Friday, Nov. 20 2009 @ 8:04AM
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More than 40 years later, fans are still waiting for those show villains to show up in Batman comics, but aside from King Tut's appearance in recent issues of Batman Confidential and a cameo-filled episode of Brave and the Bold, it's not happening until Fox and the Warners make nice, which they've managed to avoid so far. But a Bat-fan can dream, can't he?
10) Chandell, Played by Liberace
Liberace, for you kids who don't know, was extremely well-known as a piano player and showman in the '60s. In the show he basically played himself, with a different name, and couldn't take a punch (again, like the real Liberace). With the new Grant Morrison series, where every villain is more or less the same murdering psycho with a different mask, a quick nod to an extremely gay piano player who wants to marry a rich heiress might be a nice change of pace. Of course, if Morrison was writing it, Chandell would also wear a pig mask and rape nuns.
9) The Siren, Played by Joan Collins
You can't swing a dead cat around the DCU without hitting someone who either deafens or controls people with their voice. But now that Gotham City Sirens is doing brisk business, it's time to bring this shrieking, hysterical woman back! It would make more sense for her to team-up with the other Greek pantheon-themed villain, Maxie Zeus, or his girlfriend the Harpy (thought we'd forgotten her two issues, didn't you?), for some old-fashioned Gotham City mayhem. Maybe they can rob a couple of Greek diners, or one of those bodegas that only sells out-of-date Olympics merchandise.
8) The Archer, Played by Art Carney
Everyone loves Art Carney! He's funny! He's goofy! The Archer, however, is kind of lame. BUT, set him up as some sort of low-budget, down on his luck super-villain who keeps getting laughed at by Green Arrow, Red Arrow, Speedy, Arrowette, and Merlin, and he could make for some fun times. Also, in later appearances, to make him more "edgy," he'd get mutated into a giant monster and get taken down by napalm while killing one of Commissioner Gordon's relatives.
7) Lord Fogg, Played by Rudy Vallee
Batman writers always had a theme, an obsession if you will, that they based each and every villain on. Fogg's was that he was from England. And not just the easy British things, like bad teeth, bland food, and Oasis. He was into London fog (the stuff, not the clothing brand). Poisoned fog. Yes, they coasted three episodes on poison fog. Sure, he probably wouldn't fare too well in Arkham Asylum next to some of the other homicidal maniacs, but we would pay good cash to see a tubby guy dressed in tweed get savagely beaten by Killer Croc and a wrench. Hell, it could be a two-parter.
6) Zelda the Great, Played by Anne Baxter
Zelda was an escape artist who stole money to fund her addiction to new escape gimmicks. Make her a showgirl who's obsessed with finding ways that she might die, but her amazing luck keeps her from doing the deed. Distraught, she seeks out ways to end her life but guns keep jamming, ropes snap, and poison just makes her puke. When she finally sets a bomb in the post office to collapse the place down on her, Batman swoops in and takes her away. She'd also have really big breasts.
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31 comments
Comments
Beppo said:
Don't forget Leslie Gore as the performer-turned parolee Pussycat.
wil said:
I really want a Batman villain who's gimmick is he's obsessed with Oasis now
Joey Arrow said:
King Tut was in a few Batman comics in the 70s. I specifically remember a Batman Family comic that had Robin and Batgirl going after King Tut. There was even a Batdog story in it.
I'm also 90% sure Egghead had been in a couple back in the 70s.
Or does Stone Age count?
Ethan Kaye replied to Joey Arrow:
King Tut was in some early issues, which is why he was allowed to appear in the Batman Confidential arc (which is really good, by the way). Egghead made one brief appearance in a Shadow of the Bat arc, but just as a background character (like he was in the Brave and the Bold episode).
The other big name from the 60s show was False Face, but I looked it up and he did a back-up story in one issue in the late '50s, so he counts as comics-first-TV-second.
Geoff replied to Ethan Kaye:
Another recommendation of the Batman Confidential story - if for no other reason than the exceedingly rare opportunity to see Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, aka "the man who has defined the look of DC comics for the last 30 years" doing interior art. Even if the story hadn't been great - and it was - the art alone would have sold it.
SuperDevil replied to Ethan Kaye:
King Tut never appeared in a Batman comic before this year.
Like fans at the time, Batman writers hated the TV show. Frank Miller in an interview complained about a poll done after Batman Forever, which asked people which character should Batman face in the following movie. King Tut was the overwhelming favorite.
The character that appears in the TV show is owned by Fox. DC can do a King Tut character, much like they can do an Isis character (the TV show version is owned by Filmation), or a Thor character if they truly wanted too. Those names cannot be copywrited.
Which is why the King Tut that appears in Batman Confidential wasn't a criminal mastermind because of a blow to the head (which is one of my favorite origins, behind Luther losing his hair, Doom's Experiment going wrong, Magneto's tragic past, the Penquin's upbringing, etc.).
They could do a character named Egghead, but he would be nothing like the Vincent Price character.
Chris Sanders said:
Good list. I don't remember most of these characters considering I caught the show when it debuted on FX because I'm to young to have watched the original run.
You might see some of this happen during the current Batman & Robin run since the writer has decided to create a whole list of new villains for batman, like Professor Pyg.
Black Snow said:
Why are we supposed to care about these losers? They seem even less interesting after your brainstorming about how to incorporate them into comics.
JOE said:
I love how supervillians always have at least one babe, if not more, in the gang. Goes to show no matter how much of a wierdo you are, girls will still love you if you're a bad boy.
