Bane (New Earth)




 * "The Batman is Gotham City. I will watch him. Study him. And when I know him and why he does not kill, I will know this city. And then Gotham will be mine!"
 * --Bane

Real Name: Real name unknown Nicknames: No known nicknames Former Aliases: No known former aliases Other Current Aliases: None

Status
Occupation: Crimelord Legal Status: Bane is a former citizen of Santa Prisca, with no legal citizenship. Although he possesses a criminal record in Gotham City, he does not as of yet maintain legal status of any kind. Identity: Secret Marital Status: Single Group Affiliation: None Base of Operations: Formerly Santa Prisca; later, Gotham City First Appearance:  Batman: Vengeance of Bane Special

Origin
Many years ago on the island of Santa Prisca, a group of revolutionaries conducted a failed coup against the reigning government. Those that survived the three day massacre were arrested and detained at the prison facility known as Peña Duro. One of the prisoners was a slender woman, heavy with child. Her husband was one of many killed during the bloody campaign. In accordance to a centuries old law, the punishment of the father must be carried out by the son, should the father fail to survive in order to serve his sentence. The woman gave birth to her child, and he was raised a prisoner in the deepest pits of Peña Duro.

When he was only six years old, his mother passed away, and the orphan was forced to bear witness as the prison guards callously threw her corpse into shark-infested waters off the cliffs of Punto De Tiburon. Completely alone, the child became prey to the savage inmates at Peña Duro. Rather than succumb to the pressures of prison life, he grew stronger from it, and eventually took to calling himself, Bane.

As Bane grew older, he earned the attention of several other inmates including an aging physician named Zombie, a brutish man named Trogg, and an American named Bird. These men recognized Bane's strength and value and pledged to follow him loyally.

Bane eventually became the most feared man in all of Peña Duro. The prison's warden grew nervous as he came to realize that the prisoners under his charge had more to fear from Bane, than from the warden himself. In order to demoralize the prisoners, the warden had Bane placed in solitary confinement for ten years. The inhumane treatment only served to strengthen Bane even more, and when he emerged, his reputation had become the stuff of legend.

In later years, a scientific research team established themselves at Peña Duro, and used the prison for a source of resources with which to conduct their experiments. They developed a steroid compound code named Venom and tested the drug on many prisoners. However, none of the men that had been put through the Venom process were strong enough to survive the procedure. The warden selected Bane as the science team's next volunteer.

Bane's physical hardiness and unbreakable resolve enabled him to survive the process. The Venom drug increased his overall muscle mass a hundredfold, and he became nearly unstoppable.

At this point, Bane decided to leave Peña Duro forever. He falsified his own death, knowing that the prison guards would cast his body off of Punto De Tiburon, just as they had done with his mother, years before. When his body hit the water, Bane revived himself and took command of an army helicopter. Gathering together his friends, Zombie, Bird and Trogg, he killed the Warden and left the island of Santa Prisca.

History
After leaving Peña Duro, Bane's ambitions turned towards destroying the Batman, whom he had heard tales of while serving his sentence. Bane was convinced that the demonic bat that haunted his dreams since childhood was a representation of the Batman.

Bane destroyed the walls of Arkham Asylum, allowing its deranged inmates to escape into Gotham City, where Batman spent three months rounding them up, running himself to exhaustion, and then returned to Wayne Manor, where Bane awaited him. He fought Batman, defeated him, and delivered the coup de grace: he broke Batman's back and threw him to the streets of Gotham.

While Bane established himself as ruler of Gotham's criminal underworld, Bruce Wayne passed the mantle of Batman to Jean-Paul Valley (Azrael). As Batman, Jean-Paul grew increasingly violent, allowing the villain known as Abattoir to fall to his death, and refused to recognize Robin as his partner. "AzBat" (as comics fans refer to him) fought and defeated Bane at the end of the "Knightfall" arc.

After Bruce Wayne recovered, he once again became Batman by winning the title back from Jean-Paul. Batman would finally get his rematch with Bane in Detective Comics #701 where Batman was able to defeat Bane during the famous "Legacy" arc. Since then, whenever Batman (Bruce Wayne) and Bane square off in battle, their fights usually end in a draw.

