Bane (comic)

WonderCon 2012: Bane costume

Bane ( English for curse , ruin , verderben ) is a fictional character owned by the US publisher DC Comics and the title of a series of comic publications about this character. The publications under the "Bane" title deal with the deeds and misdeeds that a South American adventurer and terrorist, operating under the code name Bane, commits in the fictional DC universe .

The main character of the Bane comics was first featured in the 1993 Batman comics during the influential Knightfall saga , which is about Bane battling superhero Batman and breaking his spine. The fact that the "bad guy" defeated the "good guy" - something that had not happened in the more than fifty years of the Batman comics' publication history - made the character Bane in the early 1990s, largely perceived as a taboo break within the superhero genre Years also known far beyond the comic scene as Batman's " Nemesis ". For example, various daily newspapers and television stations reported on "the man who broke Batman".

Publications

The first release under the title "Bane" was the One-Shot Vengeance of Bane # 1, which DC Comics released in January 1993. This booklet served both to introduce Bane into the DC universe - as the common setting in which most of the publisher's characters experience their adventures - as well as to establish his origin story (so-called origin story ) and to prepare for himself Knightfall saga, which lasted nearly two years, in which he acted as the main villain.

In 1995 the special Vengeance of Bane # 2 (1995) followed, in which Bane's escape from Blackgate prison and overcoming his addiction to the drug Venom is the theme. In 1997 the four-part miniseries Bane of the Demon (1997) was published, which deals with Bane's search for his father and his meeting with the cult leader Ra's al Ghul . Also in 1997 came the comic novel Batman / Bane (1997) on the market, which appeared as a companion volume to the 1997 movie Batman & Robin , in which Bane appears as a side villain. This describes how Bane takes control of a floating nuclear power plant.

In Germany, all of these publications were published in 1998 by the Stuttgart-based Dino Verlag in collected form as Batman special volume # 2 ( Vengeance of Bane # 1 and # 2) and Batman special volume # 3 ( Bane of the Demon # 1-4 and Bane # 1) .

In 2012, the two Vengeance of Bane specials and the 1997 miniseries, along with some Batman stories in which Bane plays an important role, were released by DC Comics on the occasion of the release of the Batman film The Dark Knight Rises - in which Bane is the main villain reprinted in an anthology.

In addition to his own franchise, Bane has appeared more frequently in the past as an opponent of Batman and a few other superhero characters owned by the publisher DC. In this context, Bane was used, among other things, as a character in comic books, novels, cinema and television films and in cartoon series as well as in computer and console games: For example in the cartoon Mystery of the Batwoman .

Furthermore, the figure Bane was used in the form of action figures and as a jewelry sculpture as well as a motif on trade cards, T-shirts, fridge magnets and other comparable merchandising products.

Main character

Bane was first featured in the January 1993 comic book Vengeance of Bane # 1 . The basic idea and the background story for the character go back to the author Chuck Dixon , while the draftsman Graham Nolan Bane designed the external appearance. As Nolan explained in an interview with the Washington Post in May 2003, the basic idea was to have an evil variant of the hero of the novels about the adventurer Doc Savage (" an evil Doc. Savage ") compete against Batman. It was crucial for the author and draftsman to confront Batman for the first time with an opponent (an "anti-Batman") who should be superior to him both physically and mentally.

When designing Bane's appearance (according to the publisher, he is 2.03 m tall and weighs 159 kg), the creators were influenced by the design of the Mexican Lucha Libres : He is a tall, athletic man who is muscular to the limits of what is humanly possible (therefore often referred to as the "mountain of people"). He usually wears elastic, sleeveless shirts, lace-up boots and a black mask that covers the entire head and is outlined in white in the field of vision and has red slits in the eye area. On the back of his mask, in some versions, there are six small openings with metal caps for tubes that open directly into his skull, with which he takes the performance-enhancing drug Venom. Only six scars are found at this point in later stories.

