Bane Might Be Back? Spoliers I think

[agentofthebat]

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=121659

look at the cover and see who is on there i think he makes his return in IC7

[rfahey]

Yes - see the second or third to last page of the VU special.

[BoSoxJay]

Kind of a bummer for me to see him with the venom and acting bad again. Don't take me wrong as I love a good arch-nemesis but Bane's story was uniquely full circle and I liked the way he and Bats sort of ended up with a bizarre kind of kinship between them.

Despite his horrible acts as a reader I found myself rooting for Bane to find peace. He's the rare villain who managed to actually attain what he was searching for and had an air of dignity to him that I really enjoyed.

To me going from Breaking the Bat to being an Ally of the Bat was about the most original aspect to his story and turning him heel-replete with Venom no less-really cheapens his whole character arc. Just my two cents though...

[stealthwise]

Could be another guy in the suit with the drugs, as part of the plan of the Society to "franchise" villains.

[Generic Eric]

I'm anxiously awaiting the return of beserker asshole Bane.

[Lord Ichabod]

If bane goes back to a straight up villain or a mindless brute I'll be very sad. Bane was my first real bat-villain.

[Generic Eric]

Bane as a character has kind of lost direction. Seeing him hit botton and falling back into his addiction seems like a rational direction for the character. He seemed to wn't power, but was never satisfied when he obtained it.

[agentofthebat]

im soo happy bane is back!

why is he coming back i thought he wanted no part of the VU?

[acagle7]

Bane's return should be interesting.

[Devil May Care]

Kind of a bummer for me to see him with the venom and acting bad again. Don't take me wrong as I love a good arch-nemesis but Bane's story was uniquely full circle and I liked the way he and Bats sort of ended up with a bizarre kind of kinship between them.

Despite his horrible acts as a reader I found myself rooting for Bane to find peace. He's the rare villain who managed to actually attain what he was searching for and had an air of dignity to him that I really enjoyed.

To me going from Breaking the Bat to being an Ally of the Bat was about the most original aspect to his story and turning him heel-replete with Venom no less-really cheapens his whole character arc. Just my two cents though...

Exactly my thoughts.

I really, really hope this is nothing more than the careless work of a lazy artist who couldn't be bothered to do any kind of research whatsoever, leafing through TPB's at Barnes & Noble to learn what a character looks like. Bane's arc as a villain is through. There's no logical reason for him to throw away his new life in favor of this one.

The lack of attention to continuity here is astounding. Forget Knightfall, forget No Man's Land, forget his final story arc (I forget it's name). In the VU mini it was explicitly stated by Talia that Bane had rejected the Society's invitation (vehemently). Having him join their ranks, apart from the symbolism of he and Doomsday, the two beings who laid low the World's Finest, is totally backwards.

Add to that the fact that Bane is a very, very clever man. He knows what Venom did to him the first time, so he'd never go back to it. He'd also never be content with playing a thug for the Society, which is the most he'd ever be.

[Hellstormer]

Hmmm Bane will be cool to see again but can anyone tell if that's Hourman's fist punching Deathstroke in the lower right ahnd corner?

[Choppa]

I agree with Jay and Devil. This sounds like when DC reintroduced the AzBats armor at the end of Azrael's run in a lame attempt to respark interest in the character.

[tomasej]

Dan Didio's annoying "column" in Ion (not sure which other titles have this same edition) notes the return of Bane and says something about breaking backs again--could explain the absence of the Bat guys for a year.

[agentofthebat]

i bet he breaks someones back during IC

Wheres the joker in all of this?

[OverMaster]

Wheres the joker in all of this?

No idea. After what happened in IC # 1, here's hoping they follow on that and have him kicking some bad guy butt over not being invited to join the party in issue seven. I wouldn't like that that end being let loose.

[agentofthebat]

they need to bring him back


i cant wait only 1 day till the return of Bane!!!!

[Silas Burr]

I hope that it's not a franchising of Bane given his backstory. It's not like people who've been in prison since they were little children and dedicate their isolated lives to physical and academic perfection grow on trees. I think Bane has greatly suffered since his first arc. From becoming less and less of a threat to the final cliche' reform bit. Which pretty much is the sign of rock bottom. I can't help but wonder if the line about good and evil never being clearer was a referrence to Bane and some others coming back to form somehow now that villains have reason to unite. Especially since Doomsday was a hero last we saw him too.

[Hellstormer]

Wait how do we know this is the orginal Bane? Everyone's just assuming it's the same guy but maybe it's not.

[Wonder Dude]

Maybe they can get Harvey to bump off Bane too

[agentofthebat]

Bane could beat a bullet hes bane

[HalWho]

If he does come back; I would like to see a rematch between him and bats. Bats has begun fixing the errors he's made in the past few years. And seeing him beat Bane would be most interesting. I hope it's a good fight....

[BoSoxJay]

He beat Bane in "Legacy" and Bane only escaped by the grace of a large wave IIRC. That sort of cemented Batman being the better fighter on equal footing and asserted Bane's achilles heel being his "I'm innocent" complex.
They fought again in NML and that one was kind of a draw with Batman getting some good licks in at the end before Bane outsmarted him with the dynamite-under-the-soup-kitchen bit. good times.

