Which isn't the only time that Bane and the Bat's paths have crossed in a more familial sense. Remember when we said Bane went off searching for his missing father? Good, your memories still in good shape then, since we mentioned that like five seconds ago. Anyway, after the Ra's al Ghul thing is a total wash Bane decide to renew his quest for a paternity test, returning to his home country and meeting up with that elderly Jesuit priest again (nice that he left him alive just long enough for the priest to be let out of prison, and then kill him). Before he knocks off the poor guy, though, the priest manages to get out possibility that Bane's biological father is an American doctor. Hey, you know who else's father is an American doctor? Bruce Wayne's. Prior to being gunned down in Gotham's infamous Crime Alley - and we dunno how a guy smart enough to get a doctorate didn't realise wandering down a road called Crime Alley at night wasn't a good idea - Thomas Wayne was one of the premiere surgeons in the world. It's where he made all that money his deadbeat son could using on making wonderful toys and stealing orphans. Bane did some digging and actually came up with more than just "hey my dad was a doctor too!", discovering that Dr Wayne became close to his mother whilst Bruce's dad was spending time in Santa Prisca. Over the course of the Tabula Rasa storyline Bane stays at Wayne Manor and actually fights crime alongside his one-time arch nemesis, during which team they send off for a paternity test to find out whether they really are long lost brothers. This all leads to a climax worthy of an episode of Maury as Thomas Wayne is revealed to not be the father, and Bane bids his almost-sibling goodbye to look for his actual parent in the snowy mountains of Nepal. Eventually it turns out Bane's papa is some jerk mercenary who calls himself King Snake, but for a minute there it looked like DC were gonna pull a fast one on us all and reveal that Knightfall had more in common with a couple of brothers joking around than a vicious assault on a superhero. Guess what? This has also never, ever been brought up since, and the pair have gone back to the classic hero/villain relationship that they will probably continue to have forevermore.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
