Bane

[Matt Lazorwitz]

Real name: None
First Appearance: Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1
Know relatives: Sir Edmund Dorrance (King Snake, father, presumed deceased), Unnamed mother (deceased)
Know Allies: Bird, Trogg, Zombie, Batman, Nightwing, Robin III
Major Enemies: Ra’s al Ghul, Azrael IV, Batman
Height:6’8’’
Weight:350 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown

On the island nation of Santa Prisca, the sins of the father can be visited upon the son. After a rebellion, a woman, pregnant with the child of one of the rebels, was imprisoned, and when the child was born, he was given his escaped father’s life sentence. The mother withered and died in prison, and on the day of his entrance into the general population, the boy was caught in a scuffle and knocked into a coma.

In the coma, the boy had a vision of the strong man he would become, and his future self told him he had only one thing to fear, and that was fear itself. And his fear took the shape of a huge bat. Awakening, the boy returned to general population, and on his first night he took a shiv and slaughtered the man who had pushed him. The warden seeing this called him a bane to all that was holy and had him locked away for the next ten years in solitary confinement. So Bane was named, and he spent those ten years not growing mad but instead growing strong. When he was released, he was found to be the largest and strongest man in Pena Duro, the hardest prison in the world.

Bane spent the next few years becoming king of the jail. He found three allies: Trogg, a man nearly as strong as him, and twice as loyal; Zombie, a prisoner with expertise in pharmaceuticals and a master with knives; and Bird, a Gotham crook nabbed in Santa Prisca with a trained falcon and a network of associates. Bane was nearly ready to escape but first the warden took one more shot at disposing of Bane. A scientist had come to test a drug on the condemned of the prison, and the warden forced Bane into the project. While all the other subjects died, Bane flourished under the drug Venom, a performance enhancing super-steroid. Bane had learned how to control his own biorhythms, and, slowing his heartbeat to nearly nothing, he faked his death, was tossed from the prison, and came back in to retrieve his allies and escaped. Having heard Bird talk of the Batman of Gotham, he decided that by besting him, he would defeat his fear and become a king of men.

Bane found a Batman on the brink of exhaustion, and after testing him against a few of his nemeses, Bane broke open Arkham Asylum and let the madmen free. Batman fought his way through them, becoming more and more worn down, until finally, stumbling home, Batman found Bane waiting for him at Wayne Manor. Bane had deduced his identity, and beat Batman soundly. When Batman showed defiance even after the beating, Bane lifted him up, and broke Batman’s back over his knee. Bane made a public proclamation to Gotham that he was its new ruler and left Batman’s broken body in public.

Bane did rule Gotham’s underworld briefly, even as the Venom began to drive him deeper into blind rages. Eventually a new opponent appeared: a new Batman, this time Jean-Paul Valley in his Bat armor. Bane fought, and was defeated by Valley, and left, broken in Blackgate penitentiary.

It took Bane some time to recover. First he had to beat the addiction to Venom, and from there he had to retrain his broken body. Having done so, he once again escaped from prison, and met Batman again. He told Batman that he was an innocent, and that he should not seek him again, and then he left Gotham.

Bane began wandering the world, and encountered Ra’s al Ghul. Al Ghul was fascinated by the man who had bested Batman, and decided to make him his new heir. Declaring him betrothed to Talia, he garbed bane as Ubu, his bodyguard, and brought him into his plot to use the Wheel of Plagues to decimate the human populace. Again, Bane came into conflict with Bruce Wayne, only this time it was Bruce who one the fight. Seeing that he was beaten, al Ghul declared him useless, and Bane, bitter, began to destroy Lazarus Pits to gain his revenge.

During the time that Gotham was declared a No Man’s Land, Bane was hired by Lex Luthor to serve as an advance man for his plans for the city. Bane destroyed the Hall of Records, and did a few other deeds, and was given the reward he sought: information that would lead to the identity of his father.

After his time with Luthor, Bane destroyed the rest of the Lazarus Pits, and then came to Batman with a bombshell: Thomas Wayne, who had been in Santa Prisca, could possibly be his father. While tests were done, Bane stayed at Wayne Manor and began working with Batman. The peace between Bane and the rest of Batman’s family was an uneasy one, and when it was revealed that Thomas Wayne was not his father, Bane left. Bruce helped him, funding his quest for his father and his attempts at redemption.

Finally, in the Himalayas, Bane found his answer. His father is Sir Edmund Dorrance, the King Snake. Dorrance was trapped in a fallen Kobra facility, and the two tried to deal with each other, alternating between talking and attempting to murder each other. Eventually Batman and his allies as well as a contingent of Kobra soldiers arrived, and Dorrance was apparently killed in the battle. Bane escaped, and, having fulfilled his quest, he decided to continue traveling, trying to find his place in the world.

Most recently, Bane appeared as part of the Society force attacking Metropolis, with his Venom apparatus reattached. How he became addicted to Venom again, and how he joined the Society, remains unknown.

Bane is a perfect physical specimen, strong, fast, and with high stamina. His large body belies a keen mind. He is intelligent, and is always attempting to learn things. When under the influence of Venom, he is even stronger, but it cuts down on his intellect sharply.


APPEARANCES:
Azrael #36-40
Batman #489-500, 533, 571
Batman: Bane
Batman: Bane of the Demon #1-4
Batman: Gotham Knights #33-36, 42, 46-49
Batman: Shadow of the Bat #93
Batman: Turning Point #4
Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1
Batman: Vengeance of Bane II #1
Birds of Prey #26
Catwoman (Vol.2) #1-4, 35
Detective Comics #656, 660, 663-664, 666, 700-701, 736, 738, 740
Infinite Crisis #7
Robin (Vol.2) #8, 33
Showcase '94 #3

[Abbatoir]

Ok, I don't read Batman regularly but I've got both volumes of Knightfall. Why would Batman forgive Bane and help after he broke his back?

[Matt Lazorwitz]

Initially it had to do with the possibility of him being his half brother (something everybody else knew was a croc). In the long run, I think it was because, in many ways, Bane was a victim of circumstance. You spend the first twenty years of your life in the nastiest prison in the world and not come out a bit mangled.

[GilSpiderig]

.......So let me get this straight.....Bane is sort of a good guy now? What the hell.....WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?!

[Matt Lazorwitz]

Over the course of the last year or so of Scott Beatty's Gotham Knights. Issues are listed above.

[Jon Hancock]

I still think that Batman should be listed as an enemy aswell.

Interesting to see what's happened to him since though