You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
DARK KNIGHT ENDING DISCUSSION. *SPOILERS
- Thread starter Heather[TBTMK]
- Start date
[email protected]
New member
[/b]
BANE Overview
Originally intended as a "dark mirror" of the highly disciplined and multi-skilled pulp hero Doc Savage,[1] Bane spends his childhood in a hellish prison on the corrupt island nation of Santa Prisca.[2] He develops superhuman strength through a forced experiment involving the drug Venom.[3] Although his dependency on Venom is an immense weakness, Bane has been one of Batman's most intelligent and physically powerful foes. He is best known for breaking Batman's back in the "Knightfall" story arc.[3]
Although primarily a villain, Bane is a complex character and has worked to take down drug lords. Despite their history, he has sometimes had Batman's financial backing and direct assistance.[3]
Bane has appeared in some other media adaptations of Batman, including Batman: The Animated Series and its sequels and spin-offs and its successor, The Batman.[4][5][6] Pro-wrestler Jeep Swenson played him in the 1997 film Batman & Robin.[7] In most of these adaptations, he is more simplistic and thug-like than his comic book counterpart.[8]
[edit]Publication history
Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench, and Graham Nolan created the character for the Knightfall storyline, although it is unclear what elements were introduced by each of the two writers (Dixon and Moench). Dixon wrote the character's first appearance (Vengeance of Bane),[2] with art by Graham Nolan. It is also unclear how much input was provided by Denny O'Neil (veteran writer of the Batman books, then Group Editor for the Batman family of books, and author of the novel adaptation of Knightfall).[1][2] O'Neil had previously created Bane's hellish birthplace of Santa Prisca in The Question and the drug Venom in the storyline of the same name (published in the pages of Legends of the Dark Knight #16-20, and later reprinted as a graphic novel).[1][2] In the pages of Azrael, O'Neil introduced Bane's perception of Venom as both an addiction and the weakness responsible for his earlier defeats. The link between Bane and King Snake was introduced by writer Scott Beatty.[3]
[edit]Fictional character biography
[edit]Background
The origin of Bane has similarities with another fictional character, Alexandre Dumas' Edmond Dant?s. Born to serve the life sentence of his father, Bane's childhood and early adult life are spent behind the walls of Pe?a Duro, an infamous prison located in Santa Prisca.[3][2] Though imprisoned, his natural abilities allow him to develop extraordinary skills within the prison's walls. He reads as many books as he can get his hands on, builds up his body in the prison's gym, and learns to fight in the merciless school of prison life. Despite his circumstances, he appears to have found teachers of various sorts during his incarceration, ranging from hardened convicts to an elderly Jesuit priest, under whose tutelage he apparently receives a classical education. Bane murders this priest upon his return to Santa Prisca years later. However, he commits his first murder at the age of eight, stabbing a criminal who wanted to use him to gain information about the prison.[3]
During his years in prison, Bane carries a teddy bear he calls Osito (Spanish for "little bear"), whom he considers his only friend. It is revealed that Osito has a hole in his back to hold a knife that Bane uses against anyone who bullies him.[3][2]
Bane ultimately establishes himself as the "king" of Pe?a Duro prison. The prison's controllers take note and, eventually, force him to become a test subject for a mysterious drug known as Venom, which had killed all other subjects. It nearly kills him at first, but he survives and finds its effects enhance his physical strength, although he needs to take it every 12 hours (via a system of cables pumped directly into his brain) or he would suffer debilitating side-effects.[3][2]
[edit]The Man who broke the Bat
Bane breaks Batman's back in a splash page from Batman #497 (July 1993). Art by Jim Aparo.
Years later, Bane escapes Pe?a Duro, along with several accomplices based on the Fabulous Five (his friends Trogg, Zombie, and Bird, all of whom are named after 1960s rock bands: The Troggs, The Zombies, and The Byrds, and were designed to mimic three of Doc Savage's assistants Monk, Ham, and Renny).[3][2] His ambition turns to destroying Batman, whom he had heard tales of while serving his sentence. He is fascinated with Gotham City as, like the prison, it is a place where fear ruled: in this case, fear of Batman. Bane is convinced that the demonic bat that haunted his dreams since childhood is a representation of the Batman.[3][2]
Aware that a direct assault on Batman would be foolish, Bane destroys the walls of Arkham Asylum, allowing its deranged inmates (including the Joker, the Scarecrow, the Mad Hatter, The Ventriloquist, Firefly, Cavalier, and Zsasz) to escape into Gotham City, where Batman spends three months rounding them up. Running himself to exhaustion, Batman returns to Wayne Manor, where Bane awaits him. He fights Batman in the Batcave, defeats him, and delivers the coup de gr?ce: he breaks Batman's back and leaves him paraplegic, thereby having been the only man to have "Broken the Bat".[3][2]
[edit]Downfall
While Bane establishes himself as ruler of Gotham's criminal underworld, Bruce Wayne passes the mantle of Batman to Jean-Paul Valley, also known as Azrael. As Batman, Jean-Paul grows increasingly violent, allowing the villain Abattoir to fall to his death. Jean-Paul also refuses to recognize Robin as his partner. Utilizing a sophisticated combat suit in place of the traditional Batman uniform, he fights and defeats Bane at the end of the "Knightfall" arc, severing the tubes that pump the Venom into Bane's bloodstream, causing severe withdrawal. Valley then gives the weakened Bane a vicious beating, leaving him alive but broken.[3][2]
[edit]Legacy
Following the events of "Knightfall", Bane recovers from his Venom addiction while serving time in prison, as seen in Vengeance of Bane II: The Redemption (1995). He eventually escapes from prison and returns to Gotham, where he fights alongside Batman to take out a criminal ring that is distributing a Venom derivative to street-level thugs. Following a victory over the criminals, Bane proclaims that he is "innocent" of his past crimes and urges Batman to stop hunting him. He then leaves Gotham (without fighting Batman) to begin a search for his father.[9]
Bane's search brings him back to Santa Prisca (shown in the Bane of the Demon miniseries published in 1998).[10] In search of leads, Bane questions the Jesuit priest who had taught him while he was in Pe?a Duro. The priest explains that there were four men who could possibly have been his father: a Santa Priscan revolutionary, an American doctor, an English mercenary, and a Swiss banker. While searching for the Swiss in Rome, Bane encounters Ra's al Ghul's daughter Talia. Talia introduces Bane to her father, and eventually Bane impresses Ra's so much that he chooses Bane as his heir (an "honor" he had previously imparted on Batman).[10]
Ra's al Ghul and Bane then launch a plague attack on Gotham in the "Legacy" storyline. Bruce Wayne, again costumed as Batman, gets his rematch with Bane in Detective Comics #701 (September 1996) and finally defeats him in single combat.[11]
Following the "Legacy" storyline, Bane appears in a one-shot publication called Batman: Bane (1997) and fights Azrael in the "Angel and the Bane" storyline in "Azrael" #36-40 (December 1997 - April 1998).[12] He then surfaces in the story arc "No Man's Land", serving as an enforcer for Lex Luthor. Following a fallout with Ra's al Ghul, Bane later embarks on a campaign to destroy Lazarus Pits around the world, and in the process, encounters Black Canary in Birds of Prey #26 (February 2001).[13]
[edit]Veritas Liberat
According to the Jesuit priest that Bane speaks with in "Bane of the Demon" #1, there is a possibility that Bane's biological father is an American doctor.[10] In researching this issue, Bane comes to the conclusion that he and Batman share Dr. Thomas Wayne as their biological father, with Dr. Wayne having apparently become close to Bane's mother during his time in Santa Prisca. Bane alerts Batman to this possibility, and during the time that the DNA tests are being performed, stays at Wayne Manor and fights alongside Batman on the streets of Gotham in the "Tabula Rasa" storyline (Gotham Knights #33-36, November 2002 - February 2003). Ultimately, it is revealed that Dr. Wayne is not Bane's father, and Bane leaves Gotham peacefully (and with Batman's blessing and financial backing) to pursue leads in the snowy mountains of Kangchenjunga.[14][15][16][17]
Bane eventually finds his father, the unscrupulous King Snake, in the "Veritas Liberat" storyline (Gotham Knights #47-49, January - March 2004). Bane, with Batman looking on, helps foil King Snake's plans to unleash a powerful weapon upon the world. Bane saves Batman from being shot by King Snake, but is mortally wounded in the process. Batman then saves Bane by bathing him in a Lazarus Pit, and leaves him with a clean slate and a new opportunity at life.[18][19][20]
[edit]Infinite Crisis & One Year Later
In Infinite Crisis #7, Bane is shown fighting alongside the villains during the Battle of Metropolis. During the battle, he breaks the back of the hero Judomaster, killing him. No reason was given for his actions in #7, though in Infinite Crisis's collected edition, one of the many changes made to the original series was Bane saying "I finally know who I am. I am Bane. I break people." while breaking Judomaster's back.[21]
Bane resurfaces in the One Year Later continuity in JSA Classified #17-18 searching for the Hourmen (Rex and Rick Tyler), asking them for help. To win their trust, he tells them how, prior to the Battle of Metropolis, he returned to his homeland to put an end to the drug lords' government, in the process discovering that a new, more addicting strain of Venom had been created. In his furious carelessness to wipe out the drug trade, he was captured, and reimplanted with the cranial tubes, hooked to the new Venom, but now unable to shake off his addiction without dying from the withdrawal. Bane was forced to work as an enforcer for the drug cartel, unable to escape. Believing that Bane sought Rex Tyler's expertise in chemistry, Rick lets him approach his father, only to discover that the story is a ruse. Bane, who had never truly been addicted to Venom, had in fact wiped out the drug lords, and destroyed every research note on Venom. He discovered in the process both strains of Venom derived from Rex Tyler's early research on Miraclo. He discovers from the Tylers that no written notes exist of Rex's work, captures Rex, and steals Rick's equipment, planning to kill Rex and force Rick to take the last of the new Venom, living forever as an addict. Rick and Rex eventually subdue Bane, burying the mercenary in the rubble of the very same Santa Priscan penitentiary where his story began.[22]
Eventually Bane resurfaces in Santa Prisca, leading the country to democratic elections. Upon discovering that the elections were rigged by Computron, he uses his influence to enforce martial law, plunging the country into a civil war. Computron offers information to Checkmate on who ordered him to rig the elections in exchange for their help in escaping the country. Fire and Judomaster's son, Thomas Jagger, are sent on the mission, with Jagger debating whether or not to seek revenge for his father's murder. He fights Bane in order to allow Fire to escape, defeating him easily, but chooses not to kill him.[23]
As appearing in Outsiders #50, Bane has joined the Suicide Squad. He appears once more to be wearing the tubing system to apply Venom- whether he has returned to the drug is unknown.[24]
In Salvation Run #2, Bane was tricked by his fellow squad members, and sent to the prison planet.[25] In Salvation Run #3 Bane remains with Lex Luthor's faction after Joker's faction rebels against Luthor's leadership. He recently attacked Thunder and Lightning when they were attempting to feed Martian Manhunter.[26]
[edit]Powers and abilities
Bane is highly intelligent; in "Bane of the Demon", Ra's al Ghul says that Bane "has a mind equal to the greatest he has known".[10] In prison, he teaches himself various scientific disciplines equal to the level of understanding of leading experts in those fields.[3] He teaches himself six active languages and at least two additional arcane and dead ones, those mentioned are Spanish, English, Urdu, Farsi, and Latin.[10] The "Bane of the Demon" storyline reveals that he has a photographic memory. Within one year, he is able to deduce Batman's secret identity.[10] He is also highly devious (he crafts the escape from Arkham Asylum of all of Batman's enemies), and a superb strategist and tactician.
