Franchise/{{Batman}} has built up one of the biggest and most popular [[RoguesGallery Rogues Galleries]] in the history of all media. Here are his deadliest and most recurring foes:
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[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:The Joker / Red Hood I]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/joker.jpg

SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker is one of the most (in)famous supervillains in the history of comic books and a character who is equally as famous as his archnemesis. In sharp contrast to Batman, The Joker's skin tone is chalk white, his hair a bright green, and his costume consists of a bright purple tuxedo. Oh, and he is an ''AxCrazy [[TheSociopath psychopathic]] maniac.''

It's not so much a question of what Joker's done -- it's rather a question what ''hasn't'' he done. His first appearance had him effortlessly killing two millionaires, a judge, and a rival mob boss; since then, he's sneaked into a fur warehouse using a model Trojan horse, made his own utility belt, tried to dump one of his henchmen in a SharkPool, infected every fish off of the East Coast with his Joker venom (and then tried to ''[[RefugeInAudacity patent the fish for royalties]]''), tied his enemies to a giant exploding cake to celebrate his birthday, shot Barbara Gordon in the spine (and tortured her father to boot), killed Jason Todd (the second Robin), killed Jim Gordon's second wife, [[RealityWarper became stupidly powerful]] after stealing [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Mr. Mxyzptlk's]] powers, and nearly destroyed the world singlehandedly when he thought he was dying.

''And he's far from done.''

Like the rest of the senior Bat-cast, the Joker started out as a pretty dangerous guy in his earliest appearances before being turned into a guffawing, buffoonish trickster thanks to the combined influence of UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode and [[Series/{{Batman}} the 1960s television series]]. When he was revived in the 1970s, he was turned back into the dangerous madman of his earliest appearances (although -- and this ''cannot'' be emphasized enough -- he was ''still'' crazy enough to try and patent Joker-fish). When the DarkAge came along, Joker soon had the single highest body count in Franchise/TheDCU. While he's outdone by the aliens and supervillains who can (and do) wipe out cities/planets, for a man who has nothing other than a criminally sharp mind and a twisted sense of humor, he's still got an "impressive" body count. And keep in mind, those aliens wipe the cities and planets from orbit, while the Joker will do it to your face, and he'll scare you half to death before he kills the other half.

Why doesn't he get the chair? That's what many of us are asking. In-universe, however, it seems to be due to the courts pronouncing him insane and whisking him off to [[BedlamHouse Arkham]] [[CardboardPrison Asylum]].

His relationship with Batman is... unique, to say the least. In nearly every published Batman crossover/AU comic, The Joker is there as well. Joker has claimed again and again that Batman is the sole reason for his existence -- and that they're more alike than Bats will ever admit.

The Joker, as portrayed in various media -- [[Film/{{Batman}} Tim Burton's 1989 film]], ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', and many an AlternateContinuity -- is a little bit different from the comic book version; specifically, the former are generally treated (if in unspoken terms) as evil, sadistic psychopaths who have conned (or will con) others into thinking they are psychotically insane in the legal sense of the term, when really they just enjoy carnage and mayhem, and were usually murderous bastards even before becoming a MonsterClown. The modern, mainstream, comic book Joker is treated much more like he really ''is'' psychotic and crazy (or at least, crazier than those other versions) and (sometimes) sees Batman as something of a psychological torment rather than an enemy or someone Joker just enjoys tormenting. Many versions fall somewhere in between the two extremes, largely DependingOnTheWriter. His HarmlessVillain phase from the 60's, by contrast, was actually pretty short lived.

As for his origin... well, no matter who tells it, it almost always involves him falling into a giant vat of acid (or something green). Most accept Alan Moore's portrayal of Joker in ''TheKillingJoke'' as an unsuccessful comedian with a pregnant wife prior to the transformation as the character's canon origin, but as Joker said himself in that very story: "Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes the other! [[MultipleChoicePast If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!]]"

The Joker's true identity is perpetually unknown, but he has gone by Joseph "Joe" Kerr, Jack Napier, Jack White, Oberon Sexton, and Clem Rusty among others. (Because the name Jack Napier was given as the Joker's pre-transformation real name in the 1989 film, some fans accept it as his real name overall. [[note]] The name, by the way, is from JackNicholson, the actor who played him, and Alan Napier, who played Alfred in the 60s show. The more you know![[/note]])

For a full listing of the tropes surrounding this most iconic of supervillains, [[SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker see his dedicated tropes page]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Harley Quinn (Harleen Quinzel)]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Harley.jpg

Which genius decided to let a fresh-out-of-college intern be The Joker's therapist, we'll never know (it's heavily implied that no one actually wants to work at Arkham), but Harley Quinn was the result. As Joker's doctor, Dr. Harleen Quinzel tried -- like so many others before her -- to restore the psychotic killer to sanity. She not only failed, but ''fell in love with him''. The countless FreudianExcuse stories that Joker fed her were likely a part of it, since Harley has proclaimed that ever since she laid eyes on the clown, it was love at first sight.

Though it was ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' that introduced her (originally as just the Joker's henchgirl), Harley became popular enough to be included in the comics as well, and it was a comic (later adopted into a TV episode) that first told her origin. Perhaps even crazier than the Joker himself, you can count on Harley to be right alongside her "puddin'", mindlessly loyal to him, but cleverly lethal.

Not even Harley can stand the Joker's endless tirades of abuse and madcap lifestyle, however, and when she's in her downtime, she often finds consolation in Poison Ivy, whom she has [[LesYay a deep friendship with]].

Had her own series for a time, see the page for it and its examples [[ComicBook/HarleyQuinn here]].

!!Examples

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Justified. Despite her sympathetic portrayal, she's ''very'' far from being innocent and virtuous herself.
* AxCrazy: Not as concentrated on single, gruesome killings as her puddin', but much more enthusiastic towards large-scale property damage.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Harley is, by far, the nicest, sweetest member of Batman's rogues gallery. However, do not think her lovelorn origin and bubbly demeanor means she isn't a homicidal psychopath.
* BiTheWay: Her relationships with Joker and Poison Ivy (as confirmed by WordOfGod) and overall flirtatious nature confirms this.
* [[BlondeBrunetteRedhead Blonde]]: To Ivy's Redhead and Catwoman's Brunette in some cases.
* BlondesAreEvil
* BrooklynRage: She has a very nasal New York accent and it is later revealed that she is from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.
* [[BunnyEarsLawyer Bunny Ears Psychiatrist]]: Naturally. While the writers flip flop on whether she skirted her way through school or not, every once in a while she does show she's still a pretty skilled psychoanalyst despite the crazy.
* CatchPhrase: An inter-media one, in that it shows up at least once in most mediums that she appears in.
--> (as an introduction): "Call me Harley! Everyone does."
* CanonImmigrant
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}
* CriticalPsychoanalysisFailure: Granted, Joker does this ''a lot'', but none of his other doctors wound up ''in love with him''.
** She once wrote up a report on the Joker claiming that he was perfectly sane, but simply faking it to avoid the death penalty, and because he was enjoying his own maniacal behavior. This arguably subverts this trope, since DependingOnTheWriter this is ''exactly'' what SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker is doing, meaning she is the first one to crack him (she probably thinks [[MadLove this makes him a genius]]).
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass
* CuteAndPsycho
* CuteClumsyGirl
* DarkActionGirl
* DarkMistress
* DominoMask
* TheDragon
* DropTheHammer: Mallets have been identified as her WeaponOfChoice, though the Joker does use them on occasion as well.
* DumbBlonde: She's ''really'' psychopathic, but still a ditzy, kinda sweet girl.
-->'''Harley:''' Hah! And here you thought I was just another bubble-headed, blonde bimbo! Well, the joke's on you; I'm not even a real blonde!
* FemalesAreMoreInnocent: Despite being just as insane as her puddin' and just as indifferent to other people's death, she's still portrayed as being a sympathetic abuse victim of SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker.
* FluffyTamer: To everyone else the Joker's snarling pet hyenas are a menace; to her, they are her "babies."
* GenkiGirl
* GirlishPigtails
* GlassCannon: In all continuities. Even though she definitely can fight, she isn't very resistant and is often easily knocked-out when things get physical.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Poison Ivy, though the ''Heterosexual'' part is questionable.
* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Often depicted as such but she still has some bouts of ''true'' efficiency and is in fact the villain who got the closest to actually killing Batman. But well, MadLove you know...
* InformedJudaism: So informed indeed that she ''never'' talks about it.
* LoveFreak
* LoveMakesYouEvil
* LoveMakesYouCrazy
* LoveMartyr
* MadLove
* {{Meganekko}}: Before her transformation.
* MulticoloredHair: The [[http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2011/06/09/suicide-squad-1/ cover]] for the 2011 ContinuityReboot version of ''SuicideSquad'' shows Harley sporting half red, half blue hair.
* NaughtyNurseOutfit: In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum''.
* PerkyFemaleMinion
* PsychopathicManchild: Occasionally pops up in the main comics, and practically outlined in her solo series. She often acts, and sometimes thinks, like a sugar-high kid.
* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver
* SexForServices: Some versions of her origin story indicates that she got through college by sexual favors rather than academic performance. The extent to which this is the case [[DependingOnTheWriter depends on the writer, however,]] and she occasionally shows glimpses of great intellect even in stories involving this.
* SexyJester
* SheFu: We're still not sure how someone who's studied to be a doctor can suddenly do Olympic-level gymnastics.
** Because she went to college on a gymnastics scholarship.
** And received superhuman abilities from Poison Ivy during the first of their adventures.
* ShrinkingViolet: She was very shy and reserved before meeting The Joker. Needless to say, that's changed quite a bit.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The DVD captions for ''Mad Love'' in Volume Four of ''Batman: The Animated Series'' spell her real name as "Harlene Quinzelle".
* StatingTheSimpleSolution: Suggested [[JustShootHim just shooting Batman]] to Joker, who proceeds to blow up on her (then later use this idea).
* StevenUlyssesPerhero: C'mon, Harleen Quinzel? ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it by having Joker point it out in the episode showing her origin, and her dryly responding [[NeverHeardThatOneBefore that she's heard it before]]. This conversation was replicated in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'' in one of her interview tapes.
* UnholyMatrimony: She and Mr J. are one textbook example.
* VillainousHarlequin
* WordOfGay: With Ivy. It isn't known if her relationship with The Joker means she is bi or has a case of SingleTargetSexuality.
** Though she did kiss Batman at the end of Harley's Holiday, though it's still hard to tell.
* {{Yandere}}: It's rare, but even the Joker is scared of her when she goes into this mode. Or turned on. It could go either way.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Two-Face (Harvey Dent)]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Two_Face.gif

Much like Jim Gordon, Harvey Dent was one of the few honest law enforcers in Gotham. Young and handsome, he was nicknamed "Apollo" by the press, but beneath his good looks was hidden an unstable mind. The details vary from origin to origin, but he eventually had half his face doused in acid, turning the left half of his face into a nightmarish, demonic monstrosity.

Dent's mind snapped after that, and the distraught District Attorney declared himself a mere puppet of fate. He quickly became one of Gotham's leading crime bosses, with the unusual habit of making all of his decisions with a two-headed coin - scratched on one side and clean on the other. All of his important decisions are decided by a flip of this coin - the scarred side representing evil, the clean side representing good.

Alongside the Joker and Ra's al-Ghul, Two-Face is one of Batman's greatest enemies, but not because of the threat he poses to the rest of the world. Instead, he reminds Batman of how far the greatest can fall, and how he cannot save all of his allies - Batman's feelings of guilt that he failed to save his old friends and constant attempts to 'reform' Dent remain one of the biggest themes of the character.

Note that in spite of his stature, Two-Face never made an appearance on the [[Series/{{Batman}} sixties show]] (likely because that he wouldn't fit into their campy approach; however, Joel Schumacher proved them wrong in a big way). FALSE Face did, but that's a different character altogether.

