Absolute Bane is a monster unlike any other that Batman has ever faced. In their first encounter, Bane dismantled Batman with zero effort, easily blocking all of his strikes and disabling his limbs one at a time. And that was before he used any Venom, transforming into a fifteen foot tall monster of pure muscle. Last issue, Batman escaped the horrific experiments of Ark M with his friend Waylon, mutated into Killer Croc, but Bane isn’t going to stop until he breaks the Bat. The villain is famous for breaking Batman’s back in the main timeline. This version of Bane hopes to make just as big of an impact, but he doesn’t just want to break Batman’s body, he wants to destroy his soul.
Videos by ComicBook.com
The Worst Beatdown in Comics
Although he managed to escape Ark M, Bane tracked Batman down in Gotham City. The monster found Batman ready and waiting for him, having lured him into a circle of cars filled with Bat-Bombs. The Absolute Dark Knight set them all off, but Bane simply walked through the explosion, unharmed. His veins were flowing with Venom, and he wasn’t taking any chances with Bruce this time. With one hit, he sent Batman sprawling onto the ground, coughing up blood. Batman tried to slice into the behemoth with his Bat-Axe, but the blade barely even cut into the skin. It was like stabbing a tree with a kitchen knife.
Taking the axe made from Bruce’s own Bat Symbol, Bane sliced off Batman’s right arm, all the way up to the shoulder. He tossed Batman to the ground, holding Bruce’s stolen arm like a trophy, a taunt. Batman tried to crawl away, but Bane simply strutted up to him and slashed off his other arm. Batman was on his knees, unable to move and spewing blood, hanging his head, knowing he lost. But Bane knew that even now he had to go farther to crush Batman’s spirit. He ripped the Bat Symbol off its handle and smashed it into Bruce’s face. Batman begged for Bane to stop, but the monster only told him to open his eyes. Bane crushed Batman’s face again and again, until the symbol broke, Bruce’s skull split open and one of his eyes leaked out. Bane dragged the barely alive Batman back to Ark M to finish the experiments on him. Except that it was revealed that none of this happened. Yet. It was just a narration by Alfred of what would happen if Bane came, exploring how the monster works. You see, Bane knew that pain couldn’t break Batman, so instead he went to get the one thing that could. Instead of going for Batman, Bane went for his friends.
How Bane Breaks Batman
This arc, “Abomination,” constantly refers to Bane’s desire to break Batman, which is an obvious callback to how the Prime Universe Bane broke Batman by destroying his spine in “Knightfall.” Of course, that was far from the only thing Bane did. The original Bane destroyed Batman emotionally first, releasing every villain from Arkham, forcing Batman to traverse Gotham recapturing them for three straight days without rest. He overwhelmed Batman and pushed him to his physical and mental limit, culminating in Bane attacking him in his own home when Batman was at the point of collapse. Bane broke his back and then left him to rot, content to have broken the idea of Batman through domination. Bane broke Batman physically and mentally, but he never broke his spirit, because the second he was conscious Bruce was thinking of how he could keep moving forward.
Absolute Bane is an entirely different animal. Breaking Batman’s body is child’s play to him. Sure, the above beatdown was fictitious, but it was based on Bane’s very real capabilities, demonstrated by their multiple fights. Instead, as stated by Alfred in this issue, Bane’s ideal is to shatter Batman’s spirit, to make Batman like him. Bane wants someone to understand him, perhaps to even justify his existence. He sees himself in Batman, so he wants to break Batman in the same way he was broken, to convince Bruce to allow himself to be turned into a monster to save his home, even if it means throwing away everything he stands for. Absolute Bane isn’t a villain for Batman as much as he is a challenge of his spirit. Batman cannot beat Bane, that has been thoroughly established, so now he has two options. Either he keeps going as is and is eventually broken or dies, or he evolves.
There’s one thing that Batman has that Bane doesn’t: friends. Bane intends to use Harvey, Edward, and Oswald as leverage to destroy Batman’s reasons for fighting, but what he doesn’t understand is that Batman will never stop trying to save his friends. And beyond that, he always has help in the form of Waylon and Alfred, and if the solicits are to be trusted, Selina. To Bane, people you love are weaknesses, which is why he had to kill his dad to work with the Joker. He had to give up what he loved to save his home. Batman, on the other hand, never gives anything up. He refuses to sacrifice anything other than himself, so when push comes to shove, he’s going to have to rely on his friends to help him. Batman cannot beat Bane, but Batman with Killer Croc, Alfred, and Catwoman? They might just stand a chance. This isn’t a physical fight, it’s a philosophical argument. Bane says that to surrender is the only way to win, and Batman says that fighting, even knowing you can’t win, is essential. Fighting on saves people, and it opens up doors to win, even when hope seems lost.
Absolute Batman #11 is on sale now!
Most Viewed
-
Image courtesy of Crunchyroll -
Image Courtesy of Netflix
