Jab’s Builds! (Miss Piggy! The Swedish Chef! Sweetums! Gonzo!)

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
Jabroniville
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Blackwing

Post by Jabroniville »

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BLACKWING (Charles Bullock)
Created By:
Joey Cavalieri & Joe Staton
First Appearance: Adventure Comics #464 (Aug. 1979)
Role: Legacy Character (to Golden Age Batman)
Group Affiliations: None

-Okay, I had no idea this character existed- it seems like the two Batwing characters are based off of him. He's actually a Legacy Character of the EARTH-TWO Batman, interning at the "Carson, Grayson and Wayne" law firm. He was trained by Ted Grant himself to take on the cowl, working with the Huntress (Batman's daughter). He lasted about four years, last appearing in a 1983 Wonder Woman comic. And no, he is not related to Harvey Bullock- they're from different Earths. Blackwing was erased from existence by the Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Jabroniville
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Lynx (Ling)

Post by Jabroniville »

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LYNX I (Ling)
Created By:
Chuck Dixon & Tom Lyle
First Appearance: Robin #1 (Jan. 1990)
Role: Sexy Lady Ninja
Group Affiliations: The Ghost Dragons
PL 8 (112)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 6
FIGHTING 11 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 9 (+12)
Athletics 10 (+12)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 1 (+12)
Deception 5 (+8)
Expertise (Criminal) 6 (+7)
Perception 5 (+7)
Stealth 4 (+10)

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Chokehold, Equipment (Sword +3), Fast Grab, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Defenses, Improved Hold, Ranged Attack 3, Set-Up, Teamwork

Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Sword +11 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +6

Defenses:
Dodge +13 (DC 23), Parry +13 (DC 23), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +4

Complications:
Responsibility (King Snake)- Lynx must constantly do the bidding of her harsh, intimidating boss. He took her eye for failing against Robin one time.
Rivalry (Robin)- Lynx is constantly set against Robin, but they are apparently also attracted to one another.

Total: Abilities: 68 / Skills: 40--20 / Advantages: 12 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 13 (112)

-A girl known only as Ling was a young beggar and thief in China who was recruited to the Ghost Dragons by King Snake, but took her eye when she failed in a fight against Robin. Despising both Robin and her boss, she took over the Ghost Dragons in New York, now calling herself "Lynx". She was in a relationship with Billy Hue, who was the first leader, but was placed in charge of it when Hue was executed by King Snake for his failures against Robin. Later, when King Snake was arrested, she took over the entire organization, hating that a white man led them. Her group controlled a big chunk of Gotham during No Man's Land. She and Tim Drake had a love/hate thing like Batman & Catwoman, but she was killed in battle with Cassandra Cain when one of her allies attempted to help her in a fight- he beheaded her by accident. She was resurrected by the League of Assassins, but was killed by Cain again. Honestly, that comes off like a potentially interesting recurring villain was done away with because the later writers couldn't think of anything, and just disposed of her against the new "big thing".

-A new Lynx quickly appeared leading the Parisian branch of the Golden Dragons, but was unmasked and revealed herself to be an FBI agent working undercover.

-Lynx was a fairly capable recurring PL 8 threat to Tim Drake in his "Robin" days- a good swordfighter (but not ever good enough to actually HIT Tim, given the age-old problem with bladed weapons in superhero comics) and ninja-type character.
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Ares
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Re: Jab’s Builds (Lady Shiva! Question! Renee Montoya! Mr. Freeze!)

Post by Ares »

Mr. Freeze is a good example of what happens you make a villain too sympathetic. His first appearance in Batman: TAS is a work of art, a masterwork of voice acting, story telling, everything. The problem is that every appearance after that, you run the risk of diminishing returns.

Magneto is probably the perfect balancing act of "sympathetic villain", someone who has a goal he's trying to achieve, one that has some justification for . . . but he's still a ruthless asshole taking things several steps too far and needs to be stopped.

