Bane is a fictional villain that appears primarily in Batman Comics. He is usually found antagonizing Batman. He makes up the Batman’s Rogues Gallery with other villains collectively. Bane has many features but the one that intrigues both the readers and viewers is that. “Why does Bane wear a mask”?
In order to get the answer to this question, we must first look at Bane’s character. His physical features, his back-story, and his motivation to beat batman. And all other aspects of his character will collectively provide the answer to the question. That “why does Bane wear a mask”.
We have seen several iterations of Bane over the years over different media. The Bane in comics and animated adaptations have the same origins. And the Bane that we came to love in “The Dark Knight Rises” had somewhat different origins. Both of them wear masks but the reason is inherently different.
We will explore the answer to the question ” why does Bane wear a mask?” by keeping in view both the different takes on Bane in different media. Also, Bane is the only villain who has defeated Batman after breaking him mentally.
In the Comics
Origin Story
Bane has a very interesting story arc, especially in the comics. The character of Bane was introduced in the Knightfall storyline. It was established that Bane’s father Edmund Dorrance was a revolutionary in Santa Prisca. He had escaped the legal system of the country to flee to another place.
The court decided that his young son “Bane” will be punished in Edmund’s place. Hence, Bane was sentenced to the Santa Prisca prison for life. There Bane spent his early life and developed all of his extraordinary abilities. He did so by reading a lot of books. And spending most of his time in the gym. He even developed his own form of exercise and also learned to fight.
It was further established in the Knightfall storyline that Bane committed his first murder at the age of 8. And gradually, after establishing himself as a force to reckon with in the Santa Prisca prison. He also dreams of a bat-like creature that tortures him in his sleep.
He later goes on to become the top dog of the prison and declares himself as the king of the prison. The authorities also took note of this development.
First Use of Mask
When Bane became the king of the prison. Authorities were conducting trials of a drug called “Venom”. But whoever was administered with Venom would not survive. Looking at Bane’s prime mental and physical condition, the authorities decided to use him as their new lab rat.
Bane nearly died like all other previous subjects but survived from the brink of his death. The trial became a success. The drug increased his physical strength greatly. But the drug was highly addictive and had to be pumped directly into his brain. For this purpose, a system of tubes was connected to his head and a mask was placed onto his head to cover the tubes.
This is the primary answer to the question “why does Bane wear a mask” is this Venom drug. It must be noted that due to the highly addictive nature of this drug Bane gets hooked on it. And to cater to this addiction he has attached the tubular delivery system of the drug with his mask permanently. And as a result, he needs to wear his mask at all times.
Animated Portrayals
Even in the animated portrayals, this backstory is followed. It is further shown in Bane’s encounters with Batman that when he enables the infusion of Venom to his mind using the tubes. He even increases in size momentarily with his veins being ripped. And becomes extremely powerful and every blow he delivers is way more lethal than before.
In several animated portrayals, it is also shown that if Bane is infusing the Venom drug then disconnecting or breaking the delivery system will cause Bane to become disoriented.
For instance, in Bane’s first encounter with Batman in Batman: The Animated Series it is depicted that when Batman destroys the controller for the Venom drug, a greater quantity of Venom starts to infuse with Bane’s mind. He becomes bigger to the extent that his eyes start to bulge out and he starts losing control.
In this scenario, Batman disconnects the delivery pipe to his brain to save his life otherwise his brain might have exploded.
Similarly in other appearances of Batman in the Animated Universe, the pipes and mask is an integral part of his personality.
In Live-Action Movies
Bane has two most notable live action movie appearances.
1. Batman & Robin
In the film Batman & Robin, the dynamic duo faces off against Bane. This Bane portrayal also uses the drug “Venom” to enhance strength. The duo ultimately succeeds in defeating Bane by breaking the tubes delivering the Venom to Bane.
2. The Dark Knight Rises
The complete backstory of this iteration of Bane is never revealed. But Bane in the movie also uses a mask with small pipes integrated on it. During the final fight, Batman defeats Bane and in the process kicks apart a pipe on the mask.
This causes Bane to experience severe pain. It is at this moment that Talia al Ghul appears and stabs Batman. She reveals that she is the daughter of Ra’s al Ghul and she is the one who escaped the pit.
It is shown in a flashback that Bane helped Talia escape due to which the mob attacks him injuring his face severely. The in-house doctor treats him but Bane is left in perpetual pain. When Talia arrives with her father in the pit to rescue Bane, the damage had already been done.
She further tells Batman that using the mask, Bane inhales a painkiller gas that keeps the pain at bay, and removing the mask or disconnecting the pipe is extremely painful for him. In this movie, Bane has the pipes attached in the mask, unlike other appearances where pipes are longer and are also attached to a venom drug quantity controller.
This iteration of Bane was introduced by Nolan himself and new idea for using the mask was also explained by him. It is a very interesting an modern take on Bane’s character explaining the reason for his instant defeat on disconnecting the pipes on his mask.
Conclusion
This article briefly describes the reason behind Bane using a mask in all of his appearances. We sincerely hope that you have liked this interesting information. We have a complete dedicated website for everything and everyone related to Batman www.batmanfactor.com.
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