Bane possesses Olympic-level strength that appears to be greater than Batman's. During the Knightfall storyline, when he uses the "Venom" drug, his strength level is artificially increased to superhuman levels. Even without Venom, his physiology appears superior to other normal human characters with strength such as Batman.[3]
In prison, Bane also invents his own form of calisthenics, meditation, and a unique fighting style.[10]Overview
Originally intended as a "dark mirror" of the highly disciplined and multi-skilled pulp hero Doc Savage,[1] Bane spends his childhood in a hellish prison on the corrupt island nation of Santa Prisca.[2] He develops superhuman strength through a forced experiment involving the drug Venom.[3] Although his dependency on Venom is an immense weakness, Bane has been one of Batman's most intelligent and physically powerful foes. He is best known for breaking Batman's back in the "Knightfall" story arc.[3]
Although primarily a villain, Bane is a complex character and has worked to take down drug lords. Despite their history, he has sometimes had Batman's financial backing and direct assistance.[3]
Bane has appeared in some other media adaptations of Batman, including Batman: The Animated Series and its sequels and spin-offs and its successor, The Batman.[4][5][6] Pro-wrestler Jeep Swenson played him in the 1997 film Batman & Robin.[7] In most of these adaptations, he is more simplistic and thug-like than his comic book counterpart.[8]
[edit]Publication history
Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench, and Graham Nolan created the character for the Knightfall storyline, although it is unclear what elements were introduced by each of the two writers (Dixon and Moench). Dixon wrote the character's first appearance (Vengeance of Bane),[2] with art by Graham Nolan. It is also unclear how much input was provided by Denny O'Neil (veteran writer of the Batman books, then Group Editor for the Batman family of books, and author of the novel adaptation of Knightfall).[1][2] O'Neil had previously created Bane's hellish birthplace of Santa Prisca in The Question and the drug Venom in the storyline of the same name (published in the pages of Legends of the Dark Knight #16-20, and later reprinted as a graphic novel).[1][2] In the pages of Azrael, O'Neil introduced Bane's perception of Venom as both an addiction and the weakness responsible for his earlier defeats. The link between Bane and King Snake was introduced by writer Scott Beatty.[3]
[edit]Fictional character biography
[edit]Background
The origin of Bane has similarities with another fictional character, Alexandre Dumas' Edmond Dant?s. Born to serve the life sentence of his father, Bane's childhood and early adult life are spent behind the walls of Pe?a Duro, an infamous prison located in Santa Prisca.[3][2] Though imprisoned, his natural abilities allow him to develop extraordinary skills within the prison's walls. He reads as many books as he can get his hands on, builds up his body in the prison's gym, and learns to fight in the merciless school of prison life. Despite his circumstances, he appears to have found teachers of various sorts during his incarceration, ranging from hardened convicts to an elderly Jesuit priest, under whose tutelage he apparently receives a classical education. Bane murders this priest upon his return to Santa Prisca years later. However, he commits his first murder at the age of eight, stabbing a criminal who wanted to use him to gain information about the prison.[3]
During his years in prison, Bane carries a teddy bear he calls Osito (Spanish for "little bear"), whom he considers his only friend. It is revealed that Osito has a hole in his back to hold a knife that Bane uses against anyone who bullies him.[3][2]
Bane ultimately establishes himself as the "king" of Pe?a Duro prison. The prison's controllers take note and, eventually, force him to become a test subject for a mysterious drug known as Venom, which had killed all other subjects. It nearly kills him at first, but he survives and finds its effects enhance his physical strength, although he needs to take it every 12 hours (via a system of cables pumped directly into his brain) or he would suffer debilitating side-effects.[3][2]
[edit]The Man who broke the Bat
Bane breaks Batman's back in a splash page from Batman #497 (July 1993). Art by Jim Aparo.
Years later, Bane escapes Pe?a Duro, along with several accomplices based on the Fabulous Five (his friends Trogg, Zombie, and Bird, all of whom are named after 1960s rock bands: The Troggs, The Zombies, and The Byrds, and were designed to mimic three of Doc Savage's assistants Monk, Ham, and Renny).[3][2] His ambition turns to destroying Batman, whom he had heard tales of while serving his sentence. He is fascinated with Gotham City as, like the prison, it is a place where fear ruled: in this case, fear of Batman. Bane is convinced that the demonic bat that haunted his dreams since childhood is a representation of the Batman.[3][2]
Aware that a direct assault on Batman would be foolish, Bane destroys the walls of Arkham Asylum, allowing its deranged inmates (including the Joker, the Scarecrow, the Mad Hatter, The Ventriloquist, Firefly, Cavalier, and Zsasz) to escape into Gotham City, where Batman spends three months rounding them up. Running himself to exhaustion, Batman returns to Wayne Manor, where Bane awaits him. He fights Batman in the Batcave, defeats him, and delivers the coup de gr?ce: he breaks Batman's back and leaves him paraplegic, thereby having been the only man to have "Broken the Bat".[3][2]
[edit]Downfall
While Bane establishes himself as ruler of Gotham's criminal underworld, Bruce Wayne passes the mantle of Batman to Jean-Paul Valley, also known as Azrael. As Batman, Jean-Paul grows increasingly violent, allowing the villain Abattoir to fall to his death. Jean-Paul also refuses to recognize Robin as his partner. Utilizing a sophisticated combat suit in place of the traditional Batman uniform, he fights and defeats Bane at the end of the "Knightfall" arc, severing the tubes that pump the Venom into Bane's bloodstream, causing severe withdrawal. Valley then gives the weakened Bane a vicious beating, leaving him alive but broken.[3][2]
[edit]Legacy
Following the events of "Knightfall", Bane recovers from his Venom addiction while serving time in prison, as seen in Vengeance of Bane II: The Redemption (1995). He eventually escapes from prison and returns to Gotham, where he fights alongside Batman to take out a criminal ring that is distributing a Venom derivative to street-level thugs. Following a victory over the criminals, Bane proclaims that he is "innocent" of his past crimes and urges Batman to stop hunting him. He then leaves Gotham (without fighting Batman) to begin a search for his father.[9]
Bane's search brings him back to Santa Prisca (shown in the Bane of the Demon miniseries published in 1998).[10] In search of leads, Bane questions the Jesuit priest who had taught him while he was in Pe?a Duro. The priest explains that there were four men who could possibly have been his father: a Santa Priscan revolutionary, an American doctor, an English mercenary, and a Swiss banker. While searching for the Swiss in Rome, Bane encounters Ra's al Ghul's daughter Talia. Talia introduces Bane to her father, and eventually Bane impresses Ra's so much that he chooses Bane as his heir (an "honor" he had previously imparted on Batman).[10]
Ra's al Ghul and Bane then launch a plague attack on Gotham in the "Legacy" storyline. Bruce Wayne, again costumed as Batman, gets his rematch with Bane in Detective Comics #701 (September 1996) and finally defeats him in single combat.[11]
Following the "Legacy" storyline, Bane appears in a one-shot publication called Batman: Bane (1997) and fights Azrael in the "Angel and the Bane" storyline in "Azrael" #36-40 (December 1997 - April 1998).[12] He then surfaces in the story arc "No Man's Land", serving as an enforcer for Lex Luthor. Following a fallout with Ra's al Ghul, Bane later embarks on a campaign to destroy Lazarus Pits around the world, and in the process, encounters Black Canary in Birds of Prey #26 (February 2001).[13]
[edit]Veritas Liberat
According to the Jesuit priest that Bane speaks with in "Bane of the Demon" #1, there is a possibility that Bane's biological father is an American doctor.[10] In researching this issue, Bane comes to the conclusion that he and Batman share Dr. Thomas Wayne as their biological father, with Dr. Wayne having apparently become close to Bane's mother during his time in Santa Prisca. Bane alerts Batman to this possibility, and during the time that the DNA tests are being performed, stays at Wayne Manor and fights alongside Batman on the streets of Gotham in the "Tabula Rasa" storyline (Gotham Knights #33-36, November 2002 - February 2003). Ultimately, it is revealed that Dr. Wayne is not Bane's father, and Bane leaves Gotham peacefully (and with Batman's blessing and financial backing) to pursue leads in the snowy mountains of Kangchenjunga.[14][15][16][17]