Character story

Bane's real name has not been revealed to this day. This is also unknown to him. We now know that he is the son of the connection between the British mercenary Sir Edmund Dorrance (also known as King Snake; see villains in the Batman universe ) and a native of the (fictional) Caribbean island of Santa Prisca. Bane's parents met when the people of Santa Prisca, inspired by the Cuban Revolution, rose against the tyranny of the dictatorial military junta on the island. The locals were supported by a group of foreign specialists officially organized by the Dominican Order. In fact, the Order of Saint Dumas had been the spiritus rector of the group. This group included the American doctor Dr. Thomas Wayne, Dorrance and the Swiss businessman Charlton LeHah. The revolt of the Santapriscan people failed, however: Dorrance was seriously injured and blinded in the attack on the rebel camp, but, as he was believed to be dead, was able to escape from Santa Prisca. His mistress - whom Dorrance believed was dead - fell into the hands of government troops. Dorrance, who initially knew nothing of the existence of the son he had fathered, fled to Hong Kong without ever returning to Santa Prisca.

According to the archaic laws of Santa Prisca, in the event of the death of the father, sons had to serve the father’s sentence on behalf of the father: for example, Bane was sentenced before he was born to accept the sentence of his father, who was believed to be dead, instead. The sentence for the "high treason" as which the military government viewed participation in the revolution was life.

Bane was born in captivity in Pena Duro prison. Bane's only childhood friend was the Osito teddy bear, a gift from one of the few Catholic missionaries, a Jesuit, who had access to Pena Duro. The boy's mother died when the boy was only a few years old: the consequence was that, due to his young age, he did not know his own name. The other inmates initially called him José; later, after he had committed his first murder of a fellow inmate as a child, they named him Bane : "The Cursed One".

After this bloody act, the prison director had him locked in the "Cavidad Obscuro" (sic), a solitary confinement cell located underneath the sea. To survive, he had to feed on the raw fish washed up with the sea and the rats that lived with him. In his dreams, Bane was haunted by a dreadful bat being that he was gradually becoming obsessed with. After spending ten years in this inhuman environment and maturing there into a man, Bane was released back into the regular prison system. There the other prisoners celebrated him as a hero because he had succeeded in defying the prison director who wanted to see him die in this hell.

The key to Bane's survival lay in meditation and smuggled books that his fallow mind devoured. His body was tempered by Bane, who had beneficial abilities by doing a thousand push-ups, a thousand pull-ups, and a thousand sit-ups every day. While in custody, Bane met three men who became his loyal friends and followers: the falconer "Birdy" Colossimo (Bird), the deathly pale knife thrower Zombie and the Neanderthal-like Trogg (all three characters are named after British rock bands of the 1960s).

Bane's key to freedom was “Venom”, an experimental steroid that gave Bane, who was already extremely strong, the strength to break out of Pena Duro. After taking revenge on the prison warden for doing so badly and freeing his friends from the prison dungeons, he decided to go to Gotham City . Colossimo, a crook from Gotham, had told him about this "most wonderful city in the world" and aroused his interest through the stories of the Batman who ruled Gotham. So Bane had made the decision to defeat Batman, in whom he saw the embodiment of a nightmare being that haunted him in his dreams, and to take over the rule of Gotham City in the place of the “bat man”.

With the help of the technically talented Trogg, Bane succeeded in developing a device with which he could let the Venom substance flow directly into his bloodstream via a regulation unit on his left forearm. Since Venom had the side effect of being addictive, he was soon forced to take the remedy every twelve hours in order to avoid the occurrence of various side effects. When he took the drug, his physical strength increased almost immeasurably.

Bane eventually got to Gotham City. There he first carefully prepared for his plan by renting a hotel and starting to study Batman. With the help of a hunting falcon, they were always able to find the criminal fighter quickly. To begin with, they subjected both Batman and themselves to various "tests". Bane proved himself by defeating Killer Croc - one of the most feared criminals in the Gotham underworld - in a duel and breaking his arms ( Batman # 489, 1993). His henchmen demonstrated their worthiness by wounding the insane Edward Nigma ( Batman # 490, 1993). To achieve his plan, Bane destroyed the Arkham Asylum , Gotham City's psychiatric hospital, and freed all inmates.

