Cad Bane/Legends

Cad Bane was a male Duros from the planet of Duro with a reputation as 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, becoming 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. The Duros also hijacked the Gravitic Core, a part of the gravitic polarization beam weapon, from the Separatist scientist Kul Teska over Alzoc III, which Teska later retrieved from him on Ryloth.

Hired by the Hutts to break the Republic captive Ziro Desilijic Tiure out of prison on Coruscant, Bane formed a team of hunters to capture members of the Galactic Senate. After forcing Supreme Chancellor Palpatine to free Ziro and escaping with the Hutt, Bane disbanded his posse. Once again under the employ of Darth Sidious, the bounty hunter 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. Launching an attack on Devaron, Bane captured Jedi Master Bolla Ropal, the keeper of the Kyber crystal, who refused to help him open the holocron and instead sacrificed himself to protect the information. Before Bane could escape the system, he and his loaned Trade Federation fleet were ambushed over Devaron by Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano.

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

Bounty hunter
"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 of Duro during the last decades of the Galactic Republic. He 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 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 hired to pursue a Jedi-led clone trooper squad, which was headed to investigate the origins of the recently destroyed Separatist warship Malevolence on the planet Kynachi. After arriving on the Trade Federation–controlled world, the Duros 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, reporting 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 the Jedi Padawan Nuru Kungurama. Complying with Darth Sidious's latest instructions, Bane proceeded to the diner to set up an elaborate staging of events and manipulate the group's actions. The Duros 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, the bounty hunter 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. The Duros 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, the Duros 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 the Duros 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," and Bane devised a risky plan to break into the prison and liberate the captives. With Kungurama, Gunn, the troopers, and the poncho-adorned Bane posing as prisoners and Cleaver 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 captured by battle droids. The bounty hunter eventually returned to the prison with Ambase's lightsaber, meeting the Jedi and troopers, who had been reunited with the rest of their clone squad. The Duros continued to deceive the group, saying 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, stating that it was all that he had found of the Jedi. 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. The bounty hunter returned to his ship in the nearby Docking Bay 21 and brought Ambase's body onto the vessel. Departing the planet, the Duros used his pass codes to bypass several Republic Navy Star Destroyers that had arrived in orbit of the remote world. After escaping 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 the bounty hunter's successful mission, telling the Duros to deliver the Jedi 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 personal modified Telgorn dropship, The Sleight of Hand, Bane hijacked the Gravitic Core of the gravitic polarization beam 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 the Skakoan agent's Munificent-class star frigate and left it to be hit by an explosion. On the planet of Ryloth, which had recently been liberated by the Grand Army of the Republic from the Confederacy, the bounty hunter took Clone Captain CC-7567 and Clone Sergeant CS-2207&mdash;nicknamed "Rex" and "Boomer," respectively&mdash;hostage. Bringing the two to a hangar and placing them in explosive–wired binders, the Duros 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.

"Working with" the troopers, Bane 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, the bounty hunter and the troopers were able to defeat the droids. After the group had taken down a large tri-droid, which Bane opened fire on the Jedi and clones. Skywalker deflected and rebounded his blaster fire, causing the Duros to lose his balance atop a platform and tumble to the ground.

Held at lightsaber point by Skywalker, Bane's "bargaining chips" were rendered defunct when the Jedi severed the clones' binders. Rex and Boomer took the bounty hunter's blaster, though the Duros 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, the group encountered numerous B1, B2, chameleon droids and droidekas. Tired from carrying the weight of the Gravitic Core, the bounty hunter 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 the Duros to cross the divide with his crate.

Taking a cliffside path, the three 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 Jedi had disabled a squad of LM-432 crab droids, Bane followed the Master and Padawan 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, the hunter'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. The Skakoan 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, the bounty hunter sneaked away and made his own escape. Although Teska fled with the Core and stole The Sleight of Hand, Bane intervened during the Republic's siege of the Skakoan's facility on the world of Behpour. With Teska's gravitic beam powering 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 the Skakoan to be defeated by the Jedi, the Duros retrieved his Telgorn dropship and escaped. Bane later 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 departing.