Mecha-Shiva said:
I'll be the first say it (I think): this is an egg-celent list.
stewbacca said:
And any one of these would be better than Professor Pyg or the Flamingo (yet another person everyone just heard of who can beat supposedly some of the top 10 fighters in the world...
MattK said:
The problem with most of these is that they were created during the 60s to cash in on 60s trends and norms, which are half-assed retarded today. Most of these would have to be prison-pounded or reimagined almost completely to work. However, I do think Bookworm and Egghead have the most potential for staying true to their origins but also work today.
And man, it sucks watching the later seasons/episodes of Batman, where the set budget consisted of rejected 60s hippy art that seemingly got reused for Star Trek Season 3.
demoncat said:
love the idea of Louie as a deranged flower mute. and both siren and marsha would fill the female villian void in gotham with catwoman and Harly and ivy good. but i really would love to see egghead for done right or in grants insane hands he could be some one who could teach the riddler about obsession to a new level. sadly none of them will ever visit the comic universe till fox plays nice with dc and book worm was part of the batgirl tv show pilot
Ethan Kaye replied to demoncat:
Ah...close, but no cigar. Villain for Batgirl pilot was Killer Moth (looked NOTHING like the comic version).
Asat replied to demoncat:
I wanna see a story arc in which its revealed that there's a meta-villain in Gotham who inflicts these wackadoo thematic obsessions on fledgling villains. Kind of a Hannibal Lector of Arkham, whose sole mission in life is to fill the Batcave with the god-damndest trophies his fevered imagination can squirt out.
"Larry Jenkins, from this day forward you shall be known as Q-pid, and you will steal only things that begin with a Q! Now fly, my monkey, FLY!"
Wesley said:
What an egg-cellent list!
Drongo said:
I think those all suck!
Xenos said:
Huh. That Zelda kinda sounds like Roxy Rocket from Batman TAS, a stunt woman with a death wish. Though Roxy was also chasing after... a man who could give her a good climax. Damn.. how did they ever get away with that on a kids show? Luckily she's gonna be in the regular DCU now, in an upcoming issue of the new Batgirl series, so I'm sticking around at least for that. Though truly she needs to be in Gotham City Sirens.
Meanwhile, let's not forget Roddy McDowall also voiced the Mad Hatter excellently on Batman The Animated Series.
And, yeah, I'd love to see Morrison or any number of the writers take on any of these characters. Him, Dini, Simone. I'm pretty sure any of them could find a creative way to make them work.
Glof2814 said:
what about villains from the Brave and the Bold I think the Music Meister would be amaxing
RFinn said:
Anyone else notice Commissioner Gordon getting friendly with the bikini girl at the start of the Bookworm clip?
Looked like he was trying to cut HER ribbon.
Also...
Looked like he was trying to give her HIS key to the city.
Anonymous said:
Oddly enough, the Zelda the Great episode is actually based on a Batman comic story, but it didn't have the character of Zelda in it.
Also, nobody can convince me that the Adam West series isn't the best live-action version of Batman, and I'm not at all embarrassed to admit that.
Agreed. Adam West is the yardstick that I measure all live action Batmen against.
SuperDevil replied to Anonymous:
The Batman series from the 60's is under-rated. A lot of comic fans hated the show because they felt it was too campy. It was actually innovative and it actually saved Batman.
Batman at the time was absolutely awful. Fighting aliens, Catman trying to get with Batwoman, etc. Most of the classic villains weren't being used any longer, due to the comics code and were simply forgotten about.
The Joker for example, became a harmless nuisance. The character stopped being used in 1964 and without the TV show, it's possible the character would have disappeared forever.
Catwoman wasn't used at all after 1954 and didn't finally appear in a comic till 1966 (after the show was on TV).
After the show was cancelled, DC did everything it could to move away from the TV show and stopped using the villains, but fan demand brought back the Joker in 1973 (in which he was brought back to his roots).
Catwoman, Penquin, Riddler, and Two-Face (the reaction for Joker, led the writers to read the old golden age stories and re-discovered Two-Face) soon followed.
BTW, how much does it suck that ABC nixed Clint Eastwood as Two-Face? They felt the character was too violent. If Topless Robot ever does a list of awesome things that never happened, that would have to be at the top. :)
DoctorSmashy said:
Vincent Price should have played Alfred.
Geoff said:
False Face is obviously no substitute for Two-Face, but it was actually a pretty good storyline.
The best part of that one were the rumours of who actually played False Face; I think people actually thought it was Sinatra for a while.
Boyle said:
Zlopp?
Whamm and Boff I get. But Zlopp?
El Charro Ninja said:
Archer was a "borrowed villain" like Clock King. Acher used to battle Superman in the Golden Age. I heard that Egghead appeared in Batman: Shadow of the Bat as an Arkham immate, but I havent found any image. I think that Music Meister is the son of Siren, think about it sort of makes sense.
OM said:
"Like fans at the time, Batman writers hated the TV show"
...I was a fan at the time the show was on ABC. I damn sure didn't hate the show, and there's actually a lot more fans who loved the show for its camp than not. The fact that Warners and Fox can't realize this and come to terms so the series can finally be remastered and released on DVD un-batcut and un-batcensored only proves that Hollywood needs a major enema.
After all the suits are beaten to within an inch of their unnatural perverted lives with 2x4's...
SuperDevil replied to OM:
I was referring to the 1970s and 1980s, the vast majority of comic fans hated the show because they felt it was too campy.
