Cad Bane/Legends

Cad Bane was a male Duros, born on the planet of Duro, who rose to be a bounty hunter during the Clone Wars. Ruthless and deadly, Bane worked for the highest bidder, and earned the reputation as the galaxy's best and most fearsome mercenary&mdash;a title that he was able to claim after fellow bounty hunter Jango Fett perished in the opening battle of the war. Around 22 BBY, Bane was hired to break the Republic captive Ziro Desilijic Tiure out of prison on the galactic capital of Coruscant. The Duros assembled a team of hunters and captured members of the Galactic Senate in their headquarters on Coruscant, forcing Supreme Chancellor Palpatine to free Ziro.

Bane was later employed by the Confederacy of Independent Systems and its Head of State, Count Dooku, for several missions. One one assignment from Dooku's Sith Master, Darth Sidious, Bane stole a holocron containing information on potential Force-sensitive infants from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. He then kidnapped the infants and brought them to the planet of Mustafar, where Sidous planned to use them for his own purposes. At some point, the Duros was given the heavily modified Porax-38 starfighter Xanadu Blood by the Confederacy as partial payment for his work.

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

Cad Bane was a Duros male who born on 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, and cared 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.

Raid on the Senate
In 22 BBY during the Clone Wars, Ziro Desilijic Tiure, a Hutt crime lord based on the galactic capital of Coruscant, was arrested for his participation in a failed plot&mdash;orchestrated by the Confederate Head of State, Count Dooku&mdash;to kidnap Rotta, the son of Ziro's own nephew, Jabba Desilijic Tiure. For his crimes against the Republic, Ziro was incarcerated in the Republic Judiciary Central Detention Center on Coruscant. The Hutt crime lord was desperate to escape, and Bane was hired to free the crime lord. However, Bane did not opt for a straightforward rescue; instead, he decided to force the Republic into freeing Ziro by taking hostages. To do so, the Duros would need a group of skilled bounty hunters, and he began assembling a team that consisted of the Jedi hunter Aurra Sing, the Weequay mercenary Shahan Alama, and the piscine technician Robonino. The team was backed up by two Confederate 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 battle droid to fool the bounty hunter. After arriving on the planet entering the safehouse, Davtokk fired upon the mannequin, assuming it to be Bane, but soon discovered the deception. Robonino then detonated a series of pre-planted explosives, and Alama caught Davtokk in a razor net. The bounty hunter quickly escaped the net, and managed to evade the onrushing Alama with several flash-bang grenades. From a distant perch, Sing fired her sniper rifle at Davtokk's legs, crippling the mercenary. Bane, having watched the entire affair unfold, confronted Davtokk and explained that the entire operation had been arranged as a final test for his new team. The Duros then pointed one of his blaster pistols at Davtokk's head and 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 Senate Building in an airspeeder, a squad of Senate Commandos&mdash;a branch of the guards of the Senate&mdash;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 captain of the guards by tackling him and snapping his neck. The Duros signaled to Sing, Robonino, and the other hunters that the coast was clear, and 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 building's power control room, as well as several droids inside, Bane left Robonino to shut off the power before heading for the atrium with the rest of his team. Along the way, the Duros eliminated two patrols of guards by tossing a primed thermal detonator into their barracks when both shifts were assembled there.

Entering the Republic Executive Building, 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, and contacted Chancellor Palpatine in his office via a holotransmission. Bane stated that the hostages were to 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 sealing 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 bounty hunter 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 and give it to Senator Taa, who would be picked up by Bane's airspeeder and taken to deliver the disc to the prison. Taa reluctantly obeyed, and the sentinel droid 3D took the senator to the Detention Center. Sing and Alama returned 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 returned to the Senate Building, while Taa stayed at the prison in the safety of the Coruscant Guard's clone troopers. 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 and cornered the group of bounty hunters. Palpatine contacted Bane and ordered him to surrender, but the Duros informed the Chancellor 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, and with the lives of the senators still at risk, the Coruscant Guard 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 mercenaries complied.

Stealing a holocron
Bane was later hired by the Sith Lord Count Dooku&mdash;also known as Darth Tyranus&mdash;and the Confederacy to work against the Republic. On one mission for Darth Sidious, Tyranus's Sith Master, Bane was employed to steal a holocron containing a list of potentially Force-sensitive infants from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Using schematics of the Temple, a techno-service droid, and a shapeshifter, he was met with resistance from Skywalker and his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, but was able to escape. Bane captured each of the infants on the list himself and took them to the remote planet of Mustafar, where Sidious planned to use them for his own deeds.

At some point, the Confederacy gave Bane the Xanadu Blood&mdash;a heavily modified, well-equipped, and high-capability Porax-38 starfighter&mdash;as partial payment for his work on its behalf.

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, as fellow bounty hunter Jango Fett had perished on Geonosis at the beginning of the war. Bane had much less moral content than Fett, and would often turn upon the very people who hired him unless he was paid. 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. Although loyal to neither the Republic or the Confederacy during the war, he often undertook missions for the latter. Bane 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.

Bane was not daunted by individuals of higher authority, and remained unswayed with both the Senate Commandos' attempt to arrest him and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine's threats of retribution. Indeed, the Duros even welcomed the opportunity to test his abilities against the "legendary prowess" of the Jedi Knights. 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. He 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. After his team had freed Ziro and escaped from the Senate Building, Bane cared little what happened to his accomplices, as long as they hid from the Republic.

Equipment and gear
Bane carried a set of personalized twin blaster pistols that were customized from the BlasTech-engineered LL-30 model. He had cybernetic breathing tubes that were imbedded in his cheekbones; they were directly connected to his lungs, allowing him to work freely in the harshest atmospheres without requiring additional protection. Bane was also equipped with rocket boots and wrist gauntlets, the latter of which possessed a variety of built-in tools and weapons, including a cable launcher, comlink, data uplink, and non-lethal stunners.

Behind the scenes


Cad Bane made his first appearance in The Clone Wars web comic Invitation Only, and then appeared in the television series' first season finale, "Hostage Crisis." Because the episode introduced the concept of bounty hunters into the series, Bane was one of the first such bounty hunters to be featured in the television series. Bane will be making more appearances in the second season of the series. He appeared in the web comic Hunting the Hunters, Part 1, a transition between the series' first two seasons, and is already scheduled for a part in the episodes "Cargo of Doom" and "The Holocron Heist," as well as the latter's novelization. Bane will also have a role in Republic Heroes, a multi-platform video game set between the television series' first two seasons, which is to be released in September 2009.

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.

Unused sketches of a bounty hunter existed from the original Star Wars films, and the sketches ended up providing the basis for Bane's model. Early versions of the character were based on the Gen'Dai bounty hunter Durge, but the final design, at the request of George Lucas, took inspiration from Lee Van Cleef's characters from the films The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and For a Few Dollars More.

Appearances

 * The Clone Wars: Invitation Only
 * The Clone Wars: Hunting the Hunters (Part 1)
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Holocron Heist
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Holocron Heist
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Holocron Heist