Bane's origin story is set in the story Knightfall. 6 His father, Edmund Dorrance (better known as the Serpent King), had been a revolutionary who had escaped the Santa Prisca court system. The corrupt government decreed that his young son would serve the man's life sentence, so Bane spent his childhood and early adult life in prison.3 7

Although he was imprisoned, his natural abilities allowed him to develop extraordinary abilities within the prison walls. He read as many books as he could, spent most of his free time as a bodybuilder in the prison gym, developed his own form of meditation, and learned to fight in the ruthless school of prison life. Due to the supposed geographic and cultural location of Santa Prisca, Bane could speak English, Spanish, Portuguese and Latin. Despite his circumstances, he encountered teachers of various sorts during his incarceration, from hardened convicts to an elderly Jesuit priest, under whose tutelage he apparently received a classical education. Bane murdered this priest on his return to Santa Prisca years later. He committed his first murder at the age of eight, stabbing a criminal who wanted to use him to obtain information about the prison.7 During his years in prison, Bane carried a teddy bear that he called Bear, whom he considered his only friend.8 It is revealed that Bear has a hole in his back to hold a knife that Bane used to defend himself