Bane is a ferocious mercenary and the secondary antagonist of The Dark Knight Rises, the third film of The Dark Knight Trilogy. This version of Bane (portrayed by Tom Hardy) is depicted as being very similar to his comic book counterpart, the main differences being that his costume is not that of a wrestler and he does not possess meta-human strength. In keeping with Christopher Nolan's more realistic vision of the world of Batman, Bane does not possess the super-steroid Venom to enhance his strength, instead relying on his own natural physical strength which is still greater than the average person's.
History[]
Christopher Nolan's version of Bane grew up in a prison like his comic counterpart and, while he does not have superhuman strength, his endurance is enhanced thanks to the mask he wears. During his time in the Pit, he suffered severe nerve damage that left him in perpetual agony, but the mask he wears throughout the film dulls his sensitivity to pain, allowing him to function and shrug off attacks.
Before coming to Gotham, Bane was a member of the League of Shadows, a global terrorist group led by Bruce Wayne's old mentor Ra's al Ghul. He became excommunicated, however, supposedly because he was considered too extreme for the League. The real reason for his exile, however, was because he served as a reminder to Ra's that he had failed to protect his daughter Talia whilst in the Pit and that he did not approve of her relationship with Bane.
After Ra's al Ghul's death at the hands of Batman, Bane returned to the League of Shadows, which had been inherited by Talia. For the next several years, they plotted revenge against Bruce Wayne and how to fulfill Ra's' destiny by destroying Gotham City. Seven and a half years after the death of Harvey Dent, mercenaries posing as a local militia turned over Russian scientist Dr. Leonid Pavel and three other hooded prisoners, including Bane, to the CIA in Uzbekistan. Bane's plan was to find out how much Pavel had told the CIA about them and to fake the scientist's death while on board their flight and then crash the plane with no survivors. To that end a plane full of mercenaries tailed the CIA plane whilst airborne. When the CIA operative overseeing the capture attempted to interrogate his men by pretending to shoot them and throw them out of the plane, Bane pointed out that their attempts wouldn't work because the hooded men had no reason to give in when the CIA operative was only putting on a show. Bane also told the CIA personnel his plan as the agent removed Bane's hood, knowing that they would not survive the attack, and broke free of the restraints just as more of the mercenaries arrived from the other plane and shot the CIA personnel. In addition, the mercenaries also brought in a cadaver to transfer Pavel's blood to fake the latter's death. Bane also had one of his "brother" mercenaries stay behind in order to ensure they had the expected death toll and he also promised the mercenary that "the fire rises". He told the panicking Pavel to calm down as the mission was successfully accomplished.
After the arrival of Bane and the mercenaries in Gotham, he had several henchmen commence "construction projects" that were actually rigging explosives across Gotham via "explosive cement." John Daggett worked with Bane to have Bruce Wayne removed from Wayne Enterprises by bankrupting Wayne and weakening the company's (poor) finances even further, under the false impression that he would take over the company. To that end Selina Kyle was recruited and she retrieved Wayne's fingerprints, including his thumbprint, for them to use to accomplish the financial fraud.
However, due to a phone sting regarding the location of a missing congressman, some police officers, including Commissioner James Gordon ended up stumbling upon Bane's group in the sewers, the new League of Shadows' hideout. Bane likewise executed one of the henchmen delivering Gordon to him for drawing him to the place, before having the other shoot Gordon. He also retrieved Gordon's speech that was intended to expose the truth behind the events of Dent's death and give his resignation as Commissioner. When Gordon ended up going down the rapid sewer waters to escape, Bane had a henchman "follow" him by placing a cell phone on him and then sending him down the rapids, anticipating the likelihood that Gordon would survive falling into the rapids after the henchman made the mistake of implying that he died in the rapids.
Afterwards, Bane arrived at the Gotham Stock Exchange to complete the plan of putting Bruce Wayne into bankruptcy, and placed a cement truck in the way manned by a henchman. He also took hostages in order to ensure that the police did not try to attack them. Bane on a motorcycle very briefly crossed paths with Batman on the Batpod who was in pursuit. After Selina attempted to find the clean slate drive at Daggett's penthouse only to find the safe empty, Bane and the mercenaries arrived to secure the area. Once Bane's true objective of Miranda Tate (Talia) taking over Wayne Enterprises was accomplished, Daggett furiously confronted Bane. The then expendable Daggett was then killed by him, and his body was put into a dumpster.
