Harley Quinn taught me to love Bane

Before he became the worst part of Batman movies, Bane was Batman’s worst enemy. He is now the boss Harley QuinnI love it and I love him. In Valentine’s Day Special: A Very Problematic Valentine’s Day (streaming Feb. 9, on HBO Max), HarleyKaley Cuoco) plans an awesome February 14 for girlfriend Poison Ivy (Lake Bell). That’s a good plan for a 45-minute snack. But a side story about Bane (James Adomian) — the masked juicehead who taaaaalllks like THIIIIISSSSS!!!!!! — steals the spotlight. His tale is hilarious, absurd, and kind of cute. Threety-years after his misbegotten invention Bane is here.

It turns out that the big guy is not alone on Valentine’s Day. We ought to have known. We should’ve known. Harley QuinnHe was always the villain who annoys evil villains. A cool wannabe desperately seeking Harley’s attention. A canceled wedding that he had cancelled left him with a present (a pasta-maker) and he spent the entire season upset. “I was born into Hell and I demand that you respect me!” He once shouted, a remarkable sentence that turned pride into pity.

DC Universe Bane on Harley Quinn’

This Bane version draws inspiration from many sources, some of which are quite absurd. You can see the wrestler costume, with neon-green steroids injected into his Hulk size body. Adomian is a skilled impressionist. He nails the burptruck nasal. Tom Hardy Adopted for 2012 The Dark Knight Rises. This means that Bane can act normal. The special features Bane’s sadness over his single life and how he uses a dating app to find love. He also drinks from a coffee mug. (Caffeine Is My ReckoningIt’s my wish! Season 3 vaguely rom-com-ized Bane — he did Carrie Bradshaw narration! — and now he gets a meet-cute.

We are miles away from his appearance in the 1930s. Back then, regular supervillains weren’t enough. Eccentricity was out, muscles were in. Bane arrived just after Doomsday, a Superman killer who spoke only in roars. Initialy, Doomsday wore a green mask and red goggles. That was Bane, but he had dark blue eyes, endless talking, and inflatable muscles.

Strenuous bad-dudery was able to replace one type of silly (laughing gas costumed evildoer), with another (see inflatable muscles). It was written by 7-year-old me, and I purchased Bane as pure monstrosity. In Batman #497: An exhausted Bruce meets Bane at Wayne Manor. He wants Batman to die and Gotham to rule. An origin issue featured the baddie’s childhood in a prison cell. Bane explains that he lived thousands of miles away from Bane. He is praised by the caped crusader: “You may be the greatest source of madness or evil I have ever encountered.”

Bane finally breaks Batman’s back. In penciler Jim Aparo’s famous splash pageBane appears to be a body-builder. Kelley Jones’ cover artwork is even more hilarious. Bane appears to flexmorph across the page: triceps veins, tree-trunk muscles, and his tiny head an island within a hairless ocean. Bane appears to be able to move without Aparo’s movement lines. Slowly Fold Batman across his kneecap. T. Rex from Batcave stares at us with wide eyes, as if he is a wolf. I am a freaking dinosaur, and this is far too much for my needs.

DC Comics ‘Batman 497’

The showdown brought back the scourging that began in 1986. The Dark Knight ReturnsIn this episode, Batman is attacked by a proto-Bane Ganglord with high pecs. ReturnsThe Dark Knight wins a rematch because he fights better. This is how Bane goes down. However, Bane also has the whoopsie quirk of being rendered powerless by his inflatoserum. The ideal Bat-adversary demands some lateral thinking — out-riddling the Riddler, out-joking the Joker, out-duality-of-man-ing Two-Face — but when a baddie’s whole thing is strength, the response tends to be just more strength. Bane doesn’t have an obvious second act and there is no immediate rich pathology. He shouts when someone breaks his bodypipes and pummels. This was comics’ mainstream in the early 1990s: Loud, thoughtless brutality that meant nothing.

Bane’s ethnicity is a matter of debate. Video games and cartoons have made the Caribbean backstory and luchador mask seem a bit shady. Both the movies and television went in two bad directions. In 1997 Batman & Robin This made him a voiceless accomplice. Rises Megaphoned him into becoming an anti-wealth revolutionary, blowing up a city to please his dynastic terrorist lover. This is the moment gritty blockbuster realism became absurd: Christian BaleBane’s airtubes get punched in by’s Batman RisesHardy screams “Ahhhhhhhhh!” in a da goggles do nothing! voice. Fox’s deranged Gotham Variation was more fun and coherent, making it a much-loved teen heartthrob. Shane West You will be transformed into a military Judas wearing a steampunk-themed chest plate

In order to make Bane an unsavory U.S. agent, the character is made in a very 1980s style of action-guy masculinity. Back then, goodness was strength: Schwarzenegger. Stallone. Baby oil on weight-lifted bods. You can tease retroactive satire in Bane’s comically easy defeats — he’s nothing without steroids! — but a certain HGH mood was taking hold in comics and culture. (Remember that Batman’s torso muscle-orbs are visible in the cover art. So Bane is screechy-poignant Harley Quinn Persona is a deconstructive word that can be used in a new manner. The point isn’t JokerIt’s important to tell a story. It began by making fun of Bane. It was eventually nailed down (or maybe created?) His fundamental psychological wound. It saw the little guy within the big man.

In fact, the special renders Bane absurd in a regular-human fashion before turning into megafiasco. Both moods land: Bane the sadsack, Bane the priapic colossus. I have hope because of that. Harley QuinnThe uncertain future. This strange little miracle has managed to survive the end of multiple DC multiverses. Every Warner Bros. employee is now suffering from job anxiety due to corporate turnover. I also sensed defensive thinking last year. (Harley decided that she was a good guy. Deadpool 2 stuff.) I miss the renegade series 2 instincts that killed Penguin and Mr. You can also freeze in the same month. Even though the show’s next act will be less iconic-exploding, bloodbath bonanza, it is still beneficial to have weirdos in interesting relationship. Although Bane may not be the greatest source of evil and madness, I don’t want him lonely.

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