While Freeze did need to be stopped, after that first story, either every story after that would be about trying to get revenge for his wife, or once his wife was revealed to be alive, then him trying to cure and save her. Which creates a weird situation where you have a guy desperately trying to save his wife, and Batman has to stop him. The only way to make Batman not look like an asshole is to make it so that Freeze will hurt way too many people in the process of saving his wife . . . which in turn makes Freeze less sympathetic.

The animated series eventually went overboard by turning Freeze into this nihilist who is just a head with spider legs, which just shows how far down in quality those later Batman: TAS episodes became. Though his Batman Beyond episode managed to recapture some of the original episode's quality and tragedy.

The comic actually did something kind of interesting where, after Nora was revived, it was revealed that the psychologist that helped her adjust to normal life and who had married after had actually lied to her about Victor. It turns out Victor had been trying to reach out to her, to check in on her and the doctor had done everything to keep Nora and Victor apart. When she learned the truth, Nora left the doctor and tried to reunite with Victor, and wound up becoming just as obsessed with finding and reuniting with him as Victor had been with trying to save her.

I think if I were going to try and update Mr. Freeze for the modern day, I'd keep his animated series origin for the most part, but change Nora to either Louise Lincoln or Caitlin Snow. If Caitlin, maybe make it how Victor and Caitlin were originally set up by their "friends" because they both had "cold" sounding last names, but Victor and Caitlin wind up falling in love anyway. Then Caitlin suffers an illness, gets frozen, and then Victor's boss messes with the containment that results in Victor's transformation to Mr. Freeze.

For a while Victor commits crime to try and save her, and eventually does save her . . . only for Caitlin to have become Killer Frost. The pair, now slightly unhinged by their transformations and mostly having been committed to each other, decide to form the "Freeze Family" or something similar, where they have the kind of veneer of an old 50's nuclear family, but instead everyone in said family has ice powers. Freeze's tech has a decidedly retro-50's sci-fi look to it, and all of their schemes revolve around making money, financing Freeze's latest experiments, or trying to make the world where Freeze and his family can live and have the kind of lives they wanted.

Maybe even make it to where Freeze IS a scientist from the 50s, and Caitlin was frozen back then. Victor's new form doesn't age, so he's spent all of this time trying to free her and only just managed it today. So both of them have an "evil 50's sitcom family" vibe, and they add other members to the family. Like maybe they somehow use mad science to clone them up a pair of kids, make the second Icicle their kid or a clone of the original Icicle who was a mentor to Freeze. Make Minister Blizzard kind of the Uncle Fester/Grandpa Munster character. Kind of tie in several of the ice-based villains into a weird sort of nuclear family unit. Maybe have things like they have a gentically altered polar bear as their "dog" they call "Snowman", etc.

This kind of gives them a unique feel, a kind of actual purpose, keeps them somewhat sympathetic (they're a loving family, but a dangerously criminal one), and kind of ties in many of the ice villains in DC together, making them a fun little jobber squad. Maybe have something where they keep trying to have Ice join their family (or even have Ice's powers be a result of Mr. Freeze's experiments). Maybe have them see Captain Cold as kind of the weird uncle that shows up once a season to make things fun but awkward, and have them get along with the Flash's Rogues since they're mostly Blue Collar criminals.
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Jabroniville
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The Spook

Post by Jabroniville »

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LOL- the *Gasp!* is great coming from Batman.

THE SPOOK (Val Kaliban)
Created By:
Frank Robbins
First Appearance: Detective Comics #434 (April 1973)
Role: Forgotten Villain
Group Affiliations: None
PL 6 (95)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 5 (+7)
Deception 4 (+6)
Expertise (Criminal) 5 (+8)
Expertise (Architect) 6 (+9)
Insight 3 (+6)
Intimidation 3 (+5)
Perception 4 (+4)
Sleight of Hand 9 (+14)
Stealth 7 (+10)

Advantages:
Evasion, Improved Defenses, Ranged Attack 3, Ultimate Sleight of Hand

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +4, Fortitude +5, Will +6

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)

Total: Abilities: 60 / Skills: 46--23 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 9 (95)

