Bane is the DC Comics fictional character best known for breaking the Batman's back.

Bane possesses peak human strength, enhanced by his use of the drug "Venom." He is also quite intelligent (having deduced Batman's secret identity) and devious (he crafted the entire Arkham escape).

History

Born to serve the life sentence of his father, Bane's childhood and early adult life were spent behind the walls of Pena Duro, a infamous prison located in Santa Prisca. He built up his body in the prison's gymnasium, and started taking Venom to enhance his physical strength.

Years later Bane escaped Pena Duro, along with several accomplices. His ambitions turned to destroying Batman, whom he had heard tales of while serving his sentence. Bane was convinced that the demonic bat that haunted his dreams since childhood was a representation of the Batman.

Bane destroyed the walls of Arkham Asylum, allowing its deranged inmates to escape into Gotham City, where Batman spent three months rounding them up, running himself to exhaustion, and then returned to Wayne Manor, where Bane awaited him. The beast fought the Batman, defeated him, and delivered the coup de grace: he broke Batman's back and threw him to the streets of Gotham.

While Bane established himself as ruler of Gotham's crime, Bruce Wayne passed the mantle of Batman to Jean-Paul Valley (Azrael ). As Batman, Jean-Paul grew increasingly violent, allowing the villain known as Abattoir to fall to his death, and refused to recognize Robin as his partner. "AzBat" (as comics fans refer to him) fought and defeated Bane at the end of the "Knightfall" arc.

Bane first appeared in "Batman: Vengeance of Bane" (1993). The "Knightfall" story arc ran through Batman #491-500, Detective Comics #659-666, and Showcase '93 #7-8, with tie-ins appearing in several other titles published during that time.