be wearing the tubing system to apply Venom.

In Salvation Run #2, Bane was tricked by his fellow squad members, and sent to the prison planet. In Salvation Run #3, Bane remains with Lex Luthor's faction after Joker's faction rebels against Luthor's leadership. He attacks Thunder and Lightning when they were attempting to feed Martian Manhunter.

Superman/Batman #53-#56 reveals Bane is trading his Venom supplies with drug lords across the globe. One of his shipments includes a trip to Gotham. Batman, who was temporarily endowed with Superman's powers, responded by attacking Bane at his home. Not only was the Dark Knight able to easily defeat the villain, the hero nearly killed him with his far superior strength. Bane survived his injuries due to the enhanced stamina from his Venom supplies. Whether these events are in continuity with the mainstream DC Universe is debatable, like much of the Superman/Batman book after Jeph Loeb left writing duties. Seeing Bane using Venom again after previously stating that he would sooner die than use it, as well selling it instead of actively seeking to rid the world of the drug entirely, lends credence to the idea that this story is not canon.

Secret Six

Since September 2008, Bane has appeared as a regular character in the ongoing Secret Six series. In the first issue, Bane is depicted as a stoic devil's advocate for the group, offering alternative points of view for both Deadshot and Catman on the subject of love. He is later shown to have an almost father-like concern for Scandal Savage's well-being. Although this is largely played for laughs in the early issues, the first arc's final issue displays the depth of Bane's affection. When the Six are attacked by an army of supervillains, a wounded (and seemingly dying) Bane's concern for Scandal results in temporarily breaking his vow to never take Venom again in order to save her. Bane is later shown to have recovered from his ordeal, appearing in Gotham City with Catman and Ragdoll in an attempt to stem some of the chaos caused by the apparent death of Batman. During the team's several escapades, Bane reveals both a deep respect for his onetime adversary and a painful yearning to assume the mantle of Batman, telling a trio of rescued citizens to tell people that it was the Batman who saved them. Bane ultimately gives his blessing to Dick Grayson, praying that "God help him." Following a near-disastrous mission, Bane assumes leadership over the Six. His first act as leader is to remove Scandal from active duty, not wishing for her to be endangered. In the latest issue of Secret Six, Bane's Secret Six and Scandal Savage's Secret Six finally square off against each other. Bane and Scandal engage in a one on one fight where he refuses to fight back until Scandal uses her Lamentation Blades to slash his throat. The card is ultimately used to resurrect Knockout.

Driven to near madness, Bane decides to lead the Secret Six to Gotham in an attempt to psychologically break Batman by killing several of his closest allies. The team kidnaps the Penguin, who Bane pumps for information about Batman's partners. In the final issue of the series, Bane ultimately decides on Red Robin, Azrael and Batgirl as his victims. Before the Six can make their move, Penguin betrays their location, resulting in a massive army of superheroes ranging from Green Lantern, Batman and the Superman family to the Justice League and Birds of Prey converging on Gotham. The Secret Six stage a desperate last stand, but are quickly defeated. With the fates of the other Secret Six members left ambiguous, Bane is last shown being driven away in a Gotham police van. The ending of the issue implies that he plans to escape.

The New 52

In the company relaunch The New 52, Bane is re-introduced in the DCnU by Paul Jenkins, and David Finch's run on Batman: The Dark Knight Volume 2. Here, he has a massive storage tank (very similar to his Arkham Asylum appearance) on his back and is still fighting his addiction to the Venom compound. As Bruce is unable to keep up with the various legal conspiracies involving Batman Incorporated, he decides to investigate a breakout in Arkham. There he finds criminals being fed a modified fear toxin that is mixed in with Venom which makes the criminals extremely strong and immune to fear. He finds it being given to criminals by a new foe named the White Rabbit, when Batman approaches her she quickly defeats him and injects him with the fear toxin which she then gives to the Flash. Bruce then finds Bane to be behind the new fear toxin and combats him, Bruce manages to burn the fear toxin out of his and the Flash's bodies by getting pushed to the limit. Bruce manages to defeat Bane, but is left confused by the White Rabbit. Bane is later taken back to Arkham.