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 incarcerated in the Republic Judiciary Central Detention Center. Instead of opting for a straightfoward prison break, however, the Duros decided to force the Republic into freeing Ziro by taking hostages. To do so, he would need a group of skilled 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 two Separatist BX-series droid commandos and a number of 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 of Keyorin under the pretense that Bane was holding a recruitment drive. 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 the bounty hunter. After arriving on the planet and entering the safehouse with directions from Bane's techno-service droid, Todo 360, Davtokk fired upon the mannequin, assuming it to be Bane. The Duros 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. Pointing one of his blaster pistols at Davtokk's head, Bane killed the incapacitated mercenary. Heading to Coruscant, Bane took his team to raid the Galactic Senate, planning to take senators hostage in order to force Supreme Chancellor Palpatine to release Ziro the Hutt. After Bane, Alama, a sentinel droid, and two droid commandos landed at the Republic Executive Building in an airspeeder, a squad of Senate Commando guards confronted the approaching Bane. The Duros commented on their hastiness, and before the guards could arrest Bane, Sing used a sniper rifle to kill most of the guards from a long-range post. Bane personally eliminated the Senate Commando captain, Jayfon, by tackling him and snapping his neck.

With the guards eliminated, Bane signaled to Sing, Robonino, and the other hunters that the coast was clear. The bounty hunters arrived at the building with several more sentinel droids. Leaving the droid commandos outside to clear the platform and stand guard, the 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 before heading 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. Entering the atrium, Bane caught the attention of the senators discussing a piece of Senate legislation by firing several blaster shots. The bounty hunters surrounded the senators, and when Senator Philo objected to being taken hostage&mdash;walking away while refusing to "listen to insolence"&mdash;Bane shot him in the back.

The Duros ordered the senators to turn over their communication devices before contacting Supreme Chancellor Palpatine in his office via a holotransmission, Bane stated that the senator hostages would be freed if Ziro the Hutt were to be released from prison. After 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, 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 window. Bane fired at the man, and Skywalker fled, prompting the Duros to order Alama and an IG-86 sentinel droid after the Jedi.

Alama returned without the droid, and reported that while it had been destroyed by Skywalker, an examination of the droid's remains showed that the Jedi Knight did not have his lightsaber. Bane dispatched Sing with Alama to find and bring the Jedi back to him. The Duros contacted Palpatine once more and told the Chancellor to make a pardon disc. 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 the senator to the Detention Center. Sing and Alama then returned to the atrium with Robonino and an unconscious, handcuffed Skywalker, and the Duros taunted the knocked-out Jedi Knight before ordering him to be tossed in with the rest of the hostages. Meanwhile, 3D collected 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. The troopers confronted the group of bounty hunters, blocking their escape, and Palpatine contacted Bane. The Chancellor ordered the Duros to surrender, but Bane him of the trapped senators, and Palpatine reluctantly relinquished his attempts to apprehend the bounty hunter. Bane's airspeeder arrived, driven by 3D and hauling Ziro in a rear transport. With the lives of the senators still at risk, the Coruscant Guard clones allowed the team of mercenaries to escape. After they were a safe distance away, Bane remotely activated the explosives as payback for the indignities Ziro had suffered in prison.

Skywalker, in the meantime, had recovered, and began to cut a hole in the floor around himself and the senators. Just as the explosives went off, the Jedi and the senators dropped into the room below. 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 the Duros 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 Rodian Jedi Master Bolla Ropal that could be read by a Jedi holocron. Bane initially believed infiltrating the Temple to be impossible, but after the Sith Lord put that the bounty hunter's reputation into question, the 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, the Duros 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, stating that it was a memory chip that had been provided by Sidious.

