Bane was born in the fictional Caribbean Republic of Santa Prisca, in a prison called Peña Duro ("Hard Rock"). His father had been a revolutionary and had escaped Santa Prisca's court system. The corrupt government however decreed that his young son would serve out the man's life sentence, and thus Bane's childhood and early adult life are spent in the amoral penitentiary environment. Though imprisoned, his natural abilities allow him to develop extraordinary skills within the prison's walls. He reads as many books as he can get his hands on, builds up his body in the prison's gym, and learns to fight in the merciless school of prison life. Despite his circumstances, he finds teachers of various sorts during his incarceration, ranging from hardened convicts to an elderly Jesuit priest, under whose tutelage he apparently receives a classical education. Bane murders this priest upon his return to Santa Prisca years later. However, he commits his first murder at the age of eight, stabbing a criminal who wanted to use him to gain information about the prison. During his years in prison, Bane carries a teddy bear he calls Osito (Spanish for "little bear"), whom he considers his only friend. It is revealed that Osito has a hole in his back to hold a knife that Bane uses against anyone who bullies him. Bane ultimately establishes himself as the "King" of Peña Duro prison. The prison's controllers take note and eventually force him to become a test subject for a mysterious drug known as Venom, which had killed all other subjects. It nearly kills him at first, but he survives and finds the drug vastly increases his physical strength, although he needs to take it every 12 hours (via a system of tubes pumped directly into his brain) or he would suffer debilitating side-effects.

Years later, Bane escapes Peña Duro, along with several accomplices based on the Fabulous Five (his friends Trogg, Zombie, and Bird, all of whom are named after 1960s rock bands: The Troggs, The Zombies, and The Byrds, and were designed to mimic three of Doc Savage's assistants Monk, Ham, and Renny). His ambition turns to destroying Batman, whom he had heard tales of while serving his sentence. He is fascinated with Gotham City because, like the prison, it is a place where fear rules: in this case, fear of Batman. Bane is convinced that the demonic bat that haunted his dreams since childhood is a representation of the Batman.

Aware that a direct assault on Batman would be foolish, Bane destroys the walls of Arkham Asylum, allowing its deranged inmates (including the Joker, the Scarecrow, the Mad Hatter, the Ventriloquist, Firefly, Cavalier, and Victor Zsasz) to escape into Gotham City, where Batman spends three months rounding them up. Running himself to exhaustion, Batman returns to Wayne Manor, where Bane awaits him, having determined Batman's secret identity. Bane fights Batman in the Batcave, defeats him and delivers the final blow: Bane breaks Batman's back, leaving him paraplegic; Bane thus becomes the only man to have "Broken the Bat".

While Bane establishes himself as ruler of Gotham's criminal underworld, Bruce Wayne passes the mantle of Batman to Jean-Paul Valley, also known as Azrael. As Batman, Jean-Paul grows increasingly violent, allowing the villain Abattoir to fall to his death. Jean-Paul also refuses to recognize Robin as his partner. Using a sophisticated combat suit in place of the traditional Batman uniform, he fights and defeats Bane at the end of the Knightfall arc, severing the tubes that pump the Venom into Bane's bloodstream, causing severe withdrawal. Valley then gives the weakened Bane a vicious beating, leaving him alive but broken.

Bane is highly intelligent; in "Bane of the Demon", Ra's al Ghul says that Bane "has a mind equal to the greatest he has known."[7] In prison, he taught himself various scientific disciplines equal to the level of understanding of leading experts in those fields.[4] He knows six active languages and at least two additional arcane and dead ones, those mentioned are Spanish, English, Urdu, Persian, and Latin.[7] The "Bane of the Demon" storyline reveals that he has a photographic memory. Within one year, he is able to deduce Batman's secret identity.[7]

Although extremely dangerous at any and all times, Bane is perfectly sane and in control of his mind and actions—a trait that separates him from many of Batman's enemies. While he generally acts as a villain, Bane has worked alongside Batman at times and developed a great respect for the Dark Knight. He is also one of the few villains of Batman to have learned his true identity.

He is also highly devious and a superb strategist and tactician.[4] In prison, Bane also invented his own form of calisthenics, meditation, and a unique fighting style.[7] Usage of Venom enhances his physical abilities, including his strength, and healing process to superhuman levels.[5][31][32] Although Bane had sworn off using Venom in Vengeance of Bane II in 1995, and his character is actually written as having kept that promise to himself, it is still not uncommon for artists to draw Bane as still wearing the tube leading from his old wrist device to the back of his head. This is likely due to the illustrators only being familiar with that early version of Bane's visual appearance. Gail Simone recently explained these lapses in the continuity of Bane's appearance in the pages Secret Six where Deadshot remarked that Bane merely kept his old Venom equipment with him out of habit, even though he states that he would sooner die before using any of it again. Regardless, Bane is depicted as physically stronger than Batman with or without Venom.