Gotham: Nathaniel Barnes Could Become One Of These Three Villains

Image Courtesy of DC Comics

Bane

First Appearance: Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1 (January 1993)

Created by: Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench, and Graham Nolan

After Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Rises (2012), I’m pretty sure the layperson is well-educated about one of Batman’s most formidable foes—Bane. Yes, Bane also made an appearance in that debacle known as Batman & Robin (1997), but everything was wrong about that incarnation, except for his design. He was never a mindless henchman. Bane is deadly smart, and deadly strong. And those are the qualities that got him the title of “The Man Who Broke the Bat.”

Like I said, this list is in order from a long-shot to the most likely. So let’s have some fun here. Chances are, Nathaniel Barnes isn’t turning into him. However, it’s still amusing to put on our tinfoil hats and speculate.

Bane uses a drug called Venom—which is pumped into his brain via a series of tubes. The drug increases his strength immensely, but there is a downfall. He’s addicted to it and needs to administer it every 12 hours. In comic books and animation, Bane is also seen to increase in vascularity (and, sometimes, overall size) every time he uses Venom—which is not unlike what Barnes was exhibiting when he “raged” out, along with the strength gain.

Venom has actually been implied in a past episode of Gotham. In “Viper,” people taking Viper would soon die with crumbled bones—a side-effect of the drug leeching calcium from the user. It’s later discovered that WellZyn—a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises—perfects the drug and renames it “Venom.” Could there be a link between Alice Tetch’s blood to how WellZyn developed Venom? It would be a fun reference if it went all the way back to the first season.

If we want to get really “black helicopter” about this, the name “Barnes” is only two letters away from “Bane.” Yeah, we’re really reaching here. Again, Bane is probably the least likely of candidates. As brazen as Gotham is in reinterpreting its source material, I don’t think it would blasphemously destroy the characterization of one of the Dark Knight’s greatest super villains.