Batman Villains

From DC Database

Contents 1 Membership History 1.1 Gotham Organized Crime 1.2 The Costumed Freaks 1.3 The League of Assassins 2 Minor Villains 3 Villain Activity 3.1 Secret Identity 3.2 Family Matters 4 Recommended Reading 5 Related Articles 6 Paraphernalia 7 Notes 8 Trivia 9 See Also 10 Links and References

Membership History

Gotham Organized Crime

The first villains the Batman ever had to fight in Gotham City were naturally the local organized crime syndicates, set in place long before himself. Gotham City is one of the most notorious cities in America for both crime and corruption, and as such has some of the toughest and most relentless mobsters.

The Roman Empire
During the Batman's first several appearances, Gotham City was largely controlled by the Falcone crime family, a local mafia division with ties reaching far out into Chicago and New York.

• Carmine "The Roman" Falcone:^[1] Carmine Falcone, nicknamed "The Roman" for his unparalleled dominating expansionism, was unquestioned crime lord of Gotham for many years. He had virtually all of the cities politicians in his pocket, including chief of police Gillian Loeb, and met with no competition until the Batman began thwarting his various endeavors. After the mysterious serial killer "Holiday" began bumping off members of his organization, he was forced to hire some of the very new "Costumed Freaks" in Gotham to help manage his problems, arguably making him responsible for their successful semi-coup of the Gotham Crime Landscape. Falcone was murdered by Harvey Dent, shortly after he had become Two-Face. Falcone had three children:

• Sofia Gigante Falcone: (No information yet)
• Alberto Falcone:^[2] (No information yet)
• Mario Falcone: (No information yet)

• Sal "The Boss" Maroni:^[3] One of the other most prominent mobsters in Gotham City at the time of the Falcones, also working for the Roman Empire, was "Sal Maroni." Maroni helped fund some of the earliest experiments of Dr. Hugo Strange, and was responsible for the birth of Two-Face when he cast acid into the face of his prosecuting lawyer (alternatively Harvey Dent or Kent).
  

Rupert Thorne

• Boss Rupert Thorne:^[4] (No information yet)

• Mayor Hamilton Hill: (No information yet)
• Commissioner Peter Pauling: (No information yet)

Assorted

• Joe Chill:^[5] Joe Chill was the low-level mobster who murdered Thomas and Martha Wayne in a mugging, and has since because somewhat more of an entrepreneur.
• Tony Zucco:^[6] Tony Zucco is the mobster responsible for murdering Dick Grayson's parents when the owner of Haley's Circus refused to pay protection money. He is deceased.
• Lew Moxon:^[7] Lew Moxon is traditionally held as responsible for the deaths of the Waynes, having hired Joe Chill to do it and make it look like an accident. Post-Infinite Crisis however, Joe Chill seems to have acted alone.

The Costumed Freaks

Heavy Hitters:

• The Joker:^[8] The Joker is perhaps Batman's oldest and most dedicated foe. A sadistic clown bent on nihilism and grinning death, despite having no obvious powers, he has presented more of a challenge to Batman over the years than any number of those more powerful or well-trained than himself. He is responsible for, among other things, the murder of the second Robin, Jason Todd, and the paralyzing of Batgirl, Barbara Gordon, who he made into a paraplegic.
• Catwoman:^[9] (No information yet)
• The Penguin:^[10] (No information yet)
• Bane:^[11] (No information yet)
• The Black Mask:^[12] (No information yet)
• Hugo Strange:^[13] (No information yet)
• Hush:^[14] Bruce Wayne's childhood friend Tommy Elliot blamed Thomas Wayne for saving the lives of his parents, who he hated and had tried to murder. He recently resurfaced taking up the guise of "Hush," and coordinated a massive physical and psychological attack from many different fronts using the other members of Batman's Rogues Gallery as accomplices or pawns.
• Mister Freeze:^[15] (No information yet)
• Poison Ivy:^[16] (No information yet)
• The Riddler:^[17] (No information yet)
• Scarecrow:^[18] (No information yet)
• Two-Face:^[19] "Two-Face" is a criminal who has one half of his face horribly scarred, and the other stunningly handsome. He's completely obsessed with the number "2," duality, and fate. As such, all of the crimes that he commits revolve around the number "2," and he's psychologically unable to do anything else. He carries a double-headed coin around with him that has one of the heads scarred, and he flips the coin before he makes any decisions involving a question of law and illegal activities; even when it would senselessly inconvenience him, sometimes surrendering when he otherwise could've escaped. Tragically, before becoming Two-Face, he was "Harvey Dent," Gotham City's District Attorney, and one of the Batman's closest friends and allies. Batman considers Harvey Dent's descent into madness to be one of his own greatest failures.