[rfahey]

For what it's worth, in the actual panel featuring Bane in IC #7, he doesn't have Venom tubes, despite being drawn otherwise in the VU special and on the cover of IC #7 (though his left hand does have a longer gauntlet, where the cartridges would have been stored). It's possible that he's still reformed in that regard, for those who care.

[Puffy Fugu]

The lack of attention to continuity here is astounding. Forget Knightfall, forget No Man's Land, forget his final story arc (I forget it's name). In the VU mini it was explicitly stated by Talia that Bane had rejected the Society's invitation (vehemently). Having him join their ranks, apart from the symbolism of he and Doomsday, the two beings who laid low the World's Finest, is totally backwards.

Add to that the fact that Bane is a very, very clever man. He knows what Venom did to him the first time, so he'd never go back to it. He'd also never be content with playing a thug for the Society, which is the most he'd ever be.

Can anybody tell me what that final story arc is?:D

[agentofthebat]

what one are u talkin about?

[Damo]

Bane in Infinite crisis 7 broke Judomaster's back. Judomaster, ne of the guys people keep pulling up as a possible candidate for best fighter in the DCU - Judomaster's martial arts mastery was so complete he supposedly had complete control over every molecule in his body. It was an ugly poorly written and depicted scene, but it means Bane is back with a vengence.

[stealthwise]

Wait how do we know this is the orginal Bane? Everyone's just assuming it's the same guy but maybe it's not.

They'll definitely address this "return" later on, whenever they feel like it. If they want to bring back the original, then it'll be attributed to new continuity on this "new earth." Otherwise, it's someone else using the old gimmick.

[GRANDPA]

bring on bane

[20yrslater]

i bet he breaks someones back during IC

Wheres the joker in all of this?
He broke Judomaster's back in IC#7. Also in IC#7 they show him breaking JM's back, and he doesn't have hjis venom tubes.

[Devil May Care]

Can anybody tell me what that final story arc is?:D

I'll try. I'm doing this without access to my comics, so I might miss some steps.

It began just after the Knightfall arc. After Azrael leaves him injured and defeated, Bane manages to kick the Venom habit and get himself in shape (the Vengeance of Bane II one-shot). This is when he first decides to track down his sire. His newfound law abidingness is flighty at best, and he brushes up against the Bat several times over the next few years, first and most notably in the "Legacy" story arc.

Bane (searching for information about his father) hooks up with R'as al Ghul (figuratively) and Talia (literally). Bane, escaped from prison and off Venom), was looking for his father, the man who ran off from the revolution on Santa Prisca and doomed his unborn son to suffer the punishment that would have been his (see the first "Vengeance of Bane" one-shot).

Jump to a couple of years back. Seems one of the four candidates for Bane's father was Thomas Wayne. So Bane goes to Gotham and actually begins working with the Batman while they try to uncover his genetics. Turns out that Thomas didn't cat around on Mrs Wayne, so Bane's father lies elsewhere. He resolves to find him, and Bats resolves to help.

The search leads them to the mountains (and this is where my memory grows fuzzy, so if anyone has more complete info please chime in). Ol' daddy is the head of Kobra. They meet. They bond. Then it comes out that pops has bad intentions. Bane saves the day, catching a few high-power rounds in the breadbasket. To save his life, Batman immerses him in a Lazarus Pit. The Pit heals both his body and his tormented mind, leaving him sane and healthy. His villainous days behind him (until someone barfed up the idea to use him in VU), Bane is apparently free to settle down and live a normal life.

Then he shows up in VU, complete with a Venom feed and a ball (and back) breaking attitude. So essentially the character's entire journey of suffering and redemption (so rare to find in the comic book world) was for naught.

[rfahey]

Then he shows up in VU, complete with a Venom feed and a ball (and back) breaking attitude. So essentially the character's entire journey of suffering and redemption (so rare to find in the comic book world) was for naught.

I'd reiterate that in IC #7 he actually isn't drawn with Venom tubes. Also, some effects of the Lazarus Pit are temporary, and I don't know of anyone else who was made 'saner' as a result of being placed in a Pit (Jason Todd was healed of head trauma, but arguably did not fix or made worse his psychological scarring).

[Devil May Care]

I'd reiterate that in IC #7 he actually isn't drawn with Venom tubes. Also, some effects of the Lazarus Pit are temporary, and I don't know of anyone else who was made 'saner' as a result of being placed in a Pit (Jason Todd was healed of head trauma, but arguably did not fix or made worse his psychological scarring).

But he was drawn with the Venom feed in VU, which is what I was referencing.

The rage induced by the Pits is temporary, but it passes. As for making him saner, well...

Another ingredient (of the experimental super-steroid Venom) targeted the corpus callosum segment of the brain. This drug would ultimately fuse the right and left hemispheres of the brain.

Who knows what other physiological effects Venom had on Bane's Brain? (say that five times fast). If the Lazarus pit healed these chemically induced alterations (which it very well might have) it could have had a profound impact on Bane's psyche.

[ShadowSonic]

I'm pretty sure the hemisphere fusing as supposed to make him smarter or something, I don't se wha xactly the point of the drug fusing his brain halves would be if not to make him a better soldier.

Anyways, the thing that made that little boy into Bane was trauma from a accident/fall he had when he was 8. He came out of it a month later and the first thing he did was murder the man who put him in a coma. I think it was the result of brain damage or something.

So his condition may not be differant from Jason's.

Anyways, I was hoping they could bring him back and make him the post-crisis version of the Wrath.