Last time on Desk of Vess, The Rogues Gallery of The Dark
Knight took center stage in the beginning of a countdown of crazed
criminals. Now, the not-so-dramatic
conclusion…
#5- Superman
Who doesn’t fight with their best friend? When my best friend and I (free advertising- check
out @sentineldembil on Instagram!) get into an argument, it doesn’t necessarily
end with me having to pull out a Kryptonite ring. As great of a team as they are, The Caped
Crusader and The Man of Steel make just as spectacular enemies. Despite Superman and Batman making their
first appearances in 1938 and ’39, respectively, they didn’t have their first
encounter until almost a decade and a half later in Superman #76 (May
1952). In this story, as was common with
many in the Golden and Silver Ages, they were very buddy-buddy. It was a simpler time and thus called for a
simpler story. When their first meeting
was re-imagined in the mid to late 80s, it was not quite so simple. In the Man of Steel #3, a mini-series
updating the early years of Superman, their first encounter had much darker
tones. This was, of course, inspired by
The Dark Knight Returns, which had been released the preceding year.
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| The Dark Knight vs. The Man of Steel |
In 2016’s Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, the super
friends will seemingly do battle once more.
While I predict the in-fighting will run its course in the first act of
the film before the eventual team-up to take on Lex Luthor (and Doomsday?),
expect to see a great many homages to earlier encounters between the duo known
as the “World’s Finest”.
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| Well? Do you bleed? |
#4- Dr. Hurt
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| Doctor Hurt |
A villain not known to the general public, Doctor Simon Hurt
has actually been in the Batman mythos for half a century (first appearing in
Batman #156 way back in June of 1963). Originally,
he was just a throwaway scientist (and not actually a bad guy) in a wacky story
that was par for the course in the Silver Age.
Not being seen or heard from until he was gloriously reintroduced by
Grant Morrison in 2008 (Batman #673, to be exact) as part of the “Batman R.I.P.”
storyline. Retroactively revealing that
Hurt placed a subliminal trigger in Batman’s mind all those years prior,
Morrison delves into several other Golden and Silver Age stories that, due to
DC Editorial, were deeming “too weird to have really happened”. With his mind broken, Batman slips into
personality he created for such an instance (because Batman is prepared for
everything, duh) referred to as The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh complete with goofy
multicolored costume which was in and of itself a reference to a story from the
late Fifties (Batman #113).
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| Zur-En-Arrh & Bat-Mite, who just barely missed making the list |
Tying in the name given in that August 1958 story, Morrison
explains that Zur-En-Arrh is a slurring of some of Thomas Wayne’s final words
to Bruce the night he died. After seeing
The Mark of Zorro with his parents, Bruce shows his admiration for the
character, prompting Thomas to say, "the
sad thing is they'd probably throw someone like Zorro in Arkham".
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| Hurt pouring liquor onto weird dominatrix-y people. Dude's into some weird shit. |
Hurt was a weird dude.
He was super into the occult and there’s allegations throughout the
story as to whether or not he’s actually The Devil. His ultimate plan wasn’t to kill Batman as
the title “R.I.P.” implies, but rather he wanted Batman to “rot in purgatory”. Batman is, of course, eternal and he defeats
Hurt (albeit after dying and traveling through time, but that’s a post for a
different day).
#3- Bane
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| The Man Who Broke The Bat |
Appearing relatively late in the game, Bane first appeared in January of
1993 in his own one-shot comic titled Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1. Destroying Arkham Asylum and freeing a great
many of Batman’s villains, Bane plotted to force The Dark Knight to run the
gauntlet and tire him out before doing exactly what he did: break into Wayne
Manor and break Batman’s back. All
hopped up on Mountain Dew Venom, a drug that gives its users super strength and
endurance, Bane defeats Batman, forcing him into retirement. Batman’s replacement (temporary, obviously)
Azrael defeated Bane, but only because he was willing to use more lethal
methods than the real Batman.
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| Batman #500. Probably one of the earliest instances of a "variant" cover. |
Bane received a laughably terrible turn on the big screen in
1997’s Batman & Robin where he was portrayed as nothing more than a hulking
brute and henchman to Poison Ivy.
Thankfully, The Dark Knight Rises redeemed him to the viewing audience
as Tom Hardy and Christopher Nolan crafted a masterful take on the
character. Even if he gets regulated to
the friend-zone as it relates to Talia.
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| "What a lovely, lovely voice." is still the best Bane quote. |
#2- The Joker
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| Cover for Batman vol.2 #23.1 (September 2013), part of DC's Villains' Month |
How would any list of Bat-villains be complete without
him? Although I’ve spoken of my feelings
on him many times, and while he isn’t my favorite, it is undeniable how amazing
a character The Joker is. First appearing
in Batman #1 (Spring 1940), The Joker is the second longest running member of
Batman’s rogues gallery (tied with Catwoman and second only to Hugo Strange, who
has him beat by a month).
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| Batman #251 |
The list of Joker stories in comics is as long as a country
mile, but it’s his adaptations in film that everyone loves. Caesar Romero (the Sixties show) and Jack
Nicholson (the 1989 film) are both great and are extremely suited to their
time frames, but a new century required a different caliber criminal. The late Heath Ledger took The Clown Prince
of Crime to a new level in 2008’s The Dark Knight. The mixture of dark humor and anarchy fit
perfectly opposite Christian Bale’s take on The Caped Crusader.
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| A brilliant portrayal |
Whether or not the next live action take on The Joker will
be as good has yet to be seen (which is ironic considering the amount of leaked
material from the film). From what I’ve
seen, Jared Leto’s Joker, slated to first appear in 2016’s Suicide Squad, look
to be at least a… different approach, if nothing else.
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| I'm taking a "we'll see" approach, but it's growing on me... |
As I said, he is not my favorite (which, admittedly impacts
this list, because, well, it’s my list, so deal with it), but The Joker is,
without a shadow of a doubt, the most iconic Batman villain, if not in all of
comics, of all time.
#1- Ra’s al Ghul
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| The Demon’s Head |
Based solely on sheer awesomeness (and the fact that he was inspired by
James Bond villains), Ra’s takes the top spot.
First appearing in June 1971 in Batman #232, Ra’s (pronounced “raish”,
not “raas”. I know this because I met Neal
Adams, one of the dudes that created him, and that’s what he told me) is the
leader of the League of Assassins and a man bent on bettering out world, even
if that means destroying its inhabitants.
Another of his goals is ensuring the continuation of the al Ghul
bloodline. When Batman declines to
become his heir, Ra’s engages The World’s Greatest Detective in shirtless, desert
sword combat.
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| Awesome cover |
Not taking “no” for an answer, Ra’s coerces Batman into
fathering a child with his daughter, Talia.
Drugged and in the throes of passion, Batman and Talia conceive a child,
who is later introduced as Damian Wayne, the current Robin, but that’s a
different post for a different day as well.
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| Talia al Ghul attempting to manipulate Damian against his father |
Like about 70% of this list, Ra’s has been adapted into film
and television, most recently by Matt Nable on CW’s Batman Arrow series. Although Liam Neeson, who portrayed Ra’s in
Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises, is an amazing actor, I feel that Nable
was much better in his take on The Demon’s Head.
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| Ra's as he appears on CW's Arrow |
As always, thanks for reading!
-Josh
Sources: excerpts from primary source interviews; Wikipedia
Batman, related characters, and images in this blog are owned and trademarked by DC Comics, a division or Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.
