Batman’s First Major Villain is Getting a Huge New Role in His Origin

The first remarkable villain to cross Batman‘s path was not, as readers may expect, a famous Clown Prince of Crime, but a well-mannered, spectacled psychiatrist: Dr. Hugo Strange, who is now getting an even bigger role in the Dark Knight’s mythos. In upcoming series The Knight, Strange will be revealed as the therapist who took care of a young Bruce Wayne after his parents’ murder.

Of all Batman’s villains, Hugo Strange has stood out over the years for being the one “without a costume.” In a city teeming with psychopaths wearing masks, costumes, or having some form of facial or body disfiguration, Strange is surely unique, even if the lack of flashy powers and distinguishable features has perhaps prevented the character from gaining the popularity he deserves. From his appearance in February 1940’s Detective Comics #36, Strange has proved to be a serious challenge to the Caped Crusader, thanks to his genius-level intellect and knowledge of the human psyche, which even led him to discover Batman’s secret identity. However, he has always been overshadowed by characters like the Joker (who debuted only two months later in Batman #1), who would then be followed by Two-Face, Riddler, Penguin, marking Batman’s turn to costumed supervillains.

Hugo Strange’s role in The Knight, however, might restore his prominence among Batman’s villains. Batman: The Knight, by writer Chip Zdarsky and artist Carmine Di Giandomenico, will be a 10-issue series chronicling the time between the death of Martha and Thomas Wayne and Bruce’s return to Gotham to wear the mantle of the Dark Knight. Many Batman stories have, in the past, shown glimpses of these formative years, but they have never been told as part of an overarching narrative. In an interview with CBR, Zdarsky reveals just how important a role the oldest Batman villain will have in the series.

Zdarsky’s and Di Giandomenico’s new series will focus on young Bruce’s journey to become the Dark Knight. It will be a physical journey, through training, survival, combat, but also a mental and spiritual one. “I knew I wanted a young Bruce seeing a therapist,” Zdarsky said in his interview with CBR, “and having it be Hugo Strange opened up all sorts of possibilities. Putting Strange’s mind and ego up against someone younger and smarter created some fun conflict.” The Knight will show how Batman was created, how Bruce got over his “youthful hubris“, developed confidence in his abilities, and how he figured out what to do with it all. Readers may learn that, as his therapist, Strange played a more important part in the creation of the Dark Knight than previously thought.

Batman’s connection to deviant psychological processes such as psychoticism and obsession has always been a defining trait of the character and his villains. Hugo Strange is no exception: his obsession with Batman and the need to prove that he is superior to the Dark Knight has been a motivating factor in his life. However, Batman himself has had his mental sanity questioned many times over the years, most famously in Alan Moore’s seminal story The Killing Joke. There is perhaps no better time period to explore Bruce’s obsession than the years when he created the Batman, and no better character than the psychiatrist who had him in therapy after the traumatic event that gave birth to the Dark Knight. Batman: The Knight will add new layers to the relationship between Batman and Hugo Strange, and perhaps better explain the doctor’s obsession with understanding and replicating the Dark Knight’s philosophy. The series goes on sale beginning Jan. 18.

Source: CBR

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