Batman, who was already in poor health at the time, gradually recaptured some of the most dangerous inmates. In doing so, however, he was so exhausted that he was only a shadow of himself. Bane, who in the meantime had concluded Batman's secret identity as Bruce Wayne, chose this time to face Batman in a duel. In the Bath Cave, Batman's lair where the duel took place, Bane defeated Batman. In order to give gestural expression to his victory, he finally broke his spine after his defeat.

Bruce Wayne, who from then on was dependent on a wheelchair for a while, handed the Batman coat to his deputy Jean Paul Valley (aka Azrael ). This finally managed to defeat Bane by playing his Venom addiction against himself. Azrael destroyed Bane's venom supplies and thus the regular supply of this substance. He then attacked Bane, who was weakened by the Venom withdrawal, and defeated him in a brutal duel, gaining another advantage by replacing the classic Batman costume with combat armor ( Batman # 500, 1993).

The defeated Bane was locked in Blackgate Prison. Bane pleaded guilty to his terrorism and murder trial in order to avoid the shame of a trial. There he was first subjected to cold withdrawal: the result was that Bane spent several months in the infirmary. After that, he was cured of his addiction, but had also lost his physical fitness: he was puffy, overweight and weakened. After another inmate at Blackgate, Anatoly Knyzev, seriously injured him, Bane had to go to the infirmary again. In order to regain his old self, he took drastic measures: he murdered another prisoner, whereupon he was locked in the institution's rehab block for six months. In solitary confinement, Bane underwent rigorous fitness training and was able to regain his former shape. After returning to the regular prison system, Bane was able to escape Blackgate with the help of fellow inmates who were friends - Anatoli Knyzev, Otis Flannegan and Elmo Galvan.

After a successful escape, Bane decided to find his father. The doctor who had once carried out the Venom tests on him in Pena Duro gave him the first clues about his identity. On a visit to Santa Prisca, a Jesuit priest narrowed the circle of suspects for fatherhood to four: Thomas Wayne, Edmund Dorrance, Charlton Lehah, and a local revolutionary.

In his search for Lehah, Bane finally met Talia al Ghul, the daughter of the megalomaniac ecoterrorist Ra's al Ghul .

After a short time, Ra's al Ghul saw Bane as his successor and a worthy husband for his daughter. Ra's al Ghul hired Bane to contaminate Gotham City with the help of a floating oil rig and an atomic fuel rod. However, this was prevented by the intervention of Batman, Robin and Nightwing . In the end, the platform explodes and Bane can take refuge on a floating board, on which he is washed ashore.

Still busy with Ra's al Ghul, Batman sends Azrael to pursue Bane. Bane succeeds in capturing Azrael and making him addicted to the drug Venom. However, Azrael escapes and manages to break free from the drug through cold withdrawal. Shortly thereafter, Azrael succeeds in defeating Bane in a tough fight. He brings him back to Gotham, where Bane is able to free himself as a result of an inferno and flee again. Nevertheless, Azrael succeeds again in confronting and defeating Bane, whereupon he is locked up in Blackgate again.

Bane was also a member of the "Suicide Squad," a group of super criminals who did jobs for money.

Years later, Bane returned to Gotham City in search of his true father. For a long time, the identity of Bane's father was also unknown to readers - but there were indications that Bruce Wayne and Bane could have the same biological father: Dr. Thomas Wayne. So Batman helped him find him and together they found him too. In a final battle between Batman and King Snake, Bane saves the life of his former adversary and is very badly wounded himself. He survives because Batman puts him in a Lazarus pit. But not only his physical wounds are healed, but also his mental ones.

In 2013 the storyline "Dark Knight" was created, here Bane is again the old enemy of Batman, who he was without his healing bath in the Lazarus Pit.