Bane eventually finds his father, the unscrupulous King Snake, in the "Veritas Liberat" storyline (Gotham Knights #47-49, January - March 2004). Bane, with Batman looking on, helps foil King Snake's plans to unleash a powerful weapon upon the world. Bane saves Batman from being shot by King Snake, but is mortally wounded in the process. Batman then saves Bane by bathing him in a Lazarus Pit, and leaves him with a clean slate and a new opportunity at life.[18][19][20]
[edit]Infinite Crisis & One Year Later
In Infinite Crisis #7, Bane is shown fighting alongside the villains during the Battle of Metropolis. During the battle, he breaks the back of the hero Judomaster, killing him. No reason was given for his actions in #7, though in Infinite Crisis's collected edition, one of the many changes made to the original series was Bane saying "I finally know who I am. I am Bane. I break people." while breaking Judomaster's back.[21]
Bane resurfaces in the One Year Later continuity in JSA Classified #17-18 searching for the Hourmen (Rex and Rick Tyler), asking them for help. To win their trust, he tells them how, prior to the Battle of Metropolis, he returned to his homeland to put an end to the drug lords' government, in the process discovering that a new, more addicting strain of Venom had been created. In his furious carelessness to wipe out the drug trade, he was captured, and reimplanted with the cranial tubes, hooked to the new Venom, but now unable to shake off his addiction without dying from the withdrawal. Bane was forced to work as an enforcer for the drug cartel, unable to escape. Believing that Bane sought Rex Tyler's expertise in chemistry, Rick lets him approach his father, only to discover that the story is a ruse. Bane, who had never truly been addicted to Venom, had in fact wiped out the drug lords, and destroyed every research note on Venom. He discovered in the process both strains of Venom derived from Rex Tyler's early research on Miraclo. He discovers from the Tylers that no written notes exist of Rex's work, captures Rex, and steals Rick's equipment, planning to kill Rex and force Rick to take the last of the new Venom, living forever as an addict. Rick and Rex eventually subdue Bane, burying the mercenary in the rubble of the very same Santa Priscan penitentiary where his story began.[22]
Eventually Bane resurfaces in Santa Prisca, leading the country to democratic elections. Upon discovering that the elections were rigged by Computron, he uses his influence to enforce martial law, plunging the country into a civil war. Computron offers information to Checkmate on who ordered him to rig the elections in exchange for their help in escaping the country. Fire and Judomaster's son, Thomas Jagger, are sent on the mission, with Jagger debating whether or not to seek revenge for his father's murder. He fights Bane in order to allow Fire to escape, defeating him easily, but chooses not to kill him.[23]
As appearing in Outsiders #50, Bane has joined the Suicide Squad. He appears once more to be wearing the tubing system to apply Venom- whether he has returned to the drug is unknown.[24]
In Salvation Run #2, Bane was tricked by his fellow squad members, and sent to the prison planet.[25] In Salvation Run #3 Bane remains with Lex Luthor's faction after Joker's faction rebels against Luthor's leadership. He recently attacked Thunder and Lightning when they were attempting to feed Martian Manhunter.[26]
[edit]Powers and abilities
Bane is highly intelligent; in "Bane of the Demon", Ra's al Ghul says that Bane "has a mind equal to the greatest he has known".[10] In prison, he teaches himself various scientific disciplines equal to the level of understanding of leading experts in those fields.[3] He teaches himself six active languages and at least two additional arcane and dead ones, those mentioned are Spanish, English, Urdu, Farsi, and Latin.[10] The "Bane of the Demon" storyline reveals that he has a photographic memory. Within one year, he is able to deduce Batman's secret identity.[10] He is also highly devious (he crafts the escape from Arkham Asylum of all of Batman's enemies), and a superb strategist and tactician.
Bane possesses Olympic-level strength that appears to be greater than Batman's. During the Knightfall storyline, when he uses the "Venom" drug, his strength level is artificially increased to superhuman levels. Even without Venom, his physiology appears superior to other normal human characters with strength such as Batman.[3]
In prison, Bane also invents his own form of calisthenics, meditation, and a unique fighting style.[10]Overview
Originally intended as a "dark mirror" of the highly disciplined and multi-skilled pulp hero Doc Savage,[1] Bane spends his childhood in a hellish prison on the corrupt island nation of Santa Prisca.[2] He develops superhuman strength through a forced experiment involving the drug Venom.[3] Although his dependency on Venom is an immense weakness, Bane has been one of Batman's most intelligent and physically powerful foes. He is best known for breaking Batman's back in the "Knightfall" story arc.[3]
Although primarily a villain, Bane is a complex character and has worked to take down drug lords. Despite their history, he has sometimes had Batman's financial backing and direct assistance.[3]
Bane has appeared in some other media adaptations of Batman, including Batman: The Animated Series and its sequels and spin-offs and its successor, The Batman.[4][5][6] Pro-wrestler Jeep Swenson played him in the 1997 film Batman & Robin.[7] In most of these adaptations, he is more simplistic and thug-like than his comic book counterpart.[8]
[edit]Publication history
Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench, and Graham Nolan created the character for the Knightfall storyline, although it is unclear what elements were introduced by each of the two writers (Dixon and Moench). Dixon wrote the character's first appearance (Vengeance of Bane),[2] with art by Graham Nolan. It is also unclear how much input was provided by Denny O'Neil (veteran writer of the Batman books, then Group Editor for the Batman family of books, and author of the novel adaptation of Knightfall).[1][2] O'Neil had previously created Bane's hellish birthplace of Santa Prisca in The Question and the drug Venom in the storyline of the same name (published in the pages of Legends of the Dark Knight #16-20, and later reprinted as a graphic novel).[1][2] In the pages of Azrael, O'Neil introduced Bane's perception of Venom as both an addiction and the weakness responsible for his earlier defeats. The link between Bane and King Snake was introduced by writer Scott Beatty.[3]
[edit]Fictional character biography
[edit]Background
The origin of Bane has similarities with another fictional character, Alexandre Dumas' Edmond Dant?s. Born to serve the life sentence of his father, Bane's childhood and early adult life are spent behind the walls of Pe?a Duro, an infamous prison located in Santa Prisca.[3][2] Though imprisoned, his natural abilities allow him to develop extraordinary skills within the prison's walls. He reads as many books as he can get his hands on, builds up his body in the prison's gym, and learns to fight in the merciless school of prison life. Despite his circumstances, he appears to have found teachers of various sorts during his incarceration, ranging from hardened convicts to an elderly Jesuit priest, under whose tutelage he apparently receives a classical education. Bane murders this priest upon his return to Santa Prisca years later. However, he commits his first murder at the age of eight, stabbing a criminal who wanted to use him to gain information about the prison.[3]
During his years in prison, Bane carries a teddy bear he calls Osito (Spanish for "little bear"), whom he considers his only friend. It is revealed that Osito has a hole in his back to hold a knife that Bane uses against anyone who bullies him.[3][2]
Bane ultimately establishes himself as the "king" of Pe?a Duro prison. The prison's controllers take note and, eventually, force him to become a test subject for a mysterious drug known as Venom, which had killed all other subjects. It nearly kills him at first, but he survives and finds its effects enhance his physical strength, although he needs to take it every 12 hours (via a system of cables pumped directly into his brain) or he would suffer debilitating side-effects.[3][2]
[edit]The Man who broke the Bat
Bane breaks Batman's back in a splash page from Batman #497 (July 1993). Art by Jim Aparo.