The Black Glove

• The Black Glove: (No information yet)

• Doctor Hurt: (No information yet)
• Le Bossu: (No information yet)
• The Club of Villains: (No information yet)

The League of Assassins

• Ra's al Ghul:^[20] Ra's al Ghul is a centuries-old international eco-terrorist. He was one of the first to deduce the Batman's secret identity, and as such maintains an intimate relationship with him, going so far as to support an on/off relationship between Batman and al Ghul's own daughter, Talia. He lives in a state of somewhat immortality, thanks to the help of revitalizing Lazarus Pits. Having been alive for centuries, he is incredibly intelligent and agile, having had time to train his mind and body to their absolute peaks. His name translates literally as "The Demon's Head," and he is credited with establishing the League of Assassins to further his goals. Ra's has two daughters:

• Talia al Ghul:^[21] (No information yet)
• Nyssa Raatko:^[22] (No information yet)

• The League of Assassins:^[23]

• The Sensei:^[24] (No information yet)
• Doctor Darrk:^[25] (No information yet)
• Lady Shiva:^[26] (No information yet)
• David Cain:^[27] (No information yet)
  

Minor Villains

• Abbatoir:^[28] (No information yet)
• Amygdala:^[29] (No information yet)
• The Black Spider:^[30] (No information yet)
• Captain Stingaree:^[31] (No information yet)
• The Cavalier:^[32] (No information yet)
• Cornelius Stirk:^[33] (No information yet)
• Crazy Quilt:^[34] (No information yet)
• The Crime Doctor:^[35] (No information yet)
• Deacon Blackfire:^[36] Joseph Blackfire was a religious leader bent on taking over Gotham City, who may or may not have been over a hundred years old; he crossed paths with Batman during the events of "Batman: The Cult." Blackfire organized an army of homeless people, and even brainwashed the Batman himself into his ranks. They waged a violent and bloody war on crime, which resulted in the deaths of many innocents. Blackfire was eventually murdered by his own followers.
• Doctor Death:^[37] (No information yet)
• Doctor Double X:^[38] (No information yet)
• The Electrocutioner:^[39] (No information yet)
• Facade:^[40] (No information yet)
• Film Freak:^[41] (No information yet)
• Firebug:^[42] (No information yet)
• Jane Doe:^[43] (No information yet)
• The KGBeast:^[44] The KGBeast was a rogue KGB assassin who first came to Gotham City to assassinate a number of political targets, including Ronald Reagan. During the events of "Ten Nights of the Beast," while fighting Batman, he was forced to chop off his own hand with an axe to avoid being captured; he had it replaced with a mounted multi-purpose machine gun and bayonet. Deceased, as of "Batman: Face the Face."
• King Snake: (No information yet)
• Lynx: (No information yet)
• Magpie: (No information yet)
• The NKVDemon: (No information yet)
• Orca: (No information yet)
• Nocturna: (No information yet)
• Professor Milo: (No information yet)
• The Ratcatcher: (No information yet)
• The Reaper:^[45] (No information yet)
• The Red Hood:

• The Joker: Originally, the identity of "The Red Hood" was used by a gang of thugs who wished to create the illusion they were working under a mastermind, to divert blame from themselves. They would hire a new person for every job the pulled to wear the Red Hood helmet, and the police were none the wiser. The Red Hood came to an end when one of their stooges, wearing it during a robbery at the Ace Chemical Processing Plant, fell into a vat of toxin and nearly drowned. This man, driven insane by the chemicals, would later evolve into The Joker.
• Jason Todd: The second Red Hood was none other than Batman's former prodigy, Jason Todd himself, the second Robin, murdered at the hands of the Joker. Jason Todd was resurrected, and came back to Gotham to plague Batman for not avenging his death during the events of "Under the Hood." He also significantly cleaned up Gotham Crime, specifically Black Mask's city-spanning organization, using incredibly violent methods in an effort to prove to Batman that his rule against killing was unwise. He would also engage in battles with Green Arrow and Speedy in Star City during the events of "Green Arrow: Road to Jericho," and Nightwing during "Brothers in Blood." Jason Todd has since reformed, although remains an anti-hero, and has adopted the identity of "Red Robin."

