Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Bane

Although Bane was still a brand new villain, he got a fairly serviceable introduction here. Sure it wasn't the instant classic like the introductions of Freeze or Two-Face, but Bane's brains as well as brawn were introduced giving the baddie more respect than he would get on screen for years to come. 

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Dark Knight Court

Not only did Dark Knight Court cleverly play on the title of one of Batman's best known nicknames, but the episode dished out homages to a number of superheroes who eventually formed the elderly team of Dependables. I will admit, the mash up of Marvel and DC characters onto a single team does make the purist in me a little unconformable, but the parody was still pretty memorable. 

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Batman at Zigglers

 

The year, 2011. The episode, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Bat-Mite Presents: Batman's Strangest Cases! The place, the cutting room floor. Alas, what could have been. Director Ben Jones gave the scoop HERE about an homage to the Zellers Batman ads that almost was. This ad parody was planned to pad the episode which paid homage to all sorts of lesser known Batman tales but was ultimately cut for time. Neverthless, the deleted scene is still a lot of fun pitching the fictional store Ziggler's where, "Higher Prices Must Be Punished" accoriding to the "Manifesto of Toylandia."

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Bat Man of Shanghai: Bat Man

And all too soon this series of shorts concluded leaving me yearning for more. Once again this was just spectacular as the trio of characters clashed. I even enjoyed the cutaways that depicted a cat, bear, and bat brawling. If there is a weakness, its the lackluster story, but with this much amazing style and action, who cares. This just may be the best of the already superb bunch.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Bat Man of Shanghai: Bane

The Cat Woman short was such an experience that my expectations for this second act were sky high. And guess what? I was equally captivated. I enjoyed this short from the start, but when Bane turned into a rolling ball, this episode earned my audible acclaim. Cat Woman may remain a tad higher on my list of favorites, but this is darned close.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Bat Man of Shanghai: Catwoman

And the bar has been raised. This first in a trio of shorts from the anime studio Wolf Smoke featured the three main characters in the live action movie The Dark Knight Rises but placed them in 1930's Shanghai. I absolutely love this short from the concept to the designs to choreography. It is a flawless minute that even manages to sneak in a peek at Bane who would be the focus of part 2. Not sure how Cat Woman's prehensile tail functions, but who cares. The only flaw here is that this begs for more episodes.

Bat Man of Shanghai Rises

Just one week after the opening of the epic finale to the Dark Knight trilogy, Cartoon Network has aired the final two segments of the marvelous Bat Man of Shanghai trilogy of shorts. Two weeks ago, minds were blown by the stylistic Cat Woman short, and today's Bane and Bat Man shorts were equally impressive. Definitely get them while they are hot.

First Look at Bane of Shanghai and More DC Nation Shorts

DC Nation is on a hot streak. Last week's new series Bat Man of Shanghai is perhaps the best yet. Although a skinny Bane made a cameo a just released video preview of upcoming DC Nation shorts gives the first glimpse of a venom infused Bane who will appear this Saturday. This Saturday also teases a New Teen Titans short, Red X Unmasked. Its going to be an epic weekend even if the main shows are in reruns. Along with the glimpse of Shanghai Bane, the preview footage offered first looks at several other upcoming series.

See the Cat Woman of Shanghai

I have a new favorite DC Nation short series. The Bat Man of Shanghai reimagines the world of Batman in 1930's China. This first short focused on Cat Woman and it was a stylized treat.

UPDATE:
Video embedded below

Without Further Ado... The OFFICIAL Dark Knight Rises Trailer 2

Click HERE for trailer 2 for The Dark Knight Rises. Between this and the prologue leaked earlier, its been a good day for Batman. We are in for a real treat come summer 2012. View the embedded trailer below!

Grainy Leaked Batman Prologue Still Looks Amazing

The prologue to the 2012 Batman sequel The Dark Knight Rises has predictably leaked but I will do my darndest to leep it posted below. The footage featured a "Darth Bane" in an action sequence that will look incredible when not being viewed via shaky phone camera.

Dark Knight Rises Poster Teases a Broken Bat

Even though the "look at my back" is a serious poster cliche this one remains effective as it places focus not on Bane's back but on the remains of Batman's broken cowl.

