Editing Batman (section)

== Rogues Gallery ==
* '''The Joker:''' You know who this guy is. Originally inspired by Conrad Veidt's appearance in the drama ''The Man Who Laughs'', the Joker's backstory is in constant flux (described as "multiple-choice" by the man himself) but boils down to a man down on his luck who fell into a vat of chemicals, giving him a permanent clown-like face and driving him insane. Reinvented almost more often than Batman himself; he's been a Fantomas-like mastermind, a true "Clown Prince of Crime" with funhouse-themed gadgets and capers that seem more like pranks, a sadistic monster, and most recently a downtrodden nihilist seeking revenge on society.
** '''Harley Quinn:''' The Joker's henchwench from the 1990s animated series who proved popular enough to stitch into the comics. A former psychiatrist who made the mistake of trying to rehabilitate the Joker, he twisted her around his little finger and turned her into his lovestruck slave. And for a doctor, she's surprisingly acrobatic and tough in a fight. Notable for the fact that, from her first appearance in what was nominally a kids show, her relationship with the Joker has ''always'' been creepy and abusive. This was once celebrated as a more intimate window to the Joker's insanity, it proved far too interesting for [[SJW|the modern comics industry]], and she was made more violent and separate from the Joker in the 2010s in an attempt to copy the blockbuster Deadpool movie. Depending on the continuity, she's either implicitly bisexual, very explicitly bisexual, or an out-and-out lesbian; this was hinted at going back to the 90s, and the original cartoon's "Harley and Ivy" scenes are masterpieces in in saying it without saying it.
* '''Catwoman:''' A cat burglar (duh) who regularly both goes against Batman (when stealing) and works with him (when they're after the same crook). For a long time, the closest thing Bats ever had to an official love interest, since she married him, became his crimefighting partner, and had a daughter who grew up to become the costumed superheroine Huntress in a parallel universe back before the 2000s, and in the 2010s he and she ''almost'' got married in a big comic event before fan backlash forced DC to ''actually'' let them tie the knot... in yet another spinoff multiverse because it's not allowed to happen in the mainline one.

* '''The Penguin''': Oswald Cobblepot is a wannabe crime lord taking his name from his short, waddling gait and old-fashioned tuxedo costume. In some stories he's just the black sheep of some old money family, while in the film ''Batman Returns'' and several stories after that he's also a deformed mutant with flipper-like fingers; in any case he's defined by his use of trained birds, gadget-filled umbrellas, and being relatively sane by supervillain standards. In modern comics he gets out of supervillainy and turns to more mundane organized crime, working as a racketeer and info broker from a nightclub called the Iceberg Lounge.
* '''Mr. Freeze:''' ''"This is how I'll always remember you. Surrounded by winter, forever young, forever beautiful. Rest well, my love; the monster who took you from me will soon learn that revenge is a dish best served '''cold'''."'' After brief stints as a mad scientist and an aggressively German bank robber in other media, the Animated Series rewrote this space-suited villain with a tragic backstory so awesome it immediately displaced the originals. Victor Fries was a scientist specializing in cryogenics until a lab accident mutated him into a being who can only survive at sub-zero temperatures. Obssessed with reviving his terminally-ill wife Nora from suspended animation and getting revenge on whoever caused the accident, Fries builds a cryogenic suit to keep himself alive and weaponizes his freezing technology to strike back at his enemies. He's set apart from the other Batman villains by being [[Iron Hands|calculating and filled with cold rage]] rather than manic, and often lashes out in nihilistic spite in stories where he succeeds in curing Nora only to be rejected for what he's become. He also had a rather ''cool'' appearance in the otherwise-awful Batman & Robin movie, where he was played by the Governator himself.
* '''Poison Ivy''': Pamela Isley is a botany expert turned ecoterrorist with a natural immunity to all toxins, making her a natural poisoner of Gotham's elite industrialists; post-Crisis this was upgraded into being an actual plant person with nature-themed superpowers. Frequently characterized as a seducer in the vein of the psuedo-mythical [[Wikipedia:Alraune|Alraune]], complete with perfumes or pheromones powerful enough to count as mind control. When that doesn't cut it she can fall back on her botany expertise and plant powers, turning trees into something out of [[Catachan]] and Venus flytraps into a passable imitation of one [[Wikipedia:Little Shop of Horrors|mean green mother from outer space]]. After the Animated Series she became associated with Harley Quinn, as both of them tend to have big issues with men and aggressive personalities.
* '''The Mad Hatter''': Jervis Tetch is a quite wacky old chap who was obssessed with ''Alice in Wonderland'' as a child, became a neuroscientist, and discovered a way to control people's minds with easily concealed microchips. Because this is a comic book, he promptly snaps and becomes a super-criminal styled after the classic Mad Hatter instead of doing something sensible like joining the Illuminati. While he's a pretty generic mind-controller in the comics outside of the gimmick of putting his devices in old-timey price cards and hat bands, his portrayal in the animated series is notable for being a textbook case of "incel rage" decades ahead of its time: he falls in love with an Alice-like secretary, tries to catch her on the rebound by using his devices to orchestrate a "perfect" date for her, only to be shattered when she goes for Chad Thundercock instead. This version is more of a tragic figure; he has the presence of mind to not go straight to mind-controlling his "Alice" from the beginning, and in subsequent stories Tetch only goes after Batman because he's a constant reminder of his ruined life.
* '''The Riddler:''' Perhaps the most "Silver Age" of the enduring Batman villains, the Riddler is a smug asshole obsessed with brainteasers who sees Batman (being "The World's Greatest Detective") as his only peer. His habit of leaving clues to his crimes for do-gooders to solve is actually a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder, [[Tzeentch|explaining why he constantly sabotages himself with impractical schemes and fallible deathtraps]]. The writers tend to alternate between treating him as a genuine challenge for Batman's intellect and a prancing egomaniac whose most dangerous aspect is his terrible fashion sense.
* '''Bane''': The man who broke the Bat. Taken to a prison island at an early age for his father's crimes, Bane was raised by his fellow political inmates (making him a criminal version of pulp icon Doc Savage) before being used as a test subject for the experimental "super-steroid" called Venom. Now ''totally fucking ripped'', he breaks out and decides his next step is to defeat Batman and rule Gotham, having been haunted by a fear of bats his whole life and with no ties to lawful society. Realizing Batman is still human with human limits, he manipulates Gotham's villains into wearing the Bat down before ambushing him outside the Batcave, breaking Batman's spine over his knee in one of the most iconic images of modern comics. After being defeated by a recovered Batman he continues to strive for a foothold in Gotham's underworld, occasionally taking time off to brutalize anyone trying to sell Venom as an illegal drug. How much of his super-strength comes from Venom varies; initially he used it continuously to stave off withdrawal and was helpless without it, but in later stories he goes cold turkey and is still a big guy without the Venom. Typically flavored as Latin American and dressed as a luchador, signaling that if you tried to take his mask off it would be extremely painful (for you).