After Bruce met with Selina Kyle at her apartment about finding Bane, Selina offered to Bane to lead Batman into Bane's sewer lair in exchange for survival insurance. Bane and Batman began to fight each other. Batman fought valiantly to stop the terrorist, but the many years of isolation and lack of training had left the Dark Knight in a weakened state and unable to keep up with Bane's superior strength and speed. Bane was attacked relentlessly, but the blows seemed to do no damage at all and only staggered him. Bane managed to easily and quite brutally overpower, outmanoeuvre, and out-think Batman. Bane then revealed that they were under Wayne Enterprises's secret armoury and his plan to use the equipment to "bring justice". Bane then countered Batman's last attack and slipped one of his vertebrae. He delivered a crippled Bruce Wayne to the Pit prison he himself was formerly imprisoned in, and stated that he wouldn't kill a man that did not fear death, as he intended to psychologically torture him with the slow demise of Gotham City with Bruce being unable to do a thing. Bane said that when Gotham becomes ashes, then Bruce would have his permission to die.
Afterwards, Bane went to the Wayne Enterprises board room where he brought Miranda, Lucius Fox, and Douglas Fredericks from there to the Wayne Enterprises fusion reactor bunker and had Pavel modify the reactor into a nuclear bomb and he had the core removed so that it also became a time bomb. In addition, he also had the police lured to the hideout to be trapped, and eventually detonated the explosives laced around the city, killing hundreds of people, including Mayor Anthony Garcia. Anticipating that Gordon was still recovering at the hospital, he also sent two of his men to kill Gordon, although Gordon managed to kill them before either of them could lay a finger on him. He then brought the bomb out to the entire public, and after having Pavel explain its properties, he killed him in front of everyone. Bane said that he had given the detonator to a citizen who would push the button if they didn't comply to his rules. In addition, in order to further ensure that no one outside of Gotham attempted to interfere, he also had Barsad inform the national guard that if they were to enter the city, or anyone escapes, the bomb would be detonated.
After Bane returned to Gotham, he traveled with his men to Blackgate Prison. There he read Gordon's planned confession, and undermined the validity of the Dent act as well as of Dent's heroic persona in front of the citizens of Gotham. Bane then ordered his men to storm the prison and "liberate" the prisoners, who were incarcerated under the "corrupt" laws of Gotham's elite.
Bane declared martial law and proclaimed that the city now belonged to the people, handing them the power of "justice" over the "corrupt" Gotham elite that had "enslaved" them. Bane's speech subsequently caused a series of riots led by Gotham's criminals and revolutionary working class members, who raided the homes of the wealthy and set-up a court presided by "Judge" Jonathan Crane, where the rich were sentenced to choose between either death or exile through the crossing of a deadly frozen river. Bane himself continued to await the bomb's detonation while he observed Gotham's self-destruction.
A few months into the occupation, Special Forces lead by Captain Jones infiltrated the city to gather intel on fighting back against Bane, even learning of the bombs true nature. However Talia tipped off Bane and his men killed Jones subordinates while Bane himself killed Jones. Bane then ordered their bodies hanged over the bridge for the world to see.
After Batman's return to Gotham City became apparent, he had some mercenaries stay close to Miranda at Gotham City Hall, anticipating that Batman would eventually come to rescue her. Soon after, his mercenaries entered a massive battle with the recently freed Gotham City Police and Bane himself fought Batman once more. However, this time Batman fought more patiently and based on his knowledge of Bane's weakness he struck Bane's mask repeatedly and damaged it, causing Bane agonizing pain. A stunned Bane attempted to futilely repair the mask, but was unable to do so while Batman continued his attacks. An enraged and frustrated Bane was then put into a mindless fury as he attempted to quickly finish off Batman with a brutal barrage of punches. His attacks became stronger and faster, but also desperate and less coordinated. Batman remained focused as ever and managed to defeat him in combat.
Death[]
During Batman's interrogation of Bane regarding the location of the trigger to the bomb, Bane went unspeaking as Miranda stabbed Batman and revealed herself in the lobby of city hall as Talia. She explained her and Bane's past as Bane shed a couple of tears while she fixed his mask. A recovered Bane held a rope around Batman's neck while Talia taunted Batman. Due to her trigger's signal being blocked by Gordon, she left Bane to guard Batman so that Batman would survive long enough to see the bomb go off while she commanded the truck containing the nuclear time bomb. Alone with Batman, Bane stated that both he and Batman knew what had to happen. Bane ignored Talia's command and decided to kill Batman himself with a shotgun, but was shot at point-blank range in the chest by Selina Kyle with the Batpod's cannon, killing him instantly before he could execute Batman.