Cad Bane/Legends

Cad Bane was a male Duros from the planet Duro who earned the reputation of being the galaxy's best and deadliest bounty hunter during the Clone Wars. Though he worked for a number of clients, his loyalty was ultimately to credits&mdash;and by extension, the highest bidder to offer them. Bane employed a variety of weapons and allies to insure that he always got his pay and became the leader in his line of work after fellow mercenary Jango Fett perished in the opening battle of the war. In 22 BBY, Bane was hired by the Dark Lord Darth Sidious to capture Jedi Master Ring-Sol Ambase on the planet Kynachi, an operation that the bounty hunter successfully completed. Bane also hijacked the Gravitic Core&mdash;a part of Separatist scientist Kul Teska's gravitic polarization beam weapon&mdash;from Teska over Alzoc III, which Teska later retrieved from him on Ryloth.

Bane was eventually hired by the Hutts to break the Republic captive Ziro Desilijic Tiure out of prison on Coruscant. To do this, Bane formed a team of hunters in order to capture members of the Galactic Senate and force Supreme Chancellor Palpatine to free Ziro. After liberating the Hutt crime lord and escaping with his team, Bane disbanded his posse. Later, once again under the employ of Darth Sidious, Bane stole a Jedi holocron from the Jedi Temple to unlock the Kyber memory crystal, a repository of all known Force-sensitive infants in the galaxy. Next launching an attack on Devaron, Bane captured Jedi Master Bolla Ropal and the Kyber crystal in his possession, but Ropal sacrificed himself to protect the crystal's contents. Before Bane and his loaned Trade Federation fleet could escape the system, they were ambushed by Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano.

Luring Skywalker and Tano onto his command ship, Bane separated the pair and took Tano hostage. Skywalker was forced to unlock the holocron and combine it with the Kyber crystal, making the information readable. After escaping his frigate, Bane received his next assignment from Darth Sidious&mdash;capture four of the Force-sensitives listed in the crystal and transport them to a secret facility on Mustafar. Using his modified Porax-38 starfighter, the Xanadu Blood, Bane captured and delivered two of the infants&mdash;Zinn Toa and Wee Dunn&mdash;to Mustafar. During his attempted kidnapping of the child Roo-Roo Page on Naboo, however, Bane was apprehended by Skywalker and Tano. The Jedi's forceful interrogation prompted Bane to agree to take Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Mace Windu to the stolen holocron, but Bane managed to lure them into a trap on Black Stall Station, his base of operations, and fled shortly thereafter.

Early career
"Master Cad Bane, I presume. I've heard much about you. Who hasn't? The greatest hunter since Jango lost his head&hellip;"

- Davtokk

The Duros male Cad Bane hailed from the planet Duro during the last decades of the Galactic Republic. He eventually became a bounty hunter, earning a reputation as the galaxy's preeminent mercenary who operated solely for the financial reward of his missions. Bane worked for the highest bidder, caring little for who employed him as long as he continued to get his pay. If his quarry offered him a better fee, Bane had no qualms with turning on his original employer.

Bane was in operation during the Clone Wars and became based out of a number of places. He kept a safehouse on the planet Keyorin, a hideout in the Rogue Antar system named Black Stall Station &mdash;which he personally outfitted with booby traps and a laser defense grid &mdash;and a secret base on the planet Tatooine. By the time Jango Fett&mdash;the bounty hunter considered to be the galaxy's best&mdash;perished in 22 BBY during the opening battle of the war, Bane was something of a veteran in his line of work. With Fett out of the picture, Bane rose to be among the galaxy's most notorious, ruthless, and fearsome bounty hunters. However, Bane had enemies, and a considerable price was placed on his head.

Deception on Kynachi
"Jedi, huh? My fee just went up. A lot.''" "''You will be compensated. Go to Kynachi immediately. I will contact you with further instructions."

- Cad Bane and Darth Sidious

In the first year of the war, while cleaning his blaster pistols in his shabby Coruscant apartment, Bane was holographically contacted by the Sith Lord Darth Sidious and was hired to pursue a Jedi-led clone trooper squad, which was headed to the planet Kynachi to investigate a lead on the origins of the recently destroyed Separatist warship Malevolence. After arriving on the Trade Federation–controlled world, Bane recruited a food vendor to identify any strangers in the town and provided the vendor with a special comlink that overrode the Federation's frequency-jammer on the planet. The vendor later contacted Bane in the hotel where the bounty hunter was staying and reported that three robed men&mdash;two of whom were carrying blaster rifles&mdash;and a Chiss youngling were headed with the local Lalo Gunn to her diner.

The men and the Chiss going to the diner were in fact three Republic clone troopers and Jedi Padawan Nuru Kungurama. Complying with Darth Sidious's latest instructions, Bane proceeded to the diner and staged an elaborate deception in order to manipulate the group's actions. Bane summoned four BX-series droid commandos to fake a fight with him at Gunn's starship, the Hasty Harpy. After the battle droids had been destroyed, Bane pretended that he had been blinded by a luma grenade, and was taken into the diner by trooper CT-5177, nicknamed "Chatterbox," and another trooper named "Knuckles." Bane chose to take the risk of revealing to Gunn, Kungurama, and the troopers that he was a bounty hunter in order to deceive them. Bane lied and stated that he had been hired to break someone out of the KynachTech factory prison, having been provided with a datatape of its schematics. However, he also truthfully reported that he had seen the facility's droid guards escorting in four Republic troopers and an unconscious Ring-Sol Ambase, Kungurama's own Jedi Master. Unbeknownst to the Republic squad, Bane himself had been hired by Sidious to capture Ambase alive.

