Cad Bane

Cad Bane is a fictional character Star Wars franchise created by George Lucas, Dave Filoni and Henry Gilroy, as a recurring antagonist voiced by Corey Burton in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The character is a cold and manipulative bounty hunter from the planet Duro.

Concept and creation
The character was created for the 2008 Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series set during the prequel trilogy. The season one finale "Hostage Crisis" director Giancarlo Volpe compared Cad Bane to another Star Wars bountyhunter Boba Fett stating,

"The crew loves Cad Bane, and I really think the fans will, too. He brings a serious bad-ass sensibility to Star Wars. He's a lethal and ruthless bounty hunter, and you see that right away in the episode. Unlike Boba Fett, Cad doesn't take prisoners."

Originally, supervising director Dave Filoni and series writer Henry Gilroy planned to create the Durge character that was already introduced in the 2003 micro-series. Durge would instead be redesigned as a human character but this exploration was short lived after the suggestion of series producer and Star Wars creator George Lucas to go Western. Lucas took inspiration from western film actors such as Lee Van Cleef's portrayal of Angel Eyes in The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly and of Colonel Mortimer in For a Few Dollars More while Corey Burton uses Peter Lorre's voice as inspiration. These characters' Western influences help to bring Bane to life while still containing the features of the Duros species in the Star Wars universe with his own original characterization. Burton's voice would then be modified on the computer by the series' sound production team. While Filoni researched the character, he happened to come across an unlabeled concept art of a gun-toting bounty hunter with a wide-brimmed hat from the original trilogy and that concept helped bring the character to life.

"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."

- David Filoni

Appearances
In the 2008 TV series, Cad Bane appears exclusively during the Clone Wars.

In the first season finale "Hostage Crisis", Cad Bane was hired to free Ziro the Hutt from a prison on the planet Coruscant. Using stolen data, Bane and his posse of bounty hunters march into the Senate building, eliminating security and taking Senators hostage in the east wing where Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala also happen to be, cutting off all communications, and makes his demands to Chancellor Palpatine for Ziro. Despite Anakin's interference, Bane obtains Ziro.

In the second season, Cad Bane is contacted by Darth Sidious for a special assignment: the capture of a Holocron from inside the Jedi Temple. Bane finds himself in a massive struggle for the stolen Holocron as Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano attempt to take it back. He is briefly captured before leading Obi-Wan Kenobi and Mace Windu into a trap in his headquarters, allowing him to escape.

In the third season, it is revealed how Cad Bane accomplished his bounty with Ziro: he abducted C-3PO and then R2-D2 to download their schematics for the Senate building for Jabba the Hutt. After Ziro evades his captors, the Hutts hire Bane to assassinate Ziro. But as someone else beats him to killing Ziro and obtains his incriminating evidence on the Hutts, Bane confronts Kenobi and Quinlan Vos on the planet Teth.

During the fourth season, Cad Bane is revealed to be in a Republic prison. He is then hired by fellow convict Moralo Eval for a job by Count Dooku to kidnap Chancellor Palpatine on Naboo. However, Kenobi poses as bounty hunter Rako Hardeen and manages to foil the plot even though Dooku escapes while Bane was arrested.

Promotion and reception
Cad Bane has been featured in two Hasbro toys concerning himself, his blaster and his ship respectively,  as well as one involving him merged with his ship in a crossover for Transformers. Both Cad Bane and his speeder were included as part of the Lego Star Wars toy line.

In 2009, UGO Networks ran a feature on Cad Bane, noting his cool looks and calling him "quintessentially cold, cruel and calculating". IGN listed him as the 31st top Star Wars character, praising his first impression and saying his creators succeeded in introducing "an inarguably cool and effective villain". IGN also noted he "continued to be an excellent foil" to the main protagonists in his later appearances. IGN's Eric Goldman said that Bane was a successful attempt at creating a new ongoing villain, and later called him a "very cool and effective new villain". Goldman also called Bane's introduction and his torture of Bolla Ropal (a Jedi) two of The Clone Wars's most darkest moments, adding that Bane lived up to the hype that surrounded him in his introduction. Christian Bauvelt, writing for Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch, said that one of the three top reasons the "Evil Plans" episode worked for him was because Cad Bane appeared in it, and noted Bane's similarities to Angel Eyes from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.