How Batman Comic Knightfall Anticipated Jujutsu Kaisen

Batman has one of the most formidable rogues’ galleries in comics, but Bane understood that none of those villains had to defeat the Dark Knight to be useful. They only had to keep him busy.

That is the cruel genius of Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall, the animated adaptation of the iconic nineties storyline in which Bane breaks Batman’s back. Bane shows up in Gotham and orchestrates a mass breakout from Arkham Asylum, which forces Batman to spend days hunting down the Joker, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, and various other escaped inmates. By the time Bruce returns to Wayne Manor, he is physically exhausted, psychologically frayed, and completely unprepared for Bane’s ambush. Only then does Bane fight him and famously break the Bat.

The strategy was first depicted in the original Knightfall comic in 1993. The image of Bane breaking Batman’s back was even used in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises in 2012, though that film left out the smartest parts of Bane’s plan. For viewers who watched Knightfall after it was released digitally on August 25, 2026, Bane’s strategy might look familiar. Toji Fushiguro deals with Satoru Gojo in Jujutsu Kaisen’s Hidden Inventory arc in the exact same way. Rewatching it is rewarding because the lore surrounding Tengen and the Star Plasma Vessel is crucial during the Culling Game arc that continues to play out across seasons 3 and 4.

Toji Fushiguro is Jujutsu Kaisen’s Bane

Hidden Inventory / Premature Death is presented as the first five episodes of JJK season 2, though it is a prequel arc taking place more than a decade before the main series. In their teenage years, Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto are assigned to protect Riko Amanai, a schoolgirl designated as the Star Plasma Vessel destined to merge with Tengen to reset their immortality. Since Gojo and Geto are both classified as Special Grade jujutsu sorcerers, attacking them directly would be foolish.

Enter Toji Fushiguro, an assassin who earned the nickname of the Sorcerer Killer. Because of Toji’s Heavenly Restriction, he possesses no cursed energy, but that trade-off gives him superhuman strength, durability, and senses. He shares the same Restriction as Maki Zenin, and he is also Megumi Fushiguro’s father. Toji has the patience and tactical brilliance to turn Gojo’s overwhelming power against him. Toji could pose a threat to Gojo in a fair fight, but certainly not against Gojo and Geto together. So Toji places a bounty on Riko and lets an assortment of lesser assassins and sorcerers pursue her first.

Toji does not expect them to kill Riko. They are the equivalent of the Arkham inmates to Bane, serving as disposable threats meant to occupy the overpowered hero and exhaust him over the course of several intense days. When the bounty expires and Gojo believes the danger has passed, Toji finally makes his move just as Gojo enters what he thinks is the safety of Jujutsu High School.

These two plans share striking similarities. Both villains are physically imposing with impossible strength, yet their greatest asset is the cunning required to hatch a complex plan. Bane and Toji both study an opponent who should be unbeatable in a fair fight. Both manufacture a prolonged crisis using expendable criminals. Exhaustion is the real objective, and each villain only confronts the hero when they have been worn down physically and psychologically.

Gege Akutami has never suggested that Bane inspired Toji or that Knightfall inspired Hidden Inventory. He has instead cited Fate/Zero assassin Kiritsugu Emiya as an influence on the character and modeled Toji’s physique after Jason Statham.

Nevertheless, Toji operates like a supernatural variation on Bane. He is a physically imposing mercenary whose greatest weapon is his ability to plan several moves ahead.

That parallel makes Hidden Inventory a natural recommendation after Batman: Knightfall Part 1. Revisiting it is especially rewarding because what initially appeared to be a self-contained prequel has become essential to understanding the Culling Game.

Hidden Inventory remains hugely important for Jujutsu Kaisen seasons 3 and 4

Spoilers follow for the Hidden Inventory arc and Jujutsu Kaisen season 3.

Toji’s plan works. After spending several days protecting Riko and continuously operating his Limitless technique, Gojo deactivates it once the group reaches the apparent safety of Jujutsu High. Toji immediately stabs him from behind, then uses the Inverted Spear of Heaven cursed tool, which nullifies cursed techniques including Limitless. He leaves Gojo for dead before killing Riko and defeating Geto.

Gojo survives by entering an awakened state that allows him to use reverse cursed technique, ascending to the level of the untouchable sorcerer we meet in season 1. Geto begins his descent into villainy, leading him to become the antagonist in the prequel movie Jujutsu Kaisen 0.

The consequences of these events extend into the present day. In addition to being a master of barriers, Tengen’s cursed technique makes him immortal. Riko was supposed to merge with Tengen to prevent them from evolving beyond humanity. When the heroes visit Tengen in season 3, they walk past the blood splatter left by Riko’s murder. Tengen’s soul is now everywhere and their nature is closer to that of a cursed spirit, meaning that Kenjaku, using Geto’s body and technique, can absorb Tengen.

A cosmic cycle links Tengen, the Star Plasma Vessel, and the bearer of the Six Eyes. Toji, a man born completely outside the normal system of cursed energy, was the only one able to break that system. All of this is crucial because Kenjaku plans to merge the population of Japan into a singular entity using Tengen’s power and the residual cursed energy generated by the Culling Game.

Before season 3, the events presented in the Hidden Inventory arc did not feel central to the narrative. In hindsight, these are some of the most profound events in the history of jujutsu society.

Bane spends Knightfall proving that Batman is not invincible. Toji proves that the rules governing the entire jujutsu world can be broken. Both villains understand that overwhelming power is not the same thing as invulnerability. A challenger simply has to be patient enough to attack when the strongest person alive is tired enough to become beatable.

Source: Polygon