The reappearances of one of Batman’s greatest foes in recent issues of Task Force Z and Joker are both contradictory and illogical.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for recent issues of Task Force Z and The Joker, now on sale from DC Comics.
The DC Universe is currently in a state of flux thanks to a variety of growing threats across the multiverse. But there are still some major questions to be answered about the more grounded villains of DC, including one of Batman’s greatest foes.
Task Force Z #5 (by Matthew Rosenberg, Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, Matt Santorelli, Jack Herbert, Adriano Lucas, and Rob Leigh) highlights the fact that DC currently has two versions of Bane running around without any clear indication of which one is the true version of the villain.
Gotham City is still reeling from the events of A-Day, which saw a massive attack laying waste to Arkham Asylum, slaughtering numerous employees and patients. The formidable Batman villain Bane appeared to be among the many who did not survive the attack. The Joker solo series has focused somewhat on uncovering the true culprit of the crime, suggesting that the Clown Prince of Crime had been framed. In fact, The Joker #12 (by James Tynion IV and Sam Johns) revealed that Bane was alive and had been working alongside the Court of Owls, hiding in plain sight as one of their agents. However, this contradicts Bane’s more recent appearances in the DC Universe, namely as a member of Task Force Z.
In the Task Force Z series, Bane was confirmed to have died in the attack, only to be resurrected thanks to the Lazarus Resin developed by the government. Left in an undead state, Bane proved an incredibly powerful but ultimately expendable member of the group. His genuine connection to Batman was seemingly confirmed when he told a vengeful Jason Todd that he understood his anger over the murder of Alfred Pennyworth during “City of Bane.” This hinted that the mind of the villain still existed beneath his zombified exterior. The Bat-Villain has been at the heart of that storyline as well, inviting the question as to which version of the character is the real Bane.
There are a handful of potential solutions to this confusion. Vengeance, the cloned daughter of the villain, proves that either version of the villain could be a copy. There’s also a chance that, like other characters introduced during “Infinite Frontier,” an alternate reality version of Bane could be present as well in the mainstream reality. The Court of Owls could reasonably be utilizing their own version of Bane gathered from one of these two options, setting up the possibility that the undead Bane in Task Force Z could be the original version of Batman’s nemesis.
At this point, it is impossible to tell which version of the Bat-Villain is the real Bane. Regardless, with the Bat-Family and Gotham City villains like the Joker otherwise occupied, now would be the ideal time for someone like Bane to return to the city and take power for themselves.
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