Cad Bane was the most prominent bounty hunter during the Clone Wars, with him frequently
going toe to toe with full-fledged Jedi Masters throughout the conflict.
His talents were so well regarded that he was even personally hired
by Darth Sidious.
Born on the planet Duro, Bane started his career as a bounty hunter at an early age
and was briefly mentored by Jango Fett prior to the
outbreak of the Clone Wars.
During his early exploits, Bane was hired alongside other hunters to aid Darth Maul
in secretly acquiring a Jedi Padawan who was being sold
at an auction by a criminal syndicate, as the Sith
Lord wished to slay a Jedi for the first time behind his master’s back.
Following a Moogan gang’s purchase of the padawan; Bane, Maul and the other hunters
ambushed them within their own starship and got hold of the Jedi learner.
However, before they could escape, their ship crashed near a moon,
with the host of the auction ordering all the other
criminals to hunt them down for sport after realizing their theft.
Cad Bane and the other hired hunters were ordered by Maul to hold off the incoming goons
and to find a new ship, with him going on to privately
duel the Jedi Padawan they had acquired in order to feed his bloodlust.
As dozens of thugs came barring upon them, Cad Bane and his
allies were able to fight them off with ease, picking each group off like ants and finally
acquiring a new ship for them to get off the moon.
During this event, Bane and the other hunters considered killing Maul, but thought against
it after seeing him in action and not fully understanding how he was able to fight in
such an unnatural fashion.
Also, their greed for money outweighed any fears of being betrayed
by such a mysterious employer.
Maul also had thoughts of taking out Bane and the other bounty hunters following his
victory over the Jedi Padawan, but ultimately decided
against it due to their commitment of staying with
him till the very end of the job, rewarding their bravery with a hefty payment and likely
passing on their exploits to his Sith Master Darth
Sidious.
Cad Bane’s notoriety in the galaxy truly picked up during the start of the Clone Wars,
when he was personally hired by Darth Sidious to steal
a holocron from the Jedi Temple, a task that would be deemed impossible for most other
bounty hunters, yet the Duro bounty hunter took the
job and was able to successfully execute the heist.
Following his escape off Coruscant with the holocron, he was hunted by a Jedi task force
led by Anakin Skywalker.
During this time, Bane with the aid of a small Separatist fleet was able to
capture Jedi Master Bolla Ropal.
He tortured the Rodian in an attempt to force him to open the
holocron with a Kyber memory crystal, yet failed to do so by accidently killing him
during the interrogation.
Luckily for Bane, he was able to successfully unlock the holocron shortly afterwards when
he threatened to kill Skywalker’s padawan Ahsoka
Tano, with the Jedi Knight reluctantly unlocking it for him.
Bane was able to escape capture by the Jedi once more by disguising himself as a Clone
Trooper before stealing a ship from a Republic cruiser and fleeing to hyperspace.
His next task involved him kidnapping Force sensitive children for Darth Sidious by using
the unlocked holocron as a guide.
He was able to successfully capture two before being
apprehended by Anakin and Ahsoka.
During his imprisonment by the Jedi, attempts were made
to mind-trick him to revealing the location of the children.
However, he was able to resist even the combined efforts of 3 Jedi using the power
on him, claiming to submit if they ceased any
more attempts on him.
However, this was yet another act of deception on his part, with him leading both Obi-Wan
and Mace Windu into a trap that only contained
the stolen holocron and no children.
During the activation of his traps on the unsuspecting
Jedi, he was able to make his escape once more.
Later, Cad Bane was hired by Jabba the Hutt to free a fellow member of the Hutt clan named
Ziro, who was in the custody of the Galactic Republic.
Bane assembled a crew of bounty hunters and together they took a portion of
the Senate building hostage, forcing Supreme Chancellor Palpatine to accept his demands
of freeing Ziro in exchange for the lives of the
Senators that were at his mercy.
After completing his job in rescuing Ziro the Hutt, Bane was once again hired by Jabba,
but this time to eliminate Ziro after he had escaped
imprisonment on Nal Hutta.
During this mission, he was intercepted by both Obi-Wan and Quinlan
Vos, who were also searching for Ziro to recapture him for the Republic.
Once it was discovered that Ziro had been betrayed and
murdered by his lover, a fight instigated between Bane and the two Jedi Masters.
Despite going up against two of the finest Jedi of the Order, Bane was able to not only
hold his own, but also was able to electrocute Obi-Wan
to the ground with his gauntlets during their brief
close quarters scuffle, with him eventually escaping once more from the Jedi.
At some point later in the Clone Wars, Cad Bane allowed himself to get captured by the
Republic and was imprisoned at a complex on Coruscant.
This was all done for a job given to him by Count Dooku, to free a man named Moralo
Eval from custody.
During his escape, Bane and Eval were both accompanied by a disguised
Obi-Wan, who had taken the identity of another bounty hunter named Rako Hardeen and
was tasked in uncovering a plot against the Supreme Chancellor.
The three later got off planet and eventually met up with Count Dooku on Serenno, who had
organized a bounty hunter tournament for a special mission involving kidnapping the
Chancellor.
Cad Bane along with the still disguised Obi-Wan succeeded in passing Dooku’s tests, with
Bane being made leader of the assembled bounty
hunter crew tasked in their mission of capturing Palpatine.
The mission took place on Naboo where the Supreme Chancellor was hosting a celebration
on the planet.
Although Cad Bane was able to temporarily kidnap Palpatine during the planned
ambush, he was foiled by Obi-Wan and later captured by the Republic by the end.
Not long after, Bane once again was able to escape imprisonment, with him later selling
the layouts of the Jedi Temple to a Separatist
captain who was planning to bomb the temple.
Near the very end of the Clone Wars, Cad Bane began
to mentor Boba Fett as a means of repaying his father Jango for doing the same long ago.
Later the two bounty hunters, as seen in an unfinished episode of The Clone Wars, had
a standoff which ended in both shooting each other
in the head, with Bane’s blaster shot resulting in the famous dent within Boba’s helmet.
Despite his severe injuries to his skull, Bane was able to recover and continued bounty
hunting during the early years of the Galactic Empire’s
reign.
One of his first jobs was kidnapping a special clone named Omega . Bane was able
to successfully capture her from Clone Force 99 on the planet Bracca,
but had her taken from him by another bounty hunter named Fennec Shand.
Although he failed this job, Bane continued his career of bounty hunting for many more
years to come and likely primarily took on jobs within
Hutt space, having become a favorite with Jabba
the Hutt and his associates.