While Bane was examining the Sith Lord's intelligence file on Master Ropal, Parasitti arrived in the bounty hunter's quarters, and the Duros briefed the Clawdite on the mission. Parasitti took the form of the late Jedi Master Ord Enisence&mdash;whose lifeless body had been brought to Bane's room&mdash;to gain access to the Jedi Archives' security systems, and the Duros gave her an ear-comlink so that they could maintain contact. 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 the Duros 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 his droid. 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 the Clawdite deactivated the vault's laser sensor system from her terminal in the Archive Library. As the bounty hunter 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 Skywalker's Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, and revealed Bane's mission. Having lost contact with his inside agent, the Duros 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. The hunter waited till the two had passed 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 headed away in the other direction. The hunter escaped without either of his accomplices, leaving Todo to be destroyed in the communication center by the explosive that he had planted 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, 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, the Duros ordered her not to shoot the Rodian, who was in fact his target. Instead, Bane told her to distract the Rodian's Zabrak Padawan, Tyzen Xebec, and several clones that had just arrived, while he himself moved in to capture Ropal. En route to the surface in a Porax-38 starfighter, Bane shot several clone troopers before landing and approaching the Jedi Master. Receiving word that the Republic Star Destroyer Resolute had arrived out of hyperspace, the bounty hunter realized that Parasitti had betrayed his target and swore to "return the favor."

Using an expensive shot of cortosis to short out Ropal's lightsaber, the Duros then tripped the Jedi and tied his legs together with a cord of rope. Taking Ropal hostage and recovering the Kyber crystal, Bane returned to his command ship and rendezvoused with a Trade Federation escort of Munificent-class frigates&mdash;which had been dispatched as reinforcements by Viceroy Nute Gunray at Darth Sidious's request&mdash;in the space over the planet. 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 the imprisoned Ropal in one of the frigate's holding cells. However, the Resolute targeted the vessel's hyperdrive and destroyed the ship's power converters, trapping the bounty hunter 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 droids to increase Ropal's electrocution to full power, killing the Rodian Jedi. Returning to his ship's bridge, the Duros 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 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 the bounty hunter's frigate aboard 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 mode, and transfer complete control of all shipboard functions to his wrist-com.

Leaving his battle droids to defend the bridge, the bounty hunter 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. The Duros 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. The bounty hunter targeted his blaster fire at Skywalker, who made it past the Duros. Bane narrowly avoided the Jedi's lightsaber slash before opening fire on the clones. Bane shot and killed several troopers but was soon surprised from behind by Skywalker, who delivered a kick that knocked the holocron out of the hunter's grip. As the Jedi 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 magnetized still 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 her Master, the bounty hunter cut her off from Skywalker by closing the hallway's blast doors behind her. Bane fired a laser shot at the Padawan, which she easily deflected at one of his gauntlets. The Duros ducked around Tano and spun through the air, knocking her lightsaber out of her hand. As the bounty hunter took aim at her, however, 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, Bane reached out and grabbed the Padawan's ankle, sending a paralyzing stun charge through her body that knocked her unconscious. The Duros picked up the holocron and took Tano's Padawan braid jewelry from her as a trophy. As the two exchanged banter, Bane electrocuted Tano to increase Skywalker's sense of urgency. The bounty hunter placed his Jedi hostage inside the airlock, using her as a bargaining chip once Skywalker arrived. Flanked by two super battle droids, Bane was prepared to open the airlock and send Tano out into the vacuum of space if Skywalker refused to unlock the memory crystal.

With his Padawan's life at risk, Skywalker handed over his lightsaber and used the Force to take apart the holocron; he combined it with the crystal, making it readable. After Bane had taken the holocron, Skywalker called Tano's lightsaber and his own weapon into his hands, making quick work of the bounty hunter's super battle droid bodyguards. In retaliation, Bane opened the airlock, keeping the two Jedi occupied while he made his escape. The bounty hunter made contact with Gunray and informed the viceroy of his success with opening the holocron. Though the viceroy 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, the Duros 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.

As Skywalker and Tano prepared to flee the doomed frigate with the rest of the clones aboard a Sheathipede-class shuttle, they witnessed the armor–clad Bane shoot a figure garbed in the bounty hunter's own outfit. With the Jedi believing him to be dead, the Duros was able to escape with them on their shuttle; however, 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 bounty hunter and eventually realized that he was not a clone; 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, the Duros 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". With the bounty hunter passing through the magnetic shield out of the hangar, the Jedi was forced 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.

