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Warning. If you haven’t read Absolute Batman Issue Fourteen, be forewarned that we’ll be touching on spoiler territory. To start, the obvious connection between the anime movie Akira and the hard-hitting DC comic is that sheer mass of Bane. The villain’s body grows to the size of a literal giant, but much like in the anime classic, his growth grows out of control, akin to Tetsuo Shima’s expansion. One of the aces up the Dark Knight’s sleeve was to use the muscle-strengthening drug known as “Venom,” which many believed he would use on himself. Instead, Batman decides to turn the tables by injecting his foe with even more Venom.
Throughout the latest issue, the Dark Knight and Alfred debate about whether Bane has an upper limit when it comes to the amount of strength the villain can gain from Venom. During the battle, Bane becomes so large that he looks more like a giant than the typical DC villain that we’ve come to know. However, once Bruce injects even more Venom into the titan’s back, Bane finds himself unable to control his growth, and his body pays the price. In a scene that is wildly reminiscent of the anime classic Akira, Bane is defeated as his body is unable to handle the levels of Venom that are running through his veins. The luchador-looking antagonist might be defeated, but the Joker still waits on the sidelines.