• Signalman: (No information yet)
• Spellbinder: (No information yet)
• The Tally Man: (No information yet)
• The Ten-Eyed Man: (No information yet)
• The Wrath:^[46] (No information yet)
• Zeiss:^[47] (No information yet)
  

Villain Activity

Secret Identity

Over the years, knowledge of Batman's secret identity has been one of the most both coveted and controversial desires of his rogues gallery. Many have tried, and a number have actually succeeded in discovering his secret identity.

• Golden Age, many two-bit crooks actually learned of Bruce Wayne. However, they were each predictably murdered by an external factor before they could make use of the information. This included, along with others, both Joe Chill and Lew Moxon, each of whom Batman revealed his identity to shortly before he intended to exact dire revenge. Joe Chill ran to tell his fellow thugs, but after he explained to them he was responsible for the Batman's creation, they murdered him for that; only realizing their folly once it was too late. Lew Moxon believed Bruce to be the ghost of Thomas Wayne (who Moxon had murdered), and crazed, ran out into the middle of the street where he was hit by a truck.
• Ra's al Ghul deduced Batman's identity with almost no trouble. He had determined that whoever Batman was would make the perfect husband for his daughter, Talia, and embarked to find out for himself. Al Ghul simply figured out what equipment exactly would be required to live as Batman, and then deduced that Bruce Wayne was the only person on Earth regularly buying these. Ra's has used this information to make his attacks against Batman more personal, but does not fraternize with the regular villain community, and as such has never shared it.
• During the events of "Strange Apparitions," Hugo Strange was able to capture Batman through a complex feint scheme with an illegitimate hospital, and numerous trained venomous snakes. Although many other villains have undergone controversy in this situation, Hugo Strange simply removed his mask without hesitation, and then actually usurped his identity, and became Bruce Wayne himself. Strange also auctioned his identity on the black market, although he would later retract his offer; an act for which boss Rupert Thorne was believed to have killed him for. However, it was later revealed that Strange had simply faked his own death, as he often does.
• The Riddler, seeking the answer to all of life's questions, yearned to learn Batman's secret identity perhaps more than any other villain. At one point when he was near death, he sunk himself into a Lazarus Pit to save his own life. In the ensuing bout of insanity, he simply realized Batman was Bruce Wayne. Later, he met Thomas Elliot, the man who would become "Hush." As Elliot had a massive grudge on Bruce Wayne, and the means to act upon it, the Riddler confided in him, and the two worked together launching a multi-pronged attack on various aspects of Batman's psyche during the events of "Batman: Hush", utilizing many other villains as their pawns. Although Hush remains aware of Bruce Wayne's alter ego, the Riddler devastatingly realized upon Batman's telling him that he couldn't actually really use the information to his advantage, as "a riddle everybody knows the answer to is worthless", which he wouldn't be able to stand. Later, the Riddler would undergo mental trauma, and it is unclear whether or not he currently remembers at all.
• Catwoman has long been aware of Batman's identity, as she is no longer an enemy, but a functioning ally of his.
• Perhaps most controversial with Batman's identity is the Joker himself. The Joker, despite numerous opportunities to uncover it for himself, has expressed numerous desires not to know who he really is. As if he feels it would sort of cheapen their relationship, as Batman is the only other person he actually seems to consider real. Perhaps most notably, in "The Joker's Five-Way Revenge," he has Batman unconscious and completely at his mercy, but elects to leave him alone as he feels it was only on a technicality, and he had always envisioned his victory against Batman as "at the end of a bitter struggle."

Family Matters

Information Needed.

Recommended Reading

• Batman: Knightfall
• Batman: The Long Halloween
• Batman: Dark Victory
• Batman: No Man's Land
• Batman: Hush
• Batman: War Games
• Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
• Gotham Underground
• Batman R.I.P.

Related Articles

• Batman Family
• Anti-Batman
  

Paraphernalia

Equipment:

• Joker Venom
• Two-Face's Coin
• The Penguin's Umbrella
  

Transportation: None known.
Weapons: None known.

Notes

• No special notes.
  

Trivia

• The very first recurring Batman Villain was Doctor Death, who originally appeared in Detective Comics #29.
  

See Also

• Gallery of Batman Villains
• List of Batman Villains (Alphabetical Order)

Links and References

• Batman Villains at Wikipedia.org
  
• Batman Villains at Rapsheet.co.uk
• IGN: The Best & Worst Batman Villains
• Batmanvillains.net
  

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