!!Examples

* AmoralAttorney: Averted; he was an incredibly honest and hardworking D.A. before the transformation.
* AntiHero: There are moments when he seems to be gunning for the title "The DCU's [[ThePunisher Punisher]]". It doesn't last.
* AntiVillain: Sometimes, DependingOnTheWriter. Type I, II and[=/=]or III, DependingOnTheWriter as well.
* AxCrazy: In terms of being completely unpredictable; he can switch from a vicious but well-meaning antihero to a sadistic psychopath at any given moment.
* BadassNormal: Despite being one of Batman's most prominent villains, Two-Face doesn't actually have any special powers.
* BlackAndWhiteInsanity: The majority of his modern interpretations, from 1990 onwards. Quoting his revised origin:
-->'''"Harvey"''': ''Good boys don't do bad things.''
-->'''"Two-Face"''': ''BAD BOYS DON'T DO GOOD THINGS.''
* ChronicVillainy: No matter how many times they repair his face, Two-Face always eventually comes back. Most recently the damage was self-inflicted, using a scalpel and concentrated nitric acid. Yikes.
* DependingOnTheWriter: Was Harvey Dent one of Bruce Wayne's best friends or did he consider Bruce to be a useless fop? Did Harvey consider Batman to be a great ally in the war against crime, or merely a slightly more benign symptom of what was wrong with Gotham? Is Batman tortured by feelings of guilt because he couldn't save Harvey? Is Two-Face a straight criminal, or a ruthless vigilante who only associates with criminals so he can disperse his twisted brand of 'justice'? The answers to these questions depends on if you read ''TheLongHalloween'', saw ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' or ''Film/TheDarkKnight''. The main consensus in the main comics seems to be that yes, he and Bruce were good friends, and yes, Dent grudingly considered Batman an useful ally.
** The nature of his psychosis and morality changes so much it's ridiculous. The statement in [[ArkhamAsylumASeriousHouseOnSeriousEarth Arkham Asylum]] about Joker's changing personality would likely better describe Dent.
*** AlternateCharacterInterpretation / AuthorsSavingThrow: Originally, Two-Face was just a nihilistic thug who felt that he might as well make decisions on a coin toss. The idea of having a split personality could've been invented by the quacks at Arkham, since Dissociative Identity Disorder (previously called Multiple Personality Disorder) is infamous for being faked by sociopaths and/or created by doctors. For every person for which the diagnosis would be relevant, there are several patients who were put under hypnosis by doctors who created the mental construct believing they were just exposing an existing problem.
* FallenHero
* FreudianExcuse: Being beaten as a child by his father. In fact, several versions actually state that this is where his coin came from in the first place.
* GoKartingWithBowser: Bruce Wayne has been known for going down to Arkham to play chess with Harvey Dent.
** An interesting example, as Batman was once friends with Harvey Dent, who is actually insane, unlike most super-criminals in Arkham.
* GollumMadeMeDoIt: During ''No Man's Land'', Jim Gordon escapes a "trial" that he set up by taking advantage of this.
* GunsAkimbo: Much less than you'd think, but still there occasionally.
* HairTriggerTemper: With shades of ArsonMurderAndJaywalking; Two-Face often tends to explode over damn near anything, even trivial issues.
** In one issue, he and his gang are playing cards, and the rest of them are terrified that he'll set off when they start beating him, or other small stuff. He doesn't and actually laughs it off, and they let their guard down... then one of them [[OhCrap spills some wine by accident]], and he ''[[DisproportionateRetribution shoots the guy dead.]]''
** For a time, he was infatuated with Detective Renee Montoya, who he met during ''No Man's Land'', and tried to woo her. Then she turns out to be a lesbian, and he goes ballistic and accuses her of "betraying" him.
** In one comic book adaptation of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', Bruce and Gracie - Harvey's ex-fiancee before his accident - visit him in Arkham at a point he seems to be at last on the road to recovery; he himself notes that he's not using the coin as much, and he's genuinely grateful for the visit. Then [[ManipulativeBastard The Joker]] suggests that Bruce and Gracie are seeing each other behind his back... and [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge the predictable happens.]]
* HeadsTailsEdge: He constantly gets screwed over by this trope.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor
* HelloAttorney: A male example. Dent's incredibly good looks earned him the nickname "Apollo".
* HumbleHero: During his tenure as D.A. After the accident, [[RockBottom his self-esteem has predictably sunk even lower]].
* {{Idiosyncrazy}}: Especially in the [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]].
* IncompatibleOrientation: His obsession with [[TheQuestion Renee Montoya]].
* InsanityDefense: Being compelled to follow the flip of his coin, he is one of the few Bat Rogues to meet the real life qualifications for it to work.
* LargeAndInCharge: Sort of. He's far from being the tallest Batman villain, but he lacks any real fighting skills or training either. He is still a big, intimidating man, however, and tends to dominate his underlings - and go toe-to-toe with Batman - by relying on size and his [[BlueAndOrangeMorality highly volatile moral compass]].
* JekyllAndHyde: Naturally.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: His murder of [[spoiler:Carmine Falcone]] in ''ComicBook/TheLongHalloween''.
* MismatchedEyes: His right eye is almost always depicted as blue, but his left iris [[DependingOnTheArtist tends to range from]] [[RedEyesTakeWarning blood red]] [[ProphetEyes to milky white]]. In [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries the animated series]], his entire left eye turns [[HellishPupils yellow and slitted]].
* MoralityPet: Depends on the writer ''sooo'' much, but his ex-wife Gilda (and arguably Renee Montoya) usually are this.
* MulticoloredHair: Usually a black/white pattern. [[DependingOnTheArtist If they don't decide to have the "bad half" of his face have its hair being burned off instead]].
* MurderTheHypotenuse: Two-Face's [[SarcasmMode brilliant idea]] to win Renee's affections/attentions.
* NobleDemon
* NumerologicalMotif: Guess.
* OneOfUs: He once addresses one of his {{Mook|s}} as a "RedShirt". Said Mook doesn't know what it means:
--> '''Two-Face''': You never watched ''Franchise/StarTrek''?
--> '''Mook''': No.
--> '''Two-Face''': ''(shoots the Mook dead)'' Too ''stupid'' to live and be of any use.
* TheResenter: Initially felt this way towards Bruce Wayne. Probably couldn't care less now as Two-Face.
** [[DependingOnTheWriter Except for the continuities where Harvey Dent and Bruce Wayne were best friends.]]
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: During his retold origin in ''The Long Halloween'', he pulls this on his traitorous assistant, Vernon.
* ShadowArchetype: Like Batman, he shares two separate identities, although Harvey's are apart and opposed to each other, in contrast to Batman and Bruce Wayne being together.
* SplitPersonality
* StalkerWithACrush: To Renee Montoya.
* TragicMonster: PlayedForDrama.
* TwoFaced: [[JustForPun Ha ha ha.]]
* VillainousBreakdown: Often.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: There were indeed plans to include him on the Adam West series; there, he would have been a reporter whose face was scarred by an exploding TV - and played by ClintEastwood.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Riddler (Edward Nigma[=/=]Eddie Nashton)]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the-riddler_1528.jpg

Thanks to the unforgettable [[Series/{{Batman}} sixties show]] (where he essentially replaced the Joker as Batman's lead villain), the Riddler is one of the "big four" classic Bat-Rogues (alongside the Joker, Catwoman and the Penguin). Like most of the Bat-Rogues, the Riddler is victim to a mental disorder - in his case, an Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder that subconsciously forces him to leave clues in the form of riddles at the scenes of his crimes. Flashes into his past have shown an abusive father that would beat him every time he lied and an obsession with riddles, puzzles, and word games, all of which probably didn't help his descent into a criminal life.

The Riddler is best known for his many (often silly) riddles that confound all but the Dynamic Duo, as well as his over-the-top deathtraps. He is, however, incredibly intelligent, yet considers his battles of wits with Batman to be a game - one in which he heavily respects his opponent.

For his own page, see [[ComicBook/TheRiddler here]].

!!Examples

* AffablyEvil: When he's in a good mood.
* AscendedExtra: A rather minor villain until his first appearance on the sixties show. A combination of the series' popularity and Frank Gorshin's memorable performance saw Riddler become far more prominent in the comics.
* AttentionWhore: His justification for becoming The Riddler, as shown in ''Detective Comics Annual'' #8:
---> '''"It wasn't the money I wanted. It wasn't the action I sought. I just liked the attention."'''
* BigBad: In the [[Series/{{Batman}} sixties show]].
* BrainsAndBondage: Occasionally referenced--his minions Query and Echo used to work at a fetish club.
* ButtMonkey: Jeph Loeb's ''TheLongHalloween'' and ''Dark Victory'' both portray him as this. [[spoiler:''Catwoman: When in Rome'' and ''Hush'' (both written by Loeb as well) avert this, however]]. Although, [[spoiler:the aftermath of ''Hush'' shown him getting beaten up by everyone he used before.]]
* CallingCard: His riddles.
* CaneFu: To the point where his cane in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'' looks more like blunt weapon than a walking aid.
* CatchPhrase: Sometimes has a tendency to introduce his riddles with "Riddle me this."
* TheChessmaster / TheDogWasTheMastermind: [[spoiler: During the ''Hush'' arc. For crying out loud, one of the cover arts even shows him playing chess with pieces looking like the characters! BUT Batman had dismissed him earlier since he had not updated his tactics like the others had.]]
** TheManBehindTheMan: Another interpretation is, since he didn't use his signature riddles, that he more likely mostly provided contacts and resources for the other chessmaster Hush, as Batman suspects.
* ChronicVillainy
* CivvieSpandex: His trademark outfit. Now almost exclusively associated with the goofy, harmless trickster version of him; he's preferred the question-mark smoking jacket more recently.
* ConvenientComa
* CriminalMindGames: His M.O.
* CutLexLuthorACheck: He actually ''does'' follow it in his reformation.
* CuttingTheKnot: Batman often defeats Nigma using either this or by taking a third option.
* DeathTrap: He loves these.
* DemonicPossession: During the "Dark Knight, Dark City" storyline. The result? An AxCrazy version of the character that only ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'''s version can compete with.
* DependingOnTheWriter: Bumbling {{Cloudcuckoolander}}? Scheming near-equal to Batman? A BunnyEarsLawyer version of both? Or a psychopath who could go head to head with the Joker in terms of insanity?
* DiminishingVillainThreat: Inverted, began as a relatively harmless, some-what ridiculous villain and escalated into a genuine threat.
** This is also kind of applied in universe; throughout his criminal career the Riddler has felt the need to pull bigger, more dangerous and more complicated stunts mostly out of a compulsive need to "play" with Batman.
* DominoMask
* GigglingVillain: In the sixties series, even more so [[UpToEleven than the Joker.]]
* HarmlessVillain: Frequently. Even in the DarkAge, he tries to avoid needless violence...
** DependingOnTheWriter. This is the same guy who murdered bus passengers who [[DisproportionateRetribution answered his riddles wrong]] before being stopped by TheQuestion; who tried to suicide bomb [[GreenArrow Star City]] with a [[NukeEm nuclear bomb]]; and who slaughtered dozens of mob {{Mooks}} with his teenaged sidekick, before murdering her too. In practice, he is a homicidal maniac more often than not.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Sometimes retires from crime and uses his skills for puzzle solving to do detective work. Though inevitably never for long.
* HumiliationConga: Had a big one post-''Hush''.
* {{Idiosyncrazy}}: He actually gets mad when King Tut starts cribbing his gimmick despite having reformed.
* InsufferableGenius
* LargeHam: The Gorshin version especially had a tendency towards giggling, manic monologues.
* LinkedListClueMethodology
* TheMadHatter: Played for angst instead of laughs; he's crushed at how his insanity renders him incapable of not leaving Batman riddles that lead to his defeat.
* MasterOfIllusion
* NiceHat: It started with Frank Gorshin, but even in the comics the Riddler is now often found wearing a snazzy green bowler hat.
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: As ''Hush'' proved.
** "Dark Knight, Dark City" shows that if Riddler ever stepped up his game, he would completely ''own'' Batman.
** In ''BatmanNoMansLand'', a group of hoods working for the Riddler get anxious of waiting for him to put to motion a plan he had for a robbery (he was waiting for Batman to find the riddle he left for that particular crime) and did the robbery without him. After the robbery goes off without a hitch, one of the hoods actually comments that, if it weren't for his habit of leaving clues, the Riddler would be a bonafide supercriminal mastermind.
* ShadowArchetype: He's a reflection of Batman's nature as a intellectual.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: [[spoiler:During ''Catwoman: When in Rome''.]]
* PrivateDetective: A slightly crooked one, but still legit as of now.
* PsychoticSmirk: A trademark of his.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: His reaction to the earthquake that created ''No Man's Land'' arc. He's the ''only'' Arkhamite to even consider making a break for it. Which he does.
* [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Spell My Surname With An S]]: Is it "Nigma" with an "I" or "Nygma" with a "Y"?
* SpiritedCompetitor
* SmugSnake
* SymbolMotifClothing: When his outfits are adorned with question marks.
* TakeAThirdOption: Batman often gets past his riddles by doing this, beating them in ways Nigma didn't anticipate.
** His transformation into a mostly legit private detective is this: Nigma finally realised that there was a way he could still match wits with Batman without copping beatings and prison time as a result.
* TongueTied: He knows Batman's identity, but he can't reveal it due to his psyche; as Batman says, "A riddle that everybody knows the answer to is useless".
** Also, Batman hints to Riddler that Ra's might find out he used a Lazarus Pit if he bragged about it.
* TricksterArchetype
* VillainousBreakdown: He's had a lot of these over the years.
* WillNotTellALie: He'll just coat the truth in an enigma, wrap it in a riddle, and stuff the whole thing into a Chinese puzzle box!
* WorthyOpponent: Considers Batman this, due to him being the only one smart enough to solve his riddles.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mister Freeze[=/=]Mister Zero (Victor Fries)]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/MrFreeze03_757.jpg

Victor Fries was once a great scientist, who was accidentally exposed to some chemicals and was forever changed. While this sort of thing had been beneficial to TheFlash, it ruined Fries' body physiology and he cannot survive for very long in high temperatures (even being in room temperature would eventually kill him). Being forced to create a suit to keep him cool, Fries eventually turned to crime, becoming the sinister Mr. Freeze.

That was all there was to the original Mr. Freeze (who actually debuted as Mr. Zero). He was just the gimmicky cold themed villain to fight and was eventually sent to Comic Book Limbo (where Comicbook/AnimalMan actually met him!). Then WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries gave him a tragic backstory and personality, turning him into an AntiVillain.

Nora Fries, wife of Victor, contracted a rare disease, of which there was no cure. Victor, wanting to save his wife, put her in cryo-stasis. Unfortunately, Fries' boss, [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Ferris Boyle]] tried to pull the plug on Nora and knocks Victor into some chemicals and... yeah. Later, when '''Mr. Freeze''' tried to get revenge on Boyle, Nora's capsule was destroyed and she died. Swearing revenge on Batman, he escapes. Whenever Freeze is captured and taken into custody, he is always taken to Arkham Asylum, as it is the only place where he won't die due to the temperature while in custody (his room being essentially a remodeled meat locker).

In recent history, Freeze managed to revive his wife with one of Ra's Al-Ghul's Lazarus Pits in exchange for building a machine to capture Cassandra Cain. However, due to Nora being dead for so long, she gains superpowers from the pit. She is pissed off at her husband and left him becoming the villain Lazara. [[TheWoobie Poor, poor Victor]].

The {{New 52}} reboot made a major alteration to Freeze's backstory. After the changes to the timeline, Victor is now a deluded scientist who fell in love with Nora, who was actually preserved long before Fries was actually born.

!!Examples

* ADayInTheLimelight: An issue of ''Legends Of The Dark Knight'' has him narrating a retelling of his own origin.
* AnIcePerson: Unlike most examples, his powers don't come naturally. Instead, he has to use his gun (which may or may not be linked to his sub-zero body temperature) to achieve this. And although his condition would kill him in a room-temperature environment, he can walk around openly and quite comfortably in the frigid polar regions, as depicted in the DCAU.
** Most of the time. On ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' however, he does have genuine freezing powers and thus has no use for a gun.
* AntiVillain: He's one of the greatest examples of a [[SlidingScaleOfAntiVillains Type II]] of all times.
* BaldOfEvil: The transformation process apparently caused all his hair to fall out.
* CreateYourOwnVillain: In the New 52, the executive who shut down Victor's research and unwittingly exposed him to the chemicals that made him dependent on sub-zero temperatures... was Bruce Wayne.
* CursedWithAwesome: Freeze's condition means that room temperatures will kill him. However, he can survive without his suit in bitterly cold regions that would kill ordinary humans.
* FreakLabAccident: Something that ''every'' version of him has in common.
* FreakOut
* HarmlessFreezing: Sometimes. Most of the time, he ''does'' kill whoever he freezes.
* HumanPopsicle: Did his to his wife. He's kind of a walking, talking, killing one himself.
* IcyBlueEyes: A literal example. ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' even brings it further with ice-like lenses.
* LiterallyShatteredLives: He invokes this trope with objects just as much as with people.
* LostInImitation: With the exception of the one in [[Series/{{Batman}} the Adam West show]] and the TheBatman version (which uses his original characterization, though references his later look), every version of Freeze draws from the {{DCAU}} one. This is partially because the ''comics themselves'' [[CanonImmigrant adopted the DCAU version as his official backstory.]]
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Especially when the one you loved is dead.
* MadScientist
* {{Necromantic}}: Not at first, since his wife was ''technically'' still alive, but after her death, he still did everything he does out of his love for her.
* OnlySaneMan: [[DependingOnTheWriter Usually]] shares this role with Penguin. He goes to Arkham not because he's insane, but because they're the only place that can accommodate him.
** A notable exception is his appearance in City of Crime, in which he is a delusional psychotic. Penguin even remarks that he hates working with crazy "freaks" like Mr. Freeze.
* PlayingWithFire: His wife came back with powers. Guess what they are. Did we mention his life ''sucks''?
* PsychoForHire: Often shows up in stories not centered around him as a mercenary, hired by a crime lord to do some damage and/or attack Batman. Freeze, who often agrees on the condition that he gets to kill a lot of people, is known to be difficult to work with.
* RetCanon: After the animated episode won an Emmy, DC Comics hastily adapted Freeze's new origin into the comics as well.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: On Boyle at first. His later career is supposedly one targeted towards Batman, and to a lesser extent, the rest of Gotham.
* SinisterShades: He's usually seen with [[RedEyesTakeWarning red goggles]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Scarecrow (Jonathan Crane)]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Scarecrow__5197.jpg

Much like Mr. Freeze, and to some extent, the Riddler, the Scarecrow was a one-shot character in the comics, revived decades later to become a major part of the Bat-Rogues. Thin and bookish, he was (predictably) bullied by kids at school. As a result, he became even more withdrawn and angry at the world, culminating in him bringing a gun to the high school senior prom and attacking JerkJock Bo Griggs and his AlphaBitch girlfriend Sherry Squires (who had rejected Crane's affections), killing the latter.