Animated Series
Bane has appeared as a villain on Batman: The Animated Series and its spinoffs (voiced by Henry Silva in all appearances but the direct-to-video Mystery of the Batwoman, in which he was voiced by Hector Elizondo), but in those depictions never achieved what his comics counterpart could: the defeat of Batman. The producers were reluctant to utilize him (along with Doomsday in the Superman Animated Series) because they felt that their comics incarnations were both gimmick characters. This explains his singular appearance in Batman: TAS and his small role in Batman: Gotham Knights.

Bane first appeared in Batman: The Animated Series as a muscular thug hired by the mobster Rupert Thorne to eliminate Batman, and in turn by Thorne's moll to eliminate Thorne afterward. He ends up fighting Batman onboard the boat (where Robin had been kidnapped and tied up), but before he can break his back as he did in the comics, Batman thrusts a crumpled batarang into the controls that inject Bane with Venom. This causes a rapid and uncontrollable feed into Bane's body before Batman pulls out the tube, stopping a fatal overdose of the drug; this becomes a recurring theme in Bane's defeats when he does appear in the series.

In Batman Beyond, the effects of Venom appear to have taken their toll. By this time, Bane has become wheelchair-bound and almost in a vegetative stupor, needing the Venom which has ravaged his body just to stay alive.

In The Batman, a newer animated series, Bane also appeared as a hitman and professional thief in the episode entitled, Traction. In this rendition, he was even more monstrous in size and, to defeat him, Batman had to utilize a prototype robot called the "Bat-Bot".

Characteristics
Height: 6'8" (2.04 m) Weight: 375 lbs Eyes: Brown Hair: Brown Unusual Features: Bane has four circular scars on the back of his neck from the Venom tubes that feed chemicals directly into his brain.

Powers
Known Powers: Bane, when hopped up on "the Venom", wields amazing super-human strength and durability. Bane is an Olympic level athlete Bane's body and skin is very strong and durable due to adapting to and the frequent use of the Venom.

Abilities: Bane is also highly intelligent; in "Bane of the Demon", Ra's al Ghul says that Bane "has a mind equal to the greatest he has known". In prison he teaches himself various scientific disciplines equal to the level of understanding of leading experts in those fields. He teaches himself six active languages and at least two additional arcane and dead ones. The "Bane of the Demon" storyline reveals that he has an photographic memory. Within one year he is able to deduce Batman's secret identity. He is also highly devious (he crafts the escape from Arkham Asylum of all of Batman's enemies), and a superb strategist and tactician. In prison Bane also invents his own form of calisthenics, meditation, and a unique fighting style.Bane is also a brillaint escape artist and has broken out of state of the art maximum security prisons when incarcerated.Banes intellect, Physical prowess, and Great determination make him an extremely dangerous foe he has been shown to be capable of taking on superman and holding his own although the latter defeated him afterwards.

Strength Level: Bane's strength level in the animated series is strong enough to throw a giant head statue which is at least half a ton and the bat signal. Bane also broke Killer Croc and thrashed the Batmobile. However it has been shown that bane has feats of strength that could be anywhere in the 85 ton class.in his human form bane is stronger than batman due to his very muscular build and great   height.

Miscellaneous
Equipment: A series of rubber tubing that feeds to the back of Bane's neck to allow the "Venom" serum to flow throughout his entire body.

Transportation: No known transportation.

Weapons: The only weapon that Bane needs is the "Venom" that gives him his great strength.

Trivia

 * According to Wikipedia, the meaning of bane as an English form of nemesis, the bringer of ruin, dates only from 1577.


 * In Earth-97 continuity, Bane was an occultist and member of a coven known as the Dark Circle.

Recommended Readings

 * Batman: Vengeance of Bane Special #1
 * Batman: Knightfall

Related Articles

 * Arkham Asylum
 * Azreal
 * Batman
 * Gotham City
 * Knightfall
 * Peña Duro
 * Santa Prisca
 * Venom