Years later, Bane escapes Pe?a Duro, along with several accomplices based on the Fabulous Five (his friends Trogg, Zombie, and Bird, all of whom are named after 1960s rock bands: The Troggs, The Zombies, and The Byrds, and were designed to mimic three of Doc Savage's assistants Monk, Ham, and Renny).[3][2] His ambition turns to destroying Batman, whom he had heard tales of while serving his sentence. He is fascinated with Gotham City as, like the prison, it is a place where fear ruled: in this case, fear of Batman. Bane is convinced that the demonic bat that haunted his dreams since childhood is a representation of the Batman.[3][2]
Aware that a direct assault on Batman would be foolish, Bane destroys the walls of Arkham Asylum, allowing its deranged inmates (including the Joker, the Scarecrow, the Mad Hatter, The Ventriloquist, Firefly, Cavalier, and Zsasz) to escape into Gotham City, where Batman spends three months rounding them up. Running himself to exhaustion, Batman returns to Wayne Manor, where Bane awaits him. He fights Batman in the Batcave, defeats him, and delivers the coup de gr?ce: he breaks Batman's back and leaves him paraplegic, thereby having been the only man to have "Broken the Bat".[3][2]
[edit]Downfall
While Bane establishes himself as ruler of Gotham's criminal underworld, Bruce Wayne passes the mantle of Batman to Jean-Paul Valley, also known as Azrael. As Batman, Jean-Paul grows increasingly violent, allowing the villain Abattoir to fall to his death. Jean-Paul also refuses to recognize Robin as his partner. Utilizing a sophisticated combat suit in place of the traditional Batman uniform, he fights and defeats Bane at the end of the "Knightfall" arc, severing the tubes that pump the Venom into Bane's bloodstream, causing severe withdrawal. Valley then gives the weakened Bane a vicious beating, leaving him alive but broken.[3][2]
[edit]Legacy
Following the events of "Knightfall", Bane recovers from his Venom addiction while serving time in prison, as seen in Vengeance of Bane II: The Redemption (1995). He eventually escapes from prison and returns to Gotham, where he fights alongside Batman to take out a criminal ring that is distributing a Venom derivative to street-level thugs. Following a victory over the criminals, Bane proclaims that he is "innocent" of his past crimes and urges Batman to stop hunting him. He then leaves Gotham (without fighting Batman) to begin a search for his father.[9]
Bane's search brings him back to Santa Prisca (shown in the Bane of the Demon miniseries published in 1998).[10] In search of leads, Bane questions the Jesuit priest who had taught him while he was in Pe?a Duro. The priest explains that there were four men who could possibly have been his father: a Santa Priscan revolutionary, an American doctor, an English mercenary, and a Swiss banker. While searching for the Swiss in Rome, Bane encounters Ra's al Ghul's daughter Talia. Talia introduces Bane to her father, and eventually Bane impresses Ra's so much that he chooses Bane as his heir (an "honor" he had previously imparted on Batman).[10]
Ra's al Ghul and Bane then launch a plague attack on Gotham in the "Legacy" storyline. Bruce Wayne, again costumed as Batman, gets his rematch with Bane in Detective Comics #701 (September 1996) and finally defeats him in single combat.[11]
Following the "Legacy" storyline, Bane appears in a one-shot publication called Batman: Bane (1997) and fights Azrael in the "Angel and the Bane" storyline in "Azrael" #36-40 (December 1997 - April 1998).[12] He then surfaces in the story arc "No Man's Land", serving as an enforcer for Lex Luthor. Following a fallout with Ra's al Ghul, Bane later embarks on a campaign to destroy Lazarus Pits around the world, and in the process, encounters Black Canary in Birds of Prey #26 (February 2001).[13]
[edit]Veritas Liberat
According to the Jesuit priest that Bane speaks with in "Bane of the Demon" #1, there is a possibility that Bane's biological father is an American doctor.[10] In researching this issue, Bane comes to the conclusion that he and Batman share Dr. Thomas Wayne as their biological father, with Dr. Wayne having apparently become close to Bane's mother during his time in Santa Prisca. Bane alerts Batman to this possibility, and during the time that the DNA tests are being performed, stays at Wayne Manor and fights alongside Batman on the streets of Gotham in the "Tabula Rasa" storyline (Gotham Knights #33-36, November 2002 - February 2003). Ultimately, it is revealed that Dr. Wayne is not Bane's father, and Bane leaves Gotham peacefully (and with Batman's blessing and financial backing) to pursue leads in the snowy mountains of Kangchenjunga.[14][15][16][17]
Bane eventually finds his father, the unscrupulous King Snake, in the "Veritas Liberat" storyline (Gotham Knights #47-49, January - March 2004). Bane, with Batman looking on, helps foil King Snake's plans to unleash a powerful weapon upon the world. Bane saves Batman from being shot by King Snake, but is mortally wounded in the process. Batman then saves Bane by bathing him in a Lazarus Pit, and leaves him with a clean slate and a new opportunity at life.[18][19][20]
[edit]Infinite Crisis & One Year Later
In Infinite Crisis #7, Bane is shown fighting alongside the villains during the Battle of Metropolis. During the battle, he breaks the back of the hero Judomaster, killing him. No reason was given for his actions in #7, though in Infinite Crisis's collected edition, one of the many changes made to the original series was Bane saying "I finally know who I am. I am Bane. I break people." while breaking Judomaster's back.[21]
Bane resurfaces in the One Year Later continuity in JSA Classified #17-18 searching for the Hourmen (Rex and Rick Tyler), asking them for help. To win their trust, he tells them how, prior to the Battle of Metropolis, he returned to his homeland to put an end to the drug lords' government, in the process discovering that a new, more addicting strain of Venom had been created. In his furious carelessness to wipe out the drug trade, he was captured, and reimplanted with the cranial tubes, hooked to the new Venom, but now unable to shake off his addiction without dying from the withdrawal. Bane was forced to work as an enforcer for the drug cartel, unable to escape. Believing that Bane sought Rex Tyler's expertise in chemistry, Rick lets him approach his father, only to discover that the story is a ruse. Bane, who had never truly been addicted to Venom, had in fact wiped out the drug lords, and destroyed every research note on Venom. He discovered in the process both strains of Venom derived from Rex Tyler's early research on Miraclo. He discovers from the Tylers that no written notes exist of Rex's work, captures Rex, and steals Rick's equipment, planning to kill Rex and force Rick to take the last of the new Venom, living forever as an addict. Rick and Rex eventually subdue Bane, burying the mercenary in the rubble of the very same Santa Priscan penitentiary where his story began.[22]
Eventually Bane resurfaces in Santa Prisca, leading the country to democratic elections. Upon discovering that the elections were rigged by Computron, he uses his influence to enforce martial law, plunging the country into a civil war. Computron offers information to Checkmate on who ordered him to rig the elections in exchange for their help in escaping the country. Fire and Judomaster's son, Thomas Jagger, are sent on the mission, with Jagger debating whether or not to seek revenge for his father's murder. He fights Bane in order to allow Fire to escape, defeating him easily, but chooses not to kill him.[23]
As appearing in Outsiders #50, Bane has joined the Suicide Squad. He appears once more to be wearing the tubing system to apply Venom- whether he has returned to the drug is unknown.[24]
In Salvation Run #2, Bane was tricked by his fellow squad members, and sent to the prison planet.[25] In Salvation Run #3 Bane remains with Lex Luthor's faction after Joker's faction rebels against Luthor's leadership. He recently attacked Thunder and Lightning when they were attempting to feed Martian Manhunter.[26]
[edit]Powers and abilities
Bane is highly intelligent; in "Bane of the Demon", Ra's al Ghul says that Bane "has a mind equal to the greatest he has known".[10] In prison, he teaches himself various scientific disciplines equal to the level of understanding of leading experts in those fields.[3] He teaches himself six active languages and at least two additional arcane and dead ones, those mentioned are Spanish, English, Urdu, Farsi, and Latin.[10] The "Bane of the Demon" storyline reveals that he has a photographic memory. Within one year, he is able to deduce Batman's secret identity.[10] He is also highly devious (he crafts the escape from Arkham Asylum of all of Batman's enemies), and a superb strategist and tactician.
Bane possesses Olympic-level strength that appears to be greater than Batman's. During the Knightfall storyline, when he uses the "Venom" drug, his strength level is artificially increased to superhuman levels. Even without Venom, his physiology appears superior to other normal human characters with strength such as Batman.[3]
In prison, Bane also invents his own form of calisthenics, meditation, and a unique fighting style.[10]
BANE Overview
Originally intended as a "dark mirror" of the highly disciplined and multi-skilled pulp hero Doc Savage,[1] Bane spends his childhood in a hellish prison on the corrupt island nation of Santa Prisca.[2] He develops superhuman strength through a forced experiment involving the drug Venom.[3] Although his dependency on Venom is an immense weakness, Bane has been one of Batman's most intelligent and physically powerful foes. He is best known for breaking Batman's back in the "Knightfall" story arc.[3]
Although primarily a villain, Bane is a complex character and has worked to take down drug lords. Despite their history, he has sometimes had Batman's financial backing and direct assistance.[3]
Bane has appeared in some other media adaptations of Batman, including Batman: The Animated Series and its sequels and spin-offs and its successor, The Batman.[4][5][6] Pro-wrestler Jeep Swenson played him in the 1997 film Batman & Robin.[7] In most of these adaptations, he is more simplistic and thug-like than his comic book counterpart.[8]
[edit]Publication history
Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench, and Graham Nolan created the character for the Knightfall storyline, although it is unclear what elements were introduced by each of the two writers (Dixon and Moench). Dixon wrote the character's first appearance (Vengeance of Bane),[2] with art by Graham Nolan. It is also unclear how much input was provided by Denny O'Neil (veteran writer of the Batman books, then Group Editor for the Batman family of books, and author of the novel adaptation of Knightfall).[1][2] O'Neil had previously created Bane's hellish birthplace of Santa Prisca in The Question and the drug Venom in the storyline of the same name (published in the pages of Legends of the Dark Knight #16-20, and later reprinted as a graphic novel).[1][2] In the pages of Azrael, O'Neil introduced Bane's perception of Venom as both an addiction and the weakness responsible for his earlier defeats. The link between Bane and King Snake was introduced by writer Scott Beatty.[3]
[edit]Fictional character biography
[edit]Background
The origin of Bane has similarities with another fictional character, Alexandre Dumas' Edmond Dant?s. Born to serve the life sentence of his father, Bane's childhood and early adult life are spent behind the walls of Pe?a Duro, an infamous prison located in Santa Prisca.[3][2] Though imprisoned, his natural abilities allow him to develop extraordinary skills within the prison's walls. He reads as many books as he can get his hands on, builds up his body in the prison's gym, and learns to fight in the merciless school of prison life. Despite his circumstances, he appears to have found teachers of various sorts during his incarceration, ranging from hardened convicts to an elderly Jesuit priest, under whose tutelage he apparently receives a classical education. Bane murders this priest upon his return to Santa Prisca years later. However, he commits his first murder at the age of eight, stabbing a criminal who wanted to use him to gain information about the prison.[3]
During his years in prison, Bane carries a teddy bear he calls Osito (Spanish for "little bear"), whom he considers his only friend. It is revealed that Osito has a hole in his back to hold a knife that Bane uses against anyone who bullies him.[3][2]
Bane ultimately establishes himself as the "king" of Pe?a Duro prison. The prison's controllers take note and, eventually, force him to become a test subject for a mysterious drug known as Venom, which had killed all other subjects. It nearly kills him at first, but he survives and finds its effects enhance his physical strength, although he needs to take it every 12 hours (via a system of cables pumped directly into his brain) or he would suffer debilitating side-effects.[3][2]
[edit]The Man who broke the Bat
Bane breaks Batman's back in a splash page from Batman #497 (July 1993). Art by Jim Aparo.