As an adult, Crane's psychopathic tendencies grew and grew. His interests in the human mind (especially fears and phobias) got him a job as a psychology professor at Gotham University, but firing a gun during one of his classes soon led to him being kicked out. Crane, obviously not taking this well, used his chemistry and psychology smarts to concoct a "fear toxin" and get his vengeance on the ones who fired him. Naturally, Batman stopped him. Naturally, he went to Arkham. Naturally, he would come back time after time to battle the Bat. As a character (inexplicably, given his use of gas) ignored by the [[Series/{{Batman}} sixties show]], Scarecrow didn't require much of a revival when the Batman comics returned to their roots in the 70s, and as such didn't change much when he took on animated form (although his look certainly did).

Later Crane has had a bit of a FreakOut over the fact that he is nothing without his toxin. As a result, he abandons use of it (almost) entirely and instead relies on his expertise with the human mind in his criminal activities, beginning by [[BreakThemByTalking driving two prison inmates to suicide with words alone]].

!!Examples

* [[AbusiveParents Abusive Grandmother]]
* AdaptationalAttractiveness: In ''Film/BatmanBegins'', ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', and ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' he is played by CillianMurphy, who is considerable more attractive (to most) than his geekier comic book likeness.
** "''[[EvenTheGuysWantHim To most?]]''"
* AGodAmI: Alan Grant's "God of Fear" mini-arc (which took place shortly after Azrael had taken over as Batman) portrays him with this personality.
* BreakThemByTalking: Specializes in this after realizing how dependent he was on his fear gas.
* EvilMentor: Eventually revealed to be one to an Evil Student, [[spoiler:Thomas Elliot aka Hush]].
* ForScience: [[DependingOnTheWriter When writers decide to go for the MadScientist interpretation]]. Other times, he seems to just spray people with fear gas ForTheEvulz.
* FreudianExcuse: Bullies + Abusive Grandmother + Unstable Nerd = EVIL.
* IKnowWhatYouFear: his gimmick.
* IronicNurseryTune: When written by Jeph Loeb, he has a tendency to sing bird-related nursery rhymes.
* LeanAndMean
* {{Nerd}}: His original [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] counterpart was actually treated this way ''as an adult.'' The Post-crisis version is the stereotypical teenage {{Nerd}} / {{Geek}} fusion seen so often in fiction.
* MadScientist: Well, not quite a scientist, but definitely the gist of this trope.
* MasterOfIllusion: Particurlarly the scary kind.
* MindRape: His shtick. He uses his fear gas to make his victims experience their worst fears.
* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate
* OneWingedAngel: The notorious incident where he became "Scarebeast".
** Later on, Darkseid turns him into an even stronger creature that can take on ''Superman''.
* PapaWolf: He has had these moments especially with patients that he either finds very smart like [[ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures Molly Randall]] [[spoiler:who was then raped]] or has problems with bullies.
* RelativeButton: Inadvertently pushes Batman's during the ''Knightfall'' saga. [[UnstoppableRage The results were not pretty.]]
* RevengeOfTheNerd: Took this to a murderous extreme (see Griggs and Squires incident detailed above).
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge
* SadistTeacher: Okay, so most of the time, the "sadist" and "teacher" parts don't really appear together much, but there was that time when he fired a gun in the middle of one of his classes to inspire fear in his students.
* ScaryScarecrows
* ScaryShinyGlasses
* SelfMadeOrphan: Was raised by an abusive grandmother, whom he killed when he was a teen.
* ShadowArchetype: Like Batman, he uses fear as a gimmick in his actions, except Crane uses fear for malicious purposes.
* SinisterScythe
* ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight: pretends to be such a thing.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: He himself is often depicted with either a fear of birds or a fear of bats. His fear gas reveals his victims' greatest phobias.
** [[spoiler: In ''Blackest Night'', it's revealed his constant exposure to his own fear gas has left him incapable of fearing anything. Except for Batman.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Bane]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bane1_299.jpg

You'll note that most of the entries on this page are rather old characters. One of the more recent Bat-Villains to make "the leap" to a top-tier threat was Bane, created in the 1990s for a specific purpose: to enable the writers to get Bruce Wayne out of the Bat-costume and replace him with a character intended to turn the readers against NinetiesAntiHero Azrael, and {{Nineties Anti Hero}}es in general. The gambit worked spectacularly well.

To say Bane had a bad life is putting it mildly; he was essentially raised in a Central American prison, sentenced there for life ''while still in the womb'' for a crime committed by his father. However, once he managed to be old enough to defend himself, he thrived, and was selected for an experimentation program where he was made more durable (via the implantation of subcutaneous armor) and, more importantly, had a delivery system for a super steroid implanted in his body. While not quite superhuman in strength, when on the drugs he was very close, and combined with his genius-level intellect represented a foe unlike any Batman had faced to that point: one arguably as cunning as he was, but with far more physical prowess. After wearing Batman down, Bane eventually caught up to him and shattered his spine. Although eventually defeated by [=AzBats=], that one storyline gave the character enough credibility that he instantly shot up to be one of the top Bat-Villains, and merited appearances on ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', and in the disastrous ''[[Film/{{Batman}} Batman & Robin]]'' movie as a result. The final installment of ''Film/TheDarkKnightSaga'' features him as the primary antagonist.

In recent years, he has weaned himself off the drugs and become something of an AntiHero himself. Bane currently is a team member of the SecretSix.

!!Examples

* BatmanGambit: By releasing every inmate in Arkham from the Joker to Mr. Zsasz, he (successfully) wore Batman down enough to easily crack the guy's spine.
* CatchPhrase: He tends to give out the phrase, "I WILL BREAK YOU!", quite a bit.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: The Bane that was originally introduced was much more cruel and petty than the version that has endured today. Though he was arguably portrayed as smarter than he often was afterwards, he also murdered prostitutes and was out to destroy Batman for little reason other than the "find the toughest guy in the place and beat him up" gambit. Flash forward to years later, after Bane has actually adapted to life outside the hellish prison he grew up in, and he's one of the few villains honorable and articulate enough that Batman will actually ''chat with him'' as they fight.
* TheChessmaster: figuratively and literally. He beat Ra's Al Ghul in chess, having never even seen a chessboard before, only read extensively about the game. And he had engineered Batman's weakened state before the back-breakage in ''Knightfall''.
* CombatPragmatist: Given his upbringing in a brutal prison, Bane naturally had to become this just to survive. Additionally, in contrast to the also pragmatic Bat-Family and due to his rather villainous nature he isn't afraid to use lethal force or firearms if the situation warrants it. In fact, given his great strength, he can make use of [[BiggerStick much heavier artillery]] then most of Batman's other foes, who usually stick to handguns. Bane on the other hand has made use of a bazooka to blow Arkham wide open, a [[GatlingGood gatling gun]] to demolish Two-Face's army of goons, and a ''miniature nuke'' to [[NoKillLikeOverkill destroy some evidence]].
* TheComicallySerious: Much like Bats himself, he ended up as this in ''Secret Six''.
* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: Why arrange an elaborate game of cat and mouse when you can have others do all the work and then finish the job like a piece of cake?
* DelinquentHair: Underneath his mask, Bane styles his hair in a short mohawk.
* DestinationDefenestration: Used hilariously in one of the ''Secret Six'' books.
* DrugsAreBad: He's been used a couple times to deliver AnAesop on the dangers of steroid abuse. [[WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond In the DCAU]], he's reduced to a vegetable who needs venom to stay alive - and still needs machines to breath for him anyway. In the comics, Bane has kicked his Venom addiction and relies on his natural strength--still way above average, but no longer quasi-superhuman.
* GeniusBruiser: Stronger than Batman and the 600-year old Ra's Al Ghul once said that he had a mind equal to the greatest he had ever known.
** In prison, he learned how to read six languages, he devoured every book in the library while training himself.
* HoistHeroOverHead: It's his SignatureMove. The first time, he delivers the iconic back-breaker. The one pictured above is actually after that.
* PoirotSpeak: While Bane often drops spanish words into his speech in the various adaptations he appears in, he's almost always written with perfect english in the comics. If you only know him from there and don't know his origin, you might not even realize that he's supposed to be Latin-American.
* RecycledInSpace[=/=]ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs: Bane's was created as DocSavage except [-EVIL AND ON STEROIDS!-]
* ShadowArchetype: When he first appeared, the impression was given that he was comparable to Batman in terms of intellect and physical prowess; essentially, Batman if he had grown up hated, abused, and imprisoned rather than loved, privileged, and free.
* SuperSerum
* SuperStrength
* SuperIntelligence: Of the super learning and PhotographicMemory kind. However, he doesn't emphasize his intellect any more than a strength. Willpower and discipline are more of his defining aspects anyway.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: There were hints in his origin that he might have actually been Bruce Wayne's half-brother, as various passing references indicated that his father had been a foreign doctor who had fled the country. While Batman having to deal with the idea of the saintly image he's built up of his father being tarnished might have been interesting, it's pretty understandable why future writers [[ArmedWithCanon declined to follow up on this]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Professor Hugo Strange]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/250px-ModernHugoStrange_8483.jpg

One of the very first recurring villains Batman ever fought (the others being [[MadScientist Doctor Death]] and [[OurVampiresAreDifferent The Mad Monk]])[[note]] ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} and SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker appeared several months later[[/note]], Hugo Strange was introduced as [[SherlockHolmes The Moriarty]] to Batman's Holmes, a MadScientist who used ingenius inventions and brainwashed, mutated goons to [[CutLexLuthorACheck carry out crimes]]. Post-Crisis he was reinvented as a criminal psychiatrist who had ties to the mob who became obsessed with Batman, and again experimented with mutated brutes (this time round known as the "Monster Men"), but both versions have him eventually figuring out the Dark Knight is really Bruce Wayne, making him one of his most dangerous and personal enemies.

[[WhatHappenedToTheMouse If he were used more.]]

Despite being one of the oldest and more important of Batman's regular foes, Strange nowadays is mostly notable by his absence. He rarely appears in the modern comics and is more associated with stories around Batman's early career. He had a single appearance in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' and a cameo in ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' [[note]] A popular theory is that he is the one who gave Batman's identitity to Cadmus[[/note]], which would have led to something more were it not for the infamous [[ScrewedByTheNetwork Bat Embargo]] in place at the time. However, he made up for it in ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' where he became a major villain (he even became the ''final'' villain in the last episode... [[BigBadWannabe almost)]].

One of the more cerebral Bat rogues, Strange is nonetheless preoccupied with physical as well as mental perfection. He regards Batman as the embodiment of both, and at times his obsession reaches the point where he wants to 'be'' Batman, however he is just as often trying to create his own giant bruisers, and he is interested in pushing his own limits.

!!Examples

* ArchEnemy: In the early years, he had arguably a better claim to being this than SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker, who was PutOnABus shortly after his debut since the writers didn't want Batman to look impotent by letting the clown rack up a [[{{Irony}} ridiculously high body count]]. Strange was a more frequent villain, and predated him.
** In ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'', he actually arguably ''does'' fit this trope better than that show's version of the Joker (who is still an A-list villian, but doesn't seem as menacing as the show's Strange.)
*** Which is either plain ironic or a FridgeBrilliance ActorAllusion, seeing as Strange was voiced by Frank Gorshin, the Riddler from the 60's Live Action series, and in that show ''the Riddler'' had the best claim to being Batman's ArchEnemy[[note]] He was the villain for the pilot, he appeared more than any other villain in the first season, and he was arguably the most homicidal of the rogues. SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker, for the record, didn't really become Batman's ArchEnemy until the 1970's.[[/note]]
* AwesomeByAnalysis
* BadassBookworm: Inverted. He's a short guy but his obsession with bodybuilding and physical perfection means he is all muscle. The inversion is that he almost never actually ''uses'' them; its largely for show.
* BadBoss: Has a nasty habit of brainwashing his own men and turning them into drugged up mutated brutes who will do his will. He once had a devoted Indian manservant named Sanjay who worked for him for years in return for Strange trying to save his brothers life- Strange fails, so he secretly experimented on the brother too.
* BaldOfEvil
* BeardOfEvil: Originally modeled a classic "villainous" goatee; he boasts a shaggy chinstrap in most recent appearances.
* BondVillainStupidity: Averted in one Pre-Crisis story. You want to know how he originally found out Batman's secret identity? ''He took his mask off while he was bound and unconcious''. It was later changed to be a little more complicated than that, but you still have to admire his prudence.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: The Monster Men; [[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum Quincy Sharp]].
* ClassicVillain
* TheChessmaster
* DiabolicalMastermind
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: He successfully deduced Batman's identity but he is convinced that Bat's is driven by a power fantasy, not by actual heroism. This says more about Strange himself since thats why ''he'' wants to be Batman.
* EvilutionaryBiologist: His "Monster Men", and his obsession with Batman.
* FakingTheDead: Done it so many times he even mocks Catwoman once when she pulls it off.
* FreudianCouch: He once had Bruce as a client and tried to get him to admit that he was Batman; [[CrazyAwesome since he ''was'' Batman]], Bruce thwarted the effort with a MemoryGambit, forcing himself to forget his secret identity for the duration.
* HairTriggerTemper: In ''Prey'', Gordon gives Batman his bio and mentions that he used to have this.
* [[IJustWantToBeYou I Just Want To Be Batman]]: In ''Prey'', he even has his own Batman costume and spends his free time sitting around his home wearing both it and a SlasherSmile.
* {{Jossed}}: A scientist baring a striking resemblance to Strange appears in a flashback to Bane's origin story on how he received Venom. While helping to create a GeniusBruiser, giving him a FantasticDrug to make him bulkier, and unleashing him against Batman is ''exactly'' the kind of thing Strange would do, it wasn't him, and seems to be a coincidence.
* MadDoctor
* MadScientist even more so.
* ManipulativeBastard: One of the masters in the ''Bat''-verse.
* TheManBehindTheMan: To the 2nd Black Mask, Jeremiah Arkham.
* MindControl / MoreThanMindControl: Several. The Monster Men again; Sgt. Max Cort from ''Prey''.
* NietzscheWannabe
* NotQuiteDead: God knows how many times.
* ParanoiaGambit: Rupert Thorne, a crooked politician and a crime boss, once has Strange abducted and beaten to death because Thorne wanted to know Batman's identity. Except, Strange was FakingTheDead, and in revenge he made Thorne think he was haunted by his own vengeful ghost, driving him mad and leading to him publicly confessing to his crimes.
* PintsizedPowerhouse: In ''Batman and the Monster Men'', he is even shorter than normal, practically a dwarf, but he is still pretty buff.
* PsychoPsychologist
* PutOnABus: He hardly ever shows up in the comics Post-Crisis despite being one of Batman's most notable enemies.
* RecycledScript: One of his earliest stories had him unleashing a fear-inducing powder on Gotham City; the Scarecrow debuted less than a year later (though he didn't use his fear gas then).
* RenaissanceMan: He's an expert in psychiatry, philosophy, literature and biology, as well as bodybuilding.
* ScaryShinyGlasses
* ShadowArchetype: Like Batman, he's a CrazyPrepared BadassBookworm who is determined to push the limits of physical and mental perfection, the difference being he's a self-centred sociopath and a criminal mastermind, and Batman's limits are much higher than his.
** One comic plays this to the hilt, showing a muscular man engaging in exercise while giving an inner monologue; the reader initially assumes it's Bruce Wayne, until TheReveal that it's really Strange.
* TheSocialDarwinist
* StalkerWithoutACrush
* TheSyndicate: They funded some of his Monster Men research and its implied that they put him through college. Howver, he eventually decided that [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness it wasn't working for him.]]
* ThirdPersonPerson: Pre-Crisis at least.
* {{Ubermensch}}: Sees Batman as one, and wants to be one himself.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Didn't last long, though.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Poison Ivy (Pamela Isley)]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Poison_Ivy_0022_6370.jpg

