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Recap / DEATH BATTLE! S04E03 - Venom VS Bane

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Every champion of justice inspires others, whether they mean to or not. And sometimes, that inspiration creates your worst nightmare.

Venom, the ultimate antithesis to Spider-Man, and Bane, the burly genius that broke the Bat.

For the third episode of the fourth season, Boomstick and Wiz look at how two ordinary (in a strange sense) became fearsome creatures who prove threats to the men who they perceive slighted them.

Kicking off this episode, Wiz and Boomstick start off by looking at Venom, both the symbiote and its most famous host Eddie Brock. Eddie Brock was an up-and-coming journalist on the verge of a major breakthrough. He had published an article claiming that he had discovered the identity of a serial killer known as the Sin-Eater. However, that very day, Spider-Man encountered and unmasked the man and revealed his true identity. In turn, Eddie was fired from his job, disowned by his father, divorced from his wife and discovered he had terminal cancer. This lead him to blame Spider-Man for his failures and his anger and desire to kill him attracted the attention of the symbiote.

The symbiote hailed from the planet Klyntar, one of many who sought to bond with a host to make them protectors of justice. Sadly, this symbiote bonded with a few bad eggs, including Deadpool, before landing onto Spider-Man. When Spidey experienced its insanity, he drove the symbiote off, not realizing its purpose. This angered the symbiote and, sensing Eddie's own anger towards its former host, the two bonded and named themselves "Venom".

Together, the two are incredibly powerful with immense strength, speed, agility and a powerful healing factor. The symbiote mimics many of Spider-Man's legendary abilities and can shapeshift at will, growing in size, creating clothing, turn invisible or even create spike weapons for stabbing. Its durability is incredible, purging toxins with ease and taken blows from the likes of The Incredible Hulk and the Juggernaut. He's even survived the Penance Stare of the Ghost Rider. The symbiote can heal its host, is fast enough to catch a bullet, durable enough to take said bullets and even an anti-tank rocket and is strong enough to tear apart a military transport and hold up a ferris wheel in a weakened state.

Of course, Venom isn't perfect - the symbiote is weak against both sound-based and fire attacks, even if it has built up a resistance to both over repeated exposure, can be weakened enough to expose the human inside and they're not the brightest bulbs in the pack, opting for brute force than tactics. It also requires a special chemical to feast on that comes from certain mushrooms, chocolate... or human brains.

Dr. Ashley Kafka: Eddie? Is that you?
Venom: There is no more Eddie! And no more symbiote! Only Venom!

Next up is Bane, a man whose sheer cunning and brain power is more than a match for the Batman. Born a nameless child in the hellish prison of Pena Duro, he was forced to serve out his deceased father's life sentence in his stead. He would fight to survive as best as possible in this place until an accident put him into a coma. There, he had a dream where he was confronted by a vision of his future self, who would tell him that he would conquer everything should he conquer his fears, represented by a bat. He would gain his name as he started to conquer his fear. Soon, he would learn of Batman and how he "ruled" Gotham through fear, driving him to be even more determined and stronger to conquer. In an attempt to put him in his place, Bane was put into a process to use him to test the super serum drug Venom. Faking his death, he survive the attempt to dispose of his body and lead a rebellion of the jail, becoming king of it. Aided by a few fellow prisoners, the two headed for Gotham with the intent on breaking the Bat.

Bane's main power is the drug Venom, which increases his strength, durability and healing. Under the influence, Bane can lift armored trucks with ease, survive falling off a skyscraper without injury and not only broke Batman's back, but put him into a coma. He was able to survive getting beaten up by Batman while the hero temporarily had Superman's powers. Of course, Venom is incredibly addictive and taking an overdose of it can turn him into a musclebound mindless beast. Even without being on the drug, Bane is still incredibly powerful, having taken bullets and stabbings with ease, can bust down stone walls on his own, survived being tossed by Elasti-Woman of the Doom Patrol and even cauterized wounds with a blowtorch. He's also incredibly smart, having learned ten languages, escapeology, mastered six martial arts, can rival Ra's al Ghul in chess and deduced Batman's identity in a year.

Bane: When we fought before, I broke the Bat. Now? I break the man.

With everything laid to bare, it's time for a death battle!

In an undisclosed warehouse, two Mooks carry boxes, only for an impatient Bane to join them and do so with ease. A mysterious figure arrives and one of the mooks thinks its Batman. However, Bane realizes it's not him as the mooks are dragged away and eaten. Bane prepares himself as Venom cackles echo through the battlefield, then leaps out declaring that Bane is his.

FIGHT!

Venom leaps at Bane, only for Bane to catch him and throw him away, grabbing a machinegun and fires at the beast. Venom takes the bullets and shoots them back, Bane taking them easily. Venom attempts to drag Bane to him only to get shoulder-checked. The two men deliver a series of blows before Venom draws first blood and puts Bane down into the ground. Bane escapes being crushed by the monster and knocks him away before charging him and smashing him through walls. Bane attempts to stomp him, only for Venom to escape and blend into the shadows. Bane calls him out on this, calling the technique "cheap magic tricks". He counters Venom's sneak attack, slams him into a truck and hits him with a rocket launcher, before pumping himself full of Venom and breaking Venom's back. However, it was a ruse - Venom stabs Bane with numerous spikes, piercing his Venom Feed, before slamming him to a wall and pinning him there. Victorious, he goes to get what he came for - his brains. As Venom escapes, a horrified Batman discovers the headless body of Bane.

KO!

Despite Bane having the superior intelligence, Venom surpassed him in every other category, having lifted nearly seven times Bane's best (a 27-ton armored truck) while weakened in the form of a carnival ride (200 tons), moving at nearly twice the speed of sound to catch bullets in mid-flight, and while both have taken blows from all-mighty foes, Venom's own Healing Factor far surpassed Bane's own. As well, though certainly intelligent, even if Bane knew of Venom's weaknesses to fire and sounds he was ill-equipped to readily take advantage of them with his skills, while Bane's own Venom Feed was a perfect target for Venom to destroy and cripple the mighty criminal.

Boomstick: Looks like Venom was the real bane in this fight.
Wiz: The winner is Venom.

Next time on Death Battle...


Venom vs. Bane contains examples of:

  • Atrocious Alias: Boomstick isn't impressed when he hears the origins and meanings behind both fighters' villain aliases.
  • Ax-Crazy: Venom in this Death Battle is much more unhinged and bloodthirsty compared to most portrayals of him, with some viewers comparing his insanity to Carnage.
  • Bait-and-Switch: Toward the end of the fight, Bane attempts to recreate the moment when he broke Batman's back on Venom, making it seem as if he's won...only for Venom to turn the tides by stabbing his leg and cutting off his supply of the venom serum.
  • Evil vs. Evil: Well, Anti-Hero vs. Villain, but you get the gist.
  • Healing Factor: Both Venom and Bane possess a form of a healing factor. However, Venom's far outclasses Bane's ability to heal major injuries almost instantly.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Venom is this to Bane's Mighty Glacier as Venom is fast enough to keep up with a bullet and even lift a large carnival ride while in a weakened state.

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