Powers and abilities

Bane is highly intelligent; in Bane of the Demon, Ra's al Ghul says that Bane "has a mind equal to the greatest he has known (Although Talia dismisses Bane's intellect as the cunning of an animal rather than the cultured, trained intellect of Batman)." In prison, he taught himself various scientific disciplines equal to the level of understanding of leading experts in those fields. He knows six active languages and at least two additional arcane and dead ones. Among these are Spanish, English, Urdu, Persian, and Latin. The Bane of the Demon storyline reveals that he has an eidetic memory. Within one year, he is able to deduce Batman's secret identity.

He is also highly devious and a superb strategist and tactician. In prison, Bane also invented his own form of calisthenics, meditation, and a fighting style that he uses against other well-known martial arts fighters within the DC Universe. Usage of Venom enhances his physical abilities, including his strength, and healing process to superhuman levels. Although Bane had sworn off using Venom in Vengeance of Bane II in 1995, and his character is actually written as having kept that promise to himself, it is still not uncommon for artists to draw Bane as still wearing the tube leading from his old wrist device to the back of his head, as well as almost all media adaptions of the character show him actively using the Venom compound. Writer Gail Simone explained these lapses in the continuity of Bane's appearance in an issue of Secret Six, in which Deadshot remarked that Bane merely kept his old Venom equipment with him out of habit, even though he states that he would sooner die than use it again.

In other media

Being one Batman's classic rogues, Bane has appeared in several other forms of media.