Important minor characters

Bird

Bird is a Gotham City criminal whose real name is Birdy Colossimo. The character made his debut in Batman: Vengeance of Bane # 1 from 1993 (Writer: Chuck Dixon, Illustrator: Graham Nolan), in which Bane also made his first appearance. Bird owes his nickname to his fondness for and talent in dealing with birds, for which he has a “magic hand”, whereby the name Bird - like the names of all three of Banes' henchmen - is at the same time an allusion to a British band from the sixties (The Birds). He uses this talent by working as a falconer. Bird is a normal-height, slender man with a hawk nose and long blond hair who wears baroque-looking shirts and vests. Bird is a crafty professional criminal who began his career in Gotham City in the gang of Jimmy "No Nose" Novack. When Novack betrayed him for unknown reasons and in an undisclosed manner, Bird was taken prisoner in the dictatorial South American state of Santa Prisca. He was sentenced to life in Pena Duro Prison. There he shared a cell with Bane, to whom he told about his homeland, Gotham City, the "most beautiful city in the world" and about their mysterious "ruler" Batman, thus laying the foundation for Bane's obsession with defeating Batman and ruling Gotham City, put. Together with Bane and the inmates Trogg and Zombie, Bird finally managed to escape from Pena Duro and travel to Gotham City.

There the group, in which Bird acted as the most important advisor to Banes, moved into permanent quarters in a hotel and began to plan their war against Batman. First, the troops began to procure a falcon for Bird, which he named Talon. She later murdered Jimmy Novack, whom Bird blamed for his unfortunate fate in South America ( Vengeance of Bane # 1). Then began a longer period of study in which Bird and the other Batman with the help of the hawk shadowed Batman on his nightly missions in order to learn as much as possible about him, especially about his weaknesses. Among other things, there was an argument between Birds, Zombies and Troggs with the Riddler, in which the latter was seriously injured by several gunshot wounds ( Batman # 490). At the end of this study phase, Bird came up with the idea of ​​bringing Batman to his knees by freeing all Arkham inmates: For this purpose, he bought a set of construction plans of the institution from a former guard in order to be able to plan the attack on them as effectively as possible. Together with Bane, Trogg and Zombie, he finally freed all the insane who had been billeted in Arkham (where Bird had the idea of ​​freeing the Joker first to give the prisoner uprising a ringleader), and equipped them with stolen weapons from the US Army and unleashed the chaos in Gotham City ( Batman # 491). As a result, Bird shadowed Batman in his hunt for the escapees with the help of Talon and was thus able to follow his gradual decline in strength (against Amygdala in Detective Comics # 659, Zsasz in Batman # 493, Poison Ivy in Batman # 495). In a duel with Robin, Bird was able to stand up to this and evade arrest ( Detective Comics # 659). A duel between Birds and Batman ended in defeat, whereby Bird was at least able to avoid arrest ( Detective Comics # 663).

After Batman's defeat by Bane (-Bird knows about his true identity as Bruce Wayne), Bird supported him in the attempt to usurp control of Gotham's underworld: Together with Trogg and Zombie, he kidnapped the children of the gang leader Tough Toni Bressi and blackmailed him into working with Bane, he hired Catwoman ( Catwoman # 1) and murdered various rival criminals. Bird was eventually defeated by Bruce Wayne's successor as Batman, Jean Paul Valley, and handed over to the police ( Batman # 500). He was separated from Trogg and Zombie, who were also captured, and taken to a prison outside Gotham. Bane freed him some time later ( Azrael # 36) and made him his helper again. When the two of them traveled to South America together to start a new revolution in Santa Prisca, their ship sank in a storm, with Bird - who was also weakened by the use of the venom drug - apparently died ( Azrael # 38).

King Snake

King Snake , aka Sir Edmund Dorrance, is a British mercenary. Introduced into the DC Universe in 1991 as the adversary of Batman and his allies, he was eventually revealed as the father of Bane in a 2005 story.

The character King Snake was first introduced in the 1991 comic book Robin # 1 (author: Chuck Dixon; illustrator: Tom Lyle ). There he appears as a supposedly respectable British businessman who secretly operates as the leader of a drug and arms smuggling ring operating in Hong Kong . Dorrance owes his nickname "King Snake" - who is blind at the time of his first appearance - to a large tattoo on his chest, which shows a jade-green, spiral-shaped king cobra (English king snake ).

