The DC comic book origins of the villain 'Bane', appearing in director Christopher Nolan's third 'Batman' feature, "The Dark Knight Rises", includes him deliberately breaking Batman's back, in DC's 1993-4 "Batman: Knightfall" series.
"... 'Bane' escapes the 'Peña Dura' prison with accomplices 'Trogg', 'Zombie' and 'Bird'. His goal is to destroy 'Batman', about whom he had heard stories while he was an inmate, convinced that a demonic bat haunting his dreams since childhood is a representation of Batman and that fate has placed them on a collision course.
"Aware that a direct assault would be foolish, Bane destroys the walls of 'Arkham Asylum', allowing inmates the 'Joker', 'Two-Face', 'Mr Freeze', the 'Riddler', the 'Scarecrow', the 'Mad Hatter', the 'Ventriloquist', 'Firefly', 'Poison Ivy' and 'Victor Zsasz' to escape into Gotham City.
"Batman is forced to recapture the escapees over the next three months, running himself to the point of exhaustion.
"He returns to 'Wayne Manor' where Bane ambushes him in the 'Batcave', defeats him, and delivers the final blow by breaking his back, leaving him a paraplegic.
"While Bane establishes himself as the new ruler of Gotham's criminal underworld, paralyzed Bruce Wayne passes the mantle of Batman to 'Jean-Paul Valley', aka 'Azrael', who becomes the 'new' Batman. But Valley grows increasingly violent and ruthless, allowing the villain 'Abattoir' to fall to his death.
"Using a sophisticated, armored combat suit in place of the traditional Batman uniform, Valley fights and defeats Bane at the end of the 'Knightfall' arc, severing the tubes that pump 'Venom' into his bloodstream, causing him to suffer severe withdrawal. Valley then viciously beats the now-weakened Bane, leaving him alive but severely injured.
"Meanwhile Batman in time, slowly recovers from his injuries..."
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