Adversary of the Jedi
Escaping to hyperspace and returning to Black Stall Station, a space station that served as his base of operations, 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 of Glee Anselm. Next traveling to Rodia, the bounty hunter donned a Jedi robe and met with the Rodian Mahtee Dunn, mother of the Force-sensitive Wee Dunn, in her home in Kay-Tap square.

Bane deceived the elder Dunn, stating that Jedi impostors had been roaming the galaxy and stealing Force-sensitive children. Receiving resistance from Mahtee, the Duros used a hypnogazer to temporarily alter her memory and force her into complying with his demands. Leaving one of his blasters behind and preparing to depart 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 parked. Kenobi pursued the bounty hunter, 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 of 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, the bounty hunter entered the nursery and pulled back the blanket, only to find a tooka doll in place of the expected baby. A moment later, 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. The Duros fired his blaster at Tano, who rolled and ducked behind some furniture. Bane attempted to escape with his rocket boots but was confronted by Skywalker, who jumped and grabbed onto the hunter's 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.

The Duros was placed in binders, and Tano retrieved her Padawan braid jewelry that the hunter had previously taken from her as a trophy. Bane and the Xanadu Blood were taken to the Resolute; the 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. The two Masters 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 bounty hunter was escorted into a waiting T-6 shuttle, where he dictated the coordinates of the deep space Black Stall Station 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, the Jedi 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. The Duros led them to the station's control room and pointed 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 the Jedi, Bane sneaked away from the distracted Jedi Masters. Kenobi pursued the bounty hunter, but the Duros 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, the Duros could not be stopped, and would track his quarry to the ends of the galaxy if necessary; nothing was more important to Bane than credits. He 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.

The Duros 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. After his team of hunters had freed Ziro, the Duros 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 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.

Bane's methods of choosing comrades for joint operations and his introduction into the bounty business remained obscure to the galaxy, and he preferred to keep it that way. 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 team. Undaunted by individuals of higher authority and Force-sensitivity, he 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. Indeed, the Duros even welcomed the opportunity to test his abilities against the "legendary prowess" of the Jedi Knights. Darth Sidious's jobs ultimately gave Bane the chance to do so. 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 Bane to submit to their demands.

The bounty hunter 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 the Skakoan stole back the Gravitic Core and the 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 also 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. He was aware of the risk he took in doing so, but also knew that it was easier to deceive someone by telling most of the truth than a complete lie. He was also 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 trap on Black Stall Station. 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 the bounty hunter's services for infiltrating the Jedi Temple, Bane 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 the hunter's 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," the Duros killed the senator without a second thought and showed the other senators that he meant business. Bolla Ropal refusal to help Bane open the holocron prompted the bounty hunter to intensify the Rodian'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. The Duros did not take prisoners, and intended for his senator hostages to be killed even after he had gone through negotiations with the Chancellor for their release in exchange for Ziro's liberation. Bane had no problems with going back on his word, exemplified in his detonation of the explosives planted near the senators and his opening of the airlock after he had bargained with Skywalker for 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. The Duros 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 and a concealed bola as extra weapons. He had cybernetic breathing tubes that were imbedded 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. He often wore a wide-brimmed hat and a Nashtah hide tunic.

The bounty hunter 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. The Duros 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. The bounty hunter also flew the Xanadu Blood, a heavily modified Porax-38 starfighter that was given to him by Sidious. Although its layers of paint were chipping, the fighter served Bane well in his hunt for Force-sensitive infants. After the bounty hunter was captured on Naboo, his ship was left with the Jedi onboard the Resolute.

Behind the scenes
The character of Cad Bane was created for the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series and 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. The Duros also appeared in Hunting the Hunters, Part I, the first in a series of 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.

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 part as a character&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 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, and used Bane's already established Western American influences to voice the Duros mercenary 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."

Some first season publicity materials mistakenly implied that Darth Sidious and the Separatists had hired Bane to free Ziro the Hutt from prison, but the Hutts were later verified in Bane's Databank entry to have been the ones that gave him the assignment.

Bane was given his own entry in the Star Wars Soundboard.

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
 * 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