In 1993, DC Comics began its now iconic Knightfall event, which saw the newly created villain Bane plotting against Batman to take Gotham City and break the Bat. The event would upend the Batman universe for months to come, and its influences are felt even to this day.
The creative teams of Chuck Dixon, Scott Hanna and Graham Nolan (Detective Comics) and Doug Moench and Norm Breyfogle (Batman) brought readers one of the most heavy hitting Batman stories to date. Full of iconic moments, the Knightfall saga rippled out into the wider DC universe. It set up the defining arcs of characters like Jean-Paul Valley's Azrael, the new super villain Bane, and Batman himself. The story was so iconic it served as one of the central influences of Christopher Nolan's 2012 The Dark Knight Rises film.
Knightfall began when Bane set his sights on Gotham from within his prison, becoming intrigued with first mention of the Batman. Having escaped from his prison on the island of Santa Prisca, Bane set himself the challenge of defeating the Batman. Upon his arrival, Bane had a run in with the GCPD and Batman himself, but evaded their capture. Now, more fixated on Batman and Gotham than ever, Bane began to plot his attack. Assisted by his prison entourage, Bane set in motion a plan that was designed to upend the power balance in Gotham, throw the city into chaos and draw out and weaken Batman.
In the lead-up to Knightfall, Batman had been working with Tim Drake as his Robin, with the assistance of the newly introduced Jean-Paul Valley Azrael, a troubled assassin turned antihero. Before the event began, Bane set his plan into motion by staging a breakout of all the inmates of Arkham Asylum, letting everyone from Joker to Victor Zsasz out onto the streets. The first half of the story followed a dedicated and determined Batman as he set about finding and catching the hoard of villains. As the night of chaos continues, Batman finds himself being pushed to his absolute limits as he has never been before.
The manhunt begins with the capture of Mad Hatter, who is using his mind control to direct a group of C-list Batman villains to aid in his own crimes. Batman and Robin make short work of the villains, but the fight is a prelude to the intensity of what's to come, not to mention the looming threat of Bane. Moving on from this, Batman finds the Ventriloquist working with Amygdala, a hulking brute whose brain had been experimented on in Arkham. Although initially expecting a quick takedown of Ventriloquist, Amygdala takes Batman by surprise. Though the Dark Knight is victorious the encounter leaves him further weakened.
Batman then moves on to the serial killer Victor Zsasz, who represents one of the hardest hitting targets in his manhunt. The infamous Gotham serial killer had taken a group of women hostage in a school library, while the GCPD desperately tried to negotiate for their release. Catching wind of the situation, Batman arrives on the scene and goes about saving the girls from Zsasz. With some bravery from GCPD ally Renee Montoya, Batman is able to beat him. Though now, Batman is beginning to feel the pressure and stress of the night. Even the grouchy GCPD detective Harvey Bullock tries to get the Dark Knight some rest.
During Batman's fight with Zsasz, Bane managed to take Robin prisoner, holding him in Gotham's sewer system. However, a sudden attack from Killer Croc on Bane gives Robin the opportunity to escape and return to Wayne Manor. Robin finds a sleep-deprived Batman as he's preparing to head back out, this time having to contend with a terrifying twosome of Scarecrow and Joker. Batman soon finds himself trying to tackle three threats at once: the Joker/Scarecrow team-up, the flame attacks of Firefly, and the reemergence of Poison Ivy -- who has taken some of Gotham society's elites captive under her mind control. Though he prevails in the end, his fights leave him a physically and spiritually broken hero. The exhausted hero is then finally able to bring down Joker and Scarecrow, seemingly bringing his manhunt to an end.
Batman's war for Gotham comes to a head when an exhausted Bruce Wayne returns home to find Bane lying in wait. Taking advantage of Batman's exhaustion, Bane springs into action, battling Wayne into the Batcave. As their grueling, issue-long fight rages on, it becomes clear that Batman cannot win this fight. Bane's brute force and prime physical condition eventually overpowers Batman. This climaxes in the infamous 'breaking the Bat' moment when Bane disables the hero's back. Batman turns to Jean-Paul Valley to step in for him. However, after witnessing his brutal methods, the former Caped Crusader comes to regret his successor almost immediately and begins to weigh his options.
Following the Knightfall story, the following arcs Knightquest and Knightsend depict Azrael's time as Batman while Bruce Wayne goes on his journey to heal and reclaim his mantle from the increasingly unhinged Azrael. Both his unrelenting battle against the freed inmates and his subsequent quest to heal demonstrates that Bruce Wayne will do whatever it takes to protect the people of Gotham and those closest to him. The saga, which lasted almost a year and a half, gave readers one of the best insights into just how driven and dedicated a hero Batman is.
The unrelenting drive of Batman pushed him beyond his limits. He was physically exhausted, sleep-deprived, and mentally stressed culminating in his inevitable showdown with Bane. The Knightfall saga brought out his dedication in a way few stories had before. Not many superheroes have endured the trials of Batman in this story. For this reason, Knightfall has remained one of Batman's most iconic and hardest hitting stories in the long history of the Caped Crusader.