In later editions you learn that Dorrance comes from the English nobility and came to Hong Kong with the British Army as an artillery officer when it was still an English overseas possession. There he was trained in Asian martial arts, in which he soon achieved considerable skill. Dorrance later left the army and went to South America as a paid mercenary, where he took part in the failed revolution against the military junta on the Caribbean island of Santa Prisca: During this time, he had a love affair with a young, local revolutionary and fathered the child who later becomes Bane. Soon after, he was separated from his lover when government forces attacked the rebel camp. On this occasion, Dorrance was blinded by a grenade explosion, with the result that he lost his eyesight . Nevertheless, he managed to escape from Santa Prisca: he believed his lover, whom he could not find again, to be dead, while she had actually been captured and sentenced to life in prison. The unborn child Dorrance fathered with her (Bane) is meanwhile sentenced to life imprisonment on his behalf ( Batman: Gotham Knights # 47-49, 2004).

The first Robin mini-series ( Robin (Vol. 1) # 1-5, 1991), which was set at a later point in time but was published much earlier, tells of how Dorrance started working as a mercenary after his escape from Pena Duro had resumed overseas by making up for his lack of eyesight by increasing the performance of his other four senses: in the stories played after this point in time, he has an increased, mechanical perception that enables him to absorb even the slightest vibrations (ground shocks, steps , Breaths, etc.) in his environment. He also prefers to fight in the dark, as this gives him an advantage as a blind person over the sighted, for whom the dark is a handicap.

At this time, Dorrance began his double life in Hong Kong: by day he was a respectable businessman, by night he was the leader of a criminal organization called The Ghost Dragons , which mainly consisted of local youth. Because of his tattoo, which he had made at that time, he took the code name King Snake at that time, which he later justified with the fact that this type of snake is immune to the venom of other snakes and also feeds on other snakes. After Snake successfully conducted business in Hong Kong for several decades, Snake sought to expand into France and the United States. He comes into conflict with former DEA agent Clyde Rawlins, who has an old account with Dorrance since he murdered his family, and the French killer Henri Ducard. In addition, Batman's assistant Robin and the martial artist Lady Shiva, who wants to compete in a duel with King Snake, begin to hunt him down. In Hong Kong, the various parties finally clash: after Snake can kill Rawlins in a duel, he is defeated by the teenager Robin, which means that he loses face in front of the Ghost Dragons, who no longer want to follow a "loser" . Shiva throws the vanquished, whom she considers unworthy to fight against her, from the highest roof of a skyscraper, hitting the parapet of a balcony on a lower floor and breaking his spine ( Robin I miniseries, 1991).

Contrary to expectations, Snake succeeds in restoring his broken spine with "steel implants". Desiring to take revenge on Robin - whom he has hated since they first met - for the humiliating defeat, he comes to Gotham City, where, through Batman's intervention and the betrayal of his assistant Lynx, who is now in charge of the Ghost Dragons takes over ( Batman # 467-469). Two later attempts to take control of the underworld in Gotham's Chinatown ( Robin (Vol. 3) # 1-6, 1992/1993; Detective Comics # 685-686, 1995) also fail. In the course of these efforts, Snake encounters various other dangerous fighters: the Russian Anatoli Knyazev and a mercenary known only as the Silver Monkey. After that, King Snake is briefly captured by a man named Lock-Up, who forces him to fight Knyazev and monstrous men like Steeljacket and Killer Croc and Trogg again in "modern gladiator fights" ( Batman / Wildcat # 1-3, 1997) .

Snake's attempt to take over the sectarian cobra cult ultimately leads to his regaining his eyesight by taking a bath in the magical "Lazarus Pit", but again in a fight with Robin - who injects poison into his face in an act of self-defense loses. After that, King Snake remains alone, abandoned and cut off from the outside world, in the headquarters of the cobra cult in the Kharakorum , where he lives as an ascetic. There, after a long search, Bane finds his father as an old, emaciated and weak man, whom he kills after brief attempts at pronunciation when he realizes Snake's true, malicious nature.

claw

Klaue is the name of Bird's falcon Talon in the German translation of the Knightfall saga by Carlsen Comics .

