Batman Overview: Knightfall

This is the one. The introduction of Bane. The man who broke the bat. When Christopher Nolan announced that Bane would be the villain in The Dark Knight Rises fans had some ideas about what would happen. Given that Nolan has really taken adaptation and storytelling to a different level in The Dark Knight ensuring that Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes won’t be returning, he took us for a ride and exceeded expectations, subverting what we had come to know as superhero storytelling. In The Dark Knight, the hero is turned villain in the eyes of the public, he loses the girl, and the villain wins. Nolan has also given plenty of indication that The Dark Knight Rises brings the story full circle, and who better than the seminal man who broke the bat to feature in his grand finale: Bane.

A master of body and mind, Bane’s plan is simple. He knows his enemy the Batman well. He’s grown older, tired. Bane is young, idealistic, a perfect machine with a brain and mind to destroy the Bat. He releases all the maximum security inmates of Arkham Asylum; the rogues gallery is unleashed upon Gotham. The Joker, Two-Face, even one-note villains like The Film Freak get special attention from Batman. It’s Batman’s obligation to keep these criminals behind bars that pushes him to his limits. Robin (Tim Drake at this point) sees the strains that Bruce is undergoing at this time, but Bruce doesn’t heed any advice and continues to pursue while Bane watches, perched like a hawk until the moment arises. When Batman is at his most broken, and Bane his keenest, he meets Bruce at his home and forces him into a challenge. Bane doesn’t want to prove his strength to Batman, he simply wants to break him…and he does. While Bruce is broken–not dead, of course–Bane’s released inmates wreak havoc on Gotham and Bane, satisfied with a job well done, goes back to live in luxury.

“Knightfall” is the first part of an epic that refocuses Bruce Wayne as Batman. Bane wasn’t counting on the types of allies Bruce had, and one of those allies, Jean-Paul Valley/Azrael, dons the cape and cowl as Batman in Bruce’s stead. Valley is powerful, trained in the same tactics that made Bruce as well as trained by The Order of St. Dumas, and he is an easy match for Bane. And while violent battles ensue Tim Drake notices something about Valley; he lacks restraint. He is all violent energy, and once he’s taken the mantle of the Bat from Bruce he develops it into his own mechanical hybrid of Bat and Azrael. Valley defeats Bane through his immense violence over time but he bends rules that Bruce would never touch–Bruce even ordered Valley no to seek out Bane to begin with. Drake becomes less a partner and more observer to the mayhem caused by Azrael as he becomes singleminded and driven by violence due in large part to the training from The Order of St. Dumas. In the end, Bruce must overcome what Bane had done to him and retake the mantle of the Bat, forcing Valley to remain in Gotham as Azrael.

There is a lot more in “Knightfall” that makes it one of the better stories in DC’s Batman canon, and I’m only touching on the bare plot points here because any fan of Batman should read it. It’s a great intro to the character of Bane, a great representation of how Batman works with his allies–contrary to Nolan’s films, eventually Batman comes to work with a vast number of allies all over Gotham–and it’s great to see some high and low profile villains come out and play.

The most important take-away is how powerful Bane is as a villain, and how perfect an adversary he is for Batman. He is highly intelligent, he takes physical and mental care of himself, he is humble, modest, and worst of all for Batman, patient. He allows criminals to drive Batman to a breaking point and is never eager to rip Batman apart with his own hands. His patience is the mark of a man who enjoys watching his unknowing puppets on the stage. Gotham became his and not one person, not even Batman, had any clue. It’s the bizarre quirks of his henchmen–a hawk used to spy on Batman and Robin–that caught Robin’s attention at first, but Batman was too focused on putting the inmates back in Arkham that he missed his city becoming a puppet. Bane’s clarity is something that Batman lacked.

In stories past “Knightfall” Bane has developed into a villain with tragic personality traits, and his reliance on “Venom,” a chemical that enhances his strength, is his one weakness. That weakness takes the form of an addiction and drastically alters his motivations. Batman’s encounter with Bane in the video game Arkham City, for instance, has Batman and Bane scouring the city for barrels of Titan–a stand-in for “Venom”–but after they’ve all been destroyed Batman discovers that Bane has secretly hoarded a stash for himself. The temporary truce is abandoned and Batman locks Bane up so he can’t abuse the formula. It’s an interesting weakness for Bane, but it makes sense of his strength and Bane can be seen as a machine like any other, it needs oil to function properly.

Overall, if you find Bane interesting in The Dark Knight Rises, or if you want to see what all the Batman fans are talking about you’ll want to check out “Knightfall.” It isn’t perfect, depending on which collections you get, or if you find all the single issues, some of the third act storytelling with Valley once Bane is defeated is choppy at best, but it is definitely worth the read.

Bits and Bats

• In later stories Bane also has ties to The League of Assassins led by Talia Al Ghul. Will Bane have ties with Nolan’s stand in, The League of Shadows, in The Dark Knight Rises? Rumours abound!
• More rumours!  Nolan initially stated “Knightfall” strongly influenced Rises so there were rumours that Batman/Bruce Wayne will die/Be Broken and in his stead, like Jean-Paul Valley, someone would take up the mantle of the Bat. We’ll find out this weekend how true these may be, but given that Rises looks to be influenced as much by “Knightfall” as it does “Dark Knight Returns” and “No Man’s Land” it’s hard to say. I will say, however, that I’m very fond of how Nolan can blend comic book narratives into their own story, drawing from sources but adapting his own.
• To me, this describes how epic Bane is. A sub-plot in the middle of the “Knightfall” series has Joker and Scarecrow lighting Gotham City on fire. The whole city. Two of Batman’s established villains burn the city and it’s a sub-plot, because without Bane releasing them, they wouldn’t have had the opportunity, and Joker and Scarecrow don’t even know to thank him.

That’s it for my Batman coverage. There is certainly much more that I could cover, but before The Dark Knight Rises I invite you to look over these and reflect on the great characters and stories we’ve been given from many authours over the years. We are privileged to be given the works of Christopher Nolan and I have no doubts that Rises will deliver.