Batman and Bane Pics From the Set of The Dark Knight Rises (Now with Video)

Well, this is a nice little treat. Not only have we scored our first look at Batman from the Dark Knight Rises, but we get to see him and Bane locked in mortal combat.

The Dark Knight Rises Teaser Gets Animated

Check out this fan spliced teaser for The Dark Knight Rises with animation clips edited to the actual soundtrack.

Behold The Dark Knight Rises' Bane

The first image of Tom Hardy as Bane from The Dark Knight Rises has materialized and he looks pretty formidable. Although the mask isn't too clear it does look like its not either overly S&M or Mexican wrestler style, so that's a big plus. Why not go ahead and check out Bane's onscreen history here.

Could This be Proto Bane?

On the heels of the news that Bane will be appearing in The Dark Knight Rises, we already have our first look at some alleged concept art for the foe via the always questionable ComicBookMovie.com. I like that this does not seem inspired by either Mexican wrestling or leather fetish... and I still can't believe we are getting Bane.

Batman to Face Catwoman and Bane in The Dark Knight Rises

UPDATE July 18, 2011 - Here are some early Bane pics from the Batman sequel The Dark Knight Rises.

Check out visual onscreen histories of Bane and Catwoman now.


How do you top the Joker? According to the somewhat reputable rag LATimes.com, Batman is set to face Bane and Catwoman in Batman 3. I admit, I didn't see that coming. Well, Catwoman maybe, but Bane... He is a good character but you wouldn't know it from his last treatment in Batman and Robin.

Evolution of the Batman (and Robin) - Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman

Released in 2003, Batman:Mystery of the Batwoman was the final DTV built on the DC animated universe. Unlike the previous Subzero, Batwoman was crafted with the designs from The New Batman Adventures including the use of Tim Drake as Robin.

The whole idea is that a new vigilante has appeared in Gotham and is infringing on the "Bat" copyright. She uses somewhat unorthodox methods and so Batman wants to unmask her. Along the way, a couple classic Bat villains are brought in including Bane and Penguin.

The villains are one of the films weaknesses. Penguin and Bane just weren't all that interesting here. A bit more compelling was trying to figure out which of the "random" newly introduced female characters is the one in the Batwoman guise. For the record, I guessed incorrectly.

Overall, it wasn't a bad movie, but of the Batman animated movies, it was easily the weakest. Nevertheless, five years after the end of The New Batman Adventures run, it was still a much welcome treat. As for the DVD extras...

Up Next: Chase Me

Batman Serial * Batman and Robin Serial * Batman '66 TV * Batman '66 Movie * Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder * Batman on Scooby Doo * Batman the Super Friend * The New Adventures of Batman * Batman '89 * Batman Returns * Batman: The Animated Series * Batman: Mask of the Phantasm * Batman Forever * Batman and Robin * The New Batman Adventures * Boo Wonder * Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero * Batman Beyond * Gotham Girls * Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker * Batman on Justice League * DCAU Crossovers * Birds of Prey * Teen Titans * Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman

* Special Musical Edition * Special Christmas Edition * Special OnStar Edition

Evolution of the Batman (and Robin) - Batman and Robin

Thumper (or was it Thumper's mom) used to say, "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all). I am going to take that advice and am not going to say nothing about Batman and Robin. Batman Forever lightened things up and did pretty well, so I guess the gang thought, "Hey lets add more neon, more nipples, more sidekicks, more villains, more jokes. That should be good, right?" Wrong. In 1997, Batman and Robin made just $107 million on a budget of $127 million. Not only that, but it put the Batman franchise "on ice" (haha) for nearly 10 years and almost killed the comic book genre before it began. I think it is safe to say, this was Batman's lowest point in his on screen career. It could only go up from here.

Its really hard to pinpoint the worst element of Batman and Robin. There are just so many candidates, but most of the negatives lead to the conclusion that the movie was intended to introduce and sell action figures and toys rather than entertain. Batman Forever had Robin, so of course Batman and Robin needed Batgirl (whose costume was surprisingly nippleless). And each of the heroes had not only their normal ugly costumes, but some silver embossed "special edition" variation.

Then there was Mr. Freeze. Oh my, the one-liners never stopped. Sadly, the movie writers took the reinvented and beloved origin given to Freeze in Batman: The Animated Series, and made it suck.

