The most crushing blow of that second fight between Batman and Bane, with the Dark Knight reigning triumphant, is that it forced Ras al Ghul to cut off his erstwhile son-in-laws engagement to his daughter Talia and disown Bane altogether. That was sad. Still, thats nothing compared to the various emotional and physical ringers hes put Batman through. Arguably the pairs greatest battle - with the Caped Crusader fighting a man who has been alive for thousands of years, accumulating more skills and fighting practice than he ever could in his single life time - was in Birth Of The Demon. The one-shot, which followed up the infamous earlier story where Batman has sex with Talia al Ghul and Ras calls him a fiend from hell - sees the two going at it, before Ras strikes a fatal blow: he stabs Batman in the chest with a shovel. Still, the Dark Knight keeps going, battering Ras into submission and then dragging them both to a Lazarus Pit to be reborn.
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/