-Val Kaliban, an architect, had a pretty brilliant plan- he built a prison with a network of secret passages within, and sold his services to criminals, promising he could get them out so long as they paid him. But he was found out by his superior, and killed the man. This earned him the chair, but he found a lookalike who was on death row and had the man die in his place, escaping. He returned to Gotham ten years later as "The Spook", offering criminals this "escape insurance". Batman went on the manhunt for one freed crook, but fell for "the simplest trick in the magic books"- an inflatable Spook figure got him to leave the Batmobile, which The Spook then STOLE, along with the other crooks Batman had captured! The Batmobile later appears in a police impound lot. Sufficiently annoyed, Batman figures out the game (the crooks all have "beepers" so Spook knows who is where) and disguises himself as a convict... but Spook has outthought him AGAIN, revealing the man had an extra beeper on him, so he knew what was up.

-Batman finally discovers the tunnel network and confronts the Spook in his lair and reveals his identity and backstory. Kaliban soon traps Batman in the same electric chair that supposedly "killed" him, but Batman escapes and brings him to justice. He even takes advantage of the villain's ego- he had designed a jail cell so good even the SPOOK couldn't break out of it, and naturally arranged to have him placed in one. Later, Batman is himself imprisoned, but escapes using one of the Spook's hidden passages. The Spook appears 120 issues later, fighting Batman, Talia & Catwoman- Talia easily defeats him, however. Driven insane by his failures, Kaliban is then transfered to Arkham.

-The Spook is the greatest escape artist of them all next to Batman & Mister Miracle, but is decidedly human and will lose to most reasonable hand-to-hand guys in a fair fight. The trick with him is uncovering his scheme, though he mostly just had the one.
Jabroniville
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Here Comes the GENERAL!

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE GENERAL I (Ulysses Hadrian Armstrong, aka Anarky II)
Created By:
Chuck Dixon & Michael Netzer
First Appearance: Detective Comics #654 (Dec. 1992)
Role: Psychopathic Child
Group Affiliations: None
PL 7 (92)
STRENGTH
0 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Athletics 5 (+5)
Deception 3 (+7)
Expertise (Criminal) 7 (+10)
Expertise (Military) 8 (+11)
Perception 2 (+6)
Persuasion 4 (+8)
Stealth 1 (+4)

Advantages:
Equipment 5 (Guns & Stuff), Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Pistols), Ranged Attack 5

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Historical Sword +8 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Pistols +10 (+4 Ranged Damage, DC 19)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +2, Fortitude +4, Will +5

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)

Total: Abilities: 58 / Skills: 28--14 / Advantages: 12 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 8 (92)

-Depicted as a psychopathic child with a "Skid Row" haircut, The General is a young prodigy military genius who is at first incredibly dangerous and malicious, but is modified later in the '90s into being more "pompous & childish". As Chuck Dixon created the character and also made the changes, it's less of a case of "New Writer Syndrome" and more him just finding a new role for his character. In any case, as a young genius at a military academy, Ulysses Armstrong reads books to placate his boredom. He even burns down the school, killing everyone inside. He recruits gang members into a makeshift "army" and quickly gains a reputation with his military-style raids and tactics- this earns him his name "The General". He lays siege to a police station so he can capture a storage room full of guns and confiscated drugs, using multiple gangs he's absorbed, but he is beaten and captured by Batman.

-Between 1995-97, the General became a foe in Dixon's Robin, trying a variety of schemes (manipulating a delusional hobo into thinking he's Julius Caesar, teaming with Toyman until they betray one another, and being put in charge of a small nation's military), and he becomes more comedic and bratty in these appearances. Wearing historical military uniforms exacerbates this notion. I suspect Dixon just had this perfectly-acceptable menace, realized the age matches up more with Tim Drake's, and Robin needed a good Rogues Gallery of his own, independent of Batman's, so there you go.