With the scenario that Bane had provided, Kungurama developed a plan to have trooper CT-8863, nicknamed "Breaker," build a new droid&mdash;using parts from the disabled droid commandos and the Genetech brain of Gunn's destroyed navigation-turned-waiter droid, Teejay&mdash;to break into the prison. Bane accompanied Chatterbox, Knuckles, and Gunn as they reconnoitered the facility and checked out the hunter's own ship, which the group planned to use to escape Kynachi and break through the Trade Federation blockade surrounding the planet, with additional assistance from pass codes that Bane had been given. The four returned to Gunn's transport, where Breaker and Kungurama were assembling the new droid. The unit was successfully reactivated and renamed "Cleaver." Bane then devised a risky plan to break into the prison and liberate the captives, and the group proceeded to the prison and put the plan into motion. With Kungurama, Gunn, the troopers, and a poncho-adorned Bane posing as prisoners and Cleaver acting as their droid captor, they were admitted into the prison.

The squad confronted Techno Union Overseer Umbrag, but as Kungurama cornered the Skakoan, Umbrag inadvertently caused a battle droid to fire its E-5 blaster rifle. At the sound of blaster fire, Bane drew his pistols and began to shoot at the nearest battle droids, sparking the outburst of a chaotic firefight. With the others occupied with the battle, Bane was able to slip away and capture Master Ring-Sol Ambase, who had been previously taken prisoner by battle droids. Bane eventually returned to the prison with Ambase's lightsaber, meeting the Jedi and troopers, who had forced Umbrag to flee and had been reunited with the rest of their clone squad. Bane continued to deceive the group, stating that he had been unsuccessful in finding his "quarry".

Although the clone troopers did not trust Bane, the hunter gave Ambase's lightsaber to Kungurama with the lie that it was all that he had found of Ambase. Bane received Kungurama's thanks before departing. Bane used a gravsled taken from the KynachTech Industries factory to transport a transparisteel coffin containing an unconscious Master Ambase. Bane returned to his ship in the nearby Docking Bay 21 and brought Ambase's body onto the vessel. Departing the planet, Bane used his pass codes to bypass several Republic Navy Star Destroyers that had arrived in orbit of the remote world. After evading the cruisers and activating his ship's automated pilot mode, Bane returned to the vessel's main cabin and contacted Darth Sidious. The Sith Lord was pleased to learn of Bane's successful mission and told the bounty hunter to deliver Ambase to the fifth moon of the Bogden system before severing the connection.

Theft from Kul Teska
"Bane? Ha ha ha. Forgive my surprise. I didn't think even you were foolish enough to steal from me.''" "''Pity you didn't go down with the ship, Teska."

- Kul Teska and Cad Bane exchange pleasantries on Ryloth

Using his personally modified Telgorn dropship, The Sleight of Hand, Bane hijacked the Gravitic Core of the gravitic polarization beam weapon manufactured by the Separatist scientist Kul Teska over the ice world of Alzoc III. Stealing the crate containing the Core, Bane and his ship departed Teska's Munificent-class star frigate and left it to be hit by an explosion. On the planet Ryloth, which had recently been liberated by the Grand Army of the Republic from the Confederacy, Bane took Clone Captain CC-7567 and Clone Sergeant CS-2207&mdash;nicknamed "Rex" and "Boomer," respectively&mdash;hostage to assist him in his exploits. Bringing Rex and Boomer to a hangar and placing them in explosive-wired binders, Bane forced the clones to comply with his demands. With the appearance of Separatist battle droids, Rex and Boomer agreed to defend Bane's crate and take the cargo to his ship, and the bounty hunter released the links on the pair's handcuffs, allowing them to operate freely.

Bane and his "comrades" defeated the approaching lines of B1 battle droids and B2 super battle droids. The clones eventually managed to close the main hangar door and several tunnels, halting the droids' advance. However, a Vulture droid suddenly broke through the main entrance and engaged the group in walker mode. Bane offered some heavy artillery&mdash;which he had stored for "just this type of occasion"&mdash;to the clones, and they used it to destroy their mechanical adversary. Separatist reinforcements shortly arrived in the form of B1, B2, and sabotage droids, but with the arrival of Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, Bane, Rex, and Boomer were able to defeat the droids. After the group had taken down a large tri-droid, Bane opened fire on the Jedi and clones. Skywalker deflected and rebounded Bane's blaster fire, causing the bounty hunter to lose his balance atop a platform and tumble to the ground.

Bane was held at lightsaber point by Skywalker, and the bounty hunter's "bargaining chips" were rendered defunct when Skywalker severed the clones' binders. Rex and Boomer took Bane's blaster, though Bane kept an extra pistol hidden. As explosions went off outside, Bane offered The Sleight of Hand as a means of escape. With no other options, Skywalker took the bounty hunter up on his offer and sent Rex and Boomer to provide covering fire from an elevated position. Though unaware of the crate's contents, Skywalker and Tano were unwilling to let it fall into the Confederacy's hands and forced Bane to carry the cargo to his ship. En route to the Telgorn dropship, Skywalker, Tano, and Bane encountered numerous B1, B2, chameleon droids and droidekas. Tired from carrying the weight of the Gravitic Core, Bane often stopped to rest behind larger crates, leaving it to the Jedi and clones to protect him. With the path blocked by starship wreckage, Rex fired a rocket launcher, and the Jedi and Bane climbed the debris. Skywalker and Tano jumped across a gap before using the Force to collapse a fighter wing and allow Bane to cross the divide with his crate.

Taking a cliffside path, Skywalker, Tano, and Bane moved beyond the clones' range and were forced to cope without the troopers' covering fire. Skywalker and Tano jumped to the ground and eliminated a thicket of B1, DSD1, sabotage, and destroyer droids. After the two Jedi had disabled a squad of LM-432 crab droids, Bane followed the pair to the ground and across a destroyed droid tank to an adjacent ridge. Arriving at The Sleight of Hand, Bane set his crate down and slowly retrieved his alternate pistol. At that moment, some of the wreckage surrounding the dropship exploded. Although Skywalker and Tano were occupied with levitating debris, Bane's firing hand was hit by a piece of wreckage before he could take advantage of the Jedi's distraction. Teska himself blasted out of the wreckage and confronted the three, demanding that Bane hand over the Gravitic Core. Teska used a grappling hook to seize the cargo, but Skywalker intervened and Force-pushed it into Bane's ship.