Years later, Bane escapes Pe?a Duro, along with several accomplices based on the Fabulous Five (his friends Trogg, Zombie, and Bird, all of whom are named after 1960s rock bands: The Troggs, The Zombies, and The Byrds, and were designed to mimic three of Doc Savage's assistants Monk, Ham, and Renny).[3][2] His ambition turns to destroying Batman, whom he had heard tales of while serving his sentence. He is fascinated with Gotham City as, like the prison, it is a place where fear ruled: in this case, fear of Batman. Bane is convinced that the demonic bat that haunted his dreams since childhood is a representation of the Batman.[3][2]
Aware that a direct assault on Batman would be foolish, Bane destroys the walls of Arkham Asylum, allowing its deranged inmates (including the Joker, the Scarecrow, the Mad Hatter, The Ventriloquist, Firefly, Cavalier, and Zsasz) to escape into Gotham City, where Batman spends three months rounding them up. Running himself to exhaustion, Batman returns to Wayne Manor, where Bane awaits him. He fights Batman in the Batcave, defeats him, and delivers the coup de gr?ce: he breaks Batman's back and leaves him paraplegic, thereby having been the only man to have "Broken the Bat".[3][2]
[edit]Downfall
While Bane establishes himself as ruler of Gotham's criminal underworld, Bruce Wayne passes the mantle of Batman to Jean-Paul Valley, also known as Azrael. As Batman, Jean-Paul grows increasingly violent, allowing the villain Abattoir to fall to his death. Jean-Paul also refuses to recognize Robin as his partner. Utilizing a sophisticated combat suit in place of the traditional Batman uniform, he fights and defeats Bane at the end of the "Knightfall" arc, severing the tubes that pump the Venom into Bane's bloodstream, causing severe withdrawal. Valley then gives the weakened Bane a vicious beating, leaving him alive but broken.[3][2]
[edit]Legacy
Following the events of "Knightfall", Bane recovers from his Venom addiction while serving time in prison, as seen in Vengeance of Bane II: The Redemption (1995). He eventually escapes from prison and returns to Gotham, where he fights alongside Batman to take out a criminal ring that is distributing a Venom derivative to street-level thugs. Following a victory over the criminals, Bane proclaims that he is "innocent" of his past crimes and urges Batman to stop hunting him. He then leaves Gotham (without fighting Batman) to begin a search for his father.[9]
Bane's search brings him back to Santa Prisca (shown in the Bane of the Demon miniseries published in 1998).[10] In search of leads, Bane questions the Jesuit priest who had taught him while he was in Pe?a Duro. The priest explains that there were four men who could possibly have been his father: a Santa Priscan revolutionary, an American doctor, an English mercenary, and a Swiss banker. While searching for the Swiss in Rome, Bane encounters Ra's al Ghul's daughter Talia. Talia introduces Bane to her father, and eventually Bane impresses Ra's so much that he chooses Bane as his heir (an "honor" he had previously imparted on Batman).[10]
Ra's al Ghul and Bane then launch a plague attack on Gotham in the "Legacy" storyline. Bruce Wayne, again costumed as Batman, gets his rematch with Bane in Detective Comics #701 (September 1996) and finally defeats him in single combat.[11]
Following the "Legacy" storyline, Bane appears in a one-shot publication called Batman: Bane (1997) and fights Azrael in the "Angel and the Bane" storyline in "Azrael" #36-40 (December 1997 - April 1998).[12] He then surfaces in the story arc "No Man's Land", serving as an enforcer for Lex Luthor. Following a fallout with Ra's al Ghul, Bane later embarks on a campaign to destroy Lazarus Pits around the world, and in the process, encounters Black Canary in Birds of Prey #26 (February 2001).[13]
[edit]Veritas Liberat
According to the Jesuit priest that Bane speaks with in "Bane of the Demon" #1, there is a possibility that Bane's biological father is an American doctor.[10] In researching this issue, Bane comes to the conclusion that he and Batman share Dr. Thomas Wayne as their biological father, with Dr. Wayne having apparently become close to Bane's mother during his time in Santa Prisca. Bane alerts Batman to this possibility, and during the time that the DNA tests are being performed, stays at Wayne Manor and fights alongside Batman on the streets of Gotham in the "Tabula Rasa" storyline (Gotham Knights #33-36, November 2002 - February 2003). Ultimately, it is revealed that Dr. Wayne is not Bane's father, and Bane leaves Gotham peacefully (and with Batman's blessing and financial backing) to pursue leads in the snowy mountains of Kangchenjunga.[14][15][16][17]
Bane eventually finds his father, the unscrupulous King Snake, in the "Veritas Liberat" storyline (Gotham Knights #47-49, January - March 2004). Bane, with Batman looking on, helps foil King Snake's plans to unleash a powerful weapon upon the world. Bane saves Batman from being shot by King Snake, but is mortally wounded in the process. Batman then saves Bane by bathing him in a Lazarus Pit, and leaves him with a clean slate and a new opportunity at life.[18][19][20]
[edit]Infinite Crisis & One Year Later
In Infinite Crisis #7, Bane is shown fighting alongside the villains during the Battle of Metropolis. During the battle, he breaks the back of the hero Judomaster, killing him. No reason was given for his actions in #7, though in Infinite Crisis's collected edition, one of the many changes made to the original series was Bane saying "I finally know who I am. I am Bane. I break people." while breaking Judomaster's back.[21]
Bane resurfaces in the One Year Later continuity in JSA Classified #17-18 searching for the Hourmen (Rex and Rick Tyler), asking them for help. To win their trust, he tells them how, prior to the Battle of Metropolis, he returned to his homeland to put an end to the drug lords' government, in the process discovering that a new, more addicting strain of Venom had been created. In his furious carelessness to wipe out the drug trade, he was captured, and reimplanted with the cranial tubes, hooked to the new Venom, but now unable to shake off his addiction without dying from the withdrawal. Bane was forced to work as an enforcer for the drug cartel, unable to escape. Believing that Bane sought Rex Tyler's expertise in chemistry, Rick lets him approach his father, only to discover that the story is a ruse. Bane, who had never truly been addicted to Venom, had in fact wiped out the drug lords, and destroyed every research note on Venom. He discovered in the process both strains of Venom derived from Rex Tyler's early research on Miraclo. He discovers from the Tylers that no written notes exist of Rex's work, captures Rex, and steals Rick's equipment, planning to kill Rex and force Rick to take the last of the new Venom, living forever as an addict. Rick and Rex eventually subdue Bane, burying the mercenary in the rubble of the very same Santa Priscan penitentiary where his story began.[22]
Eventually Bane resurfaces in Santa Prisca, leading the country to democratic elections. Upon discovering that the elections were rigged by Computron, he uses his influence to enforce martial law, plunging the country into a civil war. Computron offers information to Checkmate on who ordered him to rig the elections in exchange for their help in escaping the country. Fire and Judomaster's son, Thomas Jagger, are sent on the mission, with Jagger debating whether or not to seek revenge for his father's murder. He fights Bane in order to allow Fire to escape, defeating him easily, but chooses not to kill him.[23]
As appearing in Outsiders #50, Bane has joined the Suicide Squad. He appears once more to be wearing the tubing system to apply Venom- whether he has returned to the drug is unknown.[24]
In Salvation Run #2, Bane was tricked by his fellow squad members, and sent to the prison planet.[25] In Salvation Run #3 Bane remains with Lex Luthor's faction after Joker's faction rebels against Luthor's leadership. He recently attacked Thunder and Lightning when they were attempting to feed Martian Manhunter.[26]
[edit]Powers and abilities
Bane is highly intelligent; in "Bane of the Demon", Ra's al Ghul says that Bane "has a mind equal to the greatest he has known".[10] In prison, he teaches himself various scientific disciplines equal to the level of understanding of leading experts in those fields.[3] He teaches himself six active languages and at least two additional arcane and dead ones, those mentioned are Spanish, English, Urdu, Farsi, and Latin.[10] The "Bane of the Demon" storyline reveals that he has a photographic memory. Within one year, he is able to deduce Batman's secret identity.[10] He is also highly devious (he crafts the escape from Arkham Asylum of all of Batman's enemies), and a superb strategist and tactician.