Introduced (not surprisingly) in the [[SilverAge sci-fi obsessed]] sixties, Poison Ivy is one of the few Bat-Rogues with actual powers. In her case, powers over all manner of flora. In addition, she's also got a special immunity towards all illnesses and toxins (sometimes naturally born with; sometimes not), and that's just as well, because she's often portrayed with the ability to naturally produce both lethal and non-lethal toxins from her body. This stems from her being seduced by her senior professor, Dr. Jason Woodrue, and used as a guinea pig for his experiments, although her origin comic by NeilGaiman and his ''Comicbook/BlackOrchid'' miniseries establish that the science was just a channel and she's actually, like Black Orchid, a mystical being called a May Queen with a connection to The Green (of ''Comicbook/SwampThing'' fame).

She was originally just another gimmicky villain, but quickly grew into one of the senior members of Batman's rogues gallery. Instead of being after money, "Pam" was instead an eco-terrorist who genuinely cared about the well-being of plants (and animals, to a certain degree). Violent person that she was, she often attacked businessmen and others who damaged the environment for monetary gain... and her love for "innocent" living things, including human children, has made her [[PetTheDog waver]] on the path of villainy from time to time.

Despite having a generally dismissive attitude towards men, Ivy can be incredibly seductive when she needs to be, and many times, she's shown to be able to take control of men with special lipstick and pheromones. When it comes to a melee fight, her chemically-enhanced body provides an incredibly athletic frame, but she usually prefers to let her mutant plants do her fighting for her.

From the year 2000 and on, her role in the comics changed a bit, as elements from the DCAU version became integrated. Namely, it's now rather rare to see her without her pal Harley Quinn, with Ivy tending to be cast as the straight man to Harley's wackiness.

As of the New 52 Poison Ivy has recently been experimenting with siding with the good guys, and has been making a shaky bond with the ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey.

!!Examples

* AntiVillain: Type III - when she isn't in it for the money (apparently killing trees is okay if it turns into cash). Also, she has a soft spot for children- ignoring her many, many plans that would have involved murdering scores of them. Yes, DependingOnTheWriter is definately at work here.
* BiTheWay: Depends who's writing.
* DarkChick: As said below, she isn't much of a fighter but that doesn't make her any less dangerous.
* DeadpanSnarker: Being around Harley so much gives her a ''lot'' of practice.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Upon meeting Harley, Ivy [[CharacterDevelopment softened somewhat towards humans]], but still manages to be [[{{Tsundere}} quite strict]] whenever Harley screws up her plans. [[{{Dojikko}} Which is frequently]].
* DependingOnTheWriter: Sometimes she is an extremist eco-terrorist bent on protecting Mother Earth from the ravages of humanity; originally and just as often, she is just a glorified superhuman crook and seductress in it for the money.
** She's even occasionally shown concern for "innocent" human life, children especially, most famously in a particular issue of ''GothamCentral'', and in ''GothamCitySirens''.
* DoesNotLikeShoes[=/=]EarthyBarefootCharacter: Some versions of her, such as the one from ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' and the one from ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum''.
* DruggedLipstick
* EvilRedhead
* FieryRedhead
* {{Flanderization}}: Ivy went from a normal woman who just used plants as a gimmick out of insanity to a half-plant woman with actual power over plants and who, DependingOnTheWriter, even looked plant-like. Many people seem to prefer this latter iteration.
* GaiasVengeance
* GardenOfEvil
* GardenGarments: She's usually wearing leaves and flowers.
* GlassCannon: Ivy relies mostly on her plants when it comes to physical fights and isn't a very effective hand-to-hand combattant against more highly-trained brawlers like Bats himself or even Catwoman.
* GreenThumb
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Harley Quinn, though the ''Heterosexual'' part is questionable.
* HotScientist
* HumanoidAbomination: Some portrayals of her verge on this.
* KissOfDeath: When it doesn't brainwash you instead, this is often the alternative.
* MadScientist
* MamaBear: Towards the orphans she looked after, as well as her plants, and Harley when the Joker's involved.
* ManEatingPlant: Always has some kind of it ready & waiting to eat Batman.
* NeverBeHurtAgain: Some portrayals of her emphasize this motivation. She got mutated when she fell for a guy PlayingWithSyringes; now she is obsessed with controlling men.
* NotGoodWithPeople: By which we mean that she cares little for their lives, with exceptions (like Harley).
* PetTheDog: Several, most notably during the ''No Man's Land'' arc, where she took in several dozen orphans despite her grudge against humanity.
* [[BlondeBrunetteRedhead Redhead]]: To Harley's Blonde and Catwoman's Brunette in some cases.
* RedheadInGreen
* ShrinkingViolet: Pre-transformation.
* SignificantGreenEyedRedhead: It's probably the chlorophyll running through her veins.
* TheSociopath: Outright states that she's immune to "the pain and suffering of others" during a flashback in "Almost Got 'Im".
* {{Stripperific}}: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] given her seductress persona.
** Though her outfit in the New 52 is much more modest, being a black and green jumpsuit covering her entire body.
* TortureTechnician: Almost as much as the Scarecrow, she's a dedicated misanthrope who loves making people suffer.
* TheVamp: Started out this way, but eventually became an eco-terrorist. She still has shades of it though.
* VillainousBSOD: When she accidentally poisoned on of the children under her care in ''No Man's Land''. It ultimately causes her to give them up.
* VillainousCrush: DependingOnTheWriter, she could have an attraction to Batman that stands from either a minor attraction to either lust or genuine affection. While not at the same level as his [[DatingCatwoman relationship with Catwoman]] Batman could return her affection in some way, also depending on the writer.
** In one such issue, she mistook his saving her from death as proof he loves her, though he responds that she doesn't know the meaning of love.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: But not in the same way as Ra's al-Ghul, since she couldn't care less about the morality of humans. She mainly wants to kill them all so that they can't harm her precious plants.
* WordOfGay: With Harley Quinn.
* {{Yandere}}: Countless cheesy analogies towards flowers (especially roses) have been made about this aspect of her personality.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ra's Al Ghul]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fbc78e4a0f8cfee53de81783c426ff48_6278.jpg

Probably the biggest threat to the world in Batman's Rogues Gallery, Ra's Al Ghul (Arabic for "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Demon's Head]]", and pronounded "Raysh Al-Ghool") is a centuries-old man who leads an enormous international terrorist organization known as DEMON (as well as the League of Assassins). Unlike most of the other Bat-rogues, he is actually quite cultured and polite, if ruthless, and genuinely believes his goals to be noble. Of course, since his goal is to "purify" the world by killing off ninety percent of its population, Batman disagrees.

With the assistance of the mysterious Lazaurus Pits, Ra's has achieved limited immortality, as they rejuvenate him every time he takes a dip. Such a practice has allowed him to live centuries, if not millennia, and he's taken advantage of such a long lifespan to master swordsmanship, war strategies, various fighting styles, and many other skills.

Interestingly, after being created in the 70s revival period, Ra's took much of the 1980s "off", rarely appearing as a Batman antagonist, before being revived in a big way for the 1990s. He's one of the few top-tier modern Batman villains who was created after the [[Series/{{Batman}} sixties show]] aired, and as such didn't have a counterpart there.

Ra's has come to blows with both Batman and the rest of the JusticeLeagueOfAmerica many times, one time unleashing a genetically engineered virus on Gotham, and on another occasion, taking down most of the JLA with Batman's contingency files. He himself, however, was killed by one of his daughters, also a user of the Lazaurus Pits, who was furious at him for leaving her to die at a Nazi Concentration Camp. Though he eventually returned to life, Batman was able to imprison him in Arkham Asylum under the guise of an inmate named Terry Gene Kase, and assigns him "medication" that keeps him highly sedated.

!!Examples

* AffablyEvil
* AffectionateNickname: Always refers to Batman as "Detective" as a sign of respect. Tim Drake managed to thwart Ra's single-handedly, earning himself the same nickname (which is a big deal, since it means Ra's thinks he's a comparable opponent to Bruce). On a related tangent, he refers to {{Superman}} as "Icon".
* ArchEnemy: Another potential candidate. He's the only Bat-foe who routinely threatens the safety of the entire world. He can match Batman both mentally and physically. His conflict with Batman also has a strong personal dimension, what with both the romantic attachment the Detective has to his daughter and his desire to see Bruce become his heir. Ra's potential archenemy status is highlighted in the DCAU, where Bruce refers to him as "my most powerful enemy", and describes him to Superman as "a criminal mastermind more dangerous than the Joker and Luthor combined".
* AxCrazy
* {{Badass}}: One of the few Rogues whose fighting skills match those of Batman himself, gained from having centuries to practice.
** BadassGrandpa: He´s around 500 years old and is still a fighter on level with Batman.
* BeardOfEvil: It's practically mandatory, seeing as how he's probably a CaptainErsatz of FuManchu.
* BigBad: For stories involving the League of Assassins.
* TheChessmaster
* ContractualImmortality
* DirtyCoward: A high-functioning example; he is more than willing to engage in mortal kombat (albeit usually with Batman, who adheres to ThouShallNotKill) and do other dangerous things, but a big part of his character is his fear of death and the murderous extremes he will go to escape it, including plots against his own family.
* TheDragon: Often employs one. His official Dragon is named Ubu and is actually a LegacyCharacter usually recruited from a clan that is loyal to him, but he once made Bane this.
* EvenEvilHasStandards
* EvilAlbino: When he is forced to possess the body of his son, Dusan.
* {{Expy}}: With his unnaturally prolonged life, seductive daughter, large army of ninja-like operatives et al, he in many ways resembles a Middle Eastern FuManchu. WordOfGod is that he was inspired by JamesBond villains.
* FriendlyEnemy
* GrandTheftMe: How he escaped death.
* HeirClubForMen: Despite Talia's already effective running of his terrorist empire, he insists on finding a male heir to marry her with. He considers Batman to be the perfect candidate, if only he could get the "Detective" to accept the righteousness of his cause.
* ItsAllAboutMe: For all his lofty ideals and excuses, he frequently lapses into this. He seems to have a Messiah Complex of the TautologicalTemplar sort- he is going to make the world a better place, so in the meantime he should be treated like God. Notably he is trying to murder billions of people so that ''his'' family can inherent the Earth, on his terms as well. Yet, and also, he is willing to commit GrandTheftMe even on his own family members and do anything to cheat death. He ''is'' willing to die, unlike most examples, but only if he is martyred for his cause, ie. if Batman or someone he respects like that kills him and takes over his legacy, so we can add Martyr Complex to that as well.
** It could be argued that even his grandiose scheme to save the planet is yet another selfish attempt to cheat death and stroke his own ego. He knows, and has known for some time, that he will eventually run out of Lazarus Pits, meaning that eventually he ''will'' die. He ultimately plans for his family and cult to inherit the Earth after he has turned it into Eden, hence his desire to make Batman his heir. This will cement his legacy and in the long-term he might even be remembered and revered as a god; in other words he might fail to stave off ''physical'' death, but if he gets his way his name at least will last forever.
* ItIsPronouncedTroPay: {{Word of God}} is that it is pronouned ''Raysh'' Al-Gool, not ''Raz'' Al Gool. Adaptations go one way or the other. May be an honest mistake - it's the ''latter'' that is correct in Arabic (more or less) -- however, it might also be indicative of a mixed ethicity -- his creator ploughed not just Arabic but Hebrew and other related languages for his ''nom de guerre''; "Raysh" is correct in Hebrew, but "Al-Ghul" is Arabic through and through.
* KnightTemplar: Not quite a textbook example, as he cares more about the planet's ecological balance than the morality of humans, but he has shades of this.
** He may care more about himself than either.
* MacGuffinDeliveryService: Used Catwoman this way in the ''Legacy'' arc.
* TheManBehindTheMan: Is the head of the League of Assassins, which were introduced as a seperate threat, so David Cain, Lade Shiva and several other Batman rogues answer to him. He is a prominent and powerful enough villain to occassionaly be this to several other bad guys in the [=DC=] universe.
* MisanthropeSupreme
* MoralMyopia: Bruce battles Ra's by destroying his Lazurus Pits, forcing the villain to live out his unnaturally long life. Ra's considers this outright murder, like keeping an old man from his medicine, but he doesn't really have any more right to the pits than anyone else (they are a naturally occuring phenomenon). Despite this, he was prepared to kill The Riddler for using one behind his back, to say nothing of his genocidal plans for humanity.
* MotiveDecay: Nearly every version of Ra's begins with UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans but ends up more and more obsessed with cheating a natural death, finding alternatives to his Lazurus Pits (which aren't reliable, and which Bats goes out of his way to destroy) no matter how [[ImmortalityImmorality immoral]], up to and including GrandTheftMe on his own family members, completely forgetting about all that "saving the world" stuff.
* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Much like Talia, be it the animated series or the videogame, there's nothing "Persian" in his accent, let alone Middle-Eastern...
* OmnicidalManiac: His idea of mercy is "only" killing off about 90-95 percent of the human population. Though as he sees it, mercy isn't a factor; he just thinks that's the number of humans Earth's environment can handle.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: "Ra's Al-Ghul" roughly translates as "The Demons Head"[[note]]"Ghul" can mean demon or monster or [[OurGhoulsAreDifferent Ghoul]], which could be either.[[/note]] and is taken for the star "Algul", which in the astrology of several cultures is a star associated with bad luck and misfortune. On a less symbolic level, the organization that he heads- of which the League of Assassins / Shadows is only one branch- is named "The Demon"; thus, he is the "Head of the Demon".
* [[OurGhoulsAreDifferent Al Ghul's Are Different]]
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld
* ShadowArchetype: In this case, he represents what Batman might have become in his quest for justice.
* SkunkStripe: It's stated to be a side-effect of using the Lazaurus Pits.
* StellarName: Ras Al Ghul's name is based on the Star Algol (Beta Per, β Persei, β Per).
* TautologicalTemplar
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Not quite a textbook example here, either, since he ''did'' admit that the Holocaust would be beneficial to his plans.
** In the story ''Death and the Maidens''. Ra's Al Ghul allying with the Nazis required him to overlook his bloodkin being murdered. They're sort of the people he also intends to (nearly) wipe out humanity because of.
*** Only in adaptations, mainly the Nolan seres. In the mainstream comics he is concerned about industrialisation and overpopulation- Nazi or Jew, good or evil, daughter or stranger, he's an equal-opportunity genocidal lunatic. Though to be "fair" to the man, he only did that to her because she left his orgnanization, and he didn't target her or anything. He just refused to save her.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: The Lazaurus Pits temporarily makes anyone who uses them insane (though Riddler claims it just made him very, very angry, followed by clarity- the clarity to deduce Batman is Bruce Wayne). Apparently, long-term effects are present in Ra's as well.
* WorthyOpponent: Considers Batman this.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Talia Al Ghul]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/batman-arkham-city-talia-al-ghul_2248.jpg

The daughter of Ra's Al Ghul, Talia was once Catwoman's primary competitor for Batman's LoveInterest. Despite her father being opposed to the Dark Knight, Talia finds herself in love with him, and is often torn between loyalty towards her father and her love for Batman. Much like with Catwoman, Batman has genuine feelings for her, and has even fathered a child by Talia (albeit one which he was told had been miscarried). She's normally not above co-operating with Batman if it would serve her own ends, yet has firmer ties to the rest of the {{DCU}} villain community than her father, even taking over for Lex Luthor as CEO of [=LuthorCorp=] upon his election as president.