Intending to secure the crate on behalf of the Republic, Tano trapped Bane under a slab of metal, preventing him from escaping with the cargo. As the Jedi and Teska engaged each other in a duel, Bane sneaked away and made his own escape. Although Teska fled with the Core and stole The Sleight of Hand, Bane later intervened during the Republic's siege of Teska's facility on the planet Behpour. While Teska's gravitic beam powered up to attack the Naboo sun, Bane took his revenge on the scientist by firing at Teska's rocket boosters during the Skakoan's fight with Skywalker and Tano in the weapon's core room, stranding Teska on the room's central platform. Leaving Teska to be defeated by the Jedi, Bane retrieved his Telgorn dropship and escaped. Bane also sabotaged the Sheathipede-class transport shuttle of Confederate Head of State Count Dooku and Dark Acolyte Asajj Ventress, watching the pair's vessel malfunction in space from The Sleight of Hand before leaving them behind.

Raid on the Senate
Bane was later hired by the Hutts to free crime lord Ziro Desilijic Tiure, who had been arrested earlier in the war for crimes against the Republic and had been incarcerated in the Republic Judiciary Central Detention Center. Instead of opting for a straightfoward prison break, however, Bane decided to force the Republic into freeing Ziro by taking hostages. To do so, Bane needed a skilled group of bounty hunters, and assembled a team consisting of the Jedi hunter Aurra Sing, the Weequay mercenary Shahan Alama, and the Patrolian slicer Robonino. The team was backed up by a number of Separatist BX-series droid commandos and IG-86 sentinel droids. As the organic members of Bane's posse usually worked alone, Bane decided to arrange a test for his comrades to ensure that they could work together as a team. Bane lured fellow bounty hunter Davtokk to the planet Keyorin under the cover of holding a recruitment drive for his posse. Bane knew that Davtokk intended to kill him and collect the bounty on his head, and assembled a life-size mannequin of himself from a scrapped B1 battle droid to fool Davtokk.

After arriving on the planet and entering Bane's safehouse with directions from Bane's techno-service droid, Todo 360, Davtokk fired upon the droid mannequin, assuming it to be Bane, but then came under attack by Robonino, Alama, and Sing. Bane watched the events unfold as his comrades ambushed and crippled the enemy mercenary. Bane emerged from the shadows and confronted Davtokk, explaining that the entire operation had been arranged as a final test for his new team. Bane then pointed one of his blaster pistols at Davtokk's head and released a discharge, killing the incapacitated mercenary. Heading to Coruscant, Bane took his team to raid the Galactic Senate with the intention of taking Senators hostage in order to force Supreme Chancellor Palpatine to release Ziro the Hutt. Bane, Alama, a sentinel droid, and two droid commandos landed at the Republic Executive Building in an airspeeder to be greeted by a squad of Senate Commando guards.

As Bane disembarked the speeder, he was faced with the threat of arrest by the Senate Commandos, as he had landed in a restricted access zone. Bane commented on their hastiness, and before the guards could arrest the Duros, Sing used a sniper rifle to kill most of the guards from a long-range post. Bane personally eliminated Senate Commando Captain Jayfon by tackling him and snapping his neck. With the guards' threat rendered moot, Bane signaled to Sing, Robonino, and the rest of the team that the coast was clear. The bounty hunters arrived at the building with several more sentinel droids. Leaving the two droid commandos outside to clear the platform and stand guard, Bane and his team entered the headquarters of the Senate. After eliminating the Senate Commando posted at the Executive Building's power control room as well as several droids inside, Bane left Robonino to shut off the power while the Duros headed for the building's atrium with the rest of his team. Along the way to "meet" the Senators, Bane&mdash;having planning his infiltration of the Executive Building during Senate Guard shifts&mdash;eliminated most of the active Senate security by tossing a primed thermal detonator into the guards' barracks when two shifts were assembled there.

Bane, Sing, Alama, and the droids entered the atrium through different doors and converged on the Senators, who were discussing an upcoming vote on the Enhanced Privacy Invasion Bill legislation. Bane caught the attention of the Senators by firing several blaster shots, and he and his comrades surrounded the Senators. When Senator Philo objected to being taken hostage, walking away while refusing to "listen to insolence," Bane shot him in the back. After ordering the Senators to hand over their communication devices, Bane contacted Supreme Chancellor Palpatine in his office via a holotransmission. Bane stated that the hostages would be freed if Ziro the Hutt were to be released from prison. Although Palpatine objected, Robonino shut off the power, trapping Palpatine and Senator Orn Free Taa in the office and compromising all external communications. As the bounty hunters collected the Senators' transmission devices in the atrium, Bane came across Senator Padmé Amidala. While speaking with her, Bane noticed Amidala glance at something behind him, and the bounty hunter turned around and recognized Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker surveying them from an upper level.

Bane fired at Skywalker, and the Jedi's escape prompted Bane to order Alama and an IG-86 sentinel droid after their quarry. Alama returned without the sentinel droid and reported that while it had been destroyed by Skywalker, an examination of the droid's remains showed that Skywalker did not have his lightsaber. Bane dispatched Sing to assist Alama with orders to find, apprehend, and bring Skywalker back. Bane then contacted Palpatine once more and told the Chancellor to make a pardon disc to liberate Ziro. Senator Taa would be picked up by Bane's airspeeder and taken to deliver the disc to the prison. Taa reluctantly obeyed, and the sentinel droid HELIOS-3D took Taa to the Detention Center. Shortly afterward, Sing and Alama returned to the atrium with Robonino and an unconscious, handcuffed Skywalker. Bane taunted the comatose Jedi Knight before having him tossed in with the rest of the hostages. Meanwhile, HELIOS-3D collected Ziro the Hutt and went back to the Executive Building, while Taa stayed at the prison in the safety of the Coruscant Guard. Preparing to leave, Bane ordered the rest of his team to set up their "parting gifts" around the Senators&mdash;a laser web that would activate explosives upon the slightest touch.

