Polygon draws a parallel between Bane's plan to break Batman in the classic "Knightfall" comic storyline, newly adapted in the animated film Batman: Knightfall Part 1 (digitally released 25 August 2026), and the "Hidden Inventory/Premature Death" arc of Jujutsu Kaisen, which some viewers watched around the same time as part of the show's second season. In both cases, the article argues, a physically formidable villain succeeds not through brute strength but by exhausting an overpowered hero using disposable, expendable threats before finally attacking once he is worn down.

In Knightfall, Bane triggers a mass breakout from Arkham Asylum, forcing Batman to spend days capturing the Joker, Poison Ivy and other escaped villains before Bane ambushes an exhausted Bruce Wayne and breaks his back, a moment also referenced (though simplified) in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises. In Jujutsu Kaisen's prequel arc, the assassin Toji Fushiguro, who has no cursed energy but superhuman physical abilities, similarly places a bounty on a target guarded by the powerful sorcerer Satoru Gojo, letting lesser fighters wear Gojo down over several days before striking himself. The article notes that series creator Gege Akutami has never credited Bane as an inspiration, instead citing Fate/Zero's Kiritsugu Emiya and actor Jason Statham as influences on Toji's character.