The fall of Batman came during the 1993-1994 storyline Knightfall, a spiritual sequel to the Death of Superman storyline and a precursor to the corruption of Green Lantern, death of Green Arrow, and the reinvention of Wonder Woman, all of which gave DC Comics reason to replace their heroes with hip new upstarts. Yet, while Superman’s nemesis Doomsday only eventually became an interesting character, Bane immediately proved his worth and became a regular fixture in the DC Universe.
His brief appearance as a Hulk-style tough/dapper chauffeur in Batman & Robin notwithstanding, Bane acquitted himself well in Batman’s rogues’ gallery. He even became a compelling antihero as a member of the Secret Six, the Suicide Squad-style team by writer Gail Simone.
In all of these appearances, Bane remained what he had always been: a strong genius transformed by venom. Turns out, his biggest transformation was yet to come.
Out of the Shadows
The Dark Knight Rises gestures to some comic elements, at least at first. Bane does slam Batman onto his knee, and, while languishing in a prison pit, Bruce Wayne learns the legend of the child born there. But eventually, we learn that the child was Talia al Ghul, the woman he met as Wayne Enterprises CEO Miranda Tate. Bane, we finally learn, was Talia’s bodyguard, who swore to protect her since they first met in the prison.
Certainly, the movie version of Bane overshadowed his comic book counterpart in the public opinion. But unlike Alfred, Batgirl, and Mister Freeze—all characters whose current canonical qualities began in serials and TV shows—Bane remained more or less unchanged in the comics. High-profile (and highly-controversial) runs by Scott Snyder and Tom King reasserted Bane’s position as a master strategist who threatens Batman on an existential level, completely ignoring even in-universe connections to Ra’s al Ghul.
Furthermore, the popularity of the Absolute Universe has brought the comic book Bane into the conversation, to a degree that could rival Hardy’s take. In Absolute Batman, Bruce Wayne is a 400-pound man raised on Crime Alley after the death of his schoolteacher father. Thus, his childhood friends include know-it-all Eddie Nygma, the social-climbing Oz Cobblepot, and pretty boy lawyer Harvey Dent.
