Bane is perhaps the most iconic and successful of all modern Batman villains. I'm not even sure this could be in doubt. He first appeared in Batman: Vengence of Bane, January 1993 and was created by the inimitble early '90s team of Chuck Dixon and Grahm Nolan, with apparently some help from other Bat-scribe Dough Moench. (Side note: his name is said monk, apparently.) The character was explicitly designed to be a sort of anti-Batman, like so many other Bat Rogues like Killer Moth or Prometheus. Bane was more along the lines of the Doc Savage aspect of Batman, however, the sort of Peak Human omni-talented ubermensch.
Bane's origin is recounted in his first appearance. His father was a rebel in the ficticious South American country of Santa Prisca, which had prevoiusly appeared in Bat Chief Editor Denny O'Neil's magnificent Question series. The rebellion was short lived and unsucsessful, however. Most of the rebels were captured and imprisoned or executed. Bane's father- his identity was kept hidden in the original stories, but Batman: Gotham Knights #47, January 2004, revealed it to be King Snake, a Robin villain- skipped country instead. Under Santa Priscan law, a male heir was allowed to take his place instead. Bane's pregnant mother was arreseted and kept in the sadistic prison Peña Dura 'till they could find out if her kid would be male or not.
Bane spent his youth in the prison, his only company being his mother, who died when he was about five, and his teddy bear. However, he ended up on the wrong side of a particularly violent pedophile, who knocked him over a catwalk, knocking him into a coma. Whilst in this coma, Bane has a vision of a great Bat, symbolizing all of his fears. The bat tells him to become the Bane of everything, and that the weak exist to be subservient to the strong.
After waking up from his coma, Bane goes to the pedophile and gets revenge on him. As punishment, the warden sentences Bane to a special solitary cell that is under sea level. Every night it flooded and Bane was forced to swim to survive. He spent roughly ten years in this cell before he was released back into gen pop. Here, he establishes himself as the King of the prison.
This particular achievement gains him the notice of an experiment the prison is running on a new drug code named Venom. Bane is able to survive the experiment, which no one else had. Shortly thereafter, Bane, with his three 60s garage rock named flunkies Trogg, Zombie and Bird in tow, kill the warden and escape from Pena Duro and leave for Gotham to confront the mysterious "Bat-Man". When there, Bane confronts the Bat-Man briefly.
This was, of course, build up to the big Batman event of 1993, Knightfall. In the opening salvos of Knightfall, Bane blows out the gates to Arkham Aslyum and Blackgate Prison (Batman #491, April 1993), releasing all of the inmates into Gotham. Batman spent several nights rounding them all up. The villains tax him mentally- Scarecrow and Joker are among those he has to round up- and physically. This allowed Bane to easily beat the exhausted Batman, culminating in him picking up the wounded vigilante and cracking him over his knee like a stick (Batman #497, July 1993.) This paralyzes Batman, making him one of the few villains to ever actually best Batman in combat. With Batman crippled, Bane takes his place as king of the Gotham underworld.
Note something important here: He does not just beat Batman in a match of strength. Bane is smart- he allows the rest of the Bat rogues to do most of his work for him, whittling down Batman. This allows him to pretty much beat Batman with little effort on his part. Adaptations frequently miss this part.
Anywho, Batman was replaced by John Paul Valley, better known as Azrael. In Batman #500, he confronts Bane in a mechanical Bat suit that will be discussed at a later date. Azrael severs the tubes that feed Bane Venom, causing him to go into withdraw. Azrael then precedes to beat the crap out of Bane, leaving him for dead. That was pretty much the end of Bane's purpose in the Knightfall crossover.
Bane drifted to and fro after this. In 1995's Vengence of Bane II: The Redemption, he swears off of Venom, a promise that, for over a decade, was indeed kept. In 1996's Legacy crossover, he shows up as the Ubu to Ra's Al Ghul; this was not explained for several year's, until 1998's Bane of the Demon. In a bizarre story in 2002, Bane comes to believe that his mysterious father, whom he had been told was an American doctor, was none other than Thomas Wayne! This was quickly forgotten. Eventually it came out that his father was the aforementioned King Snake. He responded by killing him.
Following Infinite Crisis, Bane rediscovers his purpose. As said in May 2006's Infinite Crisis #7: "I finally know who I am. I am Bane. I break people." In Checkmate vol. 2 #8, he comes to blows with Checkmate over his rule of Santa Prisca, which he had taken over since the Crisis. He ends up confronting, and being beaten by, Tommy Jagger, the son of the Judomaster, whom Bane killed in Infinite Crisis. It was also during this time Bane encountered Hourman III and his father, the original Hourman. This is covered more later in this article.
Bane's last major character development came courtesy of Gail Simone's Secret Six. In Secret Six #1, September 2008, Bane became a member of the rogue Anti-Villain group. Bane had a lot of crazy adventures I haven't read yet and during which he became good friends with Vandal Savage's daughter, became king of Skartaris, blessed Dick Grayson and rode dinosaurs, among other things. He's appeared since then, but it hasn't been too major.
The item Osito's Band, which can drop in the lighthouse instance, bears the name of Bane's teddy bear from his childhood in Pena Duro. Granted, it's just Spanish for "Little Bear", but the reference is clear. Osito only appeared in Vengance of Bane, but did have a brief cameo in Bane's origin backup in Countdown to Final Crisis #7, from March 2007. He also was released as an accessory to the Bane figure in Mattel's DC Superheroes line around 2005. That's a pretty cool accessory! Too bad a bunch of figures were released without it.
Osito was Bane's only comfort after his mother died as a child, and he is rarely seen in Vengance of Bane prior to his revelation without him. When he gets revenge on the sadistic warden of Pena Duro by tossing him out of a helicopter as he escapes, he tosses Osito to "keep him company".
It's small allusions like this that make me love DCUO.
Venom
Venom first appeared in Legends of the Dark Knight 16-20. Of interesting note, this was intended as the first arc, but was nixed by writer/editor Denny O'Neil. People might not take too kindly too a new title starting with Batman on drugs, after all.
Venom, of course, is the chief super steroid in DC Comics, if not all of comics. In its earliest appearances, it takes the form of a pill. Many years later, in JSA Classified #17, November, 2006, this aspect was retconned to derived from Rex Tyler's Miraclo pill. This is the arc in which he comes to blows with the two surviving Hourmen.
In Vengence of Bane, Bane is chosen as a test subject by an anonymous doctor (Who may have been intended to be Hugo Strange) for his physical capabilities. All prior test subjects had died when their hearts literally exploded. The drug is, in this form, administered intravenously via a pack on Bane's back and controlled by a dial worn on his wrist. The tubes offer a spot to attack Bane.
Venom is highly addictive, and has potentialy lethal withdrawl. As per one source, Batman Beyond, this leads to a catch-22 where chronic Venom abuse can lead to a weakened nervous system that has to be kept active by more Venom. Also in Batman Beyond were smaller Nicotine patch-esque patches of Venom called Slappers, but that's neither here nor there. A lightened form was used in Superman/Batman's first arc by President Luthor.
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