If The Joker can get his own solo film, then other villains should get one too. One particular DC villain that comes to mind is Bane. If you don’t keep up with comics, he’s the guy who broke the bat. Literally. The villain made his first on-screen appearance in the Batman and Robin movie with a rather unfaithful and laughable version that served as a muscle man henchman. A much more cooler version was shown in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises movie, where he followed in the steps of his comic counterpart by breaking Batman’s back. He’s a hulking villain, but he’s also a brilliant strategist, serving as a perfect combination of brains and brawn. Nolan’s version had these characteristics, but lacked crucial elements of the character that make him what he is.
I’m talking about Bane’s ultimate weapon, the strength-enhancing drug known as venom. He had this in Batman and Robin, but it made him a brainless brute. That version lacked the strategic mind that serves as Bane’s other powerful weapon, as he has used his skills as a strategist to outwit his enemies, including Batman. The Nolan version was intelligent, but didn’t have the venom, something that was replaced by a metal mask that served as a breathing apparatus. The mask made him invulnerable to pain and it served him well, considering he was strong enough to effortlessly crush a man’s windpipe with one hand. He was everything that made Bane cool, with the exception of the iconic venom. Both versions had something the other didn’t. It’s kind of unfortunate, but there is an opportunity here.
The success of Todd Phillips’ Joker movie has opened many doors of opportunities, especially for comic book villains. If you were to tell me a few years ago that a Joker movie can work, I probably would’ve brushed you off. The Joker is a character with no clear-cut backstory and spends all his time fighting Batman, so how exactly would an origin story for the DC villain work? Well, that question was answered when I saw the actual movie and it surprised the daylights out of me. Phillips grounded The Joker in a realistic, but brutal setting, and even managed to make him a more tragic villain. It was a story of a man’s struggle with mental illness and how his maltreatment by the hands of the ignorant and cruel society drove him into a life of crime. It’s a unique storytelling perspective for The Joker and it surprisingly worked.
If it worked for him, it can work for other DC villains. So why do I think Bane would be the best choice for a solo villain movie? Why not do other villains like Mr. Freeze, The Riddler, or Two-Face? Well, I love those villains, but there’s something about Bane that just makes him standout. I already explained why he’s such a menacing villain, but as a character, he’s certainly more intriguing than other villains. Most villains have some kind of tragic backstory, but before Bane came to Gotham, his life was the definition of a living hell.
Bane’s father (King Snake) escaped justice from the court system of Santa Prisca and the government decreed that the newly-born Bane would serve his father’s sentence. He spent all of his childhood in the prison of Pena Duro, where he committed his first murder at the age of eight. His time in prison made him a tough survivor, but also an intensely educated man. As he grew older, he educated himself in many scientific disciplines, as well as learning to speak multiple languages. He trained his body to physical perfection and even invented his own form of meditation. His goal was to train his body and mind as far as he could so he could form himself into the ultimate survivor.
Bane’s unrivaled strength and intense concentration helped him become the “King” of Pena Duro. He arrived there a victim, eventually evolved into a warrior, then became the strongest inmate. His ascension led him to become an unwilling test subject for the venom drug. As fate would have it, he survived the experiment, then used his enhanced strength to incite an insurrection. Bane unleashed his vengeance on the warden and staff of the prison, then set his sights on Gotham. His purpose was to track down Batman and kill him, using his new weapon and band of loyal followers to help him.
The story of Bane is one of complete tragedy, as his fate was chosen for him from the moment he was born. Forced to pay for the sins of his father and adapt to a hellish environment, it’s hard to blame him for becoming a villain. What’s most interesting about Bane is how similar he is to The Joker. He has no real name, like The Joker, and exists only to challenge Batman. His origins are more clear, but like some of Joker’s origin stories, Bane’s origins make him a sympathetic villain. As a child, he was an easy target for the other deranged prisoners and his only friend was a teddy bear named Osito. Young Bane made use of Osito when he hid a knife in his eye, the same knife he used to commit his first murder.
It’s things like these that make Bane a much more intriguing character than other villains. His origins make you feel sorry for him and understand him. However, by the time he becomes an adult, your feelings of sympathy turn into fear. This is why a solo Bane movie can work. It would be more than just a typical origin story. Like Joker, it would show how a troubled individual is abused by the environment he lives in. That abuse would slowly morph him into a deranged madman and he would unleash his anger on the environment that abused him.
That’s the kind of origin story we would see in a Bane movie and doesn’t even need Batman. All we need to see is how Bane evolved from frightened little boy to brutal warrior. The movie can show how he developed his brilliant mind and also introduce the venom. He can finally have his two vital qualities in one movie, giving us a completely faithful version of Bane. The success of Joker made potential movies like this possible, so this can definitely happen.
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