| “ | No one cared who I was till I put on the mask. | „ |
| ~ Bane's most famous quote. |
| “ | I am the League of Shadows. I'm here to fulfill Ra's al Ghul's destiny. | „ |
| ~ Bane during his first fight with Bane. |
| “ | You can watch me torture an entire city. And when you truly understand the depth of your failure, we will fulfill Ra's al Ghul's destiny - we will destroy Gotham. And when it is done, when Gotham is ashes... then, you have my permission to die. | „ |
| ~ Bane leaving Bruce in the Pit. |
Bane is a major antagonist of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight franchise, appearing as one of the two main antagonists (alongside Talia Al Ghul) of The Dark Knight Rises.
He is a fake revolutionary and terrorist mastermind, and the second-in-command of the League of Shadows in the wake of Ra's al Ghul's death. Raised in a hellish prison known as "The Pit", he was left with facial damage which forced him to wear a mask. After saving the young Talia al Ghul as a child, he becomes her right-hand in the League's final plan to destroy Gotham. He is Batman's most physically dangerous foe.
He is portrayed by Tom Hardy.
Biography[]
The man who would come to be known as Bane was born and raised in the Pit, a middle eastern prison which is regarded as the most dreaded prison in the world, where Talia al Ghul, the daughter of Ra's al Ghul, and her mother were imprisoned. After their cell was left unlocked, the prisoners attacked and murdered Talia's mother, but Bane saved Talia and became her protector, determined to preserve the one glimmer of innocence and hope in that awful place.
Bane brought Talia to the wall that one could climb up to escape, though no one had ever succeeded. As the other prisoners attacked Bane, he watched as Talia managed to climb to freedom. Talia went to her father and the League of Shadows, who returned to the Pit to rescue her savior. But, by that time, Bane’s body had already been badly mutilated by his fellow prisoners and though the prison doctor had saved his life, Bane was left in constant agony. He was brought into the League of Shadows’ fold and was given a mask that was created by the League that pumped a constant stream of anesthetic gas into his system to keep his pain at bay.
Bane and Talia were trained by the League, but Ra's saw Bane as a monster and a constant reminder of the nightmare he had left his wife to die in. So, Bane was excommunicated from the organization and became a mercenary.
After Ra’s death, Talia inherited his mantle and brought Bane into the league to launch an intricate plan to fulfill Ra's mission of destroying Gotham City. Bane was also responsible for a coup in West Africa which brought John Daggett, Bruce Wayne's business rival, exclusive access to the resources there, brought his company into prominence, and lead to Bane attracting the attention of the Central Intelligence Agency. Their working relationship was later used to bring Bane and other League mercenaries to Gotham City.
Eight years after Harvey Dent's death and the Joker's arrest, Talia took on the identity of Miranda Tate, who funded Wayne Enterprises' construction of a fusion core, which she and Bane planned to use to destroy Gotham. Bane went after a nuclear scientist named Leonid Pavel, who tried to escape him by turning himself over to government agents. However, Bane got himself captured, then had his men attack the plane that he and Pavel were in. He faked the death of the nuclear scientist and made it look as if the plane had crashed, and successfully escaped with Pavel. Bane then moved his army into Gotham and began working for Daggett under the pretense of helping him take over Wayne Enterprises. However, Bane was just using Daggett’s resources to further his own plans. He attacked Gotham's stock exchange and, using fingerprints obtained by Selina Kyle, bankrupted Wayne. But instead of Daggett taking over, Bruce gave control of Wayne Enterprises to Talia. Bane then killed his “employer” by snapping his neck with his bare hands.
Bane had Selina lead Batman to him in exchange for calling off her debt to the League of Shadows. He revealed that he knew the Dark Knight's secret identity, before the two warriors fought. From the very first blow, Bane had the upper hand, and easily overpowered Batman, who was eight years out of practice at fighting. After stealing Batman's armory, Bane beat him to the ground, crushed his mask, and broke the Dark Knight's back over his knee.
Bane delivered a crippled Bruce Wayne to the Pit, and explained his plan to take over and destroy Gotham City while Bruce watched, helpless. He then left Bruce in agony in the hands of the same inept prison doctor who had disfigured him.
Bane returned to Gotham and took Wayne Enterprise’s Board of Directors hostage so as to get the fusion core. He then made Dr. Pavel turn the core into a bomb and lured almost the entire Gotham City Police Department underground in search of him. Bane went to the occurring football game and set off a series of explosions throughout the city, by using concrete that he had laced with explosives, which trapped the police and destroyed most of the bridges that connected Gotham to the outside world.
Bane proceeded to address the people of the city, declared martial law, told them they would claim what was rightfully theirs, and to take down their oppressors: the rich and the powerful. Bane made Pavel reveal himself to the people of Gotham to let them know that Bane had fabricated his supposed death and that the reactor was now an armed thermonuclear bomb. He asked Pavel if he was the only one who could disarm it and when the scientist confirmed this, Bane killed him by breaking his neck to ensure that the bomb couldn't be disarmed. Bane also told them that a citizen in the city had been given the detonator to the bomb and any attempt to leave would result in it being detonated. However, the bomb was going to go off anyway in a few months: Bane simply wanted to torture the people with hope that they could survive, as he had in the Pit, so that they would struggle against one another to "stay in the sun," before he killed them all.
Bane first headed to Blackgate Prison, where he read a speech that was written by Commissioner Gordon to the press and the prisoners of Blackgate, which revealed Harvey Dent's crimes. Bane declared that Gotham would be taken from the corrupt who kept the people down with myths of opportunity, then blew open the prison and released all the convicts, before he let the city descend into anarchy.
But as the time of the bomb’s detonation drew close, Batman returned, having recovered and escaped the Pit. He coordinated with Selina, the GCPD, and Lucius Fox to free all of the police officers who were trapped underground. Batman led some police officers against Bane’s army while some other members of the police worked on stopping the bomb. Bane fought Batman personally. This duel took place in the center of the battle and stretched to the doors of Wayne Tower. Both men were a completely even match - Batman did not bother using his gadgets, for he knew that Bane was immune to them, instead he focused on attacking Bane's mask. When it seemed that Bane was going to win, the Dark Knight commenced to destroying Bane's mask, sending the terrorist to his knees in pain. Bane flew into a furious, incredulous rage - a villainous breakdown - and violently attacked Batman. Bane's fury was such that, when several of his shots missed, they shattered sections of the walls at Wayne Tower. However, when Batman destroyed the mask, Bane succumbed to the pain and was defeated. Bane was beaten and Batman demanded to know where the detonator was, but Talia then revealed herself, and stabbed the Dark Knight in the side. Talia then left to ensure the bomb’s detonation, and left Batman with Bane so that he would be killed in the nuclear blast along with the citizens of Gotham.
Bane decided that he was not going to wait until the explosion and that he was going to kill Batman. Bane pointed a shotgun onto Batman's head and prepared to pull the trigger, telling him that he will "just have to imagine the fire". Before this could be done, Selina arrived with the BatPod and fired its missiles at Bane, killing him instantly.
Videos[]
External Links[]
[]
 Villains
| ||
|
Animated Features Live-Action Films Animated Television Live-Action TV Video Games Shorts Music See Also | ||
 Villains
| ||
|
Movies See Also | ||
 Villains
| ||
|
Comics Theatrical Movies Direct-to-video Movies Television 1970s Filmation series Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures The Batman (2004) Batman: The Brave and The Bold Beware the Batman Harley Quinn Video Games Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Injustice See Also | ||