Eventually, she was kidnapped and brainwashed by another one of her father's daughters, thought to have died in a Nazi concentration camp. Said daughter planned to kill Ra's for abandoning her at the camp, and succeeds in doing so. This, however, turns out to be ThePlan on Ra's' part to make his daughters accept their destinies as his heirs. Since then, Talia has severed ties with Batman, but still holds infatuation for him, and has recently returned to Batman's life to let him know that he owes roughly eleven years' worth of child support payments.

!!Examples

* AmazonBrigade: Her own personal guard.
* AntiVillain[=/=]AntiHero: Most of the time, though [[BrainwashedAndCrazy sometimes she slips]] or simply does indulge in evil like in [[spoiler:Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes.]]
* [[spoiler: BigBad:]] Revealed to be this for Grant Morrison's Batman epic in ''Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes''.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Getting killed and resurrected countless times will do that to anyone.
* CainAndAbel: Talia and her sister, Nyssa Raatko have had many problems; including Nyssa killing and reviving Talia numerous times with a Lazarus Pit. Nyssa also once killed Ra's (even though for Ra's, DeathIsCheap, due to the Lazarus Pits). [[spoiler:Nyssa Raatko is later killed by the League of Shadows with a car bomb.]]
* ConvenientMiscarriage: In the graphic novel ''Son Of the Demon''. Said novel's canon level has ping-ponged back and forth.
* DaddysLittleVillain
* DarkActionGirl
* DarkChick
* DullSurprise: No matter how upset, enraged, or surprised she gets, she almost always looks completely calm and seductive. Even when her son is critically injured after an explosion at sea, her orders for help are as calm as though she were ordering lunch at a restaurant.
* FatalAttraction: To Batman, and vice-versa.
* FemmeFatale
* GlassCannon: Much like Harley and Ivy, she isn't very resilient when it comes to physical fights and relies on her AmazonBrigade to protect herself. But she can definitely dish out ''a lot'' more than she can take.
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: In "Hush", she was perfectly content to let Batman have his romance with Catwoman. Though that was mostly because she was not threatened, as she considers it simply a matter of fact that Batman is destined to marry her someday.
* MamaBear: Mess with her son and you won't live long enough to regret it.
* [[MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter Immortal Terrorist's Beautiful Daughter]]
* MindRape: At the hands of her own half-sister, no less.
* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: In the videogames and the animated series, her "accent" is anything but Persian.
* PeekABangs
* [[AsianBabymama Persian Babymama]]
* SheFu

[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Penguin (Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot)]]


http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Penguin_Batman_7416.jpg

Being born into a rich family can suck sometimes. While we already know about Bruce Wayne's woes, Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot was not without troubles of his own. Having been bullied for most of his life due to his short stature, obesity, and beak-like nose (hmm... wonder where this is going...), he was an outcast in his own family besides his beloved mother. Eventually his frustration built up to a point where he finally decided to release it by becoming a criminal. Due to his upbringing, he always tries to look his best in a tail-coat, top hat, and monocle (so yeah, that's where we were going).

All of that, in addition to his notable love for birds, inspired him to take the moniker "The Penguin" (Tim Burton's version of the Penguin was much more grotesque, almost literally appearing to be a penguin). Whereas most of the Bat-Villains are insane to a degree, Penguin is usually portrayed as sane, and operates the "Iceberg Lounge" nightclub, as equal parts legitimate business and front for his OTHER business. The Penguin is mainly an idea person, relying on others to carry out his crimes (although he does get personally involved from time to time), and in more recent years, he has been shown to attempt to be an organizer for a larger group and more of a mob kingpin. Also notable is that Penguin, like Catwoman, skirts the line between being criminal and being on the up-and-up, to the point Batman will even be willing to give him some leeway as long as he doesn't get too dirty, although unlike Catwoman this isn't because he is an AntiVillain but mostly just a case of PragmaticVillainy. Batman's even used him as an information source on underworld info, since The Penguin knows ''everybody''. They're enemies, but they're willing to let each other be as long as their paths don't cross.

!!Examples

* {{Acrofatic}}: DependingOnTheWriter.
* AffablyEvil: He knows he's a villain, but still sticks to what he believes to be gentlemanly behavior in most incarnations.
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Almost all versions of his backstory incorporate this.
* BadGuyBar: The Iceberg Lounge technically counts.
* CivilianVillain: Even before his "official" reformation, he's gone through supposed reformations countless times...
** ChronicVillainy: ...and eventually he always returns to his bad habits.
* [[spoiler: CreepyChild: He eventually becomes one in his backstory of ''Penguin: Pain and Prejudice''.]]
* DisproportionateRetribution: His story in the comic book ''Joker's Asylum'' has him doing everything he could to ruin the life of a chef who was laughing when he went on a date with a beautiful woman. Less than two months later, he had ruined the chef's life so thoroughly that [[DrivenToSuicide the guy hung himself]], and it wasn't even certain that the guy was laughing at him!
** This ''should'' be taken with [[UnreliableNarrator a grain of salt]].
** And '''played straight''' in ''Penguin: Pain and Prejudice''.
* [[spoiler: EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas]]: In ''Penguin: Pain and Prejudice''.
* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins
* FatBastard
* {{Foil}}: Like Bruce Wayne, Cobblepot was born in the lap of luxury, but turned out very differently.
* GentlemanThief: Started out this way.
* {{Gonk}}
* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: He has a cigarette holder, signifying his status as a villain.
* GracefulLoser
* HighClassGlass
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Umbrellas.
* LetsGetDangerous: Rarely fights, but has been shown to be a very effective combatant.
* ManOfWealthAndTaste
* MommasBoy: [[spoiler: Almost to [[Film/{{Psycho}} Norman Bates]]'s levels in ''Penguin: Pain and Prejudice''.]]
* OnlySaneMan: One of the few recurring Batman villains who is generally considered sane and as such rarely gets sent to Arkham. He usually goes to Blackgate Penitentiary instead.
* ParasolOfPain: He's famous for his "trick" umbrellas in combat--primarily umbrellas with concealed blades or guns.
** ParasolParachute: Not only parachutes, but pogo sticks, whirlibirds, and [[JetPack jetpacks]] have been equipped into his umbrellas.
* [[spoiler: PsychopathicManchild: Type C in ''Penguin: Pain and Prejudice'' and ''Film/BatmanReturns''.]]
* PragmaticVillainy: One of the few examples of the Batman's rogues.
* TheRat: To what degree he will sell out his fellow rogues and his motive for doing so is very much DependingOnTheWriter.
* RocketRide: See above.
* [[spoiler: SelfMadeOrphan]]: In ''Penguin: Pain and Prejudice'' [[spoiler: he killed [[AbusiveParents his father]] along with [[BigBrotherBully his brothers]] so he could be alone with his mother, the only person who loved him]].
* ShadowArchetype: he (arguably) represents a dark, corrupted version of Bruce Wayne's RichIdiotWithNoDayJob identity.
* SinisterSchnoz
* TrainingMontage: Briefly shown during ''Secret Origins Special'' #1, where he was shown lifting weights and practicing with a punching bag as a kid. Result? He knocks out a bully's teeth with a single punch.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: As of now in the mainstream {{DCU}} continuity. In the DCAU he eventually became Gotham's mayor!
* WickedCultured: At least, he tries to be.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Hush (Thomas Elliot)]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hush_6307.jpg

Thomas Elliot was born into a highly respected family in Gotham City, and as a child was a great friend of a young Bruce Wayne. Unfortunately, Tommy's dad was an abusive alcoholic and his mother a controlling RichBitch who made him study philosophy and strategems to help him succeed in life. Eventually his father's abuse got so bad, he decided to apply his studies to improve his own life, by cutting the brakes on his parents car before they had a drive, so he could inherit their money and live by his own way. Unfortunately, thanks to Bruce's father, Dr. Thomas Wayne, Tommy's now crippled and needy mother survived, which was the worst thing that could happen to him. When news of [[DeathByOriginStory Mr. and Mrs. Wayne's deaths]] reach him, Tommy's already budding hatred of his former friend only grows stronger.

Mrs. Elliot then manipulated her son into staying with her so he could take care of her. [[spoiler:Eventually Tommy had enough and suffocated her]]. After his mother's death, Tommy left Gotham, entered medical school and became one of the country's best surgeons. However, when when Eddie Nygma AKA The Riddler offered him a way of curing his mother's cancer, Tommy learnt that his former friend Bruce was the Batman (Riddler having figured out his identity in a moment of Lazarus Pit-induced insanity). Tommy decided that enough was enough and that Bruce had to be cut down to size and pay for "his crimes against me". Creating the identity of Hush, Elliot became arguably the most prominent Bat-Villain created in the 2000s.

In an effort to further bedevil Batman, Hush has recently altered his face to become a perfect duplicate of Bruce Wayne.

!!Examples

* AndYourLittleDogToo: Hush goes after those close to Batman (which makes Bruce realize that for a self-described loner, he sure has A LOT of friends) including, of all people, ''Superman''. Hush thinks big. He also kills [[spoiler: Harold, who was a severely injured cripple who used helped in the Batcave]]. [[spoiler:He]] was a CListFodder who had barely appeared in any comic since the 1980s, but it was still sad.
** He [[spoiler: cut out Catwoman's heart, because she still had feelings for Bruce (and vice-versa). Don't worry, it's only a OnlyAFleshWound via AppliedPhlebotinum and she gets better.]]
* AscendedMeme: Hush was never a serial killer in the regular comics, but the wikipedia has been calling him one for unknown reasons. Then they actually made his LegacyCharacter one in ''ComicBook/BatmanBeyond''.
* BadassLongcoat
* BatmanGambit: His mantra is "think like your opponent", which is this.
* TheChessmaster: Hush likes his convoluted plans.
* CostumeCopycat: In his debut arc, there were two people who used his costume beside him, the first was [[spoiler:Clayface/"Jason Todd"]] which he had planned, the second was [[spoiler:Two-Face]], [[XanatosGambit who may]], or [[SpannerInTheWorks may not]] have been intended to do so.
* CriminalDoppelganger: Got facial reconstruction surgery to more easily get away with impersonating Bruce Wayne.
* EnfantTerrible: His parents would surely wish they hadn't abused him.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: He doesn't understand why some might prefer having living parents to having lots of money, and he thinks Bruce is Batman for the fun of it.
** The usual reason for his failures is not to count on Batman getting help from friends. Friendship is a concept he just doesn't get. His past relationship with Bruce was an act and though he talks about friendship a lot, it has a mocking tone to it.
* GambitRoulette: Possibly the whole of ''Batman: Hush'', but there is no indication that the events could not have gone any other way.
* GunsAkimbo
* KickTheDog: [[spoiler: Using Jason Todd in an attempt to mess with Bruce's mind, shooting Harold,]] cutting out Catwoman's heart, lying to Killer Croc about having a cure for his condition and then accelerating it instead, injecting a neurotic child with [[PsychoSerum venom]], killing [[CListFodder a minor villain]] just to [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou have Batman for himself]]... yeah, this is kind of his specialty.
* ItsPersonal: Batman and Hush are this to one another.
* ManipulativeBastard: Already as a kid. After he has a violent outburst on a summer camp, he coincidentally has Jonathan Crane as his therapist. Tommy admits he is guilty of [[SelfMadeOrphan much more]] than a mere attack, but gets Crane to declare him mentally stable with just a few words:
-->Maybe I'll do it again.
* MotiveRant: He has one right after he [[spoiler:kills Harold]].
* MyBelovedSmother: Tommy's mom was like this even before the accident. Afterwards, she became so controlling she kept her son at home for nearly twenty years, using the family fortune as leverage. [[spoiler:When Tommy says he has enough, she tries to cut him out of her will and he smothers her with a pillow out of anger.]]
* RememberTheNewGuy: Althought they tried justifying it with flashbacks and whatnot, one has to wonder why we've never heard of Bruce's (supposedly) dearest friend before.
* SelfMadeOrphan
* ShadowArchetype: Another one of Batman; Hush being what would happen if Thomas and Martha Wayne's parenting of Bruce went horribly wrong and Batman became a villain.
* TheSociopath: Very much actually. Seems to have more actual sociopathic traits than SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker.
* VillainTeamUp: Hush likes recruiting other villains in his plans. ''Batman: Hush'' has most of Batman's rogue's gallery involved in his GambitRoulette, In ''Hush Returns'' he recruits Prometheus.
** In fact, he did this years before becoming Hush; as a young man, his girlfriend was Peyton Reilly, the second Ventriloquist (see below), and she helped him [[spoiler:in the murder of his mother for her money.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Mad Hatter (Jervis Tetch)]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Mad_hatter_4996.jpg

Jervis Tetch, a man of short stature and large head, went through his life friendless, becoming a scientist and experimenting with technology, specifically that of mind control. His psychosis is a mix of paranoid schizophrenia and manic depression, all of this centering on his fascination with both hats and ''Alice in Wonderland''. Using his technology, Tetch turned to a life of crime as the Mad Hatter, inserting his devices into headgear in order to turn unwitting victims into his slaves. His technology has advanced to a point that where not only can he put his mind-control devices into almost anything (free meal tickets, Walkmans, etc.), but he is now able to miniaturize his technology to a point of simulating telepathic hypnosis/mind control.

