Among the Batman rogues, where do you rank Bane?

[BatmanJones]

It seems the best story he has... is the origin. They've retold it a few times and it's always good... but I do wish they could use him a little more varied. But again, he's not really a criminal genius or a master fighter... so he's not a HUGE threat to Batman. I have seen him used well when he turned his fixation on Robin and Dick Grayson as Batman... those were good. Also kind of liked his turn in No man's land... But yeah... he a pretty popular bat-villain who hasnt' really accomplished a whole lot.

Most of Batman's villains aren't especially physically dangerous; that's why I never cared much about Bane before King's run. Breaking Batman physically is relatively easy in concept; breaking him mentally or emotionally is a lot harder.

How physically threatening is the Joker? Answer: not very. He's a threat because he's an unpredictable, unmoored psychopath, insanity being a pretty good pattern for most great Batman villains. Hence Arkham Asylum. If the level of physical threat was what made for good comics, they'd be nothing but fight scenes. How much of a threat is Luthor to Superman--as compared to Doomsday, for example? I think we can agree Doomsday is the greater physical threat but not way up there in terms of great Superman villains. (I'd rather read about Terra-Man.)

It's not Two-Face's look, it's not his obsession with twos, and it's definitely not his physical threat that make him a great villain.

Two-Face is interesting because of the moral quandary he presents to Batman. Before he was Two-Face, he was Batman's friend and ally and Batman's not willing to give up on curing him, especially psychologically. Also, his duality is a nice mirror for Batman's own duality.

That said it has been a long time since a really good Two-Face story in the comics. His arc in All-Star Batman was pretty good but I don't remember seeing him in a significant role since then.

[Aahz]

It's not Two-Face's look, it's not his obsession with twos, and it's definitely not his physical threat that make him a great villain.

But the obsession with Two is imo a weaker gimmick than what other villains have.

Another problem with him is imo his motivation, just commiting crimes based on the umber two doesn't really fit that much with his background, the stronger stories with him are usually the one where he tries to take revenge on someone and not the ones where he commits crimes.

[kjn]

It seems the best story he has... is the origin. They've retold it a few times and it's always good... but I do wish they could use him a little more varied. But again, he's not really a criminal genius or a master fighter... so he's not a HUGE threat to Batman.

One good story can be enough to make a great villain, if the story is compelling enough, which it is in the case of Two-Face. Especially since it can be argued it is a story of Batman failing: tragedies tends to be great stories, but there is little room for them in much modern storytelling.

I'm not so much interested in how bad-ass or powerful the rogues are. I'm much more into how interesting they are as characters, how much they manage to say about the hero, and how good stories they have managed to generate.

From what perspective, I think the Joker, Killer Croc, the Penguin, Catwoman, Two-face, and Poison Ivy all score very highly. I think it's no coincidence that seen from some angles, it is Batman who is the intruder and the villain of Killer Croc's and Poison Ivy's worlds. The Penguin really is Bruce Wayne's dark mirror, placing him uniquely among Batman rogues. Catwoman is the only rogue who has shown themselves able stand on their own as an independent comics character, and Joker has more than proven himself with time.

So I pretty much agree with Aahz's and mikelmcknight72's takes. Bane is just there. He is more declared as a great villain than recognised as one.

[JBatmanFan05]

Unlike his brother from another mother Doomsday, Bane grows into a better and more established villain over time.

King has done a lot to rehabilitate Bane for me. He's done what Nolan and others could not do with Bane. Nolan did some interesting things with Bane, got me wanting comics Bane to change, and King did it and is doing it well.

[TravelerInTheDark]

Unlike his brother from another mother Doomsday, Bane grows into a better and more established villain over time.

King has done a lot to rehabilitate Bane for me. He's done what Nolan and others could not do with Bane. Nolan did some interesting things with Bane, got me wanting comics Bane to change, and King did it and is doing it well.

Can't say I agree. Nolan's Bane, in my personal opinion, was a misfire. Between the actor's unimpressive size, his monopoly man accent, strange mask that looked more like some kind of life-support device, and character's ultimately poor motivations, I felt like it didn't do Bane justice at all, and should have just been a completely original character. Being white as snow didn't really help.

And neither am I a huge fan of King's take on the character. He seems to lack any sense of nobility, and leans pretty much completely into the "deranged psychopath" camp that befits the lion's share of Gotham villains, complete with overexaggerated grin and overall skeeviness. Where Bane used to stand out, he now does less so.