Wishing the Senators and Jedi a "most respectful farewell," Bane left the building with his comrades. Upon the team's arrival outside on the landing platform, two LAAT/i gunships landed, and clone troopers of the Coruscant Guard piled out under the command of Clone Commander CC-1010. The troopers confronted the group of bounty hunters, blocking their escape, and Chancellor Palpatine contacted Bane. Although Palpatine ordered Bane to surrender, the latter revealed that the Senators were still being held at his mercy, and the outwitted Palpatine reluctantly relinquished his attempts to apprehend the bounty hunter. Bane held his finger over the button that would set off the explosives in the atrium and used the Senators' lives to force the Coruscant Guard clone troopers to stand down. Bane's airspeeder arrived, driven by 3D and hauling Ziro in a rear transport, and the bounty hunters boarded the vehicle and escaped without further resistance from the Republic.

Once he and his team were a safe distance away from the Executive Building, Bane remotely detonated the explosive charges as payback for the indignities that Ziro had suffered in prison. Skywalker, in the meantime, had recovered, and managed to cut a hole in the floor around himself and the Senators, allowing them to drop into the room below and avoid the explosion. As Ziro congratulated Bane on a "job well done," Bane demanded his pay from the Hutt, as he did not work for free. After they had escaped, Bane transferred the rewards for the mission appropriately into the accounts of his accomplices, although Alama did not believe that he had transferred all of the credits. Bane ordered Alama, Sing, and Robonino to "bury their prides" and flee separately to hide from the Republic, stating that it would not do to get captured. The bounty hunters complied, and Bane himself was able to evade apprehension by the Jedi Order. However, his actions made him a wanted individual, and a five-hundred thousand credit bounty was placed on his head for his "crimes against the Republic."

Stealing a Jedi holocron
Later, while in his apartment in one of the Coruscant Underworld's seedy hotels, Bane was personally contacted by Darth Sidious, who hired the Duros to steal a holocron from the Jedi Temple's Archives. Sidious was after the Kyber memory crystal, a list of Force-sensitive children in possession of the Jedi Master Bolla Ropal that could only be read by a Jedi holocron. Bane initially believed infiltrating the Temple to be impossible, but after Darth Sidious put Bane's reputation into question, the bounty hunter agreed to the job, requesting an elite starfighter and triple his usual rate. Sidious provided Bane with schematics of the Temple that would allow him to infiltrate the facility. Preparing for the operation, Bane recruited the shapeshifting Clawdite bounty hunter Cato Parasitti, whom he frequently worked with. Bane also used his techno-service droid, Todo 360, but implanted an explosive device in his droid and lied to him during the installation, stating that it was a memory chip that had been provided by Sidious.

While Bane was examining Darth Sidious's intelligence file on Master Ropal, Parasitti arrived in Bane's quarters. Bane briefed Parasitti on the mission, stating that they would need an agent inside the Jedi Temple. Bane then pointed Parasitti to the body of the late Jedi Master Ord Enisence in the corner of the room. Parasitti took the form of Enisence in order to gain access to the Jedi Archives' security systems, and Bane gave her an ear-comlink so that they could maintain contact. The bounty hunters set their plan into motion. Bane and Todo used their rocket boots to get to an unattended overhang on the Jedi Temple, close to the building's roof. With Parasitti at a computer terminal in the Archive Library, Todo was able to locate a weak point in the Temple's energy shield. Bypassing the shield and entering a ventilation shaft, Bane and his droid made their way into a wide, vertical passage that was being blocked by a set of large, active fans. Parasitti pointed the techno-service droid to the fans' controls, but once Bane and Todo had passed between the blades of one of the fans, the droid accidentally reactivated it from a laser beam trigger.

Before the two could be sucked into the fan's blades, Parasitti disabled the fan, saving both Bane and Todo. The pair arrived at a vent shaft directly overlooking the high-security Holocron Vault. Hearing the sound of the Jedi searching for them, Bane impatiently waited as Parasitti deactivated the vault's laser sensor system from her terminal in the Archive Library. With the primary security down, Bane and Todo descended into the room. As Bane cut through the safe's lock, he directed Todo to cut a passage to the Temple's communications center, intending to have his droid lure the Jedi away from the vault. Parasitti, meanwhile, was captured by Ahsoka Tano and revealed Bane's objective to the Jedi. Having lost contact with his inside agent, Bane was unable to access the diagrams that would help him deactivate the lock. Bane ordered Todo to the communications center before priming a bomb of the same model that he had installed in his droid to break through the vault's lock.

Hiding from the approaching Jedi&mdash;Skywalker and Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, who had been tipped off by Tano on the bounty hunter's target&mdash;Bane detonated his explosive. Bane waited till the pair had passed by and followed Todo to the communications room before emerging from the shadows and heaving open the door to the safe. Entering the vault and extracting the holocron from its holding place, Bane donned a Jedi robe and sneaked away. Despite catching sight of a bound Parasitti being led away by Tano and Jedi librarian Jocasta Nu, Bane did not attempt to rescue her and ducked his head, heading away in the other direction. Bane escaped without either of his accomplices, leaving Parasitti in the Jedi's custody and allowing Todo to be destroyed in the communication center by the explosive that he had installed in the droid earlier.

Assault on Devaron
"You have nowhere left to run, bounty hunter.''" "Let me worry about that, Jedi. If I activate this control, the outside airlock will open, and she will be sucked into oblivion. Do you think you can kill me and then save her before she's pulled out into space? It's a horrible way to die. Besides, isn't negotiation the Jedi way?" "What do you want?" "''This holocron carries information I've been paid to collect. I can't unlock it, but you can. The last Jedi who had it wouldn't open it. I hope you don't make the same mistake. We don't have much time. Hurry it up, Jedi, or she dies!"