The Mad Hatter is possibly one of the strangest Bat-Rogues ever (which is saying something). Throughout his tenure, Tetch has been subject to several redesigns in both appearance and personality; he has gone from average height to quite short to an actual dwarf and has been a goofy thief, a scheming mastermind and a creepy pedophile-esque kidnapper. He's gotten a lot more serious in the comics and has proven to be a formidable and unpredictable opponent.

This character was indeed used in the [[Series/{{Batman}} sixties show]], but the version was based on an imposter who posed as Tetch during a period in the comics. He appeared in only four episodes, all of them making use of his hypnotic machinery and showcasing his desire to add Batman's cowl to his collection of hats. The [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries animated series]] turned Tetch into a criminal through his obsession for a co-worker (ironically named Alice), swearing vengeance on Batman when he foiled his plans to be with her (read as "hypnotize her boyfriend and stalk her"). This motivation went away though as the Hatter soon became another common thief. Still, he had a good run and several good episodes.

Incidentally, few people remember that his debut comic, ''Batman'' #49, also featured the debut of Vicki Vale- ''Arkham City'' might feature a ShoutOut to this in the scene he first appears in that game [[note]] Vale finds herself trapped in Arkham City and after Batman rescues her, Tetch is seen watching the whole thing[[/note]], but this might be a coincidence.

!!Examples

* Literature/AliceInWonderland: Tetch quotes this constantly, with Jeph Loeb's incarnation speaking in nothing ''but'' quotes from the book.
* BerserkButton: Do ''not'' touch his hat.
* DeadPersonImpersonation: Not dead so much as [[ComicBookLimbo missing]], but his redheaded SilverAge counterpart apparently [[CostumeCopycat stole his identity and M.O. for a time]]. The real Tetch later turns up alive; [[KilledOffForReal the latter does not]].
* DepravedDwarf, although this [[DependingOnTheWriter varies.]]
* GadgeteerGenius
* {{Gonk}}: Most current artists depict him as, like the Tenniel illustrations, having [[BritishTeeth a very large and crooked overbite]], with [[CleopatraNose a nose to match]].
* HypnoTrinket
* LetsGetDangerous: You'd think that he's completely ineffective in combat. Hoo boy, would you be wrong.
* TheMadHatter: Oddly enough, ''[[SubvertedTrope subverted]]''. He's often depicted as [[IJustWantToBeNormal struggling with his mental illness]], and dislikes having it mentioned.
* MasterOfIllusion
* MadScientist
* ManChild
* MoreThanMindControl: Some of Tetch's schemes have become very elaborate through this trope.
* NiceHat: The Hatter ''lives'' by this trope.
* OffWithHisHead: He actually utters this line in his very first appearance, appropriately holding an axe twice as tall as he is.
* RhymesOnADime: In ''GothamCentral'', he uses this [[MadnessMantra as a coping mechanism]] when he feels threatened.
* SpotOfTea: Expect the Hatter's tea to always be laced with something.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Killer Moth (Drury Walker[=/=]"Cameron Van Cleer")]]

When sophisticated and urbane playboy Cameron van Cleer introduced himself to the elite of Gotham's social scene, nobody realized he was secretly a former prison inmate using his stolen earnings to finance a career as "Killer Moth", a Batman-like costumed figure who aided criminals instead of the police. For a price, would-be ne'er-do-wells could hire Cleer's services, and he in turn would help them evade capture and cover their tracks. After several encounters with Batman, the Dark Knight managed to permanently dismantle Moth's organization, and his secret identity and fortune were lost forever.

Killer Moth (now revealed to be small-time criminal Drury Walker) continued to endure, however, committing smaller-scale robberies and picking up jobs as hired muscle. Sick of being perceived as a joke by his fellow rogues, he made a deal with Neron for greater power and became a towering moth/human hybrid. The deal has since been [[RetCon written out of history]], though, and Walker has reverted to his previous form.

!!Examples

* AnimalMotifs: A decidely less sinister take on the MacabreMothMotif; in most appearances, he just wears a moth-like outifit and employs an adhesive "cocoon gun" during heists.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: He was working with [[PyroManiac Firefly]] for a short while as a mercenary duo before realizing just how dangerously unstable his partner actually was (he believed that he could see visions in the flames, for starters), causing him to cut things off ASAP because he genuinely feared for his life.
* IWasBeatenByAGirl: Trounced by Batgirl on her first night of duty, before she even received any combat training.
* JokeCharacter: His currently-held status in TheModernAgeofComicBooks.
** ButtMonkey
* ShadowArchetype: The first Batman villain [[InvokedTrope explicitly designed as such]], to the point of working out of a "Moth-Cave" and selling criminals infrared "Moth-Signal" beacons in his first appearance.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Firefly (Garfield Lynns)]]

Garfield Lynns was a hollywood pyrotechnician, a job he took because of his pyromania. When it wasn't enough to him, he became an arsonist.

!!Examples

* AxCrazy: Enough so to scare away Killer Moth, who was genuinely terrified of him.
* CoolHelmet
* GoodScarsEvilScars: Has burn scars over approximately 90% of his body.
* {{Jetpack}}
* KillItWithFire: His modus operandi.
* MadBomber: Also packs explosives for good measure.
* PsychoForHire: He takes some arson jobs to finance his devices and weaponry, but he would gladly burn things for free if he could afford to.
* PoweredArmor
* {{Pyromaniac}}

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lady Shiva (Sandra Wu-San[=/=]Sandra Woosan)]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/107749-92855-lady-shiva_super_9079.jpg

One of the premier martial artists in the DCU, Shiva is a mercenary with her own sense of honor and duty, but who really lives for the thrill of life and death combat. She has trained Batman as well as several of his allies, but that doesn't stop her from fighting them if she feels the urge to. She sometimes acts in a quasi-heroic capacity, occasionally working with the Birds of Prey, but it's a nervous time those allies.

!!Examples

* ActionMom
* [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Arrogant Kung-Fu Girl]]: She's constantly training and retraining herself to eternally improve her martial arts abilities. She also challenges any combatants whom she deems worthy, testing herself against them, testing them against her, and learning from them/removing them as threats for the future. The later part usually doesn't occur right away.
* AsianBabyMama: To David Cain. She rather hates him for it.
* '''{{BADASS}}'''
** BadassNormal
* BloodKnight
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower
* DarkActionGirl
* DeathSeeker: Implied in ''Comicbook/BirdsOfPrey''.
* DragonLady
* DeliverUsFromEvil: Type 2. In ''[[{{Batgirl 2000}} Batgirl]]'', its shown to be her StartOfDarkness.
* TheDreaded: Just mentioning that she's in town is usually enough to scare the shit out of any skilled martial artist.
* DuelToTheDeath: She LOVES these, but that doesn't stop her from being forced into an InvoluntaryBattleToTheDeath every now and then. Usually, people use her to get others into them. She'd rather choose her own targets.
* ForbiddenTechnique: The Leopard Blow.
* FinishingMove: The Leopard Blow. What it is varies from time to time, but one of the most gruesome versions involves ramming two fingers into a weapon point in the forehead, killing the target in one hit. Another version is smashing the nose and forcing the small bones of the nose into the brain. When later writers realized that was a physical impossibility, it was changed to the former version.
* HotMom
* HonorAmongThieves: She rarely tolerates anyone breaking it.
* ItsPersonal: Do not harm her sensei or her students. The latter is her job.
* LadyOfWar
* LightningBruiser
* MoralityPet: BlackCanary [[InvokedTrope deliberately tries]] to be one for her in ''Comicbook/BirdsOfPrey''. Shiva allows it [[InvertedTrope because she wants to break Dinah of that habit.]]
* MuggingTheMonster: Done to her by Bikers. Ended about as well as one could expect.
* MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours: It's so good, other characters go to her to enact this trope.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: In-universe, no less.
* NobleDemon: Many times she shares foes with the heroes of any story she appears in. Why? Because she'd probably kill the hero too quickly in a straight contest.
* OddFriendship: Black Canary and Lady Shiva. "Friends" may be pushing it a little far, but they are amicable acquaintances with a shared history and civil interactions. They have, on occasion, gone for drinks together, trained together and worked together. However, they also remain potentially mortal enemies from diametrically opposite sides of the good/evil divide.
* [[OneManArmy One Woman Army]]: To the point where people started [[CargoCult worshiping her as an avatar of Shiva]] the destroyer. She couldn't care less.
* PregnantBadass: Pregnancy barely slowed her down, beating up another world class assassin, David Cain. Ironically, it was his kid she was pregnant with. Probably what helped make her daughter so badass.
* ProfessionalKiller
* ReligiousAndMythologicalThemeNaming
* {{Retcon}}: During the ''ADeathInTheFamily'' saga, Shiva, while shot up with truth serum, declared that she never bore any children. Years later, she is revealed to be the mother of Cassandra Cain.
* RoguesGalleryTransplant: She started as an enemy/ally of Richard Dragon, before moving to the Question, Batman and eventually her own daughter, Cassandra Cain. As one of the DCU's best martial artists, she often appears in other titles in a similar capacity.
* TheObiWan: To Bruce during his recovery in ''{{Knightfall}}''.
* ThouShaltNotKill: When working with heroes, they insist she not kill anyone. This often annoys her, but she complies.
* TrainingFromHell: She puts herself through this and others come to her to get it. Its implied that the name Lady Shiva is a title and that others are going through the same training to become the next one.
** Playing into the more positive aspects of her name, Shiva has also trained an awful lot of heroes,including Tim Drake and Bruce Wayne, and her code of honor has led her to even spare them if she feels they can be a better fight later. She even resuscitated Cass Cain after beating her to death in order to gain a proper rematch!
* WorfEffect: it does happen on occasion, but she often regains herself shortly afterwards. The only person who she did not overcome in the end so far was Prometheus.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tweedledum & Tweedledee (Deever, Dumfree and Dumson Tweed)]]

[[quoteright:150:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/37413-tweedledee_150_159.jpg]]

Despite being cousins, Deever and Dumfree were so alike in both appearance and mannerisms that they could easily be mistaken for identical twins. Drawing inspiration from their shared love of ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'', the duo went on to commit multiple crimes in Gotham, dressed as the similarly-named twin brothers from ''Through The Looking Glass''. After the apparent death of Dumfree, his twin brother Dumson has since stepped in to take his place. Although they run their own separate criminal organization, they can often be seen in the employ of the Mad Hatter (see above).

!!Examples

* {{Acrofatic}}: Depicted in the GoldenAge as capable of [[HyperDestructiveBouncingBall rolling and bouncing at high speeds]].
* CreepyTwins: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]]. They actually aren't, but they enjoy giving this impression, and Dumfree and Dumson certainly qualify.
* ObfuscatingStupidity / BewareTheSillyOnes: Occasionally shown to be using this.
* SquishyWizard: Despite [[StoutStrength their impressive size and strength]], they're [[UnskilledButStrong not very adept at actual combat]], so they tend to take [[HitAndRunTactics a more hands-off approach]] to their robberies.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute
* WickedCultured: Despite their unorthodox demeanor, they're seen in one issue [[SmokyGentlemensClub drinking wine and smoking cigars in plush armchairs]]. Wearing [[AwesomeAnachronisticApparel smoking jackets]] and ''[[NiceHat fezzes]]'', no less.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Ventriloquist I (Arnold Wesker)]]

[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/250px-338704-148690-scarface_9331.jpg]]

Arnold was born into a powerful mafia family. However, as a kid, he witnessed his mother killed by the hands of an assassin sent by a rival gang. This sparked a Dissonant Personality Disorder within his mind. The only outlet he found to vent this trauma was through ventriloquisim. Eventually, he turned to a life of crime, following in his family footsteps. Or rather his cohort did and he pulled the strings.

Scarface is his main venting outlet for his disorder, a wooden puppet named and slightly modeled after Al Capone. He communicates his plans through this puppet, and even uses it during his various heists to the point of obsession.

!!Examples

* DemonicDummy
* ExtremeDoormat: Wesker to Scarface.
* GollumMadeMeDoIt: Some interpretations of him portray him as a perfectly innocent man being bossed around by a loud mouthed blockhead.
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: DependingOnTheWriter, Scarface is either simply a symptom of Wesker's disorder, or something more sinister and potentially supernatural.
** And on some occasions its implied to be neither and Wesker is just a ManipulativeBastard who wants everyone to ''think'' he's crazy or that the doll is possessed, and thus akin to some versions of SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker. Given that this would mean he is willing to machine gun his own hands as part of his "act", this would probably make him even crazier.
* MultipleChoicePast: Some stories use the mafia family origin above; other stories have Wesker losing control of his anger in a bar and being sent to Blackgate prison, where he acquires the "Scarface" dummy after it had been carved from a piece of gallows wood by his cell-mate.
* [[spoiler: RealAfterAll: After Arnold's death, the dummy moves by itself for a few panels before burning up.]]
* ThoseTwoBadGuys: Wesker and Scarface are almost always accompanied by the same two thugs, Rhino and Mugsy.
* TookALevelInBadass: In the New 52, Arnold never died and becomes [[spoiler: a mutated monster who shoves his hands into his victim's backs and makes them "talk" like a doll.]]
* VerbalTic: Due to Wesker being unable to pronounce the letter "b" when doing his ventriloquist act, words with "b's" in them always come out with a "g" sound when Scarface says them; for instance, "Gatman" instead of "Batman."

[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Ventriloquist II (Peyton Riley)]]

[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/250px-Ventriloquist_II_1_473.jpg]]

After [[spoiler: Wesker's death at the hands of Tally Man]], Scarface is taken up by Peyton Riley, the daughter of an Irish gangster, who had worked with Scarface before and grown to like both him and Wesker. Like Wesker, she believes Scarface to be talking to her, although unlike Wesker, she acknowledges this could be a hallucination. She also isn't as meek as Wesker; she has plans of her own, and is working "with" Scarface, rather than for him.

!!Examples

* ArrangedMarriage: Her father married her to an Italian gangster in order to unite the two families. This didn't work out.
* DemonicDummy, but not so much GollumMadeMeDoIt.
* WomanScorned: Her driving force is to get revenge on her ex-husband, who wiped out the Riley family.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Black Mask I (Roman Sionis)]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Black_Mask_0003_1813.jpg

Roman Sionis was about the same age as Bruce Wayne, and likewise had wealthy parents. However, Roman's parents were extremely neglectful and uncaring towards their son; he grew to resent them and the "Masks" they wore (of good, friendly people), when in private they were miserable. Sionis eventually killed his parents, but ran their business into the ground; at which point it was bought out by Bruce Wayne. Sionis snapped, breaking into his parents' crypt and carving a mask out of his mother's coffin. An attempt to get revenge on Wayne by lashing out at his employees failed due to the intervention of Batman, and ended up causing Sionis's Black Mask to be burned onto his face, making it unremovable.