Talon

Talon (German "claw") is the trained peregrine falcon from Bane's henchman Bird. In German translations he was z. T. referred to as claw.

Bird uses Talon in the Knightfall saga to find and observe Batman's whereabouts in the canyons of Gotham City as quickly as possible. With the help of the falcon, Bird studies Batman's approach and methods on various missions ( Detective Comics # 656, Batman # 490). In Bane's attack on the Arkham Asylum mental hospital, where many of Batman's insane adversaries are kept, Bird uses the trained bird to drop an explosive charge that damages cells to allow inmates to escape. In the following years, Bird uses Talon to monitor Batman in his hunt for the escapees: He can watch Batman's battles against Amygdala ( Detective Comics # 659), Zsasz ( Batman # 493), Poison Ivy ( Batman # 495) from a safe distance . When Mad Hatter notices that he is being monitored by Talon, he succeeds in briefly catching the animal and equipping it with a surveillance chip ( Batman # 492). When Bird is finally arrested by Batman ( Batman # 500), Talon is handed over to Gotham Zoo by the police.

Trogg

Trogg is one of Bane's three henchmen in the Knightfall saga. The character, like Bane and his other two henchmen - Zombie and Bird - was introduced to the DC Universe in Vengeance of Bane # 1 (Author: Chuck Dixon, Illustrator: Graham Nolan).

Trogg - whose name alludes to the band The Troggs - is a short, but extremely stocky man of ape-like appearance. In Vengeance of Bane # 1 we learn that he was arrested for participating in the failed uprising against the military junta in his home town of Santa Prisca and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Pena Duro State Prison. During his imprisonment, the brutal Trogg took part in countless duels with other prisoners, from which he always emerged victorious, so that he soon became one of the most feared inmates of the institution. Trogg proves to be surprisingly caring when he takes under his wing a young boy who was sentenced as an infant to serve his father's life sentence in his place. When this boy later grows up to become Bane and manages to escape from Pena Duro, he returns and frees Trogg as well as the inmates Bird and Zombie. The four of them flee to Gotham City together.

With the help of his technical talent, Trogg develops a regulatory instrument for Bane that Bane uses to be able to administer the drug Venom, which gives him his superhuman physical strength. The device designed by Trogg is attached to Bane's left forearm: This consists of a container in which Bane can insert his Venom cartridges and a regulator: when this is activated, the Venom is pumped from the capsule through a tube directly into Bane's skull where it enters his bloodstream from.

During the so-called "Knightfall" storyline in the Batman comics, Trogg supports Bane in his plans to "conquer" Gotham City: Together with Bird and Trogg, he watches Batman for a while to get to know his methods and way of thinking. Trogg later helps Bane steal a variety of weapons from an arsenal of the US Army and free all inmates from the Arkham Asylum mental hospital. After Batman has recaptured the insane, including many of his archenemies, one after the other, there is also a duel between him and Trogg. Trogg is defeated in this, but can escape.

After Batman's loss to Bane, Trogg helps Bane take control of the Gotham City underworld. Soon after, however, he is defeated and arrested by Jean Paul Valley, who has taken over the Batman costume in place of Bruce Wayne ( Batman # 500). In the further course of the Knightfall saga he no longer appears. In Vengeance of Bane # 2 it is mentioned that Trogg has since been transferred to a prison outside Gotham City. In the 1997 issue of Batman / Wildcat # 3, one finally learns that he somehow managed to escape from there, since at this point he is in the hands of the criminal Lyle Bolton, for whom he takes part in illegal gladiator fights.

zombie

Zombie is a South American criminal who is a constant companion of Bane in the Knightfall saga. Like Bane, the character was first introduced in the 1993 comic novel Batman: Vengeance of Bane # 1 (author: Chuck Dixon, illustrator: Graham Nolan). His real name has not yet been revealed in the comics. He owes the name zombie to his "dead-like" appearance: He is noticeably pale and gaunt, bald and has low-expression "moon eyes" deep in the skull.

