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Gotham – Hidden Reference To Bane?

By Steve Lam

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It seems that Gotham‘s universe might just be getting little bit bigger.  On this week’s episode, The Scarecrow, fans saw Fish Mooney wake up in a mysterious prison that seemed to house some pretty harsh individuals.  Well, this is Fish we’re talking about, which wasn’t a surprise when she quickly secured her place as leader of this hellish location.  But where is this place exactly?  Based on some pretty good evidence, I’m going to guess that Fish is imprisoned in Peña Duro — the prison that was home to Bane.

Going back a couple of months, we got our first taste of a Bane reference in the episode titled Viper.  During their investigation, James Gordon and Harvey Bullock learned that Viper was a precursor to a perfected drug called Venom.  Venom, a familiar name to all Batman fans, is the serum that allows Bane to gain immense strength  and endurance.  Little did audiences know, this wouldn’t be the last time we’d hear about something related to “the only man to have broken the Bat.”

In order to understand how Fish’s prison could be Peña Duro (Bane’s childhood home), we’ll need to first look at the comics.  References to Peña Duro Prison first appeared in Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1 (January 1993), when Bane himself was introduced.  The prison is located on the island of Santa Prisca, and it has a harsh code which states that if the father dies before he can serve his sentence, his punishment must be carried out by his son (that’s how Bane became imprisoned there for most of his young life).  Peña Duro wasn’t just used for containing dangerous individuals.  It was known to host researchers who wanted to perform scientific experiments, which is how Bane originally acquired Venom.  And it also had an eclectic mix of prisoners that ranged from the world’s most dangerous criminals to an elderly priest.

Now, let’s compare Fish’s prison to Peña Duro.  At the end of The Fearsome Dr. Crane, Fish’s yacht is attacked by men who we think are pirates.  Having traveled that far outside of Gotham City by water, she must’ve neared some type of island.  Could it be the island of Santa Prisca?  Then, at the beginning of The Scarecrow, we see that the prison isn’t a traditional one that has individual cells.  Prisoners can interact with each other freely, and those with malicious intent are free to prey on others.  We later see that it has some sort of hierarchy, as evidenced by Kelley telling Fish that Mace has the first choice in food before the rest of them get any.  Fish being Fish, murders Mace and becomes the new leader.  This is not unlike how Bane rose to the top.  At the end of the episode, we see a woman dragged in by guards who had her eyes removed — a sure sign that some sort of experimentation is being performed at the prison.  As for the population mix, we saw some thuggish-looking characters and Kelley — a man who looks more like an insurance agent than a hardened criminal.

We have some pretty damning evidence that this is most likely Peña Duro.  If that is the case, then Bane would most likely be around Bruce Wayne’s age at this time.  So, keep your eyes peeled of any children or preteens housed within these walls.  Or an even crazier theory: in the comics, Bane, during his childhood, carried a teddy bear who he endearingly called “Osito” (“Little Bear” in Spanish).  Osito had a hole in its back to hold a knife that young Bane used to defend himself.  Could Gotham retcon this backstory and have Fish give a child the knife she used on Mace?  If this happens, Fish may have a direct influence in fostering Bane’s rise to power.  We’ll just have to wait and see.

Fox’s Gotham airs on Mondays at 8:00PM EST.

Next: Catch up on Gotham: The Scarecrow Recap

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