DC Confirms Batman Secretly Teamed Up With His Deadliest Villain

Spoilers follow for DC’s latest Batman: One Bad Day comic! DC has released the latest chapter in their villain-centric “One Bad Day’ collection of one shots and even though big bad Bane takes the spotlight, the issue actually shows a softer side to the villain and confirms a major team-up with Batman. Writer Joshua Williamson and artist Howard Porter crafted the new tale which sees the infamous villain that broke the Bat now living in his old age as a professional wrestler, breaking Batmen every night for a cheering audience. But that’s only half the story as his time working alongside Batman is a big piece too.

To really kick off the plot of One Bad Day – Bane, the villain is visited by a young boy that has a job delivering drop-offs for a drug manufacturing operation. Having discovered that his bosses have recreated Venom he tracks down Bane and shows it too him, prompting the villain to throw the sample of the drug into a fire and reveal that he and Batman previously teamed up to eliminate all Venom from the world in the past.

A flashback reveals how this surprising partnership took shape, even confirming that Batman reluctantly agreed after Bane was responsible for killing Alfred. While telling the tale Bane largely alludes to killing Batman, with the story implying that it happens after Bane discovers that no one in the Bat-family knows that they’re teamed up. In the end though the pair are seen working together to get rid of Venom, which they appear to succeed in, with Batman sacrificing himself to end their crusade and to save Bane’s life. It’s why Bane is now consumed with continuing to destroy any Venom on Earth, to honor Batman’s sacrifice.

The comic continues to reveal that the person who is manufacturing Venom is none other than Dr. Randolph Porter, the original creator of Venom and a DC character that has very minimal appearances in DC comics overall. As one can imagine, Bane is able to overtake Dr. Porter and destroy the Venom supply, only to land himself in the hospital and receive an interesting visitor, none other than Batman. 

This is when the comic takes the “One Bad Day” motif of the entire series and flips it on its head. Bane laments that the day he beat Batman was not only the greatest accomplishment of his life, but also the worst day of it too. Bane challenges Batman to one last fight, with the Dark Knight delivering an eloquent speech about how bad days define people’s lives, telling him to rest up and prepare for their actual final fight one day.