Among the Batman rogues, where do you rank Bane?

[bob.schoonover]

Secret Six by Gail Simone proved that you can do stories with Bane that escape what one would expect with the character. Also, Scarecrow (sadly) is trapped in a place where writers keep on repeating the whole fear gas thing and it got kinda boring, though I didn't read Kings of Fear, so maybe that story did a twist in the concept. DC should get rid of the N52 Scarecrow costume and make something more terrifying, not necessarily as edgy as his design in Arkham Knight, but something closer to the design in The New Batman Adventures

Sure, but Gail's conception of Bane, and even the one that appeared in Beatty's run on Gotham Knights, isn't really a Batman rogue anymore (or at least not an alpha rogue). The character can have depth, but I don't think there has been a story since Knightfall where he both has depth and is the primary antagonist (I may be forgetting something).

I agree that Scarecrow is in a bit of a rut recently (the 21st Century?), but I think the character can be used for more than being the guy that brings fear gas to the party.

[adrikito]

1.) Joker
2.) Bane
3.) Ra's al Ghul
4. Talia
5. Penguin
6. Black Mask
7. Hugo Strange
8. Scrarecrow
9. Poison Ivy
10. Catwoman

[godisawesome]

I’ve got him as a “top-carder:” he’s at a level where I don’t think there really should be rankings.

To me, Joker’s the King of the Freaks, while Bane and Ra’s are the opposing Bosses of the Bond Villains, with Ra’s being the old school aristocrat while Bane’s the hungry young conqueror.

[Spencermalley935]

Definitely top tier.

1) Scarecrow
2)Two-Face
3)Riddler
4)Penguin
5)Joker
6)Catwoman
7)Bane
8)Poison Ivy
9)Mr Freeze
10)Ras Al Ghul

[regg215]

Being that I got into comics at around 5 or 6 years old and the first batman comic I truly remember was Knightfall, bane was terrifying to me and he ranks right at the top, one of the only bat-villains who challenges him in both strategy and strength. My list overall would be:

1) Joker- has to be at the top, in every form of media joker is seen and earns being batman's greatest villain
2) Bane
3) Ra's Al Ghul
4) Riddler
5) Two- Face
6) Scarecrow
7)Hugo Strange
8)Penguin
9) Mr. Freeze
10) Wrath- my personal favorite underrated batvillain, New 52 messed up a lot of stuff but I love with they did with his character

Ivy, Harley and Catwoman have all really been turned too much into anti-heroes, heroes or sympathetic characters for me to really put them on a list as villains

[Celgress]

1) Joker- has to be at the top, in every form of media joker is seen and earns being batman's greatest villain

I couldn't have put it better myself.

[bat1987]

Being that I got into comics at around 5 or 6 years old and the first batman comic I truly remember was Knightfall, bane was terrifying to me and he ranks right at the top, one of the only bat-villains who challenges him in both strategy and strength. My list overall would be:

1) Joker- has to be at the top, in every form of media joker is seen and earns being batman's greatest villain
2) Bane
3) Ra's Al Ghul
4) Riddler
5) Two- Face
6) Scarecrow
7)Hugo Strange
8)Penguin
9) Mr. Freeze
10) Wrath- my personal favorite underrated batvillain, New 52 messed up a lot of stuff but I love with they did with his character

Ivy, Harley and Catwoman have all really been turned too much into anti-heroes, heroes or sympathetic characters for me to really put them on a list as villains

That's a solid list. And I agree about Ivy Harley and Cat. Like, at this point we are running out of female villains. Catwoman has been on the anti hero side of things for very long time, so I don't mind her being there as much as the other two.
Like we came at the point where Tom King had to explain himself to angry fans after Ivy killed someone. God forbid if Harley does something similar. I'd much prefer them both as villains. That's just my opinion ofc.

[Tzigone]

That's a solid list. And I agree about Ivy Harley and Cat. Like, at this point we are running out of female villains. Catwoman has been on the anti hero side of things for very long time, so I don't mind her being there as much as the other two.

Agree. Catwoman was introduced as not that bad (and quickly specified she wasn't a killer, I guess because Batman let her get away several times) and I think gave her loot to the Joker to save Robin in her second appearance or something. She got worse at times (including killing some innocent security guards at a hotel, but that got retconned because Holly died in that one, right?). And was an outright hero at times. But still, she is one that can be good to me. I enjoyed seeing her go that route in the bronze age.

But Ivy and Harley need to stay villains. I actually thought Harley redeemable back in Batman: TAS days, but those days area gone (well, never existed, actually, with her different comic book background). I'm not one for anti-heroes, on the whole, though. I prefer heroes and villains, with only a very small number of antiheroes. And I prefer they be created as antiheroes, instead of being villains transformed, because they usually retcon things to the detriment of prior stories. We need our rogues. Also, I hate the bouncing back and forth between villain and (anti)hero. I get why it happens, especially with long-running characters, but after they've swapped twice, no one should trust them. Not to mention that heroes will them seem to forget all the very bad things the former (and will be again) villain did in the past.