Sionis was a capable gangster (often leading a mask-themed gang called the False-Facers), managing to regain his hold over organized crime after long stays in jail. Sionis grew even more insane and obsessed with torture as time went on. In a notable ''Catwoman'' arc, Sionis discovered Selina Kyle's secret identity, and in vengeance for Catwoman attacking his drug rings, tortured Kyle's brother-in-law to death, and forced her sister to [[ToServeMan eat pieces of his corpse]], driving her insane. Sionis was thought dead when after an extended fight, he fell out of his penthouse.

Later, in the ''War Games'' story arc, Black Mask managed to successfully play the opposing forces of a Gotham Gang war against each other. He managed to kill Orpheus, one of Batman's inside men, and assume his identity, and tortured Stephanie Brown, alias the Spoiler, leading to her apparent demise. Sionis became the de facto leader of all of Gotham's organized crime following this. He was later killed when he once again sought to ruin Catwoman's life mistakenly believing she would abide by the No-Kill rule, she responded by [[JustShootHim shooting him]]. After Batman's "[[NotQuiteDead death]]", a new Black Mask has surfaced, who turns out to be [[spoiler: an AxCrazy Dr. Jeremiah Arkham]], but he was revealed to be [[spoiler: BrainwashedAndCrazy]] after his defeat, and following the reboot is probably no longer in action.

!!Examples

* ArchEnemy: Arguably for Catwoman.
* AscendedExtra: He was active since the 1980's, but though always a competent and dangerous threat Black Mask remained a fairly obscure villain until he was re-imagined as an AxCrazy SnarkKnight with a SkullForAHead who succesfully and violently took over the Gotham criminal underworld and generally TookALevelInBadass (this also coincided with his becoming Catwoman's ArchEnemy in her solo title). Since then he was appeared in several adaptations and has had a major impact on Gotham in general and the Bat-family in particular.
* AxCrazy
* BadBoss: Watching him in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanUnderTheRedHood'' or ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'', where he regularly beats or kills his own henchmen for little to no reason, can make one wonder who would still want to work for him.
* CardCarryingVillain
* TheChessmaster: In ''War Games'', especially.
* ChildhoodBrainDamage: Dropped on his head while ''being delivered'', no less.
* ColdBloodedTorture: In one arc he cut up a woman's fiance and ''fed'' bits of him to her. It was given all the weight it deserved.
* ColorCharacter
* CriminalDoppelganger: In ''War Crimes'', following his takeover of the Gotham City underworld, he attempts to get rid of Batman by disguising himself as the Caped Crusader and going out killing people in order to frame him for murder. It's foiled by SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker, who is annoyed that Mask ([[NotQuiteDead seemingly]]) killed Stephanie Brown, because she used to be a Robin and Joker thought that meant ''[[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou he]]'' should have been the one to kill her.
* {{Cult}}: The "True-Facers" in ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand'', of which he was the leader, was this.
* CutLexLuthorACheck: With his incredible skills at planning and organization, he probably could have been a great businessman, right? Wrong. As it turns out, Black Mask subverted this trope when he started out as a legitimate businessman, failed spectacularly, and turned to crime instead. He showed considerably more ''elan'' as a crime lord than he ever did as a business executive.
* DeadpanSnarker: Especially during his tenure as crime lord after ''War Games'', where most of his commentary [[CrossesTheLineTwice crossed the line twice]]. And were ''hilarious''.
-->'''Mask''': I'm not pleased, you know. Not pleased at all. And despite appearances, this isn't a damned smile on my face.
* DeadPersonImpersonation: Uses the identity of Orpheus, an ally of Batman, during ''War Games''.
* DependingOnTheWriter: Just how crazy he really is. Some storylines have him as a gibbering lunatic, others as just an eccentric (and particularly sadistic) mastermind. The latter is much more common, though.
* DiabolicalMastermind: One of the few crime lords who nearly dominated the Gotham underworld, at least for a brief time. So successful was he that he became a LegacyCharacter when a new Black Mask used his reputation to nearly do the same.
* DisproportionateRetribution: The stuff he did to Catwoman's sister just to get to Catwoman doesn't bare repeating.
* DoesNotLikeWomen: He's noticeably and considerably nastier to his female victims than his male ones, not that he treats them particularly well. It might not be that he ''dislikes'' women ''per say'', just he enjoys hurting female victims more.
* ExpressiveMask: Some artists seem to forget that Black Mask is, in fact, wearing a black mask.
* FreudianExcuse: Three of them: he was dropped on his head by the doctor seconds after being born, and was later bitten by a rabid raccoon. To top it off, he had extremely neglectful parents, who pretended to be happy to the outside world but were actually privately unloving and miserable.
* GeniusBruiser: He's a giant of a man who is both smart enough to near-completely dominate Gotham's underworld and a skilled enough combatant to fight Batman and Catwoman evenly.
* GenreSavvy: Occasionally bordering on DangerouslyGenreSavvy. When Red Hood hijacks one of Black Mask's secret shipments of Kryptonite and holds it for ransom, Mask's lieutenant blurts that Hood must be crazy. Mask replies, "No. The crazy ones would make a suit out of the rock and march into Metropolis and play 'king of the mountain'. This one knows what he's doing."
** In ''War Games'', he manages to do most of the work setting up his empire before anybody realized he was still alive.
* ItsPersonal: Going after Catwoman's sister was not his smartest move, though by this point ItsPersonal for the two of them.
* LargeHam: Sometimes, like in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanUnderTheRedHood''.
* LaughablyEvil: During his reign as Kingpin of Gotham, Mask got some great lines.
--> '''Black Mask''': Li, will you please shut the hell up!? I swear to ''God'' it's like running a criminal organization with my mother.
* LegacyCharacter: A new Black Mask has been introduced.
* LetsGetDangerous: He's most well known for being a master manipulator, but he was a skilled enough combatant to hold his own against an enraged Catwoman, which is no mean feat.
* ManipulativeBastard: In ''War Games'' especially, wen- posing as Orpheus-, he was supposed to give a speech to the assembled gangs of Gotham calling for restraint to avert a gang war; instead, he gave one that ''started'' the war, and a riot to boot.
* MaskPower: Sionis believed in this, even if it didn't help him.
-->'''Black Mask:''' Knows that the mask destroy one identity while creating another. Know that the mask recreates its wearer. Know that through the sublimation of personality, inhibitions die and the nature of the wearer is altered -- so that deeper drives and more primitive instincts rise to the surface.
* MultilayerFacade: During ''War Games'', he assumed Orpheus's identity by applying make up over his own black mask. On top of that, he also had to wear Orpheus's helmet. [[spoiler:He did the same thing while impersonating Batman in ''War Crimes'']].
* MutilationInterrogation
* NietzscheWannabe: His ramblings in ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand'' had some shades of this.
* NoIndoorVoice: Sionis often throws [[MotiveRant unnecessary tantrums]] with [[RantInducingSlight little provocation]], particularly when written by JuddWinick.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: A horrific sadist and brutal misogynist. But ''damn'' if he isn't funny.
* ReligionOfEvil: In ''No Man's Land'', he turned the False Facers into a {{cult}} where everybody (himself included) horribly scarred their faces and shaved their heads so that they all looked alike, and turned them loose to go on a murderous rampage throughout the already devasted city. The second Black Mask referred to his organization as a "Ministry of Science", combining this with his MadScientist routine.
* RevengeByProxy
* SelfMadeOrphan
* ShadowArchetype: Similar to Hush (and preceding him), Black Mask is a Bruce Wayne who suffered from poor parenting and ran his own company into the ground. He's a millionare who became an extremely violent masked crime lord rather than a moderately violent masked vigilante, and he relys more on his natural hidden talents as a criminal than on years of hard work and study.
* SkullForAHead: Since he TookALevelInBadass, his mask has become skull-like, whereas before it looked slightly more human if all-black.
* TheSociopath
* TookALevelInBadass: Mask has been around since the 80's, but it's only been in the aftermath of his recent appearances, where he's become a psycho to rival the Joker, that he's been elevated to a top-tier Bat villain, shown up in the cartoons, and is a fan favorite to appear in movie adaptations.
* TortureTechnician
-->'''Mask''': Before we begin, I'd like to address the topic of screaming...by saying this: go right ahead.
* WouldHurtAChild: Thinks nothing of sadistically torturing a teenage girl.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Maximilian "Maxie" Zeus]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/maxiezeus_7585.JPG

This deranged gang leader of Greek ancestry believed himself to be the incarnation of the [[ClassicalMythology Greek god]] Zeus. He used to be a mild-mannered history teacher, but lost his wife and his sanity in an undisclosed incident. Amidst all the chaos caused by the other insane Bat-villains, he rose to power as one of the most cunning and intelligent crimelords in Gotham city. He was not only a foe of Batman alone but also a prominent enemy of Batman's SuperTeam [[BatmanAndTheOutsiders The Outsiders]].

!!Examples

* AGodAmI: In this case, he believes himself to be a specific god, the Greek god Zeus. In ''ArkhamAsylumASeriousHouseOnSeriousEarth'', he also develops messianic delusions.
* BeardOfEvil
* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: He allowed himself to be incarcerated in Blackgate Prison for the rest of his life in order to escape SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker's wrath, since he was angry at Maxie for selling modified Joker Venom as a drug.
* BigBad: Was one for BatmanAndTheOutsiders.
* TheChessmaster: With his intelligence, he was able to build his gang among the chaos caused by Gotham's supervillains.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: He started to become forgotten by DC's writers after ''InfiniteCrisis'' and ''One Year Later'', only coming back in KevinSmith's ''Cacophony'', where he got PutOnABus at the end of that story.
* DrivenToMadness: He lost his sanity in an [[NoodleIncident undisclosed incident]] where his wife died.
** In ''Cacophony'', he gains sanity after taking medication, but when SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker kills his nephew, Aesop, he is shocked back into insanity.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: His nephew Aesop, whose death by SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker shocks him back into insanity.
* GollumMadeMeDoIt: In the ''Cacophony'' storyline, where he has taken meds for his insanity, he refers to "Maxie" as his deranged, insane self and "Maximilian" as his saner self.
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: Arkham Asylum's guards initially didn't put him in the maximum-security wing where the other Bat-rogues are because they didn't think he was as dangerous, despite Batman repeatedly telling them to do so. They were proven wrong when his team of metahumans called the "New Olympians" easily broke him out.
* PsychoElectro: In ''ArkhamAsylumASeriousHouseOnSeriousEarth'', he becomes addicted to the asylum's electroshock treatment, which makes him even more insane.
* ThePsychoRangers: He "New Olympians" team was one for BatmanAndTheOutsiders.
* UnexplainedRecovery: He was thought to be dead after he got involved in [[WonderWoman Ares]]' plot to turn Gotham into his capital over the world, but was eventually revealed to be alive and well for no revealed reason.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: For almost all of one storyline, where he tried to pass himself off as a legitimate shipping magnate after gaining sanity from medications. It didn't last becuase it was revealed to the public that he was selling a diluted version of Joker Venom as a party drug.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Great White Shark (Warren White)]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/300px-arkham_asylum_living_hell_2_8861.jpg

Sentenced to prison for [[StealingFromTheTill creative accounting practices]], financier Warren White tried to slip through the cracks by [[InsanityDefense pleading insanity]], in the hopes of being committed to [[HospitalParadiso a modern psychiatric care facility]]. Instead, he wound up in [[BedlamHouse Arkham Asylum]], where the inmates [[ColdBloodedTorture ritually tortured and abused him]] [[InitiationCeremony for being the "new fish"]]; Killer Croc went so far as to carve gills in the sides of his neck.

After being locked in a freezer for several hours during a riot, Warren emerged [[RedRightHand a changed man]]: [[BodyHorror his hair had fallen out, his lips and nose had shrivelled away in the cold, and his skin was now chalky white]]. [[SanitySlippage His mind now decidedly twisted]], White has since traded off his appearance and business acumen to become one of the premier mob bosses in Gotham City.

!!Examples

* AssholeVictim: Don't think [[MorallyBankruptBanker he didn't work hard]] to [[BreakTheHaughty earn]] that HumiliationConga.
* AstonishinglyAppropriateAppearance: Ironic that a man with the nick name "Shark" would end up resembling one after an unrelated accident. That only applies to his lack of nose and ears, he filed his teeth down himself.
* BaldOfEvil
* TheChessmaster: After Black Mask's death, he briefly managed to [[VillainExitStageLeft oust the Penguin from Gotham]] and control the city's rackets from [[MightAsWellNotBeInPrisonAtAll inside his cell at Arkham]].
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Gained his nickname for his ruthless and cold-blooded business practices.
* [[HawaiianShirtedTourist Hawaiian Shirted]] {{Jerkass}}: In ''Streets of Gotham''.
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: He's worked out a [[DealWithTheDevil deal with the Torture Lords of Hell]] that will enable him to escape any punishment for his life's misdeeds.]] {{Etrigan}} is actually impressed.
* LoanShark: [[StealthPun Quite.]]
* PhraseCatcher: Warren White is [[RunningGag the worst person you have ever met]].
* ProfessionalButtKisser: Warren [[PersonalMook gets a job flipping Two-Face's coin]] when Two-Face injures his hands and can't do it himself, for no other reason than that he's desperate to be under ''anybody's'' protection at first.
* SharkMan: Not actually a [[FishPeople Fish Person]], but close enough.
* TooDumbToLive: Really, when you plead insanity in [[CrapsackWorld Gotham City]], you gotta be.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Victor Zsasz]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zsasz_491.jpg

An oft-seen but relatively minor bat-villain, Zsasz was once a wealthy businessman who lost fortune and family alike. The loss of his business was too much for him, and he was attempting suicide when a homeless man tried to assault him with a knife. At that point, he embraced a [[NietzscheWannabe profoundly nihilistic]] worldview: all of life is meaningless, and the greatest gift he can offer is to "liberate" them - by slaying them and leaving them in lifelike poses. He celebrates his killings by self-scarification, cutting a tally into his flesh for every life he takes.