See also

• List of Batman Family enemies

References

1. "Bane is Number 34". Comics.ign.com. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
2. ^ Tobin, Suzanne (May 16, 2003). "Comics: Meet the Artist". Washington Post. Retrieved May 10, 2008. Actually, Chuck Dixon came up the idea for an evil 'Doc Savage' and I designed the character
3. ^ "UGO's World of Batman - Rogues Gallery - Bane". UGO. Retrieved May 10, 2005.
4. ^ O'Neill, Dennis, Kane, Bob (w), Various others (a). "Broken Bat" Batman: Knightfall (1993). DC Comics, 1563891425.
5. ^ Wallace, Dan (2008). "Bane". In Dougall, Alastair (ed.). The DC Comics Encyclopedia. London: Dorling Kindersley. p. 36. ISBN 0-7566-4119-5.
6. "Bane vs Batman: Batman #497". Secret Wars on Infinite Earths. Retrieved September 6, 2011.
7. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1690203/dark-knight-rises-ending-christian-bale.jhtml
8. http://www.carrollconews.com/blogs/thrash/entry/48720/
9. http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/58757/has-colorado-incident-shot-down-caped-crusader-franchise
10. Dixon, Chuck (w), Nolan, Graham (p), Barreto, Eduardo (i). Batman: Vengeance of Bane II (1995). DC Comics.
11. ^ Dixon, Chuck (w), Nolan, Graham (p), Sienkiewicz, Bill, Palmer, Tom (i). Batman: Bane of the Demon, no. 1 (March 1998). DC Comics.
12. Dixon, Chuck (w), Nolan, Graham (p), Hanna, Scott (i). "Legacy, Part Six: Gotham's Scourge" Detective Comics, no. 701, p. 32 (September 1996). DC Comics.
13. Dixon, Chuck (w), Burchett, Rick (p), Burchett, Rick (i). Batman: Bane, vol. 1 (May 1997). DC Comics.
14. Azrael #36-40 (December 1997 - April 1998)
15. Dixon, Chuck (w), Guice, Butch (p), Guice, Butch (i). "The Suiter" Birds of Prey, no. 26 (February 2001). DC Comics.
16. Beatty, Scott (w), Collins, Mike (p), Sienkiewicz, Bill (i). "Tabula Rasa, Prologue: The Debvil You Know..." Gotham Knights, no. 33, p. 22 (November 2002). DC Comics.
17. Beatty, Scott (w), Robinson, Roger (p), Floyd, John (i). "Tabula Rasa, Part One: Skin Trade" Gotham Knights, no. 34, p. 22 (December 2002). DC Comics.
18. Beatty, Scott (w), Robinson, Roger (p), Floyd, John (i). "Tabula Rasa, Part Two: Pain and Ink" Gotham Knights, no. 35, p. 22 (January 2003). DC Comics.
19. Beatty, Scott (w), Robinson, Roger (p), Floyd, John (i). "Tabula Rasa, Part Three: Pix" Gotham Knights, no. 36, p. 22 (February 2003). DC Comics.
20. Catwoman #4 (November 1993)
21. Batman: Gotham Knights #49 (March 2004)
22. Beatty, Scott (w), Robinson, Roger (p), Floyd, John (i). "Veritas Liberat Chapter One: King of the Mountain" Gotham Knights, no. 47, p. 22 (January 2004). DC Comics.
23. Beatty, Scott (w), Robinson, Roger (p), Floyd, John (i). "Veritas Liberat Chapter Two: Family Reunion" Gotham Knights, no. 48, p. 22 (February 2004). DC Comics.
24. Beatty, Scott (w), Robinson, Roger (p), Floyd, John (i). "Veritas Liberat Chapter Three: The Redeemer" Gotham Knights, no. 49, p. 22 (March 2004). DC Comics.
25. Tate, Ray (May 5, 2006). "Infinite Crisis #7 Review - Line of Fire Reviews". Comics Bulletin. Archived from the original on December 6, 2008. Retrieved May 22, 2008.
26. Bedard, Tony (w), McDaniel, Scott (p), Owens, Andy (i). "The Venom Connection Part 1" JSA: Classified, no. 17 (November 2006). DC Comics.
27. Bedard, Tony (w), McDaniel, Scott (p), Owens, Andy (i). "The Venom Connection, Part 2 of 2" JSA: Classified, no. 18, p. 22 (December 2006). DC Comics.
28. Bedard, Tony (w), Clark, Matthew, Randall, Ron (p), Thibert, Art (i). "You Killed the Outsiders" Outsiders, no. 50, p. 32 (November 2007). DC Comics.
29. Willingham, Bill (w), Chen, Sean (p), Wong, Walden (i). "Take This World and Shove It!" Salvation Run, no. 2, p. 32 (February 2008). DC Comics.
30. Sturges, Matthew (w), Chen, Sean (p), Wong, Walden (i). "All You Need Is Hate" Salvation Run, no. 3, p. 32 (March 2008). DC Comics.
31. Secret Six #1
32. Secret Six #3
33. Secret Six #7
34. Secret Six #9
35. Secret Six #14
36. Secret Six #26
37. Secret Six #34
38. Secret Six #35
39. Secret Six #36
40. Batman: The Dark Knight #6
41. Mark "RorMachine" Cassidy (February 16, 2012). "COMICS: First Look At The New 52's BANE". Comicbookmovie.com. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
42. "Jaina Hudson (New Earth) - DC Comics Database". Dc.wikia.com. April 3, 2012. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
43. Batman: The Dark Knight #4-7
44. "Batman and Robin".
45. "Bane (comic book character)". Comicvine.com. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
46. "Bane". Comic Book DB. Retrieved December 29, 2010.

External links

• Bane at the DC Database Project
• Bane at the Grand Comics Database
• Bane at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
• Template:IMDb character

• DC Comics supervillains
• Comics characters introduced in 1993
• DC Comics characters with accelerated healing
• DC Comics characters with superhuman strength
• DC Comics martial artists
• Fictional assassins
• Fictional bounty hunters
• Fictional henchmen
• Fictional linguists
• Fictional mercenaries
• Fictional drug dealers
• Film characters
• Video game bosses
• Fictional English people
• Characters created by Doug Moench
• Characters created by Chuck Dixon
• Fictional Hispanic and Latino American people