As a child, Bane was forced to serve his estranged father's life sentence in Santa Prisca's Pena Duro prison. Bane survived prison life and developed his abilities through the prison library and gym. Over the years, he quickly garnered a reputation as "king of Pena Duro." The prison staff decided to volunteer Bane as the latest test subject for a drug called Venom. Unlike his predecessors, Bane survived and gained enhanced physical attributes. Bane used his new found power to kill everyone and escaped. Bane rigged a system of cables that relays Venom to his brain.
Bane turned his sights onto Gotham City and Batman. He was amazed at how fear reigned supreme and how criminals cowered at the mention of Batman. Bane decided to make it his mission to destroy Batman. He followed a strategy of wearing out Batman and then attacking him at his weakest. Bane broke Batman's back. However, Batman rallied back to peak form and defeated Bane. Since then, Bane tried unsuccessfully to kill him for nearly 10 years. A new opportunity presented itself when Vandal Savage recruited him. Bane dug up and stole the caskets of Bruce Wayne's parents and lured him into a trap. He knocked out Wayne and buried him alive with his parents. Wayne punched and dug his way to freedom. In the eventual rematch, Batman severed Bane's Venom cable with a Batarang and kicked him unconscious.