-The character suddenly returns in 2008, now (of course) aged to adulthood, gaining several feet and a lot of hand-to-hand prowess. Spoiler has hired him to gather information about some gang wars and provide insight as to how to fix them, but he betrays her (because, you know... evil). He finds a Red Robin costume and wears it to engage in psychological warfare with Tim Drake, and later kidnaps and replaces Anarky for the same purpose. The General sets off a bomb that kills his own brother and sister in that story arc. "DC Rebirth" refashions him into a young inventor working for the military. Overall, it seems like he was a believable "Psychopathic Batman Foe" at first, but Dixon made him more comedic to suit a different tone... which is funny, because it seems from his origin that he's a freaking MASS MURDERER and everyone just kind of accepts it or it's not dwelled upon?

-The General starts off as super-young, but very manipulative and capable of getting adults to follow his lead.
Jabroniville
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The Wrath (Original)

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE WRATH I (Real Name Unknown)
Created By:
Mike W. Barr & Mike Golden
First Appearance: Batman Special #1 (1984)
Role: Attempted Mirror Image Villain
Group Affiliations: None
PL 9 (135)
STRENGTH
3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 14 DEXTERITY 6
INTELLIGENCE 4 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 4 (+8)
Athletics 5 (+8)
Expertise (Assassin) 8 (+12)
Insight 3 (+7)
Intimidation 5 (+8)
Investigation 10 (+14)
Perception 4 (+8)
Stealth 4 (+8)
Technology 3 (+7)
Vehicles 2 (+8)

Advantages:
Benefit 1 (Cipher- No Known Identity), Equipment 4 (Gear, Guns, Knives, Explosives), Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Initiative, Ranged Attack 6

Offense:
Unarmed +14 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Knives +14 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Guns +12 (+4-6 Ranged Damage, DC 19-21)
Initiative +8

Defenses:
Dodge +14 (DC 18), Parry +14 (DC 24), Toughness +4, Fortitude +6, Will +6

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)

Total: Abilities: 84 / Skills: 48--24 / Advantages: 13 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 14 (135)

-The Wrath is an attempt at creating an "Anti-Batman", but obviously never pulled it off. Humorously, he has the opposite origin to Batman- his criminal parents were killed by a then-rookie officer James Gordon. Growing up, The Wrath becomes a cop-killer who copies many of Batman's methods, with perfectionism and obsession. Travelling the world as a gun for hire, he builds up skills so he can return to Gotham to kill his parents' killer, and targets Gordon and Batman as a result. They have a battle of wits, in which the clever villain actually realizes Batman is Bruce Wayne, and destroys the tombstone of his parents! Alfred is hospitalized and even Leslie Thompkins is taken hostage. However, in a final struggle with Batman, he falls from the roof of a building after an explosive he'd set up went off, and dies. The character has shockingly never reappeared- we've only had a Legacy Character since.

-The Wrath is effectively a PL 9 (135) well-balanced version of Batman himself. Smart enough to discover his secret identity, but dumb enough that he died to his own trap.
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Re: Jab’s Builds (Montoya! Mr. Freeze! The General! The Wrath!)

Post by Ken »

I enjoyed the original Wrath story. I think Barr made the right decision in having the character die at the end. Having Wrath's girlfriend mourning and being comforted by Leslie Tompkins was a nice tough. (This was before Tomkins was reinvented as a doctor; she was just a woman who lived in Park Row/Crime Alley).

The problem with a "evil Batman" as a recurring villain, and thus why Wrath had to die, is that if the character keeps losing to Batman, it'll be made clear that he's not Batman's equal, and that's that. He'll become a joke, a jobber who thinks he's Batman's equal, but really isn't. Like Prometheus.
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brothersale
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Re: The Spook

Post by brothersale »

Jabroniville wrote: Wed Oct 13, 2021 8:29 pm THE SPOOK (Val Kaliban)
You missed one detail regarding him, he is currrently dead, having been decapitated by Daimen Wayne. That hooded cloak Daimen always wears he took from the Spook as a trophy. There is also very little chance he will return either as damien stuck a grenade in the severed head and used it to attack Robin (Tim Drake) who he viewed unworthy of being Batman's partner.
Jabroniville
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The Wrath (Elliot Caldwell)

