Professor Pyg (Arkhamverse)

"Pyg make her better. Pyg make all of us better."

- Professor Pyg Lazlo Valentin, aka Professor Pyg appears in Batman: Arkham Knight, voiced by Dwight Schultz. He is the villain behind the "Perfect Crime" sidequest, where Batman tracks him down by investigating the corpses left behind as Pyg's failed, "flawed" experiments. After a fight against Pyg and his Dollotrons, Batman takes him down and brings him into the GCPD.

Before Arkham Knight Incident
Lazlo Valentin was obsessed with making himself and people "perfect" after being berated by his parents that he wasn't "perfect" or "wasn't good enough" to please them. As an adult, he was a gifted scientist, but after suffering a schizophrenic breakdown believed that people must have their uniqueness removed if they are to be perfect the way he envisions it. Taking up the derranged persona of Professor Pyg, he became the ringmaster of the Circus of Strange, where he would tour the country, luring victims near his show, and turning them into his Dollotrons, "perfecting" them as he sees it. The end results are organic robots with doll masks grafted on their faces and unable to feel or think anything. Those he could not "fix" were simply tossed like trash. Eventually, he conceived a son, Janosz; it's implied that he was born from a rape victim and Pyg had her either killed or turned into a Dollotron when she refused to be with him.

Arkham Knight Incident
Batman finds six victims strung up like a dressed dear in various places throughout Gotham. Because the process of turning them into Dollotrons has corrupted their DNA, Batman has to use his Deep Tissue Scanner to look for any distinguishing features to identify them in the Missing Persons Reports. All the victims had similar traits: they had troubled pasts, had been through surgery prior to being kidnapped, had scars on them from accidents, genetic deformities and they all went missing at fair grounds and parks around the country; all of which were where the Circus of Strange had stopped on its route. Alfred finds only one associated name involved with the circus: Lazlo Valentin, who leased a beauty salon in Gotham but it expired before construction began on Wayne International Plaza.

Pyg is interrupted in one of his experiments by Batman, who demands that he release all of his prisoners from his Monster Machine. Pyg refuses and turns his Dollotrons upon Batman before joining in the fight, throwing knives at Batman. After Batman defeats them he arrests Pyg and takes him to the GCPD Lock-up.

Quotes

 * "Pyg is like clay. Pyg is like God. Pyg is here to fix us all!"
 * "Pyg dosen't hurt, Pyg heals, Pyg fixes… My Dollatrons are works of art!"
 * "Ladies and Gentlemen! Boys and Girls! The Circus of Strange, coming to a town near you! Never before has such a host of talented performers gathered in one place, to amaze and entertain!"

Trivia

 * Professor Pyg gets his name from the play Pygmalion, reflected in the character's desire to transform people into an idealized state.
 * Pyg's creator, Grant Morrison, described him as "one of the weirdest, most insane characters that's ever been in Batman. We hear a lot about Batman facing crazy villains but we tried to make this guy seem genuinely disturbed and disconnected".
 * He is similar to the Dollmaker from Batman Vs Robin, where a deranged doll-maker altered kidnapped children into cybernetic creatures due wanting them to be able to defend themselves.
 * The opera music played near Professor Pyg and his victims could be a reference to the opera Pygmalion.
 * While speaking, Pyg has a lisp that results in him making various porcine sounds befitting his alias.