- Anakin Skywalker and Cad Bane negotiate the unlocking of the holocron in exchange for Ahsoka Tano's life

With hired assistance from Aurra Sing, Bane took a fleet of Munificent-class frigates and C-9979 landing craft and mounted a surprise attack on the planet Devaron, where Master Ropal commanded a Republic base. Initiating a ground assault on the planet and leading his armada from his Munificent-class frigate, Bane contacted Sing's battle droid squad, codenamed "Nashtah Team," and she reported that she was on the western end of the valley where the outpost was located. Even though Sing spotted Ropal, Bane ordered her not to shoot the Jedi Master, who was in fact his target. Instead, Bane told her to distract Ropal's Padawan, Tyzen Xebec, and several clones that had just arrived, while he himself left his command ship and moved in to capture Ropal. En route to the surface in a Porax-38 starfighter, Bane shot several clone troopers. Landing and approaching Master Ropal, Bane received word that the Republic Star Destroyer Resolute had arrived out of hyperspace and realized that Parasitti had betrayed his target, at which he swore to "return the favor." Using an expensive shot of cortosis to short out Ropal's lightsaber, Bane tripped Ropal and tied his legs together with a cord of rope, trapping the Jedi Master.

Although Ropal tossed his temporarily defunct lightsaber aside and refused to open the holocron, Bane had one of his super battle droids shock Ropal, rendering him unconscious. Taking Ropal hostage and stealing the Kyber crystal from him, Bane returned to his command ship and rendezvoused with a Trade Federation escort of Munificent-class frigates in the space over Devaron that had been dispatched by Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray at Darth Sidious's request. Bane and his fleet were ambushed over Devaron by the Resolute, which was in fact Skywalker's flagship. Ordering his battle droid crew to prepare the ship to jump to hyperspace, Bane went to ask a "small favor" of Ropal, who was being held in one of the frigate's holding cells. However, the Resolute targeted the frigate's hyperdrive and destroyed the ship's power converters, trapping Bane in the system.

Though Bane tortured Ropal with electrical charges, the Jedi Master refused to assist him in unlocking the crystal. Having no more use for an uncooperative prisoner, Bane ordered his battle droids to increase Ropal's electrocution to full power, killing the Jedi Master. Returning to his ship's bridge, Bane was contacted by an upset Gunray, who was angered that four of his loaned ships had been destroyed. Bane remained unconcerned about the lost ships; he knew that Darth Sidious valued the information in the memory crystal and believed that the Sith Lord would compensate Gunray's expenses. As Skywalker and Tano landed on the dorsal hull of Bane's frigate with All Terrain Tactical Enforcers, Bane refused to send more Vulture droid reinforcements&mdash;to the surprise of both his battle droid crew and Viceroy Gunray&mdash;as he planned to let the Jedi board his ship and get one of them to unlock the crystal with the holocron. Ending his conversation with Gunray, Bane gave orders to his crew, telling them to wipe the frigate's memory, activate the self-destruct sequence, and transfer complete control of all shipboard functions to his wrist-com.

Leaving his battle droids to defend the bridge, Bane escaped through a ventilation duct moments before Skywalker, Tano, Clone Captain Rex, and their clone trooper squad arrived on the bridge. On the frigate's gunnery deck, Bane assembled his B1 and B2 battle droids, intending to have the droids fight the clones while he himself separated the Jedi. Bane ran through the hallways of his frigate and lured the Jedi and clones&mdash;who had found the late Master Ropal in his holding cell&mdash;to the gunnery deck, where the gunfight that the hunter had planned erupted. After securing himself to the floor with his magno-grip boots, Bane disabled the artificial gravity, intensifying the battle. Bane targeted his blaster fire at Skywalker, who made it past him. Bane narrowly avoided Skywalker's lightsaber slash and opened fire on the clones, shooting and killing several troops. However, Bane was soon surprised from behind by Skywalker, who delivered a kick that knocked the holocron out of his grip. Just as Skywalker was about to grab the holocron, the astromech droid R2-D2 reactivated the gravity, causing everyone to plummet to the floor. Bane retrieved the holocron and shot at a trooper still magnetized to the roof, keeping Skywalker occupied with safely lowering the clone to the floor while he himself made his escape.

Bane drew Tano after him, and the Padawan fell into his trap. Luring Tano into a dead-end corridor away from Skywalker, Bane cut her off from her Master by closing the hallway's blast doors behind her. Bane fired a laser shot at Tano, which she easily deflected at one of his gauntlets. Bane ducked around Tano and spun through the air, knocking her lightsaber out of her hand. As Bane took aim at Tano, she grabbed his blaster arm, elbowed him, and flipped him to the ground, causing him to lose grip of the holocron once again. Before Tano could telekinetically retrieve her lightsaber, however, Bane reached out and grabbed the Padawan's ankle, sending a paralyzing stun charge through her body that knocked her unconscious. Bane picked up the holocron and placed Tano in binders that had been "specially designed" for Jedi. Once Tano had woken up, Bane took her Padawan braid jewelry from her as a trophy. As the two exchanged banter, Bane electrocuted Tano to increase Skywalker's sense of urgency. After Bane received word from a B1 battle droid outside the airlock that Skywalker had arrived, the bounty hunter activated the airlock's shield doors, locked his hostage on the spaceward side to serve as a bargaining chip.