And since you can only sell so many Freeze toys, we were given Poison Ivy and Bane as well. Poison Ivy on her own wasn't that bad, but watching Batman and Robin fight over her was. And it sure was convenient that Batman had his own Bat-credit card on hand to impress her. He "never leaves the cave without it." Yikes.

Freeze and Ivy were bad, but Bane was ridiculous. The villain was reduced to a moronic Hulk-like stooge that doubled as a driver. This may very well be the worst use of any major super villain in any super hero film.

Its safe to say, fans were disappointed and plans for Batman 5 AKA Batman triumphant were canceled. That film actually sounds interesting, introducing Scarecrow and Harley Quinn (possibly played by Madonna) making Batman think the Joker has returned. But I am pretty sure what we ended up with in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight is worth not ever getting that sequel.




There is actually a fan edit of the film called Batman and Robin De-Assified, which literally "deassified" the movie by cutting all the close-up butt and crotch shots., lame jokes, and zany sound effects. The streamlined 66 minute film is reportedly not that bad but some of the bad parts had to stay in to keep the film's continuity. Basically, most of this stuff was cut:

Up Next: The New Batman Adventures

Batman Serial * Batman and Robin Serial * Batman '66 TV * Batman '66 Movie * Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder * Batman on Scooby Doo * Batman the Super Friend * The New Adventures of Batman * Batman '89 * Batman Returns * Batman: The Animated Series * Batman: Mask of the Phantasm * Batman Forever * Batman and Robin

* Special Musical Edition *

Onscreen History of Bane

Bane is one of the more recently created characters to hit the mainstream. He first appeared in 1993, in Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1. Although his comic book counterpart is an intellectual match for Batman, his onscreen personas have been considerably more brutish. He bulks up with a steroid like substance, venom, becoming a physical threat for mere mortals like the Dark Knight. Bane is perhaps best known for breaking Batman's back in the epic 90's Knightfall arc.


Bane first appeared on screen in 1994 on the Batman: The Animated series episode "Bane" as an assassin for hire who nearly broke the Bat's back.

His next appearance would not be so dignified. Many people recall that Batman and Robin featured Poison Ivy and Mr. Freeze, fortunately they fail to remember the 3rd (because 2 just weren't enough) major villain of the film was Bane.







At this point it was tough to believe he would ever be used in any medium ever again.

This moronic brute was more of a "Hulk Smash" style nitwit thug than any sort of thinking villain... though he did a decent job filling in as a chauffeur.

In 1998, Bane regained a bit of street cred with appearances in both The New Batman Adventures and Superman: The Animated Series (although Superman really cleaned his clock).

For some reason, this incarnation of Bane took a bit of an S&M turn, complete with studded dog collar. This same interpretation would return in the 2003 direct to video move Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman.

The ultimate fate of Bane was revealed in 1999's Batman Beyond series which portrayed Bane as a washed up junkie still chasing a venom induced fix.

Bane made a couple of appearances in The Batman beginning in 2004. "Traction," attempted to retell Knightfall in 20 minutes, and threw in a Bat-mecha just for fun.

Bane also appeared red as a beet when using his venom... for no real reason other than it looked "cool."

Perhaps fearing that Bane was too violent or that drug use was inappropriate for The Batman's audience, Bane's appearances were few and far between, though Joker managed to beef up on venom in a later episode.

Enter 2009. Bane appeared in an opening sequence of Batman: The Brave and the Bold where he battled Batman and street brawler Wildcat. Again, the artists provided a little S&M for big Bane in the form of a zipper fitted gimp mask.


Later in 2009, Bane will appear in the Superman / Batman: Public Enemies movie. Not sure what role he will fill as he was not in the original comic book story, but hopefully he can will be able to go home at the end of the day proud of how far he has come since his low point 10 years ago.

I suppose there is a slim chance he could return to live action in the future, but for now Bane seems resigned to an animated lifestyle.

 

UPDATE: October 2011

 

 

 

A truer to form, intelligent and somewhat refined Bane had a recent stint on the animated Young Justice series where he opted for face paint rather than a mask - though have no fear he still pumped himself full of muscle inducing venom.

 In 2012, Bane will join the Legion in their quest to defeat  the Justice League in Justice League: Doom.

Bane has also been announced as one of the main villains in the 2012 live action The Dark Knight Rises where it looks like he will slip back into that comfy mask.