Banton will play the first eight games of the Heat season, before Proteas legend de Villiers joins the Heat for their final six regular season games and any subsequent finals, with Afghanistan spin pair Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Zahir Khan rounding out Brisbane's international recruits for the summer.
Banton, who is also a wicket-keeper, admitted it had been a whirlwind few months culminating in his first overseas T20 contract with the Heat.
Heat coach Darren Lehmann said Banton's recruitment had been a high priority.
"He was the talk of English cricket during their season," Lehmann said. "Outside the World Cup and the Ashes, Tom was the player that a lot of people were really excited to be watching, and with good reason.
"He's a lovely striker of the ball and has that wide and varied range of shots you need to make the most of the early overs in the power play or to accelerate the scoring through the middle and back half of an innings.
"The prospect of pairing him alongside some of our young batsmen like Max Bryant, his mate Matt Renshaw and Sam Heazlett is pretty enticing, that's for sure.
"But we know Tom will also benefit from playing and being around the likes of Chris Lynn, Joe Burns, Ben Cutting and Marnus Labuschagne as he takes steps to expand his skills and experience in Australian conditions.
"He's joining us for the first half of the tournament but we're hopeful he will have some time to catch-up with AB de Villiers at some point as that would be a great opportunity as part of his experience with the Heat."
Lehmann said the club was close to finalising its 18-man roster with two spots to fill.