Skywalker entered the room to find Tano at Bane's mercy. Bane demanded that Skywalker unlock the memory crystal and was fully prepared to open the airlock and send Tano out into the vacuum of space if he refused. With his Padawan's life at risk, Skywalker handed over his lightsaber and used the Force to take apart the holocron, combining it with the crystal and making it readable. After Bane had taken the holocron, Skywalker called Tano's lightsaber and his own weapon into his hands with the Force, making quick work of Bane's super battle droid bodyguards. In retaliation, Bane opened the airlock, keeping the two Jedi occupied while he made his escape. Bane made contact with Gunray and informed him of his success with opening the holocron. Although Gunry offered to send an escape vessel in exchange for the transmission of the holocron data, Bane remained too cagey to give into Gunray's requests. With his own plans for escape, Bane made his way to a shaft overlooking his crumbling frigate's hangar bay, where he was confronted by troopers Denal and Koho.

Bane killed Denal and stole the trooper's armor, using it to pose as the clone trooper. Bane removed his own cybernetic breathing tubes in order to put on the trooper's helmet. As Skywalker and Tano prepared to flee the doomed frigate with the rest of the clones aboard a Sheathipede-class shuttle, they witnessed the clone armor–clad Bane shoot a figure garbed in the bounty hunter's own outfit. With the Jedi believing him to be dead, Bane was able to escape with them on their shuttle, though Skywalker could still sense his persona in the Force. After returning to the Resolute with the Republic squad, Bane disembarked the shuttle with the others and slowly made his way away from the group. Tano followed the disguised Bane and eventually realized that he was not a clone, and Bane responded to her accusations by kneeing her in the midsection, causing her to fall to the floor. Making his way to a V-19 Torrent starfighter, Bane took out several troopers and boarded the fighter. Skywalker jumped onto Bane's activate fighter and knocked his helmet off, revealing the true identity of the "trooper". Bane piloted his fighter through the magnetic shield out of the hangar, forcing Skywalker to jump off. Bane made his way toward the Resolute ' s set of hyperdrive docking rings and stole a booster before the crew could lock them down in time, escaping to hyperspace and once again evading apprehension by the Jedi.

Adversary of the Jedi
Returning to Black Stall Station in the Rogue Antar system, Bane informed Darth Sidious of his success with unlocking the crystal. The Dark Lord gave Bane a new mission: capture four of the Force-sensitive infants on the list and deliver them to the remote planet of Mustafar, where Sidious planned to use them as test subjects in his experiments for the alteration of Force-sensitives to build his own personal corps of spies. Using the Xanadu Blood, the heavily-modified and well-equipped Porax-38 starfighter that had been gifted to him by Sidious, Bane captured the young Nautolan Zinn Toa on the planet Glee Anselm. Next traveling to Rodia, Bane donned a Jedi robe to pose as a Jedi and avoid attracting unwanted attention in the forthcoming operation.

Bane met with the Rodian Mahtee Dunn, mother of the Force-sensitive Wee Dunn, in the pair's home in Kay-Tap square. Bane deceived the elder Dunn, stating that Jedi impostors had been roaming the galaxy and stealing Force-sensitive children. Encountering difficulties with convincing Mahtee to hand over her son, the hunter used a hypnogazer to temporarily alter her memory and force her into complying with his demands. Leaving one of his blasters behind with Mahtee Dunn and preparing to escape with Wee Dunn, Bane witnessed Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi&mdash;who had been dispatched to prevent the kidnapping&mdash;enter the room and learn of the child's capture from Mahtee. Bane activated his rocket boots and soared to the platform where the Xanadu Blood was docked. Kenobi pursued Bane but arrived too late to prevent him from escaping with the Rodian infant.

After delivering both Toa and Dunn to Sidious's Mustafar facility and wiping his own starfighter's navigation records, Bane traveled to the planet Naboo to track down his next target&mdash;the Gungan infant Roo-Roo Page. Touching down near Page's home, located in the waterfall-surrounded Jan-gwa city, Bane witnessed a Gungan mother place a small figure in a crib before leaving the room. Believing that she had left behind Page, Bane entered the nursery and pulled back the blanket, only to find a tooka doll in place of the expected infant. A moment later, Ahsoka Tano jumped into the room, lightsaber drawn. Remarking on the Padawan's combination of cleverness and naivety, Bane used his gauntlet's lanyard to ensnare her weapon and pull it away from her. Bane fired his blaster at Tano, who rolled and ducked behind some furniture. Bane attempted to escape out the window with his rocket boots but was confronted by Skywalker, who jumped and grabbed onto his boots. With the extra weight, Bane's boosters were disabled, and as the two tumbled onto a roof, the hunter's hat was knocked off. The pair struggled before landing on the ground, and the outmatched Bane looked up to see Tano's lightsaber in his face.

Bane was placed in binders, and Tano retrieved her Padawan braid jewelry that he had previously taken from her as a trophy. Bane and the Xanadu Blood were taken to the Resolute; the bounty hunter was placed in a shielded holding cell, while his starfighter was examined by the Jedi. Interrogated by Masters Kenobi and Mace Windu, Bane refused to reveal the whereabouts of the kidnapped children and the location of the holocron. Without any alternative methods of interrogation, Windu, Kenobi, and Skywalker bound together and employed the Force to compel the strong-minded Bane to lead them to the stolen holocron&mdash;an act that came at the risk of destroying his mind. Thrashing from his attempts at resisting the Jedi's influence, Bane eventually promised to take them to the holocron, albeit with the intention of leading them into a trap. The bound Bane was escorted into a waiting T-6 shuttle, where he dictated the coordinates of Black Stall Station in the Outer Rim to his accompanying guards&mdash;Kenobi, Windu, and Clone Commander CC-2224, nicknamed "Cody."

After emerging in the asteroid-strewn system and docking to the outpost, Kenobi and Windu left Cody with the ship and followed Bane into his base of operations. Though neither Jedi sensed the kidnapped infants, Bane told them that the children were "safe" and instead focused on the holocron, leading them to the station's control room and pointing them to the holocron on a table across the room. Although Bane volunteered to get the holocron for them, Windu refused to let the bounty hunter continue "his tricks." However, Windu unintentionally activated the station's intruder alert system. With Klaxon alarms blaring and a laser system targeting Kenobi and Windu, Bane sneaked away from the distracted Jedi Masters. Kenobi pursued the bounty hunter, but Bane escaped through a concealed hatch, biding the Jedi farewell as he left. Breaking out of his binders, Bane fled Black Stall Station in an escape pod. Although Bane had escaped from captivity, he was ultimately unable to complete his job; he had only captured half of the Force-sensitive infants that he had been hired to collect, and Darth Sidious's plot itself was eventually foiled by Skywalker and Tano.