Bane possesses Olympic-level strength that appears to be greater than Batman's. During the Knightfall storyline, when he uses the "Venom" drug, his strength level is artificially increased to superhuman levels. Even without Venom, his physiology appears superior to other normal human characters with strength such as Batman.[3]
In prison, Bane also invents his own form of calisthenics, meditation, and a unique fighting style.[10]Overview
Originally intended as a "dark mirror" of the highly disciplined and multi-skilled pulp hero Doc Savage,[1] Bane spends his childhood in a hellish prison on the corrupt island nation of Santa Prisca.[2] He develops superhuman strength through a forced experiment involving the drug Venom.[3] Although his dependency on Venom is an immense weakness, Bane has been one of Batman's most intelligent and physically powerful foes. He is best known for breaking Batman's back in the "Knightfall" story arc.[3]
Although primarily a villain, Bane is a complex character and has worked to take down drug lords. Despite their history, he has sometimes had Batman's financial backing and direct assistance.[3]
Bane has appeared in some other media adaptations of Batman, including Batman: The Animated Series and its sequels and spin-offs and its successor, The Batman.[4][5][6] Pro-wrestler Jeep Swenson played him in the 1997 film Batman & Robin.[7] In most of these adaptations, he is more simplistic and thug-like than his comic book counterpart.[8]
[edit]Publication history
Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench, and Graham Nolan created the character for the Knightfall storyline, although it is unclear what elements were introduced by each of the two writers (Dixon and Moench). Dixon wrote the character's first appearance (Vengeance of Bane),[2] with art by Graham Nolan. It is also unclear how much input was provided by Denny O'Neil (veteran writer of the Batman books, then Group Editor for the Batman family of books, and author of the novel adaptation of Knightfall).[1][2] O'Neil had previously created Bane's hellish birthplace of Santa Prisca in The Question and the drug Venom in the storyline of the same name (published in the pages of Legends of the Dark Knight #16-20, and later reprinted as a graphic novel).[1][2] In the pages of Azrael, O'Neil introduced Bane's perception of Venom as both an addiction and the weakness responsible for his earlier defeats. The link between Bane and King Snake was introduced by writer Scott Beatty.[3]
[edit]Fictional character biography
[edit]Background
The origin of Bane has similarities with another fictional character, Alexandre Dumas' Edmond Dant?s. Born to serve the life sentence of his father, Bane's childhood and early adult life are spent behind the walls of Pe?a Duro, an infamous prison located in Santa Prisca.[3][2] Though imprisoned, his natural abilities allow him to develop extraordinary skills within the prison's walls. He reads as many books as he can get his hands on, builds up his body in the prison's gym, and learns to fight in the merciless school of prison life. Despite his circumstances, he appears to have found teachers of various sorts during his incarceration, ranging from hardened convicts to an elderly Jesuit priest, under whose tutelage he apparently receives a classical education. Bane murders this priest upon his return to Santa Prisca years later. However, he commits his first murder at the age of eight, stabbing a criminal who wanted to use him to gain information about the prison.[3]
During his years in prison, Bane carries a teddy bear he calls Osito (Spanish for "little bear"), whom he considers his only friend. It is revealed that Osito has a hole in his back to hold a knife that Bane uses against anyone who bullies him.[3][2]
Bane ultimately establishes himself as the "king" of Pe?a Duro prison. The prison's controllers take note and, eventually, force him to become a test subject for a mysterious drug known as Venom, which had killed all other subjects. It nearly kills him at first, but he survives and finds its effects enhance his physical strength, although he needs to take it every 12 hours (via a system of cables pumped directly into his brain) or he would suffer debilitating side-effects.[3][2]
[edit]The Man who broke the Bat
Bane breaks Batman's back in a splash page from Batman #497 (July 1993). Art by Jim Aparo.
Years later, Bane escapes Pe?a Duro, along with several accomplices based on the Fabulous Five (his friends Trogg, Zombie, and Bird, all of whom are named after 1960s rock bands: The Troggs, The Zombies, and The Byrds, and were designed to mimic three of Doc Savage's assistants Monk, Ham, and Renny).[3][2] His ambition turns to destroying Batman, whom he had heard tales of while serving his sentence. He is fascinated with Gotham City as, like the prison, it is a place where fear ruled: in this case, fear of Batman. Bane is convinced that the demonic bat that haunted his dreams since childhood is a representation of the Batman.[3][2]
Aware that a direct assault on Batman would be foolish, Bane destroys the walls of Arkham Asylum, allowing its deranged inmates (including the Joker, the Scarecrow, the Mad Hatter, The Ventriloquist, Firefly, Cavalier, and Zsasz) to escape into Gotham City, where Batman spends three months rounding them up. Running himself to exhaustion, Batman returns to Wayne Manor, where Bane awaits him. He fights Batman in the Batcave, defeats him, and delivers the coup de gr?ce: he breaks Batman's back and leaves him paraplegic, thereby having been the only man to have "Broken the Bat".[3][2]
[edit]Downfall
While Bane establishes himself as ruler of Gotham's criminal underworld, Bruce Wayne passes the mantle of Batman to Jean-Paul Valley, also known as Azrael. As Batman, Jean-Paul grows increasingly violent, allowing the villain Abattoir to fall to his death. Jean-Paul also refuses to recognize Robin as his partner. Utilizing a sophisticated combat suit in place of the traditional Batman uniform, he fights and defeats Bane at the end of the "Knightfall" arc, severing the tubes that pump the Venom into Bane's bloodstream, causing severe withdrawal. Valley then gives the weakened Bane a vicious beating, leaving him alive but broken.[3][2]
[edit]Legacy
Following the events of "Knightfall", Bane recovers from his Venom addiction while serving time in prison, as seen in Vengeance of Bane II: The Redemption (1995). He eventually escapes from prison and returns to Gotham, where he fights alongside Batman to take out a criminal ring that is distributing a Venom derivative to street-level thugs. Following a victory over the criminals, Bane proclaims that he is "innocent" of his past crimes and urges Batman to stop hunting him. He then leaves Gotham (without fighting Batman) to begin a search for his father.[9]
Bane's search brings him back to Santa Prisca (shown in the Bane of the Demon miniseries published in 1998).[10] In search of leads, Bane questions the Jesuit priest who had taught him while he was in Pe?a Duro. The priest explains that there were four men who could possibly have been his father: a Santa Priscan revolutionary, an American doctor, an English mercenary, and a Swiss banker. While searching for the Swiss in Rome, Bane encounters Ra's al Ghul's daughter Talia. Talia introduces Bane to her father, and eventually Bane impresses Ra's so much that he chooses Bane as his heir (an "honor" he had previously imparted on Batman).[10]
Ra's al Ghul and Bane then launch a plague attack on Gotham in the "Legacy" storyline. Bruce Wayne, again costumed as Batman, gets his rematch with Bane in Detective Comics #701 (September 1996) and finally defeats him in single combat.[11]
Following the "Legacy" storyline, Bane appears in a one-shot publication called Batman: Bane (1997) and fights Azrael in the "Angel and the Bane" storyline in "Azrael" #36-40 (December 1997 - April 1998).[12] He then surfaces in the story arc "No Man's Land", serving as an enforcer for Lex Luthor. Following a fallout with Ra's al Ghul, Bane later embarks on a campaign to destroy Lazarus Pits around the world, and in the process, encounters Black Canary in Birds of Prey #26 (February 2001).[13]
[edit]Veritas Liberat
According to the Jesuit priest that Bane speaks with in "Bane of the Demon" #1, there is a possibility that Bane's biological father is an American doctor.[10] In researching this issue, Bane comes to the conclusion that he and Batman share Dr. Thomas Wayne as their biological father, with Dr. Wayne having apparently become close to Bane's mother during his time in Santa Prisca. Bane alerts Batman to this possibility, and during the time that the DNA tests are being performed, stays at Wayne Manor and fights alongside Batman on the streets of Gotham in the "Tabula Rasa" storyline (Gotham Knights #33-36, November 2002 - February 2003). Ultimately, it is revealed that Dr. Wayne is not Bane's father, and Bane leaves Gotham peacefully (and with Batman's blessing and financial backing) to pursue leads in the snowy mountains of Kangchenjunga.[14][15][16][17]
Bane eventually finds his father, the unscrupulous King Snake, in the "Veritas Liberat" storyline (Gotham Knights #47-49, January - March 2004). Bane, with Batman looking on, helps foil King Snake's plans to unleash a powerful weapon upon the world. Bane saves Batman from being shot by King Snake, but is mortally wounded in the process. Batman then saves Bane by bathing him in a Lazarus Pit, and leaves him with a clean slate and a new opportunity at life.[18][19][20]
[edit]Infinite Crisis & One Year Later
In Infinite Crisis #7, Bane is shown fighting alongside the villains during the Battle of Metropolis. During the battle, he breaks the back of the hero Judomaster, killing him. No reason was given for his actions in #7, though in Infinite Crisis's collected edition, one of the many changes made to the original series was Bane saying "I finally know who I am. I am Bane. I break people." while breaking Judomaster's back.[21]
Bane resurfaces in the One Year Later continuity in JSA Classified #17-18 searching for the Hourmen (Rex and Rick Tyler), asking them for help. To win their trust, he tells them how, prior to the Battle of Metropolis, he returned to his homeland to put an end to the drug lords' government, in the process discovering that a new, more addicting strain of Venom had been created. In his furious carelessness to wipe out the drug trade, he was captured, and reimplanted with the cranial tubes, hooked to the new Venom, but now unable to shake off his addiction without dying from the withdrawal. Bane was forced to work as an enforcer for the drug cartel, unable to escape. Believing that Bane sought Rex Tyler's expertise in chemistry, Rick lets him approach his father, only to discover that the story is a ruse. Bane, who had never truly been addicted to Venom, had in fact wiped out the drug lords, and destroyed every research note on Venom. He discovered in the process both strains of Venom derived from Rex Tyler's early research on Miraclo. He discovers from the Tylers that no written notes exist of Rex's work, captures Rex, and steals Rick's equipment, planning to kill Rex and force Rick to take the last of the new Venom, living forever as an addict. Rick and Rex eventually subdue Bane, burying the mercenary in the rubble of the very same Santa Priscan penitentiary where his story began.[22]
Eventually Bane resurfaces in Santa Prisca, leading the country to democratic elections. Upon discovering that the elections were rigged by Computron, he uses his influence to enforce martial law, plunging the country into a civil war. Computron offers information to Checkmate on who ordered him to rig the elections in exchange for their help in escaping the country. Fire and Judomaster's son, Thomas Jagger, are sent on the mission, with Jagger debating whether or not to seek revenge for his father's murder. He fights Bane in order to allow Fire to escape, defeating him easily, but chooses not to kill him.[23]
As appearing in Outsiders #50, Bane has joined the Suicide Squad. He appears once more to be wearing the tubing system to apply Venom- whether he has returned to the drug is unknown.[24]
In Salvation Run #2, Bane was tricked by his fellow squad members, and sent to the prison planet.[25] In Salvation Run #3 Bane remains with Lex Luthor's faction after Joker's faction rebels against Luthor's leadership. He recently attacked Thunder and Lightning when they were attempting to feed Martian Manhunter.[26]
[edit]Powers and abilities
Bane is highly intelligent; in "Bane of the Demon", Ra's al Ghul says that Bane "has a mind equal to the greatest he has known".[10] In prison, he teaches himself various scientific disciplines equal to the level of understanding of leading experts in those fields.[3] He teaches himself six active languages and at least two additional arcane and dead ones, those mentioned are Spanish, English, Urdu, Farsi, and Latin.[10] The "Bane of the Demon" storyline reveals that he has a photographic memory. Within one year, he is able to deduce Batman's secret identity.[10] He is also highly devious (he crafts the escape from Arkham Asylum of all of Batman's enemies), and a superb strategist and tactician.
