Batman villains
|
|
| The Joker
made his first appearance in the first Batman comic book
in 1940, and has been a favorite villain ever since. In fact, the 2008
movie The Dark Night
was more about The Joker than about Batman. In the TV show, he was
played by Cesar Romero. Movie Jokers include Jack Nicholson and Heath
Ledger. The archenemy of Batman, The Joker is a master criminal whose characterization has varied from a violent and murderous sociopath, causing chaos and committing crimes for his own amusement, to a goofy and virtually harmless trickster-thief. The Joker's real identity is unknown, and there have been different theories of his origin. The most common variation depicts him as falling into a chemical vat that bleaches his skin, turn his hair green and his lips bright red, making him look like a clown. |
|
|
| The Penguin
(Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot), was
introduced by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, making his debut
in Detective Comics #58 (December 1941). The Penguin is depicted as a short, obese man and is one of Batman's greatest enemies. He is known for his love of birds and his specialized high-tech umbrellas. A mobster, he fancies himself a "gentleman of crime"; his nightclub business provides a cover for more low-key criminal activity, which Batman tolerates as a source of criminal underworld information. Actor Burgess Meredith popularized the Penguin in the 1960s Batman television series, partially because of his signature squawking laughter. Danny DeVito played a much darker version of the character in the 1992 film Batman Returns; this version is a physically deformed, psychopathic mass murderer. Subsequent Batman animated series have alternately featured the deformed Penguin and a more traditional version. The deformed version of the character has also appeared in comics, most notably in the miniseries Batman: The Long Halloween and its sequel Dark Victory. He only appears for a minor cameo at the end of the Long Halloween, and has no lines. He plays a slightly more notable role in Dark Victory, when Batman goes to him for information. This incarnation also added elements of the 1966 TV series character, as he shouts the well-known "waugh waugh" while talking. Around Christmas time in Gotham City, the aristocratic Cobblepots gave birth to a baby boy. Because the child was deformed, they locked him in a box, where he showed his first sign of homicidal tendencies when he killed the family cat. They dropped their deformed infant baby in the sewer because of his disturbing look. |
|
|
| Catwoman
is a supervillainess created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane,
partially inspired by Kane's second cousin by marriage, Ruth Steel.
The original and most widely known Catwoman, Selina Kyle, first appeared
in Batman #1 (1940) in which she was known as The Cat. She was a
whip-carrying burglar with a taste for high stake thefts. The character
has been one of Batman's most enduring love interests, and has
occasionally been depicted as his one true love. A popular figure, Catwoman has been featured in most media adaptations related to Batman. Actresses Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, and Eartha Kitt introduced her to a large audience on the 1960s Batman television series. Michelle Pfeiffer portrayed the character in 1992's popular film Batman Returns. Halle Berry starred in a stand-alone Catwoman film in 2004, although the film features a title character bearing little resemblance to the comic book character. Batman #62 revealed that Catwoman (after a blow to the head jogged her memory) is an amnesiac flight attendant who had turned to crime after suffering a prior blow to the head during a plane crash she survived (although in the final issue of The Brave and the Bold, she admits that she made up the amnesia story because she wanted a way out of the past life of crime). She reforms for several years, helping out Batman, until she decides to return to a life. Selina appears again as a criminal in Batman #84 and Detective Comics #211, her final appearance for many years (until 1966). A revision in Catwoman's origin, and the introduction of the modern version of the character, came in 1986 when writer Frank Miller and artist David Mazzucchelli published Batman: Year One, a revision of Batman’s origin. In the course of the story, the origin of Catwoman was also re-envisioned. Selina Kyle is reintroduced as a cat-loving prostitute/dominatrix who is inspired to become a costumed cat burglar when she sees Batman in action. In this story, Holly Robinson is introduced as a young runaway and prostitute Kyle has taken in. |
|
|
| The Riddler
(Edward Nigma or Nygma) is a
supervillain enemy of Batman, and, in the mid-2000s, a partial ally to
Batman. Created by writer Bill Finger and artist Dick Sprang, the
