Caped Crusader’s Retro Rapscallions
Harvey Dent: “This is a losing battle. A hundred other monsters will show up to replace any one you take down.”
Batman: caped crusader
Batman: “Probably. But now they’ll know I’m coming for them.”
Batman: Caped Crusader is taking the Dark Knight back to basics. Set in the 1940s, the new animated limited TV series follows a mysterious vigilante fighting crime in Gotham City. A gang war looms as bizarre costumed criminals descend upon Gotham.
Retro variants of the usual suspects appear, including The Penguin, Two-Face, and Harley Quinn, but Batman: Caped Crusader is digging deeper. Obscure villains step into the spotlight for the first time. So who are Batman: Caped Crusaders’ new villains? Let’s find out.
Scene Select
Firebug
Played By: Tom Kenny
Firebug: “The army made me a Firebug and I’m putting what they taught me to good use!”
Batman #318 (1979)
It’s rare for superheroes to have multiple villains that share a theme. Most Bat-fans likely know Firefly, the high-flying arsonist, but this burning baddie has it out for the Caped Crusader as well.
Joseph Rigger is an Army vet and demolitions expert. He returned to Gotham City after learning three of his relatives had died in building-related accidents. Grief drove him mad, and he swore to destroy the buildings before anyone else died.
Rigger created a napalm-fueled armor and became Firebug. He burned two of the buildings, but was stopped by Batman wearing a fire-proof Batsuit at the third site. Firebug became an arsonist for hire and appeared sporadically before selling his armor and retiring.
The Firebug armor contains flamethrowers, incendiary explosives, and a flight system derived from napalm. Without it, Rigger is still an accomplished Vietnam vet. Firebug doesn’t want to hurt innocent people, but won’t let them get in his way either.
Caped Crusader: Clayface
Played By: Alan Tudyk, Ron Perlman, Dan Donohue
Clayface: “All the great monsters were misunderstood. Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein’s creation, Dracula, The Golem, all of them. But not me! Not Basil Karlo! Not Clayface! My intentions will be clear from the start! I will take what I want, when I want it!”
Detective Comics #607 (1989)
From billowing mists, he emerges to seek revenge against his betrayers! This disfigured demon claiming the lives of men and leaving women in hysterics! A cruel-eyed killer locked in battle with the mysterious vigilante! Bruce Wayne is the shadowy Caped Crusader. Cassandra Cain is a runaway caught between madmen. And Basil Karlo dares you to look upon the hideous visage of… “Clayface!”
Basil Karlo is an actor passed over for a remake of his most famous role. He disguised himself as the villain and began murdering the cast. Batman and Robin defeated Clayface, but he escaped to kill again.
A new version of Clayface was introduced thirty years later. The struggling actor used a drug to shapeshift and became a star until it mutated him and Karlo became a walking muck monster called Clayface. He turned to crime to search for a cure that he never found. But if any criminals need monstrous muscle for their crew, Clayface is happy to play the role.
Clayface was a master of disguise even before becoming a shapeshifter. His mutated form can squeeze through crevices, create weapons, and drown victims in mud. Clayface has gradually softened from serial killer to sympathetic criminal. Later, he struck up a friendship with Batgirl and became a hero himself.
Gentleman Ghost
Played By: Toby Stephens, Greg Ellis, Alan Oppenheimer
Batman: “Revenge is a poison that rots a man from within.”
Batman: The Brave and The Bold “Dawn of the Deadman” (Season 1, Episode 7)
Craddock: “No, my friend. Revenge is a fire that keeps me warm in the eternal cold of the grave!”
Many of Batman: Caped Crusader’s villains are mostly human. They have strange powers, advanced weaponry, and warped perspectives, but they are still flesh and blood at the end of the day. Against this fallen foe, no gentleman stands a ghost of a chance.