Bane possesses Olympic-level strength that appears to be greater than Batman's. During the Knightfall storyline, when he uses the "Venom" drug, his strength level is artificially increased to superhuman levels. Even without Venom, his physiology appears superior to other normal human characters with strength such as Batman.[3]
In prison, Bane also invents his own form of calisthenics, meditation, and a unique fighting style.[10]Overview
Originally intended as a "dark mirror" of the highly disciplined and multi-skilled pulp hero Doc Savage,[1] Bane spends his childhood in a hellish prison on the corrupt island nation of Santa Prisca.[2] He develops superhuman strength through a forced experiment involving the drug Venom.[3] Although his dependency on Venom is an immense weakness, Bane has been one of Batman's most intelligent and physically powerful foes. He is best known for breaking Batman's back in the "Knightfall" story arc.[3]
Although primarily a villain, Bane is a complex character and has worked to take down drug lords. Despite their history, he has sometimes had Batman's financial backing and direct assistance.[3]
Bane has appeared in some other media adaptations of Batman, including Batman: The Animated Series and its sequels and spin-offs and its successor, The Batman.[4][5][6] Pro-wrestler Jeep Swenson played him in the 1997 film Batman & Robin.[7] In most of these adaptations, he is more simplistic and thug-like than his comic book counterpart.[8]
[edit]Publication history
Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench, and Graham Nolan created the character for the Knightfall storyline, although it is unclear what elements were introduced by each of the two writers (Dixon and Moench). Dixon wrote the character's first appearance (Vengeance of Bane),[2] with art by Graham Nolan. It is also unclear how much input was provided by Denny O'Neil (veteran writer of the Batman books, then Group Editor for the Batman family of books, and author of the novel adaptation of Knightfall).[1][2] O'Neil had previously created Bane's hellish birthplace of Santa Prisca in The Question and the drug Venom in the storyline of the same name (published in the pages of Legends of the Dark Knight #16-20, and later reprinted as a graphic novel).[1][2] In the pages of Azrael, O'Neil introduced Bane's perception of Venom as both an addiction and the weakness responsible for his earlier defeats. The link between Bane and King Snake was introduced by writer Scott Beatty.[3]
[edit]Fictional character biography
[edit]Background
The origin of Bane has similarities with another fictional character, Alexandre Dumas' Edmond Dant?s. Born to serve the life sentence of his father, Bane's childhood and early adult life are spent behind the walls of Pe?a Duro, an infamous prison located in Santa Prisca.[3][2] Though imprisoned, his natural abilities allow him to develop extraordinary skills within the prison's walls. He reads as many books as he can get his hands on, builds up his body in the prison's gym, and learns to fight in the merciless school of prison life. Despite his circumstances, he appears to have found teachers of various sorts during his incarceration, ranging from hardened convicts to an elderly Jesuit priest, under whose tutelage he apparently receives a classical education. Bane murders this priest upon his return to Santa Prisca years later. However, he commits his first murder at the age of eight, stabbing a criminal who wanted to use him to gain information about the prison.[3]
During his years in prison, Bane carries a teddy bear he calls Osito (Spanish for "little bear"), whom he considers his only friend. It is revealed that Osito has a hole in his back to hold a knife that Bane uses against anyone who bullies him.[3][2]
Bane ultimately establishes himself as the "king" of Pe?a Duro prison. The prison's controllers take note and, eventually, force him to become a test subject for a mysterious drug known as Venom, which had killed all other subjects. It nearly kills him at first, but he survives and finds its effects enhance his physical strength, although he needs to take it every 12 hours (via a system of cables pumped directly into his brain) or he would suffer debilitating side-effects.[3][2]
[edit]The Man who broke the Bat
Bane breaks Batman's back in a splash page from Batman #497 (July 1993). Art by Jim Aparo.
Years later, Bane escapes Pe?a Duro, along with several accomplices based on the Fabulous Five (his friends Trogg, Zombie, and Bird, all of whom are named after 1960s rock bands: The Troggs, The Zombies, and The Byrds, and were designed to mimic three of Doc Savage's assistants Monk, Ham, and Renny).[3][2] His ambition turns to destroying Batman, whom he had heard tales of while serving his sentence. He is fascinated with Gotham City as, like the prison, it is a place where fear ruled: in this case, fear of Batman. Bane is convinced that the demonic bat that haunted his dreams since childhood is a representation of the Batman.[3][2]
Aware that a direct assault on Batman would be foolish, Bane destroys the walls of Arkham Asylum, allowing its deranged inmates (including the Joker, the Scarecrow, the Mad Hatter, The Ventriloquist, Firefly, Cavalier, and Zsasz) to escape into Gotham City, where Batman spends three months rounding them up. Running himself to exhaustion, Batman returns to Wayne Manor, where Bane awaits him. He fights Batman in the Batcave, defeats him, and delivers the coup de gr?ce: he breaks Batman's back and leaves him paraplegic, thereby having been the only man to have "Broken the Bat".[3][2]
[edit]Downfall
While Bane establishes himself as ruler of Gotham's criminal underworld, Bruce Wayne passes the mantle of Batman to Jean-Paul Valley, also known as Azrael. As Batman, Jean-Paul grows increasingly violent, allowing the villain Abattoir to fall to his death. Jean-Paul also refuses to recognize Robin as his partner. Utilizing a sophisticated combat suit in place of the traditional Batman uniform, he fights and defeats Bane at the end of the "Knightfall" arc, severing the tubes that pump the Venom into Bane's bloodstream, causing severe withdrawal. Valley then gives the weakened Bane a vicious beating, leaving him alive but broken.[3][2]
[edit]Legacy
Following the events of "Knightfall", Bane recovers from his Venom addiction while serving time in prison, as seen in Vengeance of Bane II: The Redemption (1995). He eventually escapes from prison and returns to Gotham, where he fights alongside Batman to take out a criminal ring that is distributing a Venom derivative to street-level thugs. Following a victory over the criminals, Bane proclaims that he is "innocent" of his past crimes and urges Batman to stop hunting him. He then leaves Gotham (without fighting Batman) to begin a search for his father.[9]
Bane's search brings him back to Santa Prisca (shown in the Bane of the Demon miniseries published in 1998).[10] In search of leads, Bane questions the Jesuit priest who had taught him while he was in Pe?a Duro. The priest explains that there were four men who could possibly have been his father: a Santa Priscan revolutionary, an American doctor, an English mercenary, and a Swiss banker. While searching for the Swiss in Rome, Bane encounters Ra's al Ghul's daughter Talia. Talia introduces Bane to her father, and eventually Bane impresses Ra's so much that he chooses Bane as his heir (an "honor" he had previously imparted on Batman).[10]
Ra's al Ghul and Bane then launch a plague attack on Gotham in the "Legacy" storyline. Bruce Wayne, again costumed as Batman, gets his rematch with Bane in Detective Comics #701 (September 1996) and finally defeats him in single combat.[11]
Following the "Legacy" storyline, Bane appears in a one-shot publication called Batman: Bane (1997) and fights Azrael in the "Angel and the Bane" storyline in "Azrael" #36-40 (December 1997 - April 1998).[12] He then surfaces in the story arc "No Man's Land", serving as an enforcer for Lex Luthor. Following a fallout with Ra's al Ghul, Bane later embarks on a campaign to destroy Lazarus Pits around the world, and in the process, encounters Black Canary in Birds of Prey #26 (February 2001).[13]
[edit]Veritas Liberat
According to the Jesuit priest that Bane speaks with in "Bane of the Demon" #1, there is a possibility that Bane's biological father is an American doctor.[10] In researching this issue, Bane comes to the conclusion that he and Batman share Dr. Thomas Wayne as their biological father, with Dr. Wayne having apparently become close to Bane's mother during his time in Santa Prisca. Bane alerts Batman to this possibility, and during the time that the DNA tests are being performed, stays at Wayne Manor and fights alongside Batman on the streets of Gotham in the "Tabula Rasa" storyline (Gotham Knights #33-36, November 2002 - February 2003). Ultimately, it is revealed that Dr. Wayne is not Bane's father, and Bane leaves Gotham peacefully (and with Batman's blessing and financial backing) to pursue leads in the snowy mountains of Kangchenjunga.[14][15][16][17]
Bane eventually finds his father, the unscrupulous King Snake, in the "Veritas Liberat" storyline (Gotham Knights #47-49, January - March 2004). Bane, with Batman looking on, helps foil King Snake's plans to unleash a powerful weapon upon the world. Bane saves Batman from being shot by King Snake, but is mortally wounded in the process. Batman then saves Bane by bathing him in a Lazarus Pit, and leaves him with a clean slate and a new opportunity at life.[18][19][20]
[edit]Infinite Crisis & One Year Later
