Bane (DC Animated Universe)

"You cannot do this to me! I am invincible! I AM BANE!"

- Bane

In Batman: The Animated Series, Bane was a chemically-boosted assassin, once hired by Rupert Thorne to kill Batman.

History
The man later known as Bane was an inmate of Pena Duro, a Cuban prison meant to contain the hardest, most dangerous convicts. He was chosen as a test subject for "Project Gilgamesh," a government project to create super-soldiers with a new "super-steroid", Venom. The experiment was too successful - Bane escaped Cuba and hired out his services as a freelance assassin. Eventually he built his reputation to the point where he could demand five million dollars per job.

Being hired by Rupert Thorne to eliminate Batman was the job he had been waiting for. In his career he had become fascinated by Batman, and had studied him carefully in the hope of one day defeating him. He came close, but Batman defeated him by a slim margin. He had also schemed to supplant Thorne as head of organized crime in Gotham City, with the help of Thorne's moll, Candace.

Bane later returned to Gotham City with a new, enhanced form of Venom. During Batman's unexplained absence from Gotham, Bane proposed an alliance with Riddler and The Mad Hatter, to rule the city, but this scheme was foiled by Superman, who had temporarily taken on Batman's costume. Even with his enhanced strength, Bane was incapable of beating Superman.

Under the influence of Scarecrow's fear toxin, Barbara Gordon had a nightmare in which she was killed, and her father, James Gordon, went mad with grief and released Bane from Stonegate Penitentiary to subdue Batman. In the final moments of the hallucination, Bane turned on Gordon and Batman, knocking them off of a building before seemingly dying himself.

Unlike many other of Batman's enemies, Bane had no diagnosed mental problems, and so was usually incarcerated in Stonegate instead of Arkham Asylum.

Still later, he was again hired by Rupert Thorne and The Penguin to help protect an arms deal they had arranged with the Kaznian military.

Decades later, his constant use of Venom had degraded his body and transformed him into a wheelchair-bound invalid, barely able to move and needing constant infusions of Venom just to stay alive. Bruce Wayne pays Bane the tribute of telling Terry McGinnis that he was a "formidable opponent."

Powers & Abilities
Bane was an Olympic-level athlete with immense strength even without Venom. When the Venom was injected into his brain (from a dispenser usually mounted on his arm, and fed through tubes connected to his mask), he achieved superhuman strength and endurance (although not enough to defeat Superman).

However, the Venom could be dangerous when used in excess; during their first encounter, Batman defeated Bane by triggering an overdose of the drug into Bane's head, stopping the flow just before Bane literally burst.

Bane was also highly intelligent, with a talent for planning and careful study of his target.

Notes and Trivia

 * There is a reference to the original Knightfall storyline in the Superman:The Animated Series episode "Knight Time": Confronted by Superman-disguised-as-Batman, Bane comments, "I feared you had gone forever, Batman. And that would have meant I'd never feel your spine crumble in my hands."


 * Bane was voiced in Batman:The Animated Series, Superman:The Animated Series, and The New Batman Adventures by Henry Silva. Notably, Silva used a thick Latin American accent for his first appearance, but lessened his accent subsequently.
 * In the direct-to-video release Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman, and the video game Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu, he was voiced by Hector Elizondo.


 * The producers were reluctant to use him in the series, feeling that he was a gimmick character. This may explain the infrequency of his appearances.
 * Bane's mask bears much resemblance to a mexican Lucha Libre mask. Perhaps in reference to this, during Bane's initial appearance, Batman battles him using huracanranas.