James “Gentleman Jim” Craddock was the abandoned son of an aristocrat. He became a highwayman to support his family. One night, he was visited by a group of ghostly thieves who claimed he would be the greatest of their number. Craddock traveled to America and ran afoul of Western heroes Nighthawk and Cinnamon. Nighthawk murdered Craddock mistakenly believing that he had raped Cinnamon.
Craddock became a ghost and learned he would remain on Earth until Nighthawk’s soul passed on. Unfortunately, Nighthawk was cursed to reincarnate, so that would never happen. Gentleman Ghost made it his afterlife’s mission to torment the heroes in all their incarnations. He resurfaced in the 20th century after deducing the newest ones were Hawkman and Hawkgirl.
Gentleman Ghost has the usual spectral superpowers. He can fly, phase through objects, and turn invisible, always using the last to hide his decayed face. Craddock rides an undead horse and wields phantasmal flintlocks against the living. He is an unrepentant thief, but unfailingly polite and avoids harming people without cause
Caped Crusader: Nocturna
Played By: Kayla Elwell, Mckenna Grace
Nocturna: “If the night is made for dreams, you see, I prefer to experience them awake.“
Batman #363 (1983)
Female supervillains rarely get their due. They’re often tossed aside except as the lead henchman or part of an ensemble. Batman: Caped Crusader gives several their time in the spotlight.
Natalia Knight was a homeless orphan adopted by a rich man. She enjoyed her new life of luxury and adored astronomy. While working in an observatory, Natalia was exposed to a laser that drained her skin pigmentation and made her sensitive to light. Even worse, she discovered that her recently deceased father’s money came from crime.
Natalia was unwilling to give up her luxurious lifestyle and also turned to crime. Alongside her brother, Thief of Night, Natalia became Nocturna: Mistress of the Night. Their crime spree led to battles against Batman, with whom she fell in love. Nocturna mimicked her father by adopting an orphan named Jason Todd, unaware that he was the new Robin.
Nocturna wears jewelry that converts into weapons and gadgets. She’s fond of seducing foes so they’ll underestimate her. Nocturna loves the rush of committing crimes and waxes lyrical about nighttime. She deeply cares for Jason, sensing a kindred spirit in her adopted son.
Onomatopoeia
Played By: Reid Scott, Daiya Vaidya
Batman: “What’s Alfred making?”
Batman: The Widening Gyre
Silver St. Cloud: “Eggs Benedict with salmon.”
Batman: “Eggs Benedict with salmon. I like the sound of that.” [sets down his utility belt]
Unseen voice: “Ka-klack.”
Batman: [horrified] “No!”
Onomatopoeia: [slashing Silver’s throat] “Ssssslit.”
Batman: Caped Crusader’s villains are mostly similar. They commit crimes for wealth, vengeance, or to sate their mad impulses. But this Green Arrow villain is a professional and the last thing victims hear coming.
Onomatopoeia is a serial killer who targets non-powered superheroes. No one knows where he comes from or why he kills, but he’s murdered nine heroes. Onomatopoeia only says his name and the sound of whatever weapon he’s using. A gun? BLAM! An arrow? THWACK! He breaks a victim’s neck? KRRK!
Green Arrow’s family is Onomatopoeia’s primary target, but he also hunts in Gotham City. He once abandoned his gimmick to masquerade as a vigilante called Baphomet and ingratiate himself with Batman. The plan worked, allowing him to kill Bruce’s lover Silver St. Cloud right in front of him.
Onomatopoeia is an assassin skilled with guns, blades, bows, and other weapons. It’s unclear if he has superpowers or merely a sky-high pain tolerance. His namesake gimmick convinced his creator that he couldn’t be adapted to television, but that ends in Batman: Caped Crusader.
Which of Batman: Caped Crusader’s new villains has your eye? Are there any you want to see in season 2? Tell us in the comments.
Image courtesy of Prime © Amazon Content Services LLC
Jared Bounacos has written for Movie Rewind since 2016.
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