Egghead (Dozierverse)

Egghead was a villain created for the 1960s Batman television series. The character was identifiable by his pale bald head and white and yellow suit. He believed himself to be "the world's smartest criminal," and his crimes would usually have an egg-motif to them as well as including egg puns in his speech where appropriate such as "egg-zactly" and "egg-cellent." Additionally, he would use a wide assortment of egg-shaped weapons, such as laughing gas eggs and tear gas eggs (laid by chickens on a diet of onions).

The master criminal known as Egghead is one of the smartest men in the world, a genius by anyone's standards. With his great genius comes a great ego. He is forever talking about his own brilliance, and at one time he had his female companion Miss Bacon write down every word he said in order to record his brilliance for prosterity in a book entitled "How To Be A Better Criminal". Soon afterward, he met and became romantically involved with Olga, Queen of the Bessarovian Cossacks. They were engaged for some time, but Olga refused to marry him until he could provide her with a suitable dowry, which provided him with a reason for returning to crime. Not much else is known about Egghead besides a few personality tidbits. He never pays for anything and he eats nothing but grade triple A white eggs. Also, He finds telephones irresistible and often makes his hideout in The Ghoti Ouefs- a caviar company.

Egghead was introduced in the second season two-parter, "An Egg Grows in Gotham" and "The Yegg Foes in Gotham," where he schemed with Chief Screaming Chicken (played by Edward Everett Horton) of the Mohican Indian tribe to revert control of Gotham City to the Chief's people. In return, Egghead would also govern the city and enable the criminal underground to run amok. Needless to say, their scheme was foiled by Batman and Robin. Egghead would return twice in the third season with his new partner and love interest, Olga, Queen of the Cossacks, and in exile from Bessarovia. (The two third-season appearances were actually filmed as one multi-part story, but split into two separate stories prior to airing.) Egghead was also one of six arch-criminals freed from prison by Dr. Cassandra, but this brief appearance was by a stand-in.

Egghead has only once or twice appeared in any other Batman media outside of the 1960s series. He has only briefly appeared in the comic book continuity (He made a cameo in Shadow of the Bat #2-3 as an inmate of Arkham Asylum). Along with fellow villain King Tut, he is considered a goofier element of Batman's past that would not fit well with the darker portrayal of the character that has been in effect since the 1970s.

Egghead was one of only two Batman 1960s series villains to deduce the real identity of Batman/Bruce Wayne. Reasoning that the enormous "egg-spense" involved would point to only one of three Gotham City millionaires who would be of the right age as Batman and deducing that two could not be the Caped Crusader (one has a French accent, which Batman does not have, and the other is a southpaw, whereas Batman is right-handed), the last, Bruce Wayne, must be Batman. Before he can confirm this, Bruce Wayne's ward Dick Grayson shorts out Egghead's "memory egg-straction" machine.

Weapons and Equipment

 * Stinking Egg Bomb- explodes when tossed to the ground, releasing a nauseous gas that will effectively clear a room.
 * Since he was a genius, Egghead was able to invent some most ingenius little gadgets like an egg that was specially designed to disrupt the high-tech security surrounding the Gotham City Charter.
 * Radar Egg- becomes activated when placed on the ground. Is sensitive to the slightest vibrations and will explode if disturbed. Oddly, however, the device is only sensitive up to 6 feet.
 * Laughing Gas Egg- explodes upon impact releasing a quick acting laughing gas
 * Tear Gas Egg- collected from hens that were fed nothing but onions. Explode on impact and cause anyone inhaling the gas to cry uncontrollably.

Known Associates
Just as Batman and Robin do not go at crime-fighting alone, Egghead needs fellow partners in crime to assist him with his malicious schemes:


 * Benedict and Foo Yung- Egghead's "rotten eggs" who were under his employment during his attempt to gain the lease to Gotham City. Benedict resented the pressence of Miss Bacon because he felt "dames" didn't belong in crime.


 * Miss Bacon- Egghead's Executive Secretary in charge of writing down every word Egghead said. She was forever telling him to slow down when speaking. It was obvious she and Egghead were romantically involved. She had many pet names for him, Eggy being the most often used with affection. With her share of the money they stole from the Gotham Treasury after becoming owners of the city, she hoped to go to Rome and Greece, and get herself one of those guards from the Buckingham Palace, one of those that "doesn't blink when you tickle them". Her plans were cut short when Batman and Robin caught up to Egghead and his companions at Old MacDonald's farm.

Upset that his people had leased Gotham away for such a low price, Chicken was willing to work with Egghead to sabotage the lease ceremony. If the exchange of the pelts didn't take place as outlined in the Gotham City Charter, Gotham City would become the property of the Indians once again. Once that happened, he leased the city to Egghead for a much higher price-- $100 a month and all the eggs he could eat plus the sole rights to the import and export concession for all genuine American Indian blankets made in Japan. Little did he know Egghead was more interested in the $29 million dollars in collected taxes sitting in the Gotham Treasury than running the city. When Screaming Chicken learned of this he began to have second thoughts about the deal he made. Egghead and his men tied Chicken up and left him behind for the Caped Crusaders. He was released by the Dynamic Duo and in time the citizens of Gotham forgave Chicken because he had been led astray by empty fantastical promises made by Egghead. ''That poor red-skin," said Batman when he learned the Chief had gone bad. Batman could understand why Chicken could do what he did. At one time in his life, Chicken worked as a bottle washer. He and his boss got into an argument and the boss told him "to go back to his own country". That planted the seed of anger. At the time of all of these events, Chief Screaming Chicken was 60 years old, but everyone agreed he looked very good for his age. Before and after these events he was the owner of the Screaming Chicken Roadside Teepee.
 * Chief Screaming Chicken- the Chief and the last of the Mochican Indians. It was Screaming Chicken's descendants who leased Gotham City to the Waynes, Tylers and Savages back in colonial times for the price of nine raccoon pelts. As the last member of his people it was his task to take part in the renewal of the lease which takes place every five years. This time, however, Chicken had other plans in mind.


 * Olga- at one time she was his fiance, and he clearly adored her. But their shared addiction to the criminal lifestyle led them to prison again and again. The current state of their relationship is not known.

In Other Media

 * Egghead appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Day of the Dark Knight!" trying to escape Iron Heights along with fellow inmates King Tut, Imposter Mad Hatter, Archer, Bookworm, False Face, Black Widow, Siren, Marsha Queen of Diamonds, Louie the Lilac, Ma Parker,and Shame. Egghead and the other villains were stopped by Batman and Green Arrow.