[mathew101281]

Agree. Catwoman was introduced as not that bad (and quickly specified she wasn't a killer, I guess because Batman let her get away several times) and I think gave her loot to the Joker to save Robin in her second appearance or something. She got worse at times (including killing some innocent security guards at a hotel, but that got retconned because Holly died in that one, right?). And was an outright hero at times. But still, she is one that can be good to me. I enjoyed seeing her go that route in the bronze age.

But Ivy and Harley need to stay villains. I actually thought Harley redeemable back in Batman: TAS days, but those days area gone (well, never existed, actually, with her different comic book background). I'm not one for anti-heroes, on the whole, though. I prefer heroes and villains, with only a very small number of antiheroes. And I prefer they be created as antiheroes, instead of being villains transformed, because they usually retcon things to the detriment of prior stories. We need our rogues. Also, I hate the bouncing back and forth between villain and (anti)hero. I get why it happens, especially with long-running characters, but after they've swapped twice, no one should trust them. Not to mention that heroes will them seem to forget all the very bad things the former (and will be again) villain did in the past.

I take issue with this to, it's like modern writers are averse to truly menacing female antagonists.

[regg215]

That's a solid list. And I agree about Ivy Harley and Cat. Like, at this point we are running out of female villains. Catwoman has been on the anti hero side of things for very long time, so I don't mind her being there as much as the other two.
Like we came at the point where Tom King had to explain himself to angry fans after Ivy killed someone. God forbid if Harley does something similar. I'd much prefer them both as villains. That's just my opinion ofc.

Agreed. Harley and Ivy are much more interesting as villains, they don't need to be out and out sociopaths who kill everybody in their path but having them both be closer to heroes at times is ridiculous. Catwoman has always been in the grey area and that really works well, especially given her relationship with bruce. If I am recalling correctly she even joined the justice league during the new 52. The trend of always turning female villains into tortured anti-heroes is really annoying, it works for Catwoman but it happening for both Harley and Ivy is just redundant and is just a bridge too far in my opinion. DC however has really pushed that the last few years so it's hard to really consider them villains anymore and that makes them less interesting in my opinion.

[daBronzeBomma]

Can't rank him past The Joker (#1) and Ras al Ghul (#2).

Neither of them were ever dumbed down, in any medium, like Bane was in 1997's BATMAN AND ROBIN movie.

Can't put him above Two-Face (#3), who was disappointing in 1995's BATMAN FOREVER, but still always has that tragic appeal that Bane never has.

There's Hugo Strange (#4), who just seems way more versatile.

I'd place Bane under those 4 but above everyone else.

Bane is #5.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Pretty low actually, he was a joke a for a bit but then Nolan came along tried to make him badass etc but in a cruel fate of irony he ended up being a joke anyway with a nonsensical plan and less talk about his death the better. I feel like like it is the same thing is happening with King trying way too hard. I wasn't even a fan of Knighfall either most overrated Batman story with Hush so boring.

[exile001]

I love Bane, and he is certainly in my top 10 favourites. I always liked the original design, power set-up, redemptive edge following Vengeance of Bane 2.

As an overall threat, though, I've had a hard time taking him seriously since NML. In the 90s he was used sparingly and, Kinghtfall aside, usually came to a stalemate with Batman. I also liked the way Batman spoke about Bane as though he was a huge deal (and his finally screaming Bane's name at the end of Legacy was an inspired bit of writing).

Following NML, Bane felt like he was in a holding pattern. Yes, we got his redemptive arc by Scott Beatty (which wasn't great), but he'd still show up here and there as a threat/anti-hero but never really got a win. Then we got New 52 Bane, which was wall-to-wall garbage and the character started to feel like a joke to me.

That changed with Tom King's run, following I Am Suicide/I Am Bane. He really felt like a threat again for the first time in years. Then DC releases Bane: Conquest, and the good work seemed undone. Luckily, King is ignoring it, the reveal at the end of Batman #50 was superb and everything after is really rebuilding his credibility.

Also, naked Bane rules!

[Aahz]

To me he is in the Top 10, but probably not in the top 5.

Appart from Knightfall he just doen't have any really good stories. And he kind of lacks an interesting motivation.

[exile001]

And he kind of lacks an interesting motivation.

This is his greatest flaw in Knightfall. His motivation, other than a few dreams that happen to have bat-monsters, is that Bird tells him about Batman and Gotham and Bane just kind of fixates on it. The parallels between Batman and Batman are there for the reader, but Bane really doesn't have any reason to go after Batman.

I always thought it was Hugo Strange that developed Venom in that prison, which could explain it better, but this was never picked up on again.

His motivation in Legacy is no better. Yes, the Bane of the Demon miniseries expands on it, but it falls down to either "I'll rule over the few survivors" (which is Ra's whole deal) or "I'm horny for Talia". It is especially problematic as this came out after Vengeance of Bane 2, which sets up a more redemptive direction for him.

His strongest motivation probably was finding his father, but unfortunately I didn't really enjoy the writing on that.