Is Bane A Limited Character?

[Liquid]

Tell me, what story can you do with Bane that isn't knightfall? I really can't think of any other batman stories you can do with him as a main villain.


Do you guys have any ideas?

[GrandKaiser]

Batman: Legacy is an incredible yet underrated story that features Ra's Al Ghul and Bane as the main villains. It also features Batman getting his revenge on Bane and finally defeating him.

[JBatmanFan05]

Tell me, what story can you do with Bane that isn't knightfall? I really can't think of any other batman stories you can do with him as a main villain.


Do you guys have any ideas?

Ra's, Joker, etc all find new ways to attack Batman. Bane can too. Alliances with other villains, hiding their involvement in some scheme, etc.

[K. Jones]

No, he's not limited one bit.

Knightfall is strong, but so too is Legacy, so is his brief stint in NML, so is the side-story "Angel and the Bane" over in Azrael, and so was his resurgence in Secret Six more recently. He's got less in the way of mid-tier stories, but Arkham War was a pretty good showing for Bane - although that mostly because the opening act was the Bane villain's month issue by Tomasi & Graham Nolan. And there was a good synergy of build-up after his appearances in Talon.

Anyway ... back on track ... if there's anything that limits Bane it's not character or storytelling potential - it's the artists who get carried away and depict him as some hulking Hulk monstrosity that's more than a man. The art school dropouts who draw him so that his biceps are bigger than his head. Nobody wants to read or write about Batman vs. The Hulk. You don't see a lot of Gold Standard Blockbuster stories, and you never will.

Anyway, anyone who writes Bane will do well to remember he's brilliant, tactical, NOT a Hulk, not a mindless brute who just hangs around Gotham looking for excuses to fight Batman - he's a man with his own goals, motivations and sense of agency. And don't forget Santa Prisca, either.

I want to see Snyder & Capullo do Bane quite badly. For starters, I think Snyder's introspective, prosaic approach is actually far more appropriate for Bane than it has been for Joker or even Riddler. Additionally, I think Capullo's Bane might be my favorite depiction of him after Graham's - it's so brawny and testosterone-pumped and macho and feral - but he still looks like a human guy. Seeing Bane in Endgame really gets my wishlist in a frenzy - I think I NEED to see Snyder do a Bane story.

[Ishmael]

Anyway, anyone who writes Bane will do well to remember he's brilliant, tactical, NOT a Hulk, not a mindless brute who just hangs around Gotham looking for excuses to fight Batman - he's a man with his own goals, motivations and sense of agency. And don't forget Santa Prisca, either.

I want to see Snyder & Capullo do Bane quite badly. For starters, I think Snyder's introspective, prosaic approach is actually far more appropriate for Bane than it has been for Joker or even Riddler. Additionally, I think Capullo's Bane might be my favorite depiction of him after Graham's - it's so brawny and testosterone-pumped and macho and feral - but he still looks like a human guy. Seeing Bane in Endgame really gets my wishlist in a frenzy - I think I NEED to see Snyder do a Bane story.

I agree w/everything you wrote, but especially above. Band isn't just a one-off badly done '90's character. He had potential, and good writers have tapped that potential for some good stories.

I'd also like to see Snyder write him. I think you're correct to suggest that Snyder's more introspective moments would work really well with Bane.

[Nite-Wing]

arkham war was a pretty good bane story that had him take over gotham and assert his dominance in Batman's absence

[GrandKaiser]

Also Bane has never been a villain to me. Not many people remember this but after Legacy he and Batman actually teamed up a couple times and he became a sort of ally to the Bat family. I like him in that role. I never believed he was truly villainous or evil. He only wanted to break Batman because he wanted criminals to fear him. Throughout Knightfall he was talking about how much he respected Batman. But he had spent his entire life in fear of criminals and he wanted the criminals to be afraid of him. It was all a psychological thing and while I'm not justifying the things he did it's stupid when writers try to write him as an average villain when he's clearly a good guy just a very damaged good guy. I want to see an anti hero Bane series some day.

[JBatmanFan05]

Also Bane has never been a villain to me. Not many people remember this but after Legacy he and Batman actually teamed up a couple times and he became a sort of ally to the Bat family. I like him in that role.

Yea, that's another distinct question: Whether one prefers him as a villain or not?

I enjoyed the sorta-ally stories with Bane, I did, but I do prefer Bane as a villain and want more out of him in that role. Especially some very memorable modern stories.

[William300]

I don't think so. He's had some good stories, like the one where Bane nearly replace Ras as leader of the League of Shadows, the most recent Arkham War. The problem is (I blame the animated series), is that Bane is so often written as just a mercenary, just someone working for a bigger villain. But in truth Bane is a truly interesting villain, equal to Batman in mind and skill but far more stronger in body. But he's had a certain moral code to him that I've always liked, similar to Deathstroke.

[Liquid]

Thanks for the opinions. I'll check out that secret six story now.

I'd be up for a snyder Bane story.

[Radix]

What Bane really needs is clear motivation. I like his goal in Arkham War, to consolidate all crime under one man. To create order.

[Liquid]

What Bane really needs is clear motivation. I like his goal in Arkham War, to consolidate all crime under one man. To create order.

That really was his secondary goal in Knightfall.

[Godlike13]

Bane is limited by his size, he shouldn't be but he is. Too often he's used for his physical threat and he comes off as just a meat head or a brick character.

[William300]

Bane is limited by his size, he shouldn't be but he is. Too often he's used for his physical threat and he comes off as just a meat head or a brick character.

It's why I've come to prefer him without Venom. Or at least not as "hulk" like.

[Diggy]

He's had a handful of decent stories and I'm sure competent writers could come up with some more if they put effort into it.