Personality and traits
One of the galaxy's most lethal, ruthless, fearsome, and deadly bounty hunters, Cad Bane earned the reputation of the leading blaster-for-hire during the Clone Wars, filling the position that fellow mercenary Jango Fett had left vacant when he perished on Geonosis at the beginning of the conflict. Bane had much less moral content than Fett, often turning upon his own clients unless he was paid. Bane's usual rate was of a considerable price, and he requested more pay from his clients at every opportunity. However, if the price was right, he could not be stopped and would track his quarry to the ends of the galaxy if necessary; nothing was more important to him than credits. Bane was capable in both blaster and close combat, but preferred stealth and surprise tactics instead of a direct fight when the possibility arose. He stayed a step ahead of his enemies by being prepared for any turns that the situation might take.

Bane did not place his trust in others easily or often, believing that the best way to ensure that a task was completed was to do it himself. When his frigate was crippled over Devaron, he ordered his battle droid crew to transfer full control of the ship to his wrist-com. Although Bane did not always undertake missions himself, operating alone gave him the freedom to improvise and more credits that did not have to be shared with others. However, he knew that even he himself could not hold the Senate hostage on his own and formed a posse of hunters as insurance. After his team had freed Ziro the Hutt, Bane cared little what happened to his accomplices as long as they hid from the Republic. Furthermore, Bane did not attempt to rescue his comrade, Cato Parasitti, when she was captured by the Jedi. Rather, he ignored her plight and escaped on his own to continue his work for Darth Sidious. While under interrogation by the Jedi, Bane refused to disclose the identity of his wealthy and powerful client, though Mace Windu attributed the bounty hunter's actions to his fear of his hirer.

Bane preferred to keep his methods of choosing comrades for joint operations and his introduction into the bounty business obscure to the galaxy at large. He knew that Davtokk intended to execute him for the bounty on his head and used this to his advantage, luring Davtokk to Keyorin to serve as a test for his own team of hunters. Undaunted by individuals of higher authority and Force-sensitivity, Bane remained unswayed with the Senate Commandos' attempt to arrest him, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine's threats of retribution, and the Jedi's interrogation of him aboard the Resolute. Bane "specialized" in fighting Jedi and did not fear them like other bounty hunters. Indeed, he even welcomed the opportunity to test his abilities against the "legendary prowess" of the Jedi Knights, and Darth Sidious's jobs ultimately gave him the chance to do so. Although Bane was strong-minded and ordinarily immune to mind tricks, the influence exerted by the combined forces of Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Mace Windu forced him to submit to their demands.

Bane did not let personal feelings get in the way of his jobs, but would have enjoyed to take down the likes of Skywalker and Kenobi. Even so, Bane pursued Kul Teska&mdash;whom he saw as a "competitor"&mdash;to Behpour after Teska retrieved the Gravitic Core and stole the bounty hunter's own ship. Bane was able to deceive Kungurama, Gunn, and the clone troopers while on Kynachi, though the troopers eventually came to mistrust the Duros. A talented actor and a cold but clever strategist, Bane was able to secretly manipulate the group into raiding the KynachTech prison by creating an elaborate setup of a droid commando fight. To gain the group's trust, Bane revealed that he was a bounty hunter, aware of the risk he took in doing so but also knowing that it was easier to deceive someone by telling most of the truth rather than a complete lie. Bane was willing to sacrifice anything, even an entire Trade Federation fleet, to lure the Jedi into his trap over Devaron. Bane was cunning, stealing the armor of the murdered clone trooper Denal to insure his escape from his crumbling frigate, as well as leading Windu and Kenobi into a ruse on Black Stall Station to secure his own liberation from the Jedi's custody. Bane planned his infiltration of the Executive Building carefully during Senate Guard shifts so that he could maximize the element of surprise&mdash;as well as his casualties&mdash;by eliminating them at the same time.

When Darth Sidious requested Bane's services for infiltrating the Jedi Temple, the bounty hunter believed the mission to be impossible and foolhardy but immediately agreed to the job&mdash;and requested triple his normal rate&mdash;when Sidious suggested that his reputation had been exaggerated. Bane took cold pleasure in striking fear through his quarries, as evidenced by his treatment of the Senators. When Senator Philo attempted to leave while refusing to listen to Bane's "insolence," Bane killed the Senator without a second thought and showed the other Senators that he meant business. Bolla Ropal's refusal to help Bane open the holocron prompted Bane to intensify Ropal's torture, ultimately killing the Jedi Master. Bane deemed the Jedi's sacrifice foolish and had little regard for Ropal's life, walking away from the murder scene without a backward glance. Bane did not take prisoners and intended for his Senator hostages to be killed even after he had gone through negotiations with Supreme Chancellor Palpatine for their release in exchange for Ziro's liberation. Bane had no problems with going back on his word, exemplified in his discharge of the explosives planted near the Senators in the Executive Building's atrium and his opening of his airlock's frigate after he had bargained with Skywalker for the hostage Ahsoka Tano's safe release.