character first appears in Detective Comics #140 (October 1948). The Riddler is obsessed with riddles, puzzles and word games. He delights in forewarning both Batman and the police of his capers by sending them complex clues. The character is often depicted as wearing a domino mask either with a green suit and bowler hat, or a green jumpsuit. His trademark is a green question mark. The Riddler is typically portrayed as a smooth-talking, yet quirky, victim of an intense obsessive compulsion. This was first introduced in the 1965 issue of Batman (titled, "The Remarkable Ruse of The Riddler") in which he tries to refrain from leaving a riddle, but fails. This compulsion has been a recurring theme, as shown in a 1999 issue of Gotham Adventures, in which he tried to commit a crime without leaving a riddle, but fails: "You don't understand... I really didn't want to leave you any clues. I really planned never to go back to Arkham Asylum. But I left you a clue anyway. So I... I have to go back there. Because I might need help. I... I might actually be crazy." The Riddler was popularized by Frank Gorshin’s over-the-top, Emmy-nominated portrayal in the 1960s Batman television series. Jim Carrey played the Riddler in the 1995 film Batman Forever with Gorshin as his inspiration. The character was also featured in Batman: The Animated Series and The Batman. The Riddler's criminal modus operandi is so deeply ingrained into his personality that he is virtually powerless to stop himself from acting it out. He cannot simply kill his opponents when he has the upper hand; he has to put them in a deathtrap to see if he can devise a life and death intellectual challenge that the hero cannot solve and escape. However, unlike many of Batman's themed enemies, Riddler's compulsion is quite flexible, allowing him to commit any crime as long as he can describe it in a riddle or puzzle. His name, Edward Nigma, is a pun of "enigma" (Edward Nigma: E. Nigma). After a teacher announces that a contest over who can solve a puzzle the fastest will be held, a young Edward Nigma sets his sights on winning this, craving the glory and satisfaction that will come with the victory. He sneaks into the school one night, takes the puzzle out of the teacher's desk, and practices it until he is able to solve it in under a minute. As predicted, he wins the contest and is given a book about riddles as a prize. His cheating rewarded, Nigma embraced the mastery of puzzles of all kinds, eventually becoming a carnival employee who excelled at cheating his customers out of their money with his bizarre puzzles and mindgames. He soon finds himself longing for greater challenges and thrills, and dons the guise of the Riddler to challenge Batman, who he believes could possibly be a worthy adversary for him. |
|
|
| Mr. Freeze
is a villain who uses his ice
technology as a means of stealing the objects of his passion: the
rarest, most valuable diamonds. Created by Bob Kane, he first appeared
in Batman #121 (February 1959). Freeze is a scientist who must wear a cryogenic suit in order to survive, and bases his crimes around a "cold" or "ice" theme, complete with a "cold gun" that freezes its targets solid. In the most common variation of his origin story, he is a former cryogenics expert who suffered an industrial accident while attempting to treat his terminally ill wife, Nora. In the 1997 film, Batman and Robin, he was portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Freeze's voice was supplied by in Batman: The Animated Series and The Batman by Michael Ansara and Clancy Brown, respectively. Formerly Victor Fries, Mr. Freeze is a ruthless criminal who Batman thought had died in a cryogenics accident which instead left him in some sort of undead state in which he freezes everything he comes into contact with. Batman required a special Arctic Batsuit to defeat him in "The Big Chill." Originally called Mr. Zero, he was renamed and popularized by the Batman TV show, where he was played by Eli Wallach, Otto Preminger and George Sanders. |
 Egghead
was a villain created for the
Batman television series. Played by horror film actor Vincent Price, the
character was identifiable by his pale bald head and white and yellow
suit. He believed himself to be "the world's smartest criminal," and his
crimes would usually have an egg-motif to them as well as including egg
puns in his speech where appropriate such as "egg-zactly" and "egg-cellent."
Additionally, he would use a wide assortment of egg-shaped weapons, such
as laughing gas eggs and tear gas eggs (laid by chickens on a diet of
onions).Egghead was introduced in the second season two-parter, "An Egg Grows in Gotham" and "The Yegg Foes in Gotham," where he schemed with Chief Screaming Chicken (played by Edward Everett Horton) of the Mohican Indian tribe to revert control of Gotham City to the Chief's people. In return, Egghead would also govern the city and enable the criminal underground to run amok. Needless to say, their scheme was foiled by Batman and Robin.
Egghead would return twice
in the third season with his new partner and love interest, Olga, Queen
of the Cossacks, and in exile from Bessarovia. |
The Archer,
a medieval crook modeled after Robin Hood, was played by Art Carney in
the first episode of the second season of the Batman TV series. He escapes
from Police Headquarters in a moving van from The Trojan Hearse Company,
driven by Maid Marilyn. Together, with his band of merry malefactors -- Crier Tuck and
Big John -- he pays a surprise visit to Wayne Manor. The inhabitants are
gassed and cash is stolen. Later, the crew attacks Police Headquarters.
While giving out stolen cash they are apprehended by
Batman and Robin, but Gotham citizens enriched by the robbers save them
from arrest. The producers of the show decided for the second season, a big draw would be to have guest villains that were big name stars. Art Carney was the first. He was one of the regulars on the Jackie Gleason Honeymooners show, playing sewer worker Ed Norton. |
| more to come |
|
(info from Wikipedia) |
