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Born to serve the life sentence of his father, Bane's childhood and early adult life were spent behind the walls of Peña Duro, an infamous prison located in Santa Prisca (claimed to be Cuba in Batman: The Animated Series). The writers created Bane as a dark mirror of Batman, both in his origin and in his gifts. Though imprisoned, his natural abilities allowed him to gain extraordinary skills within the walls of Santa Prisca. He read as many books as he could get his hands on, built up his body in the prison's gymnasium, and learned to fight in the merciless school of prison life. Despite his circumstances, he appears to have found teachers of various sorts during his incarceration, ranging from the hardened convicts who were his company from birth to an elderly Jesuit priest under whose tutelage he apparently received a classical education. Bane would murder this priest upon his return to Santa Prisca years later. However, he committed the first of his murders at the age of eight. As an adult, he became a test subject for a mysterious drug known as Venom, which had killed its other subjects. It nearly killed him at first, but he survived and found its effects enhanced his physical strength, although he needed to take it every twelve hours via a system of cables pumped directly into his body or he suffered debilitating side-effects.Years later, Bane escaped Peña Duro, along with several accomplices (his friends Trogg, Zombie and Bird, all of whom are named for 60's British rock bands--The Troggs, The Zombies and The Birds). 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 breaks Batman's back. Cover to Batman #497. Art by Kelley Jones.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. He fought 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 criminal underworld, Bruce Wayne passed the mantle of Batman to Jean-Paul Valley, also known as 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, severing the tubes that pumped the venom into Bane and leaving him weak.After Bruce Wayne recovered, he once again became Batman by winning the title back from Jean-Paul. Batman would finally get his rematch with Bane in Detective Comics #701 where Batman was able to defeat Bane during the famous "Legacy" arc. Since then, whenever Batman (Bruce Wayne) and Bane square off in battle, their fights usually end in a draw, despite Bane having now overcome his addiction to Venom and his strength now being merely that of a normal human, albeit a normal human of his considerable bulk. Since then, Bane has found his father, who is the unscrupulous King Snake, and killed him. (Prior to this, a long running plotline had developed where hints were dropped that Bane and Bruce Wayne actually shared Dr. Thomas Wayne as their biological father.) Bane has also bathed himself in a Lazarus Pit, and he has a clean slate and a new opportunity at life. Whether or not Bane will be an ally or a villain to Batman is still unknown.The recent events of Infinite Crisis have shown Bane in league with the Secret Society of Super Villains, and using a move, similar to the one that broke the back of Batman, on Judomaster in the Great Battle of Metropolis. Why Bane joined with the Society after his seeming reform from crime remains unknown... width="425" height="350" .. .. width="425" height="350" ..