In Vengeance of Bane # 1 - in which Zombie also acts as a narrator - we learn that as a young man Zombie took part in a failed uprising of the people of Santa Prisca against the ruling military junta: During this time he met the British mercenary Sir Edmund, among others Know Dorrance, who fought on the side of the revolutionaries and in whose group Zombie was active as a pilot. After the popular uprising was put down, Zombie was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Pena Duro State Prison, where he was nicknamed. In Pena Duro, Zombie worked as a cleaner and medical assistant in the prison infirmary. There he looked after, among other things, a young revolutionary who had been arrested with her child. After the woman's death, he looked after the orphaned, nameless child who later became Bane. In addition, Zombie acquired extensive knowledge in dealing with drugs: He learned how to synthesize, conserve and administer them as effectively as possible.

When Bane manages to escape from Pena Duro, he also frees Zombie and the inmates Bird and Trogg from custody and travels with them to Gotham City. There, Zombie supports Bane in his attempt to defeat Batman as the protector of the city and to usurp control over its underworld: He participates in the systematic observation of Bane's Batman, in the theft of large stocks of weapons from the US Army and in the liberation of the insane Inmates of the Gotham City psychiatric institution, Arkham Asylum, who - armed with the stolen weapons by Bane and his helpers - then begin to devastate Gotham City with chaos ( Batman 489-491). Zombie also takes on the task of synthesizing the drug Venom, which gives Bane his considerable physical strength, which he can pump directly into his blood through a control device made by Trogg. During the Knightfall saga, zombie - who turns out to be a brilliant knife thrower - also meets Batman once in a fight. He is defeated, but can escape ( Detective Comics # 663, 1993).

After Bane defeats Batman in a duel and is seriously injured, Zombie supports him in taking control of the underworld of Gotham City: He kidnaps the children of gang leader Tough Tony Bressi ( Batman # 498) and recruits Catwoman as an employee ( Catwoman # 1) . Finally, Zombie is defeated by Batman II (Jean Paul Valley), the successor to the injured Bruce Wayne, together with Trogg and Bird, and is seized and handed over to the police. The prospect of imprisonment frightened him little: As he said during interrogation, the American prisons are "harmless and soft" compared to the prisons in South America, in which he had spent many years of his life ( Detective Comics # 666). In Vengeance of Bane # 2 we learn that zombie has meanwhile been taken to a prison outside of Gotham City.

Adaptations of the character in other media

In the 1997 film Batman & Robin , Bane is played by the American wrestler Jeep Swenson . There, however, the character is rather portrayed as a “dumb bat”.

In the 2009 computer action game Batman: Arkham Asylum , Bane is an early boss opponent. At the end of the fight, Batman pushes him into the bay water with the remote-controlled Batmobile. Bane survives and appears again in the follow-up Arkham City from 2011, but this time the player does not fight him. In the follow-up Arkham Origins , which takes place before Arkham Asylum , Bane is one of the main villains alongside the Joker. Because of this, the player even has to fight him twice, first on a rooftop in Gotham City and in the final of the game in Blackgate Prison. Bane is finally handed over to the police, hanging upside down by his feet.

In the 2012 Batman film adaptation by Christopher Nolan , The Dark Knight Rises , Bane is played by British actor Tom Hardy . Outwardly, this version differs relatively strongly from the original, but he is also portrayed as a dangerous antagonist and, as in the comic template, as "Anti-Batman".

In the fifth season of the Gotham television series , Bane is played by Shane West . The prequel series depicts Bane as the soldier Eduardo Dorrance. He used to serve at the side of James Gordon , but was then captured during a mission and taken to the Pena Duro prison as a prisoner of war. Eduardo is finally freed by Ra's al Ghul's daughter Nyssa, with whom he allies out of gratitude. He is badly wounded in a fight, is now dependent on a life-sustaining mask and is then transformed into Bane by Professor Hugo Strange .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Interview with Washington Post online from 2003 (English).  ( Page no longer available )
2. ^ Batman special volume # 3, Dino-Verlag 1999.