Is Bane's reputation earned or overblown?

[SixSpeedSamurai]

How many new A list Batman Rogues have been created since the 70's? Just Bane.

I think mostly Dixon and Simone are the only ones to write him correctly. King I guess did OK, but King does King things and the story was long, drawn out, and anti-climatic.

[Frontier]

How many new A list Batman Rogues have been created since the 70's? Just Bane.

I think mostly Dixon and Simone are the only ones to write him correctly. King I guess did OK, but King does King things and the story was long, drawn out, and anti-clamatic.

The Court of Owls? Punchline if you believe the hype .

[marhawkman]

Bane broke Batman, got Talia, beat Dick and Jason at least once. Killed Alfred.

Somehow.... "got Talia" is the most impressive of these things to me...

[SixSpeedSamurai]

The Court of Owls? Punchline if you believe the hype .

The court is certainly close. I don't believe the hype, though I do like the character so far.

[Rac7d*]

From storyline's point of view, yeah, it is. He defeated Bruce, broke him both physically and psychologically. And despite the fact, that King's run was bad, Bane was a huge threat there as well, he killed Alfred after all.
But the problem is that many writers simply do not know what to do with him, and there are many people who simply do not like him. And another problem is the huge focus on the Joker. It hurts the entire Bat-Rogues gallery, not just Bane.

Joker books sell like crazy even when Bruce isn’t apart of it, he won’t loose focus anytime soon

[phonogram12]

I wouldn't put him on the level of, say, Doomsday because I think they gave him actual characterization and motivation to go along with his story purpose, and we got the progression of Bruce losing to Bane, who lost to Azrael, who lost to a reborn Bruce, which made sense from a narrative progression standpoint.

And they used Bane more frequently than they used Doomsday so it feels like there was more to him as a character.

It all seemed very surface level to me. Nothing beyond getting him from point A to B.

Well, I liked Knightfall more than I liked King's run so ...

To each their own.

I think he came of wayyyyyy more respectable than that. About the only thing I would say was similar to Schumacher was his fixation of Scandal as a daughter-like figure but I think it was fairly complex.

IDK. Like I said, I liked Secret Six, but like Dixon's characterization of him, it seemed very surface level to me.

[Frontier]

It all seemed very surface level to me. Nothing beyond getting him from point A to B.

I think his dialogue and the way he went about taking Batman down speak for themselves, but that's just me.

IDK. Like I said, I liked Secret Six, but like Dixon's characterization of him, it seemed very surface level to me.

I thought it was fairly nuanced, but I admittedly haven't re-read Secret Six in a while...I also think Dixon wrote a solid Bane too, from what I remember.

[phonogram12]

...I also think Dixon wrote a solid Bane too, from what I remember.

While I gradually warmed up to him, King was the first writer that actually won me over to him. A lot of previous versions just felt rather flat to me.

[Frontier]

While I gradually warmed up to him, King was the first writer that actually won me over to him. A lot of previous versions just felt rather flat to me.

I guess it's different for me because I liked Bane way before I read King's run .

[JBatmanFan05]

I guess it's different for me because I liked Bane way before I read King's run .

I liked early Bane with Dixon, but kinda starting with Beatty's Gotham Knights #33-36 "Tabula Rasa" (where "Bane comes to the conclusion that Bruce Wayne may be his half brother, to this end he tries to join Bruce in his fight against crime. .it is eventually revealed that Bane and Batman are not related [son of King Snake], causing Bane to take his leave."), I thought Bane started to veer off into weird and then inconsistent and too soft of directions. I do think King helped get him back on a track more consistent with his villainous roots.

[Brian B]

What is interesting is that even though Bane did 'break the Bat', his movie appearances have essentially just made him a henchman. For someone with his comic book 'pedigree', they always reduce him to just being a physical brute. Even the Riddler's 2 movie appearances have him be the head villain and accurate to his comic book reputation.

He was way more than just a henchman in Dark Knight Rises. He was certainly loyal to Talia, but to describe him as just a henchman doesn’t do justice to the character as portrayed in Rises. I mean, just look at this scene.



Heck, that scene proves Bane’s reputation is definitely deserved. The Joker never did that to Bruce. Neither did Killer Croc, Clayface, etc., or any of the other heavy hitters Batman has taken on. Heck, Darkseid himself never did Batman the way Bane did — picked him up and broke him in half! That’s a serious villain who can do that to Batman.

Bane is a bad mother f#%*er.

[Alan2099]

How many new A list Batman Rogues have been created since the 70's? Just Bane.

Do we not count Harley Quinn as a Batman rogue anymore?

[marhawkman]

Do we not count Harley Quinn as a Batman rogue anymore?

More sidekick than rogue?

[Brian B]

Do we not count Harley Quinn as a Batman rogue anymore?

These days, Harley Quinn is more a vehicle for Margot Robbie’s A-list aspirations as a star than a Batman villain or Joker henchwoman.

BTW, I’m glad Bane is dominating in this very non-scientific poll. Bane’s a great Batman villain.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

It's earned. Knightfall was entirely Bane's victory and it was the most someone has ever beaten Bruce. It wasn't just paralyzing him either. He put Bruce through the ringer, analyzed his every move, pretty much knew him so completely that he could identify him without the suit, and by the end he had Bruce wishing for death before he even broke his back. The reason he didn't outright kill Batman that day was because he realized how messed up he got him and just wanted him to perpetually suffer in that state. Then Bane took over the whole city for a few months.

Bruce was so mentally broken that he had to go on a big spiritual journey after he had healed just to get his mojoback to beat Azreal.