Villain Profile: Bane

Bane: Brainac, Bruiser, Back Breaking Beast of a man

For the next Villain Profile I chose to use a DC character that really hasn’t been given the justice he deserves, at least on the big screen. I’m talking about Bane, the mighty fighter from the Caribbean. I know what you’re thinking, “But Michael, he was a big part of the Dark Knight Rises, why hasn’t he been done justly?” And to that I say, no one has done him 100% right. Dark Knight Rises has come the closest but they still messed up a few major points. If you don’t want any spoilers to the Dark Knight Rises, I’ll tell you when to stop reading.

The bear has a dagger in it
Just saying.

Some background. Bane was born in Santa Prisca, a small island nation in the Caribbean. The rather corrupt government had him placed in the dark and horrid prison of Peña Dura in place of his own father. Despite the harsh nature of prison life, Bane actually developed rather well. Physically and mentally any way, morally not so much. There is only so much you can ask of a prison style upbringing. He possessed an incredible intellect and thirst for knowledge. He read any and all books he could get his hands on, learned several languages, and many fighting styles. Even in prison he was able to find certain individuals capable of teaching him the things he couldn't from books. He killed a man at the age of 8, and then never really stopped.

He eventually became the most fear prisoner in Peña Dura, which convinced the corrupt prison and government officials that he was the best candidate for a neo-steroid called Venom. The drug killed every other test subject and nearly killed Bane, but he managed to hang on. The compound made him incredibly strong, but he became an addict after the first use. He needs an infusion every 12 hours or so, or else he suffers from incredibly painful side effects. After finally escaping Peña Dura with as much Venom as he could carry Bane set out to Gotham, intent on destroying the Batman. He sees Batman as both a mirror to himself, and as a physical representation of a bat that haunted his nightmares.

The crack heard around the world.

Technically Bane doesn't have any suprepowers, but he does have a number of skills that make him more formidable then several empowered beings. As mentioned above Bane is a rare genius. He is one of only a handful of characters that figured out Bruce Wayne is Batman without Bruce revealing it to him. Not a huge challenge in the real world, but that’s like the biggest mystery in the DC-verse. He made his own improvements to Venom over the years, increasing its potency and minimizing the side effects he suffered, as best he could. If he’d been born in a more supportive environment, imagine what he could have accomplished. Even without Venom, Bane is exceptionally strong and fast. He's on par with an Olympic athlete at the very least. On Venom, well, he’s basically a tank. The drug reduces his ability to feel pain, and makes him strong enough to damage steel with a strong punch. It’s thanks to this steroid that Bane was able to outmatch Batman and shatter his spine. Joker may be his most famous adversary, but I believe Bane is the only one that has given him such a devastating physical injury.

I enjoy Bane simply because he goes against the traditional norms of the superhuman community. He’s intelligent, strong, and can be stealthy when the need arises. Usually, a character is one of those three. His on again, off again relationship with the Venom steroid also adds to his overall complexity. He’s tried to kick his addiction several times, and even did his best to become an ally to Batman, but he always returns to the stuff. In a possible future explored in the TV series Batman: Beyond, we see that it’s his addiction to Venom that ultimately destroys him, leaving him sickly, frail, and virtually brain dead. Not an amazing ending for such a powerful foe.

Got the look right, and NOTHING else.

Before I get to the best places to see him, my beef with his movie portrayals. First, the movie Batman and Robin reduced him to a snarling beast, servant of Poison Ivy, and even made his pre-Venom state this little twig boy. Such a portrayal is insulting to the character and the fans. Let me make this perfectly clear to everybody. Fans want to see adaptations to characters they love, not full on reinventions. It pisses us off to see someone take the name of a character we love and slap it onto someone that doesn’t even bare a passing resemblance to the real character. So if you are going to be a future director, screenwriter, what have you; Do. Your. Research. Don’t make stuff. Don’t use names that the higher ups tell you to just to use the name. Give us a fair, accurate adaptation to the character we know. Give us a Hugh Jackman Wolverine or Robert Downey Jr. Iron-man or a Chris Evans Captain America. Not a Ryan Reynolds Deadpool, or Actor-I –Don’t-Feel-Like-Looking-Up Bane.

Not awful, but not amazing.

The other half of this is the Dark Knight Rises version. If you don’t want a spoiler stop reading now.

Tom Hardy’s version is a much more accurate portrayal. He is smart, strong, and merciless. The problem, ultimately he’s just a #2. That just doesn’t sit well with me. The Bane’s I like to seem, while usually acting as a mercenary for one reason or another, still comes up with most of his own plans to take out the Batman, and even if he’s begin paid for it he hunts the Batman for the satisfaction of killing him. Also, I don’t get the redesign of his mask. All of the Bane mask I’ve seen before are reminiscent of a Luchedor’s mask. They usually cover most of his face. The types that don’t leave his mouth exposed, for obvious reasons. Tom Hardy’s garbled speech should be enough to prove that covering Bane’s mouth is a bad idea.

His best body of work is in the DC animated Universe. The Batman Animated Series of the mid 90’s and the follow up and tie in series that followed. He was also good in Justice League: Doom, where he teams up with the Nemesis’ of other JL members using Batman’s emergency contingency plans (modified to be lethal instead of disabling) to neutralize their opponents. The Dark Knight Rises is the best live action version, but I hope a future incarnation will be closer to the comic version. Next time, I’ll be doing an editorial on the Villain conundrum, how many bad guys does a movie actually need?

 http://arkhamcity.wikia.com/wiki/File:164BaneWithNormalVenom.png

 http://www.comicvine.com/osito/4055-57113/

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_Knightfall

http://moviepilot.com/posts/2013/09/11/top-10-most-disappointing-super-villain-appearances-1109959?lt_source=external,manual#!beqB5c

 http://www.comicvine.com/images/1300-2132844