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE WRATH II (Elliot Caldwell)
Created By:
Tony Bedard & Rags Morales
First Appearance: Batman Confidential #13 (March 2008)
Role: Attempted Mirror Image Villain
Group Affiliations: None

-The second Wrath debuted much later, and was revealed to be the Wrath's own "Robin"- a sidekick. This retcons the original story to a time when Dick Grayson was active as Robin, but away on an "educational holdiday". This guy shows up, trying to get revenge for his boss, but Batman & Nightwing apparently easily defeat him. He reppeared in the "New 52" era with a similar origin to his predecessor (maybe because this one had a real name?).
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Re: Jab’s Builds (Montoya! Mr. Freeze! The General! The Wrath!)

Post by Ares »

Once again, I found The Batman's take on Wrath and Scorn to be very entertaining. Though one thing that was interesting about the original comic version of Wrath was that he happily used guns in his crimes, a nice contrast to the gun free Batman. Also, Wrath had a steady love interest while Bruce has been single most of his career.
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Re: Jab’s Builds (Montoya! Mr. Freeze! The General! The Wrath!)

Post by Skavenger »

It's silly, but I love the fact that they had to figure out "how do we give our anti-Batman pointy ears" and they settled on "let's put a giant W on his mask."
Jabroniville
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Double Dare

Post by Jabroniville »

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DOUBLE DARE (Aliki & Margo Marceau)
Created By:
Chuck Dixon & Scott McDaniel
First Appearance: Nightwing #32 (June 1999)
Role: Sexy Lady Acrobats
Group Affiliations: None
PL 8 (106)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 6
FIGHTING 12 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 11 (+14)
Athletics 10 (+12)
Deception 4 (+7)
Expertise (Criminal) 5 (+5)
Perception 4 (+5)
Stealth 2 (+5)

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Chokehold, Fast Grab, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Defenses, Improved Hold, Ranged Attack 3, Set-Up, Teamwork

Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Initiative +6

Defenses:
Dodge +13 (DC 23), Parry +13 (DC 23), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +4

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)

Total: Abilities: 64 / Skills: 36--18 / Advantages: 11 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 13 (106)

-A very appropriate set of foes for Nightwing, Double Dare are a pair of Sexy Twin Lady Acrobats, designed to both be hot and to swing around acrobatically, just like Dick! They were working for a Cirque du Soleil kind of thing, but were also thieves on the side, partially just for kicks. However, they rapidly turned into paid assassins, which is less funny. In their debut, Dick Grayson has just become an actual police officer, and he is caught between them and Blockbuster, but succeeds. Then the characters kinda disappear into the background, only popping up in background roles since then.

-Double Dare are pretty basic PL 8 martial artists- not TOO challenging, but there's two of them and Dick Grayson is delicate enough that a pair of attackers can actually bring him down if they're lucky.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Thu Oct 14, 2021 11:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Ares
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Re: Jab’s Builds (Montoya! Mr. Freeze! The General! The Wrath!)

Post by Ares »

Double Dair would be great "chase" villains who can put up an effective fight, but their real challenge is just catching them once they're on the move.
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
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Jabroniville
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Golden Age Hugo Strange

Post by Jabroniville »

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PROFESSOR HUGO STRANGE- Golden Age
Created By:
Bill Finger & Bob Kane
First Appearance: Detective Comics #36 (Feb. 1940)
Role: Criminal Mastermind
Group Affiliations: None
PL 6 (92)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 5 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Deception 5 (+8)
Expertise (Criminal) 6 (+11)
Expertise (Science) 6 (+11)
Intimidation 2 (+5)
Perception 2 (+6)
Persuasion 3 (+6)
Stealth 1 (+3)
Technology 6 (+12)
Vehicles 1 (+5)

Advantages:
Equipment 4 (Criminal Stuff), Inventor, Ranged Attack 3

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +6

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)

