While Batman have a complex rivalry that has become the stuff of comic book legend, many fans and newcomers alike are probably unaware of one crucial mid-nineties plot development that vastly deepened the animosity between them. For, while most readers and even many non-readers are familiar with the story of Knightfall, fewer are familiar with what came next and just how complicated things would become.
The 1996 storyline Legacy was developed across It was a sequel to the Contagion storyline, which introduced an earlier version of the virus featured in Legacy, and not only did it reveal the source of the virus known as Ebola Gulf A, it also detailed the forging of the deadly alliance of two of Batman's most dangerous enemies.
One complication, however, is detailed within Batman: Bane of the Demon, and it is a detail that very well could have come to define Bane's animosity towards Batman from that point on. One of the results of Bane's collaboration with Ra's al Ghul is that Bane begins a brief, tumultuous love affair with Talia al Ghul, Ra's daughter and sometimes love interest to Batman himself. However, Talia soon comes to see Bane as an unsuitable lover—especially compared to Batman—and rejects his advances from that point on. This causes Bane to not only pine for Talia, but also to resent Batman even more deeply, seeing him as the reason for Talia's lost affections.
By the end of Legacy, however, Talia is presumed dead, the result of an explosion aboard Ra's al Ghul's yacht that Bane manages to escape towards the end of the storyline in Robin #33 by Chuck Dixon and Staz Johnson. This results in even more resentment towards Batman, blaming him for Talia's death. These events all culminate in a very dark nightmare sequence for Bane in the Batman: Bane one-shot, where Talia not only openly rejects Bane's affections, but also mocks him for not matching up to Batman. This not only drives home exactly how much Talia means to Bane, it also puts Bane's insecurity in sharp focus, and shows how much of a motivating factor insecurity is for him.
Though Bane's hatred for Batman would continue to grow and change throughout the '90s and beyond, with his villainous machinations reaching even lower depths of cruelty in recent years, it should never be forgotten that Bane's motivations come from a very human place. He has always been defined by his insecurities and resentments—separated from others from birth, he is an individual composed of contradictions, neither fully a mastermind nor fully a brute, and rarely in complete control of his actions. Bane is one of Batman's most layered villains, but he didn't get that way overnight. It took years of character development and plotting to take Bane from being the man who broke the Bat to being Batman's rival in love.
