Bane, Cad

• Appeared in:
  
  I
  II
  III
  IV
  V
  VI
  CW

• Homeworld:
  Duro

• Species:
  Duros

• Gender:
  Male

• Vehicle:
  Modified starfighter, Xanadu Blood

• Affiliation:
  Highest bidder

• 

A ruthless bounty hunter from the planet Duro, Cad Bane was the preeminent blaster-for-hire in the galaxy at the time of the Clone Wars. No quarry was too dangerous for Bane... if the price was right. Using an impressive arsenal of weapons and allies, the cold, cruel and calculating Bane would literally track his prey to the ends of the galaxy if required. Bane carried custom twin blaster pistols, gauntlets studded with control devices, a concealed bola, explosives, integrated breathing apparatus and rocket boots, ensuring that he was always well prepared for any situation that may arise.

The Birth of Bane

Early in the development of The Clone Wars animated series, the notion of so-called "third party" villains was off the table -- the initial focus remained strongly on the struggle between the forces of the Republic versus the Separatists. But as season one progressed, there came a role that needed to be filled by a bounty hunter.

At first, series Supervising Director Dave Filoni and series writer Henry Gilroy explored bringing in the bounty hunter Durge, a character introduced in the 2003 incarnation of The Clone Wars comics and animation. Durge was reimagined as a human character, and his more outlandish alien features were redesigned, but this exploration was short-lived. It evolved into an iteration of a bounty hunter character named Nom Kahbah. Kahbah retained Durge's all-concealing armor, though the lines were smoothed out to resemble something, perhaps, out of World War II Germany. Ultimately, George Lucas suggested another direction -- West. Or rather, the iconic characters of the spaghetti Westerns that so inspired the original Star Wars movies.

Cad Bane emerged as a mix of Star Wars gunslinger, built on a conceptual skeleton of Lee Van Cleef's Angel Eyes from The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, but bearing the alien features of the Duros species, as first envisioned by concept artist Ron Cobb for the Star Wars cantina. These designs, iterated by Lead Designer Kilian Plunkett, along with an unforgettable vocal performance by actor Corey Burton, made Cad Bane a reality.

In his research in developing Bane, Filoni came across an unlabeled concept illustration from the original Star Wars trilogy of a gun-toting spacer with a wide-brimmed hat. "Something you notice about George Lucas after a while is that he'll mention a name like 'Mace Windu' in a [1973] version of Star Wars, and then it pops up in 1999. So, this, I guess might have been an idea George had for the character Cad Bane way back when, and now finally he's getting around to bringing him to the screen in The Clone Wars."

Memorable Introduction

Cad Bane first appeared in "Hostage Crisis", the season one finale of The Clone Wars, though his existence was already made public thanks to his inclusion in Clone Wars boardgames as well as behind-the-scenes material on the DVD release of The Clone Wars theatrical movie. In "Hostage Crisis," directed by Giancarlo Volpe and written by Eoghan Mahony, Bane is hired by the Hutts to free Ziro the Hutt from languishing in a Coruscant prison. Although some publicity materials surrounding the season finale tied the prison break to Darth Sidious and the Separatists, in truth, Bane was not working for the Sith and it seems likely the Dark Lord may have been surprised by this new threat. It wasn't long, however, before Bane would be working for Sidious, perhaps having impressed him -- and his alter-ego, Chancellor Palpatine -- with his audacious assault on the Senate.

Bane and his posse of bounty hunters -- including Robonino, Aurra Sing, Shahan Alama, and HELIOS-3D -- brazenly marched into the Senate building. By orchestrating his infiltration during Senate Guard shifts, Bane maximized his element of surprise, coldly tossing a thermal detonator into a crowded guard barracks, eliminating most of the active Senate security. Bane then took a group of Senators hostage in the east wing, cutting off communications and making his demands known to the Chancellor.

Amid this tricky situation skulked Anakin Skywalker, an uninvited guest to the proceedings who was caught unarmed. He joined the hostages, but with the help of Padmé Amidala, Skywalker was able to thwart Bane's last act of treachery -- even though Bane left with a liberated Ziro the Hutt, Bane was set to detonate explosives that would have killed the hostages. Anakin saved the Senators from the resulting blast.

Expanded Universe Role

Given Cad's instant popularity among the crew at Lucasfilm Animation, he was immediately slated for future appearances, both in the animated series and in the spin-off fiction. Cad appeared in the online Clone Wars comics published by StarWars.com, first in "Invitation Only" (written by Pablo Hidalgo and illustrated by Thomas Hodges), where Bane is shown amassing his posse of hunters and eliminating a rival, Davtokk. Later, in "Hunting the Hunters, Part I" (again by Hidalgo and Hodges), Bane follows up the events of "Hostage Crisis" by ordering the posse to split up in order to avoid pursuit by the authorities. Bane also plays an supporting role in the forthcoming video game, Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes (2009, LucasArts).

Cad Bane Returns

So prominent is Cad Bane and his predatory ilk in season two of The Clone Wars (2009-2010) that the series title was expanded with the subhead, "The Rise of the Bounty Hunters." Bane's villainy kicks things off with "Holocron Heist," written by Paul Dini and directed by Justin Ridge. In the season two premiere, Bane is contacted by Darth Sidious in the underworld of Coruscant for a special assignment: the capture of a Holocron from within the heavily guarded Jedi Temple. In this episode, Cad Bane's butler droid, Todo 360 appears (he was first previewed in the "Invitation Only" web comic), voiced by Seth Green. The season finale leads into a multi-part arc featuring Bane as the primary foe for the Jedi heroes.