Has no relation to [[TheQuestion Charles Victor "Vic Sage" Szasz]]

!!Examples

* AscendedExtra: Despite being a lesser-used villain overall, he was used in a substantial way in both [[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum Arkham]] [[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity games]], which has raised mainstream awareness of the character substantially.
* AxeCrazy: Or rather, knife crazy.
* BaldOfEvil or BlondGuysAreEvil: See DependingOnTheArtist
* BerserkButton: He made a tally mark for Batman, only to learn that the Dark Knight wasn't dead; this caused him to wig out for a while.
* DependingOnTheArtist: Sometimes he's lean and muscular and has a buzz cut hair style, and other times he's scrawny and looks like a balding, emaciated, meth addict.
* DependingOnTheWriter: Zsasz is variably depicted as either [[BossInMookClothing a truly dangerous]] [[GeniusBruiser and cunning foe]], or [[MauveShirt just one step up]] from [[FacelessMooks your average rank-and-file goon]]. It's also [[MotiveDecay sometimes unclear]] as to whether he is a true NietzscheWannabe, or if he simply kills ForTheEvulz.
* DespairEventHorizon: As noted, he was DrivenToSuicide only to be interrupted by a man trying to mug him for the money he squandered.
* ExoticEyeDesigns: In his first appearance, Zsasz's eyes were often kept in shadow. They later ran with this, giving his odd, black eyes that point out with little white dots for pupils, [[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111108192259/batman/images/4/4c/83298-61545-mr-zsasz.jpg like so]]. These aren't acknowledged in stories, so it seems to just be a stylistic choice. Whether his eyes look like this depends on the artist, and many just draw him with normal eyes.
* GoodScarsEvilScars: Soooooo many evil scars - one for every victim.
* KnifeNut: His signature weapon is a carving knife.
* NietzscheWannabe: His whole raison d'etre for his murderous rampage? He believes that, by killing people, he is liberating them from the worthlessness of life.
** ''Streets of Gotham'' implied that he sees everyone around him as already dead and he's just "freeing them" from that state. When Damian starts fighting on Zsasz's level, suddenly Zsasz doesn't see his opponent as just a corpse any more and ''freaks out'' because he hallucinates seeing his own dead body reflected in Damian's eyes.
* SerialKiller: One of the premier non-powered examples in Gotham.
* WouldHurtAChild: Not only has he killed numerous children, he even [[GladiatorGames constructed an arena for the purposes of doing so]] when [[NightmareFetishist told to "fulfill his dreams"]], and [[BloodSport invited crime bosses to bet on the outcome]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Clayface I (Basil Karlo)]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Clayface_img_7209.jpg

Basil Karlo was an actor who, when he heard his classic horror film "The Terror" was being remade, went mad. He donned the mask of the film's villain, "Clayface," and went on a killing spree, murdering the members of the cast and crew. However, he was stopped by Batman, reappearing a few times before remaining unused. However, during his absence, several other criminals with the name Clayface appeared. They were all made of clay, [[VoluntaryShapeShifting could change shape]], and one even had a poisonous touch.

One of these new Clayfaces visited Karlo in prison out of curiosity, and they formed a plan where all living Clayfaces would team up against Batman. The group, called "The Mud Pack," was beaten, but Karlo obtained the powers of all the other Clayfaces, becoming a much bigger threat.

!!Examples

* ElementalShapeshifter: Clayface is a walking mountain of mud, and can use his powers for shapeshifting or brute strength.
* DisproportionateRetribution: He decides to murder people because they're remaking his film without him in the starring role, even though he was brought on as a consultant.
* {{Flanderization}}: Karlo was previously characterized as an ego-maniacal actor, but then writers and artists began depicting him more like the Clayface from the animated series, who was more-or-less an amalgamation of the first four Clayfaces, but more predominately Matt Hagen, the second. The difficulty in this is that, the comic version of Hagen died during ''CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', and has remained dead. Unless it's outright stated in the story featuring him, readers have a hard time telling if Clayface is Karlo or Hagen.
* LargeHam: Comes with the acting background. After receiving the abilities of Preston Payne and Shondra Fuller, Karlo regarded himself as "THE ULTIMATE CLAYFACE!"
* LegacyCharacter: There have so far been eight Clayfaces.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Obvious stand-in for Boris Karloff.
* PoisonousPerson: Inherits this power from Preston Payne, a poisonous touch that would melt people's skin.
* ShapeshifterWeapon: Can morph his hands into maces, hammers, or other weapons.
* TragicVillain: Some adaptations and the other versions of Clayface are shown to be this.
* VoluntaryShapeShifting: After becoming a true Clayface.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Killer Croc (Waylon Jones)]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/WaylonJones_3281.jpg

Born with a rare skin disease that left him with scaly, crocodile-like skin, Waylon Jones was unaccepted by the outside world. His parents couldn't stand him, and they abandoned him in the wilderness, forcing him to become a career criminal to survive. At one point, he used his razor sharp teeth to become a cannibal and eat people. He has clashed with Batman several times over the years, each time becoming more bestial and reptilian due to a mutation of his already strange disease. He possesses superhuman strength and is much larger than the average man.

!!Examples

* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Often finds himself in one of these.
* TheBerserker: His fighting style more or less revolves around completely overwhelming the opponent with his sheer speed, strength, and resistance to harm.
* BizarreHumanBiology
* TheBrute: In most appearances following the story in which he was introduced. In his first appearance, though, Croc was actually a GeniusBruiser who manipulated Batman's entire RoguesGallery--sort of Bane 0.5.
* DependingOnTheArtist: Sometimes, Croc has a crocodile-like snout and a tail, sometimes not.
* DependingOnTheWriter: On top of the above, he seems to be one of those villains writers can never really pin down. It's hard to believe that he was an accomplished marksman and the precursor of ''Bane''.
* DumbMuscle: After {{Flanderization}} set in. Especially prominent in WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries.
** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that his condition is fully atavistic - everything, including his mind, just keeps regressing further and further as time goes on, which explains how he went from a GeniusBruiser who was Bane-lite to a feral, animalistic savage.
** Even in the Animated Series, he was treated as a fairly competent schemer at times: his first appearance was ''Vendetta'', where he came up with a decent EvilPlan to frame Harvey Bullock, and very nearly succeeded, even fooling Batman for a while. His dumbest showing was in ''Almost Got `Em" and that was pretty justified [[spoiler:seeing as it was really Batman in disguise.]] It's just his dumb luck that that episode was one of the most popular and memorable in the entire show.
* FangsAreEvil
* HandWave: Originally he was a man with a very, ''very'' bad skin condition. His appearance has gotten more monstrous over time, which has been explained as his condition worsening.
* HandwrapsOfAwesome: He sometimes wears these (e.g., in ''Batman Hush'' and the concept art for ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'').
* HealingFactor
* HookHand: Bit off the hand of Arkham guard Aaron Cash, causing him to need a hook-hand.
* ImAHumanitarian
* ImplacableMan: It's not that he can't be stopped, just that it's extremely difficult to do so.
* IJustWantToBeNormal
* LightningBruiser: Superhumanly fast to the point of surprising Batman more than once.
* LizardFolk
* MoralityPet: In a rather bizarre decision made regarding the post-Flashpoint Croc, he's revealed to be Roy Harper's sponsor in ''RedHoodAndTheOutlaws''.
* ParentalAbandonment
* ScaryBlackMan: Is technically black, and yeah, he's not someone you want to run into. Ever.
* SuperStrength
* TookALevelInBadass: In the New52 he's the only member of Batwoman's rogues to not be an original, and magic is used to upgrade him into a more ferocious and powerful multi-eyed form. Later, he's upgraded into a massive multi-headed hydra and rampages through Gotham.
* TragicVillain: He does seem to want to be normal very, very badly. Well, DependingOnTheWriter, but this is a pretty frequently recurring quirk of his.
* WrestlerInAllOfUs: In the Animated Series, he got work as a professional wrestler before turning to a life of crime and actually uses wrestling moves against Batman.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Solomon Grundy (Cyrus Gold)]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sgrndy_cv1_4854.jpg


Solomon Grundy is a zombie who was once a businessman, Cyrus Gold, who was murdered in Slaughter Swamp, a swamp just outside Gotham City. Supernatural forces then gathered into his dead body, causing him to resurrect as a zombie one Monday. He took the name Solomon Grundy when he heard people reciting the nursery rhyme "Solomon Grundy".

One thing unique about Grundy is that his appearance and personality constantly change. This is because whenever Grundy is killed, his body resurrects in Slaughter Swamp the next Monday. Each time he resurrects, he becomes almost a different character entirely. He has been the range of a stereotypical {{Hulk Speak}}ing zombie, an animalistic berserker, and even an intelligent MagnificentBastard. On at least [[ComicBook/{{Starman}} one occasion]], he has even resurrected as a good guy. Suffice to say, it is tough to stop him without killing him, so he gets killed rather frequently.

He debuted as a prominent recurring enemy of the [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] Franchise/GreenLantern, Alan Scott, who also operated in Gotham. Grundy would go on to tangle with countless heroes of TheDCU, but, due to Slaughter Swamp's proximity to Gotham, eventually settled on becoming a part of Batman's RoguesGallery, even becoming a boss in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity''.

For more information, see [[Characters/{{Earth-2 Green Lantern}} this page.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Doctor Simon Hurt [[spoiler:(Thomas Wayne I)]]]]

[[quoteright:244:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Doctor_Hurt_62.png]]

->"'''Batman's''' a hardy specimen, with an above-average mind[=--=]but even a '''Batman''' can succumb to stress and shock!"
-->-- ''Batman'' #156, 1963

A psychiatrist that observed Batman during an isolation experiment, Simon Hurt is the leader of a mysterious organization called The Black Glove. He wants to completely and utterly break Batman, physically and mentally.

!!Examples

* AdaptationDistillation: [[spoiler: His backstory had him being found by Thomas and Martha Wayne and then taken to a mental hospital to get help. In a Pre-Crisis story, Bruce discovered he had a younger brother, Thomas Jr., who suffered head injuries and was sent to live in Willowood Asylum. Thomas Jr. escaped at some point and became an assassin named the Boomerang Killer who fought Batman and Deadman together before pulling an impulsive HeroicSacrifice to save Bruce.]]
* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:Last seen being BuriedAlive by the Joker somewhere on the grounds of Wayne Manor, because [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou there's only one person]] who the Joker wants messing with Batman's head.]]
* AscendedExtra: GrantMorrison ascended him out of an unnamed psychiatrist in the SilverAge story "Robin Dies at Dawn"
* BigBad: Of The Black Glove StoryArc in [[GrantMorrisonsBatman Grant Morrison's Batman run]].
* CardCarryingVillain: He speaks very proudly about how he wants to break the hero that is Batman.
* CrazyPrepared: He planted the trigger Zurr-En-Arrh in order to MindRape Batman.
* DontYouDarePityMe: Part of his grand revenge scheme against not only Batman but Thomas and Martha Wayne is because [[spoiler: they actually tried to help him by bringing him to the Willowood mental hospital under the guise of their other son.]]
* ForTheEvulz: Loves to make people's lives (And Batman's life, in particular) miserable and broken and hosts it as a gambling game just because he can.
* IdenticalGrandson: [[spoiler:Bears a notable resemblance to Bruce Wayne's father Dr. Thomas Wayne. See below for why.]]
* LukeIAmYourFather: At one point attempted to convince Bruce that he was actually his father Dr. Thomas Wayne, who had faked his own death and murdered his wife. [[spoiler:He's actually a distant paternal ancestor of Bruce, also named Thomas Wayne, corrupted and turned immortal by {{Darkseid}}'s Hyper Adapter.]]
* MindRape: What he does to the replacement Batmen and Bruce himself.
* PsychoPsychologist
* SmugSnake: Fully believed the law could never stop him due to [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney all the Black Glove's money]]. [[spoiler: He didn't count on SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker [[BuriedAlive putting a stop to him]].]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:James Gordon, Jr.]]

[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/250px-James_Gordon_Jr_1423.jpg]]

The long absent son of Commissioner James Gordon and his first wife, Barbara Gordon, James, Jr. finally made a reappearance in the 2011 arc, "Skeleton Cases". Having shown symptoms of psychopathy in his youth, James seemed to be ready to be a functioning member of society. However, it was instead revealed that he was a serial killer, having murdered several people who bullied him in his youth, and viewed empathy as a weakness. His brutality and sadism are only matched by his cunning, and proves himself to be a dangerous foe to the reluctant new Batman, Dick Grayson.

!!Examples

* AntagonisticOffspring
* ArchEnemy: To Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon. He couldn't care less about Bruce Wayne.
* BrotherChuck: Subverted, James first appeared in ''ComicBook/BatmanYearOne'' but was not mentioned for many years after that comic, both in and out of universe. The story arc ''Skeleton Cases'' gives very good reasons as to why he was not talked about in-universe. The Gordon family and others try not to talk about James due to his sociopathic behaviour being both disturbing and hurtful as well as being a shame on the Gordons.
* CainAndAbel: The Cain to his sister, Barbara's, Abel.
* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor:
-->'''James, Jr.:''' (''Indicating a stain on his shirt.'') This? It's blood, dad. I killed a waitress while you were talking to Barbara. Her head is stuffed in the toilet of the men's room. (''Pause.'') It's just ketchup, see? I'm sorry.
* EvilRedhead
* FauxAffablyEvil: He can put up a pretty good front. Sadly, that's all it is.
* FreudianExcuse:[[spoiler:He doesn't like that Barbara got more attention when they were kids, despite his troubling behaviour. It doesn't explain all his evil actions, but it does explain why he enjoys screwing with Barbara.]]
* FourEyesZeroSoul
* LackOfEmpathy: States that he views empathy as a weakness.
* PsychoticSmirk: His default expression.
* SerialKiller
* SoftspokenSadist
* TheSociopath
* TheStoic: Combined with PsychoticSmirk, this is how he usually acts.
** NotSoStoic: Despite hating emotions and empathy, he has his few moments of them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Dealer/Etienne Guiborg.]]

An elderly man who runs an underground auction house called Mirror House which sells off many items, gadgets and whatnot obtained from Gotham's worst criminals. By himself, he isn't much of a threat given his age, but he is a rather sinister dealer.

!!Examples

* AuctionOfEvil: Mirror House.
* EvilFeelsGood: He strongly believes that humanity shines best when it's full of evil and doesn't mind telling it as it is.
* EvilOldFolks: One of the most recent (and oldest) entries to Batman's rouges gallery.
* LargeHam: He knows how to put on quite a show in his auctions.
* [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname Only Known By His Alias]]: Etienne Guiborg isn't his real name.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Professor Pyg/Lazlo Valentin]]

* MindRape: His specialty.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: The Court of Owls]]

-> ''"[[AncientConspiracy The Court of Owls watches,]]\\
[[BigBrotherIsWatching watches all the time.]]\\
[[ManBehindTheMan Ruling Gotham from shadowed perch,]]\\
behind granite and lime.\\
\\
They watch you at your hearth.\\
[[ParanoiaFuel they watch you in your bed,]]\\
speak not a whispered word of them,\\
or they'll send [[ImplacableMan The Talon]] for your head."''

The Court of Owls is secret organization centuries old with immense power and influence embedded into the very architecture and history of Gotham City. When Batman, and subsequently Bruce Wayne, began to make an impression on the city (through crime fighting and Bruces many charitable foundations/renovation of the Narrows), they felt threatened and declared war on Batman and his allies.

* AncientConspiracy: Dating back to Pre-Revolution America.
* TheDragon: [[spoiler: Lincoln March a.k.a. Thomas Wayne Jr.]] in their organizaiton.
* TheDeterminator: Every. Single. Talon.
* EliteMook: Their assassins, the Talons.
* HealingFactor: The Talons all sport this.
* TheIlluminati
* ManBehindTheMan
* TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness

[[/folder]]