When the announcement came out last week that the next Batman villain in Christopher Nolan's upcoming film The Dark Knight Rises was Bane I received the same reaction from many readers.
Who in the hell is Bane?
With The Dark Knight being one of the most successful and entertaining comic book films of all time, many felt the next logical step was The Riddler, or the Penguin, or a Batman villain more recognizable. Leave it to director Christopher Nolan to take a risk and pick a villain like Bane.
Much of the public has been quick to dismiss Bane as a villain too "obscure" for fans to relate to. I couldn't disagree more. In all honesty I think Bane is the perfect nemesis for Batman to pit his will against in the third and final installment of Nolan's trilogy.
The reason is his backstory, which is incredibly vivid and rich. Fans of the "Knightfall" story arc of the early 1990s would agree with me. Bane was the first character to seriously challenge Batman for supremacy of Gotham City. Born in the fictional Caribbean Republic of Santa Prisca, Bane was the son of revolutionary who avoided capture. However, in a cruel twist of fate, a corrupt Santa Prisca court system decreed that Bane (then only a baby) would serve his father's life sentence in Pena Dura prison. Bane becomes a hardened individual, killing his first man at age eight and receiving hard lessons in survival from many of the prison inmates. In the gym he becomes a dynamic physical specimen. He also possesses genius level intelligence, becomes very well read, and even receives a classical education from a Jesuit priest who is also an inmate.
Bane ultimately ascends to rule Pena Dura prison and catches the eye of the prison's controllers. Dr. Hugo Strange (another enemy of Batman) tests the super steroid Venom on Bane. Bane survives the experiments and although it results in superior physical strength, he has to take it every twelve hours or suffer horrible side effects. Eventually Bane escapes Pena Dura with several inmates who were from Gotham City. Bane recognizes that it is a place ruled by fear and that Batman has cornered the market on that particular emotion. Resolving to rule Gotham like he ruled Pena Dura, Bane travels to Gotham and in a daring act frees all of the villains from Arkham Asylum. Batman then spends three months rounding up the criminals pushing himself to exhaustion. Bane deduces that Batman is actually Bruce Wayne, confronts him, and eventually breaks his back.
The subsequent events are much too complicated and detailed to get into but suffice it to say that Batman is eventually healed and returns to his Batarang throwing ways. Whether or not Christopher Nolan will include the story (it involves Bruce eventually falling in love with and becoming healed by a psychiatrist and psionic healer) remains to be seen. My suspicion is no because it deviates from the realism we've come to expect from Nolan's films. Furthermore the inclusion of Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) suggests otherwise. Hell I don't even know if we'll see Bane break Batman's back!
One thing is clear however. Bane represents a physically and mentally imposing figure for Batman to confront. This will ultimately be Batman's most difficult test because Bane is a match for Batman on every level. So don't be concerned that Bane is too "obscure." I have complete faith that Nolan, Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, and the rest will bring us a movie just as riveting and compelling as the first two installments.
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