In Infinite Crisis #7, Bane is shown fighting alongside the villains during the Battle of Metropolis. During the battle, he breaks the back of the hero Judomaster, killing him. No reason was given for his actions in #7, though in Infinite Crisis's collected edition, one of the many changes made to the original series was Bane saying "I finally know who I am. I am Bane. I break people." while breaking Judomaster's back.[21]
Bane resurfaces in the One Year Later continuity in JSA Classified #17-18 searching for the Hourmen (Rex and Rick Tyler), asking them for help. To win their trust, he tells them how, prior to the Battle of Metropolis, he returned to his homeland to put an end to the drug lords' government, in the process discovering that a new, more addicting strain of Venom had been created. In his furious carelessness to wipe out the drug trade, he was captured, and reimplanted with the cranial tubes, hooked to the new Venom, but now unable to shake off his addiction without dying from the withdrawal. Bane was forced to work as an enforcer for the drug cartel, unable to escape. Believing that Bane sought Rex Tyler's expertise in chemistry, Rick lets him approach his father, only to discover that the story is a ruse. Bane, who had never truly been addicted to Venom, had in fact wiped out the drug lords, and destroyed every research note on Venom. He discovered in the process both strains of Venom derived from Rex Tyler's early research on Miraclo. He discovers from the Tylers that no written notes exist of Rex's work, captures Rex, and steals Rick's equipment, planning to kill Rex and force Rick to take the last of the new Venom, living forever as an addict. Rick and Rex eventually subdue Bane, burying the mercenary in the rubble of the very same Santa Priscan penitentiary where his story began.[22]
Eventually Bane resurfaces in Santa Prisca, leading the country to democratic elections. Upon discovering that the elections were rigged by Computron, he uses his influence to enforce martial law, plunging the country into a civil war. Computron offers information to Checkmate on who ordered him to rig the elections in exchange for their help in escaping the country. Fire and Judomaster's son, Thomas Jagger, are sent on the mission, with Jagger debating whether or not to seek revenge for his father's murder. He fights Bane in order to allow Fire to escape, defeating him easily, but chooses not to kill him.[23]
As appearing in Outsiders #50, Bane has joined the Suicide Squad. He appears once more to be wearing the tubing system to apply Venom- whether he has returned to the drug is unknown.[24]
In Salvation Run #2, Bane was tricked by his fellow squad members, and sent to the prison planet.[25] In Salvation Run #3 Bane remains with Lex Luthor's faction after Joker's faction rebels against Luthor's leadership. He recently attacked Thunder and Lightning when they were attempting to feed Martian Manhunter.[26]
[edit]Powers and abilities
Bane is highly intelligent; in "Bane of the Demon", Ra's al Ghul says that Bane "has a mind equal to the greatest he has known".[10] In prison, he teaches himself various scientific disciplines equal to the level of understanding of leading experts in those fields.[3] He teaches himself six active languages and at least two additional arcane and dead ones, those mentioned are Spanish, English, Urdu, Farsi, and Latin.[10] The "Bane of the Demon" storyline reveals that he has a photographic memory. Within one year, he is able to deduce Batman's secret identity.[10] He is also highly devious (he crafts the escape from Arkham Asylum of all of Batman's enemies), and a superb strategist and tactician.
Bane possesses Olympic-level strength that appears to be greater than Batman's. During the Knightfall storyline, when he uses the "Venom" drug, his strength level is artificially increased to superhuman levels. Even without Venom, his physiology appears superior to other normal human characters with strength such as Batman.[3]
In prison, Bane also invents his own form of calisthenics, meditation, and a unique fighting style.[10]
DanOxPhoto
New member
i meant the first part, the second was having megan fox play catwoman casting esque
tendlich37
New member
yea thats why i was so suprised
O8SERVER IV
New member
it wasn't too long. If they kept the pace, the movie only would've benefited from the extra 30 mins.
Flyoffacliff
New member
haha nice
i think thats wrong, but nice observation
i think thats wrong, but nice observation
JillieSchmillie
New member
I don't think thats the case.
I think Batman did intend to save Rachel but the Joker switched the names around to mess with him because he knew he would choose Rachel and wanted him to save Harvey Dent instead so that he could corrupt Harvey Dent as he intended to and to show that even the person that was suppose to save the city could be corrupted.
I think Batman did intend to save Rachel but the Joker switched the names around to mess with him because he knew he would choose Rachel and wanted him to save Harvey Dent instead so that he could corrupt Harvey Dent as he intended to and to show that even the person that was suppose to save the city could be corrupted.
raman_thunder
New member
When I heard that Ledger was going to get an Oscar nomination for his performance I thought, "typical, just because someone dies our society has to honor a false achievement and put him up on a fake pedestal".
Then I saw the movie, I retract my previous statement.
Then I saw the movie, I retract my previous statement.
geo the genius
New member
:2007:
corbettfan11
New member
i wanna see this so bad. i wonder if id beable to go to a show tonight....
Simon: No riddle, no code, no fancy little countdown.
Simon: As I was going to St. Ives, / I met a man with seven wives. / Every wife had seven sacks, / Every sack had seven cats, / Every cat had seven kittens. / Kittens, cats, sacks, wives, / How many were going to St. Ives?
Simon: No, no. My only problem is that I went to some trouble preparing that game for McClane. You interfered with a well-laid plan.
Simon: Said Simple Simon to the pieman going to the fair, "Give me your pies... or I'll cave your head in."
Simon: I had two pigeons, bright and gay, fly from me the other day. Why is it they did go? You cannot tell, you do not know.
Simon: [on the phone] Is there a detective named McClane there?.
Inspector Cobb: He's on suspension
Simon: No Walter, he's not. Not today.
Inspector Cobb: Who is this?
Simon: Call me Simon.
Inspector Cobb: What do you want?
Simon: I want to play a game.
Inspector Cobb: What kind of game?
Simon: Simon says
[pauses]
Simon: Simon's going to tell Lieutenant McClane what to do, and Lieutenant McClane is going to do it. No compliance will result in a penalty.
Inspector Cobb: What penalty?
Simon: Another big bang in a very public place
Replace Simon with Riddler and there you have it.
Simon: As I was going to St. Ives, / I met a man with seven wives. / Every wife had seven sacks, / Every sack had seven cats, / Every cat had seven kittens. / Kittens, cats, sacks, wives, / How many were going to St. Ives?
Simon: No, no. My only problem is that I went to some trouble preparing that game for McClane. You interfered with a well-laid plan.
Simon: Said Simple Simon to the pieman going to the fair, "Give me your pies... or I'll cave your head in."
Simon: I had two pigeons, bright and gay, fly from me the other day. Why is it they did go? You cannot tell, you do not know.
Simon: [on the phone] Is there a detective named McClane there?.
Inspector Cobb: He's on suspension
Simon: No Walter, he's not. Not today.
Inspector Cobb: Who is this?
Simon: Call me Simon.
Inspector Cobb: What do you want?
Simon: I want to play a game.
Inspector Cobb: What kind of game?
Simon: Simon says
[pauses]
Simon: Simon's going to tell Lieutenant McClane what to do, and Lieutenant McClane is going to do it. No compliance will result in a penalty.
Inspector Cobb: What penalty?
Simon: Another big bang in a very public place
Replace Simon with Riddler and there you have it.
Great movie, long as fuck though. I'm sure they could've cut some of the dialogue down. Now here are my issues with TDK:The Mayor subplot. It seemed a bit dragged out, and the mayor wasn't really an effective character.While certainly a better actress than Katie H, Maggie G played a better Rachel. But much to my dismay, she didn't make me think "beautiful" even if she was plain (like Gwyneth in Iron Man). Her cocktail dress was evidence of this.Gordon "dying" was too abrupt. If he really "died" what was the timespan b/w his death and catching the Joker? Why didn't they elaborate on the death/funeral? It was *almost* a giveaway that someone was the mute SWAT driver.How/Why did the Asian accountant dude survive?Did the Joker slash the black dude's mouth or something else, cuz that guy was big and to be dropped so quickly? Also, when he broke the pool stick in two and the 3 black guys were on the floor, what was implied?Maybe it was the sound system in the theatre, but can you clarify the whole Batman being the escapegoat thing, cuz I couldn't hear a damn thing Gordon said.What was up with Batman's laryngitis? (sp)Batman kidnapping asian dude and getting hauled off on a plane. No.I thought it was a great flick. I'm hoping that there'd be a director's cut to show the darker/violent side of Joker.
Mason Gunnar due Jan 7th!
New member
imagine if they had mr freeze in one of these movies
maine161991getmoney
New member
I found it! MV Augusta F4.
http://www.mvagustausa.com/web-mvagusta/08_F4_1078RR.html
It's like $25k.
The $120K Special Edition is fucking SICK.
http://www.mvagustausa.com/web-mvagusta/07_F4_CC.html
The Dark Knight version is nice too.
http://www.hersheys.com/reeses/darkknight/
http://www.mvagustausa.com/web-mvagusta/08_F4_1078RR.html
It's like $25k.
The $120K Special Edition is fucking SICK.
http://www.mvagustausa.com/web-mvagusta/07_F4_CC.html
The Dark Knight version is nice too.
http://www.hersheys.com/reeses/darkknight/