A Short History Of Bane

I’m sure some of you are wondering why Christopher Nolan has decided to make Bane the main villain in the Dark Knight Rises. It’s actually a very simple answer if you know a little about the Bane character. But remember that these stories all generated from the DC comic books. If you don’t read any comic books, you probably have no idea the back story of these villains besides the movies you have seen. I will give you a short history of the Bane character and why he is one of Batman’s most dangerous foes.

Now I’m sure most people, when they think of Bane, goes straight to the Batman & Robin film with George Clooney. Am I right? Well don’t ever do that again. That showed Bane as a brute juggernaut about as dumb as a rock. Here is who Bane truly is.

               Bane was first introduced into the Batman series in Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1, January 1993. Bane spent his childhood in a prison called Pena Dura (“Hard Rock”), serving his father’s sentence who escaped the court system. While in this prison Bane reads any book he can find, he builds his body in the prison’s gym, and learns to fight throughout his prison life. Bane finds many different teachers in the prison teaching him different views and outlook of the world. When Bane declares him king of Pena Dura prison, the prison controllers see his strength and influence he has on the prison and force him to become a test subject for the drug known as Venom. Venom is DC’s version of Steroids with enhancing body and mind. All the subjects before Bane had died from the injection of Venom.

               Once Bane escapes Pena Dura, he turns his attention on destroying Batman. Bane learned of Batman and Gotham City while in prison. Bane’s intelligence is shown when he realizes a direct attack on Batman would result in failure; instead he destroys the walls of Arkham Asylum letting out the deranged inmates such as the Joker, Scarecrow, Mad Hatter and others. This resulted in Batman spending months rounding up all the escapees. Once he completes all the captures, Batman returns to the Batcave where Bane was waiting to ambush him. Bane knew where the Batcave was due to his discovery of Batman’s secret identity; he is credited as one of few villains who learns Batman’s identity. Once he ambushes the drained Batman, he eventually breaks Batman’s back making him a paraplegic. This makes Bane the only man to have “Broken the Bat”. Bane also fights alongside Batman in other issues and helps him bring down thugs using Venom.

               Bane’s intelligence is seen by Ra’s al Ghul and states that Bane “has a mind equal to the greatest he has known.” He knows six different languages such as Spanish, English, Urdu, and Latin. The Bane of the Demon reveals that Bane has a photographic memory when he discovers Batman’s secret identity within one year. The Martian Manhunter has also said that Bane is resistant to telepathy because he can think of something so quickly and so intense. He is also a strategist and tactician with all his knowledge.

               So there you have it, there is so much more to this character than most realize and could be analyzed through so many sources. So when you watch the new Dark Knight Rises trailer or see him in when the new movie comes out, drop the thought of Batman & Robin. I hope this had brought you some new views of the character Bane.