Total: Abilities: 56 / Skills: 32--16 / Advantages: 8 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 12 (92)

-Hugo Strange is one of Batman's earliest villains, debutig all the way back in 1940. He used a stolen device that casts "concentrated lightning" to help him and his gang commit robberies, and even manages to capture Batman for the purposes of torture, but Batman escapes his bonds and beats the villain. In his next appearance (only months later), he escapes and turns five insane patients from a local asylum into 15-foot giants- Batman kills all of them and beats Strange again, in the story that created the "Batman Must Not Kill" edict. Later that year, Strange falls to his apparent death after spreading a "fear-inducing powder" over Gotham City (yes, the Scarecrow was a year away from debuting). He does not return for 29 years- that version is of course the "Earth-One" version.

-Much later, the "Earth-Two" version is seen, also having survived his fall, but was left deformed by a botched surgery. He attempts to use Starman's Cosmic Rod to lay waste to Gotham, then brings Earth-One's Batman over for a crossover, but the Golden Age Robin & Earth-Two's Batwoman team up to defeat him. Strange realizes that he's in fact angry over his own wasted life, and uses the Cosmic Rod to commit suicide.

-This version of Hugo Strange is a criminal mastermind with a lot of good plans, and tends to have a lot of Super-Science gear.
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Bronze Age Hugo Strange

Post by Jabroniville »

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PROFESSOR HUGO STRANGE- Pre-Crisis
Created By:
Bill Finger & Bob Kane
First Appearance: Detective Comics #36 (Feb. 1940)
Role: Criminal Mastermind
Group Affiliations: None
PL 6 (93)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 5 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Deception 5 (+8)
Expertise (Criminal) 6 (+11)
Expertise (Science) 6 (+11)
Intimidation 2 (+5)
Perception 2 (+6)
Persuasion 3 (+6)
Stealth 1 (+3)
Technology 6 (+12)
Vehicles 1 (+5)

Advantages:
Equipment 4 (Criminal Stuff), Inventor, Ranged Attack 3, Trance

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +6

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)
Enemy (Batman)- Strange is one of the few enemies of Batman to have discovered his real identity.

Total: Abilities: 56 / Skills: 32--16 / Advantages: 9 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 12 (93)

-So literally 29 years after falling to his apparent death fighting Batman in the Golden Age, Hugo Strange returns, having survived by unknown means and travelling to Europe, where he became a much greater criminal success thanks to nobody there being able to oppose him. Growing bored without a challenge, he returned to Gotham, opening a private hospital for Gotham's wealthiest citizens. Using this scam, he actually DISCOVERS THAT BRUCE WAYNE IS BATMAN, and plans to auction this knowledge off to various Batman Rogues. However, Rupert Thorne, determined not to lose, has Strange abducted and beaten by his men, and Strange apparently dies without telling the secret. Strange's ghost then appears, driving Thorne insane- he confesses to his long career of corruption and is sent to Arkham Asylum. A heavily-altered version of this story appears in Batman: The Animated Series, where Bruce has Dick Grayson appear as "Bruce", thus throwing off the plan at the last minute.

-Strange's ghost appears in repeated 1982 Detective Comics issues, always haunting Thorne, but it's eventually revealed that Strange had survived, using "yoga techniques" to slow his heart and fake his death. The "ghost" is just created by a variety of gadgets. Strange also uses androids and psychoactive drugs to mentally torture Bruce Wayne and replace him as Batman, but apparently dies again by blowing up a replica of Wayne Manor with himself in it, stating that "If I can't be Batman, then no one can!"- Batman escapes. Naturally since this was a story about androids, the Strange who died was an android, too, and Strange returns. He returns again, attempting to bankrupt Bruce, and is convinced that Batman only hypnotized him into thinking Bruce was Batman. These stories set up a long-running theme of "Strange Replacing Batman"- most later versions are somewhat obsessed with putting on the costume.

-This Hugo Strange is effectively the same as the Golden Age one, but can fake his death using a trance. He's about as smart, but now uses androids and the like.
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