Mad Hatter
When I compare Marvel and DC, DC has always struck me as the brand with a bigger appetite for delving into the nitty gritty of real human foibles, like psychosis, mental instability and personality disorder.
Few characters are as psychotic as Mad Hatter, a supervillain styled in honor of Lewis Carroll’s Hatter from Alice and Wonderland and a long-standing foe in the Batman universe. Hatter was first introduced in Batman #49, all the way back in 1948, and has undergone something of a transformation in that time. Like many characters in comic books, the character has become progressively darker with time and recent incarnations have seen him quite literally heading down the rabbit hole; a mind riddled by psychosis.
Batman Begins was proof that audiences have the stomach for a dose of the otherworldly, and Hatter would be the perfect vehicle for a dash of color next to Batman’s dark. I don’t see this one happening necessarily, due in part to Hatter’s lower status on the rogues ladder, as well as the fact that he’s a quaint version of Scarecrow, but with the right treatment he’d be every bit the main baddie The Batman needs.
Published: Apr 19, 2017 02:04 pm