Batman’s Best Villain Isn’t Joker, Here’s Why
Batman’s rogues gallery is the stuff of comic book legend—even if most people can’t see past that one clown with the green hair and the big grin. But contrary to popular belief, the Joker is not the be-all and end-all of Batman villains. That would be Bane.
If you’re first thought when you read the word “Bane” is Tom Hardy with marbles in his mouth, then you might be surprised to hear him called Batman’s greatest villain. The same goes for fans who only remember him as the roided-out luchador that followed Uma Thurman around in Batman and Robin. Most live-action interpretations of Bane have done the character dirty.
To understand why he’s truly the Dark Knight’s deadliest foe, one must turn to the comic books. For starters, he’s literally known as the guy who has “broken the bat.” As in, lifted Batman over his head and slammed him over his knee, snapping his spine in half.
There was no swift recovery like in The Dark Knight Rises either. Comic Bats had to go on a long journey of physical and mental healing to recover from the epic beating he received at the hands of Bane; a journey that included relearning how to fight from scratch.
Most live-action interpretations of Bane have done the character dirty.
As dangerous as Bane is physically, he’s also Batman’s equal mentally. The part that often gets lost in translation is Bane’s genius as a combatant and a tactician. The masked Batman villain didn’t just roll up to the Batcave and challenge Batman to a fight. He wore Batman down first.
Bane released every single inmate in Gotham City, forcing Batman to work for three months with little rest or sleep to recapture them all. Only when the Caped Crusader was exhausted and on the brink of insanity did Bane swoop in and deliver the paralyzing blow that would end Batman’s career for a time. But wait, there’s more!
Bane is the one responsible for the death of Batman’s closest friend. The man who raised Bruce Wayne after his parents were murdered in cold blood. Bane found a way to hurt Batman more than any other villain since the mugger who killed Thomas and Martha Wayne: he killed Alfred.
While it could be argued that the amount of physical and mental torture the Joker has put Batman through over the decades rivals that of Bane, the truth is no single action The Joker has taken against his nemesis has affected Batman as much as what Bane put him through.
In regular, mainstream Batman comic continuity, Bane did what no other Batman villain ever had the guts to do. He made Bruce Wayne an orphan for a second time.
Only the Joker comes close to Bane in terms of the damage he’s done to Batman as a villain. While it could be argued that the amount of physical and mental torture the Joker has put Batman through over the decades rivals that of Bane, the truth is no single action The Joker has taken against his nemesis has affected Batman as much as what Bane put him through. Neither paralyzing Batgirl Barbara Gordon with a bullet to the spine nor killing the second Robin Jason Todd hurt Batman as much as losing Alfred.
Bane’s Origin
A lot of Bane’s lethality as an opponent can be traced back to his upbringing. Or lack of one. Bane was born in the Pena Duro prison on the island of Santa Prisca. His mother died at an early age, leaving Bane to fend for himself behind the walls of what some considered the most dangerous prison on Earth.
Not only did Bane survive in Pena Duro against all odds, he honed his mind and body to a point where he ended up becoming king among all the inmates. If Bane’s story ended there, he would already be one of Batman’s worst nightmares, but things became even worse when Bane was forced by the prison administrators to be a guinea pig for the drug Venom.
The drug acted like a super steroid, enhancing Bane’s natural strength to metahuman levels, making him one of if not the single most dangerous Batman Villains to date.
The addiction that came from Bane’s use of venom was one of the few weaknesses he had—which is why, in the comics, he forced himself to detox from the drug and worked until he was naturally as strong as he was with the drug.
The fact that every version of Bane outside of the main Batman continuity, from the Arkham games to animated and live-action adaptations, brings back his addiction to Venom as a way for Batman to take the musclebound villain out speaks volumes about just what a threat Bane is to the Caped Crusader.
Like a reverse Superman, lazy writers often rely on Bane’s addiction—his Kryptonite, if you will—because otherwise, they have to work too hard to come up with a plausible way for Batman to take down his most challenging foe.
He may not have every actor in Hollywood climbing over themselves to play him via some weird—and often problematic—method acting, but the fact remains the title of Batman’s most dangerous villain rightfully belongs to Bane.
