It takes a certain type of villain to get the best of the Bat. It takes another breed entirely to overrun his city, crush his spirits and demolish him completely. It takes a person of incredible intelligence. A person of immeasurable resolve. A person of insurmountable strength. A person named Bane.

An orphaned boy imprisoned by tyrants and used as a lab rat for high-risk experiments, Bane broke free from his shackles and grew to become one of the most powerful super-villains in Gotham City. His epic battle with Batman in the historic "Knightfall" storyline where he broke Batman's back and his subsequent appearances in comics, film and animation have made him one of the Dark Knight's most popular and enduring adversaries.

Fueled by the uber-steroid serum known as Venom, Bane's strength is matched only by his intelligence. A master planner and strategist, he devoted his life to proving himself as the best. However, his quest for supremacy puts him directly at odds with the Dark Knight, whom Bane sees as the human embodiment of the law and order responsible for his captivity and torture as a child. Intriguingly, despite this hatred, Bane holds a much greater sense of respect for Gotham's guardian than most of his fellow villains, seeing Batman as his only real equal.

But that equality comes at a price. The same serum that gives the villain his greatest strength is also his greatest weakness. Bane has developed an intense drug-like addiction to Venom and if deprived will go into severe withdrawal that could eventually culminate in madness. But if this will ultimately prove to be his downfall, it certainly hasn't yet.