Top 100 Batman VILLAINS

17 - Bane

#17 - Bane
First Appearance:Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1 (Jan 1993)

" To know thine enemy, you must become thine enemy." ~Bane

There are two Banes, really. There's that brutish hulking creature that gets dragged out from time to time to do that back breaking schtick of his, where he rages like a monster and ultimately is a negligible contribution to any given story. But in the right hands, Bane is a beautiful merger of both brain and brawn, a true threat to any hero in the Batman arsenal, and easily one of the most important facets of the Post-Crisis Batman mythos. I can't stress enough the value an intelligent Bane can play; his code of honor is a rigorous yet enigmatic piece of his personality, where it can always surprise you with acts of kindness or nobility despite the normally visceral nature of his plans. This personality ultimately defines Bane as a quasi-almost-but-not-really-at-all anti-hero, and that's why, for example, he fit perfectly into the Secret Six.

The number of non-comics media versions of Bane are just ridiculously varied. Naturally, the worst would be the pointless grunting Bane from Batman & Robin, and the best lies somewhere between The Dark Knight Rises and Batman: Arkham Asylum; B:TAS does a decent but ultimately forgettable job, as does The Batman. Regardless, however, the ultimate version of Bane has really developed from his mastermind performance in Knightfall (which unfortunately lay dormant until post-No Man's Land), a concept that has expanded in the late 00s and early 10s. Bane has become almost a chivalric romantic, a caretaker if need be, and a brutish yet gentle giant. Venom, as a drug, now plays the role of a demon to Bane rather than an enhancement, further creating a deeper, more defined character. If you haven't had the chance, for example, to catch the Hourman-Bane team-up story from JSA: Classified, there's a beautiful example of two characters that both relied on drugs for powers but ultimately became subject to said drugs.

Despite some stumbling blocks from poor writers along the way, Bane stands today as one of the A-List, the elite group of Batman villains that always provides a story with needed gravitas. A complete package and well-rounded character, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to recognize the value Bane has provided the Batman universe.

Greatest Bane Story Ever Told: Knightfall - What else can I even say? There are lots of great Bane stories, but this one will forever reign as his number one. The sheer level of his manipulation and tactics are only dwarfed by his imposing physical presence, almost serving as the Darkseid of Gotham City. He's big, he's bad and he's unstoppable. A perfect villain to tear Batman down to his very core.