bane started out great. cool character, cool premise, cool "gimmick." though i'm still kinda unclear as to why he was deemed sucha genius (he shot a grenade at arkham. ... duh.), they built him up as one, and i was willing to accept it.
but then venom became stupid. it became something that he (and earlier, bruce) couldn't control, making it just like any other drug -- and not even berzerker-rage (i.e; wolverine) like.
plus... c'mon, there's no more efficient way to soak it in except these loose fitting tubes? even yer average street junkie holds the IVs to their arms with rubberbands. just silly. from there, bane continued to spin out of whack, as other detailed above.
i think a great start would be to give bane mastery over venom. give him a blockbuster-type frame, enormous and menacing, but not drugged out or dependant. the venom no longer need be injected, rather, through training (or eating or whatever) its simply a part of him.
further, he's intellectually adapt. where as formerly, they just claimed him to be smart -- now, he should be. he should be as devious as luthor and as powerhungry as kingpin. as others said, he should be a more balanced foil to batman, as opposed to the simple thug he is today (that is, if he's still around at all)