Equipment
Bane's impressive arsenal of weapons and tools insured that he would be well-prepared for any situation that might arise. Bane carried a set of personalized twin blaster pistols that were customized from the BlasTech–engineered LL-30 model and wore quick-draw holsters to hold them at his waist. He also kept explosives, a concealed bola, and a smaller, alternate blaster pistol as extra weapons. He had removable cybernetic breathing tubes that were embedded in his cheekbones; they were directly connected to his windpipe, allowing him to work freely in the harshest atmospheres without requiring additional protection. Bane's durasteel magno-grip boots were equipped with customized Mitrinomon jetpack thrusters, and his wrist gauntlets possessed a variety of control devices, built-in tools, and weapons, including a cable launcher, comlink, data uplink, and non-lethal stunners. Bane's gear itself was designed to counteract the abilities of Force users; his external breathing tubes prevented him from being Force-choked and his rocket boots rivaled a Jedi's Force speed. He often wore a wide-brimmed hat and a Nashtah hide tunic.

Bane owned a techno-service droid, designated "Todo 360," whom he used for a number of missions. Despite the droid's objections, Bane viewed him as a "butler droid." He eventually employed Todo as a decoy at the Jedi Temple to distract the Jedi, sacrificing the droid to make his own escape. Bane employed a number of modified starships for his operations. He used The Sleight of Hand, a Telgorn dropship that he personally outfitted and customized with military-grade gear and an advanced hyperdrive to suit his needs as a transport vessel. Though the craft was stolen from him by Kul Teska on Ryloth, Bane eventually retrieved it. Bane also flew the Xanadu Blood, a heavily modified Porax-38 starfighter that was given to him by Darth Sidious. Although its layers of paint were chipping, the fighter served Bane well in his hunt for Force-sensitive infants. After Bane was captured on Naboo, his ship was left with the Jedi onboard the Resolute.

Portrayal and development
The character of Cad Bane was created for the 2008 Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series. He was first featured in the series' first season finale, "Hostage Crisis," as well as its accompanying web comic, Invitation Only. Because the episode introduced the concept of bounty hunters into the series, Bane was one of the first such individuals to appear in the series. He also appeared in Hunting the Hunters, Part I, the first in a sub-series of The Clone Wars web comics that transitioned between the television series' first and second seasons. He later appeared as a prominent character in Secret Missions 1: Breakout Squad, the first installment in a new series of novels written by Ryder Windham.

Bane was a major character from the very beginning of Season Two, being featured across the three-part story arc&mdash;comprised of the episodes "Holocron Heist," "Cargo of Doom," and "Children of the Force"&mdash;that began the season. In addition to playing a role in Act on Instinct, the web comic tying into Season Two, he was also given a role&mdash;both involved in the plot and as an unlockable playable character&mdash;in the multi-platform game Republic Heroes. Bane was offered as a usable character in Cartoon Network's online The Clone Wars Game Creator, which allowed players to create their own online mini-games and play those developed by others.

Throughout the television series and Republic Heroes, Bane was portrayed by voice actor Corey Burton, who also provided the voices for Ziro Desilijic Tiure and Shahan Alama in "Hostage Crisis." At the suggestion of Series Producer and Star Wars creator George Lucas, Burton took inspiration from film actor Peter Lorre in voicing Bane and used Bane's already established Western American influences to bring the bounty hunter to life with his own original characterization.

Initially, bounty hunters were not to be a part of the television series, but as the first season's storylines developed, a character was required to fill the role of a hunter. Supervising Director Dave Filoni and writer Henry Gilroy explored implementing the Gen'Dai mercenary Durge into the series, and the character was reimagined as a Human. The individual eventually evolved into one named "Nom Kahbah" before George Lucas became involved with the development, suggesting that a Western American influence be used. At Lucas's request, inspiration for the character was taken from Lee Van Cleef's characters from the films The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and For a Few Dollars More. Filoni found an unlabeled sketch of a bounty hunter from the original Star Wars trilogy, and the concept ended up providing the basis for Bane's model, with additional expansion by Lead Designer Kilian Plunkett to incorporate the Duros species' features. The character's name was eventually changed to "Cad Bane."

Inconsistencies
Some first season publicity materials mistakenly implied that Darth Sidious and the Separatists had hired Bane to free Ziro the Hutt from prison. Although the Hutts were later stated in Bane's Databank entry to have been the ones that gave him the assignment, the Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Official Episode Guide: Season 1 publication released in 2009 further complicated the matter by claiming that Bane's employer has yet to be identified in Season Two. Until it is clarified, this article assumes that Bane was hired by the Hutts.

The storyline of the Nintendo DS edition of Republic Heroes greatly conflicts with the television series' first season, as well as the other editions of Republic Heroes. In the DS edition, Bane contacts the Republic from a Separatist prison on Ryloth where he is being held and offers to sell information about a secret Confederate facility, but insists on only dealing with Senator Padmé Amidala. The Jedi believe the bounty hunter's information to be critical in uncovering a large Separatist plot and decide to rescue Bane, sending Jedi Master Kit Fisto as Amidala's escort. The two infiltrate the prison and rescue Bane, but Fisto gets separated from the Senator in the process. Bane promises to reveal the information if Amidala takes him to his ship, the Xanadu Blood, and they fight through battle droids before eventually reaching the craft. Sticking to his word, Bane tells the Senator of Juma 9&mdash;which, in this case, is a strategic Confederate outpost, while in the other editions of the game, it is an active Republic mining facility. It is protected by a defense perimeter, which can only be bypassed with recent Separatist clearance codes. Because of this story's extremely conflicting plot that would otherwise require too much speculation to integrate into the canonical biography, this article assumes that the Nintendo DS edition of Republic Heroes is non-canonical.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Forces of Darkness
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Stand Aside - Bounty Hunters!
 * Star Wars The Clone Wars Secret Missions 1: Breakout Squad
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes
 * The Clone Wars: Invitation Only
 * The Clone Wars: Hunting the Hunters (Part I)
 * The Clone Wars: Hunting the Hunters (Part III)
 * HoloNet News — A Galaxy Divided (Part 1)
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars Game Creator
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Holocron Heist
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Holocron Hunters
 * The Clone Wars: Act on Instinct
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Children of the Force
 * The Clone Wars: Act on Instinct
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Children of the Force
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Children of the Force
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Children of the Force