 Dr. Woodrue creates Bane with what he calls his "Super Soldier  Serum". This is a reference to the origin of the Marvel Comics  character Captain America. Created in the early 1940s (under  Marvelss previous incarnation as Timely Comics), Captain America  was Steve Rogers, a man too frail to enlist to fight in World War  II. He agreed to subject himself to the Super Soldier Serum which  heightened every ability and sense to the highest human limits. Of  course, as these things go, the doctor who created the formula was  promptly killed and Captain America would be the only Super Soldier.  Despite Timely/Marvel having been a somewhat popular line at the  time, Captain America was wildly succesful, rivaling Superman,  Captain Marvel, Batman, and Wonder Woman in popularity.