How Fear TWD’s Teddy Is Inspired By John Glover’s Batman & Robin Villain

Fear The Walking Dead‘s new villain harks back to an often overlooked character from 1997’s Batman & Robin, both played by John Glover. Joining the zombie apocalypse during the spinoff’s sixth season, John Glover’s Teddy marks a rare occurrence in The Walking Dead – someone who’s just as evil after the outbreak as they were before. Back in the day, Teddy was a cult leader and serial killer, locked up thanks to John Dorie sr. When infection hit, Teddy found himself released into the outside world, the sight of reanimated corpses only emboldening his insane “the end is the beginning” ramblings.

John Glover is a face (and voice) many viewers will recognize, having appeared in a multitude of big and small screen productions over recent decades. As well as turns in Gremlins and Robocop sequels, Glover is widely respected by the DC faithful, having played Lionel Luthor in Smallville, The Riddler in various animated fare, and Sivana’s absent father in Shazam. The actor also scored a small role in 1997’s absolutely awful Batman & Robin playing Dr. Woodrue – the creator of Bane and killer of Pamela Isley, accidentally transforming her into Poison Ivy.

Revisiting John Glover’s hammy tenure opposite Uma Thurman, there are weird parallels to be drawn between Woodrue and Fear The Walking Dead‘s Teddy. Wild-haired, bearded and bespectacled, both characters are experts in morbid areas of science. Woodrue injects plant toxins into prisoners to create super soldiers, whereas Teddy’s a trained mortician conducting experiments on subjects dead and alive. Both are presented as “mad scientist” types with an inflated sense of ego and a god complex, completely convinced of their own greatness. Bringing the pair even closer together, Batman & Robin‘s Woodrue and Fear The Walking Dead‘s Teddy both shown a perverse sense of satisfaction in their work, getting visibly excited by the bits most folks would find morally challenging…

Like any self-respecting cult leader/serial killer, Teddy makes a habit of murdering those who disagree with his philosophy, creating another area of common ground with Dr. Woodrue. Indeed, it’s these killer tendencies that lead to Uma Thurman’s Poison Ivy transformation. Woodrue offers Pamela the chance to join him and, when she refuses, calmly explains how she’ll have to die instead, showing the same unfazed disregard for life as Teddy in Fear The Walking Dead. Much of the similarity between characters can, of course, be attributed to John Glover’s performance. The actor dances through both roles, leading the audience with a charm not dissimilar from a stereotypical southern conman or a dastardly oil magnate trying to run the humble locals out of town.

Dr. Jason Woodrue has a relatively minor role in Batman & Robin, and even then found himself overshadowed by the camp explosion of awfulness around him. Perhaps Fear The Walking Dead offers a chance for Glover to channel that same energy, but in a more appropriate setting, and with a brighter spotlight upon him.

While his Batman & Robin character clearly provides inspiration for Teddy, Glover’s post-apocalyptic cult leader also evokes memories of his Lionel Luthor character from Smallville. The controlling nature of Lex’s father and the ego-fueled mania all filter through, but Lex’s personality errs more toward the suave and intelligent – befitting of a businessman, rather than Teddy’s man of science. John Glover’s Batman & Robin character, however, is virtually a like-for-like spiritual predecessor, both in appearance and persona, to the actor’s latest role as Teddy in Fear The Walking Dead. Now if only Morgan could find a leaf-clad plant lady with poison lips, everything would be fine.

About The Author

Craig Elvy
(3631 Articles Published)

Craig first began contributing to Screen Rant in 2016, several years after graduating college, and has been ranting ever since, mostly to himself in a darkened room. Having previously written for various sports and music outlets, Craig’s interest soon turned to TV and film, where a steady upbringing of science fiction and comic books finally came into its own.
Craig has previously been published on sites such as Den of Geek, and after many coffee-drenched hours hunched over a laptop, part-time evening work eventually turned into a full-time career covering everything from the zombie apocalypse to the Starship Enterprise via the TARDIS.

Since joining the Screen Rant fold, Craig has been involved in breaking news stories and mildly controversial ranking lists, but now works predominantly as a features writer.
Jim Carrey is Craig’s top acting pick and favorite topics include superheroes, anime and the unrecognized genius of the High School Musical trilogy.

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