This is a disambiguation page — a list of articles associated with the same title.
An, "Anti-Batman" is a term used to refer to members of Batman's rogues gallery who have abilities, M.O.s, motivations, bat gimmicks and/or aesthetics directly mirroring those of Batman. Sometimes the distinguishing qualities of an Anti-Batman can be blurred as most primary members of his rogues gallery tend to parrellel him in some way. The term originates from World's Finest Vol 1 #159 from the August of 1966 when Commissioner Gordon was exposed to a gas that transformed him into the villainous, "Anti-Batman".
While not necessarily mutually-exclusive, the typical divisions of Anti-Batman are:
Ability/Gadget counterparts[]
Villains who have arsenals and capabilities which imitate those of Batman such as high-tech gimmicked gadgets, side-kicks, animal costumes, and/or a range combat skills.
Catman[]
Thomas Blake AKA Catman is a cat-themed male supervillain who dresses in a caped costume very similar to Batman's complete with a near-identical cowl. Catman is known to have used various gadgets similar to Batman's such as a Catmobile and Catarangs. Like Bruce Wayne, Catman has personal wealth though was formerly a big-game hunter. Blake was later reimagined as a much more morally-ambiguous character who often acted as a moral anti-hero.
Deathstroke the Terminator[]
Slade Wilson AKA Deathstroke is a super-soldier turned mercenary broadly considered to be the world's best assassin. Like Batman, Slade is an incredibly adept strategist, combattist and martial-artist who frequently uses a wide array of weapons and gadgetry. As a counterpart to Batman's intellect, Deathstroke has a biologically enhanced brain-capacity which allowed him become a master strategist and master of countless gadgets and weaponry. Slade also perversely mirrors the relationship which Batman has with his Robins via the extreme training of his daughter Rose Wilson, as well as in being a recurring enemy of Nightwing (the first Robin) and Nightwing's team, the Teen Titans.
Killer Moth[]
Killer Moth, using similar gadgets as Batman to fight him
Drury Walker might be the original, "Anti-Batman" Batman villain. He was a criminal who became inspired by Batman to become a mercenary Batman-type protector for the criminal underworld. Walker posed as wealthy philanthropist Cameron van Cleer and used fought the authorities using inventions such as a Mothmobile, Moth-Signals and Moth Cave with Crime Lab along with original inventions such as a cocoon-gun and hover-pack.
Similar to Batman's Robin, Killer Moth also took up a sidekick in the form of serial-arsonist Garfield Lynns AKA, "The Firefly". Killer Moth would also establish a team known as, "The Misfits" consisting of himself, Catman, Calendar Man and Chancer. For a time, Drury distanced from his, "Anti-Batman" M.O. when he became the monstrous, man-eating human/moth hybrid, "Charaxes".
Bat/Batman-themed villains[]
Villains themed towards bats, have bat motifs, or who theme themselves around Batman and the Bat family.
Anti-Batman[]
The term, "Anti-Batman" originates from an incident in-which Commissioner James Gordon of the GCPD and Daily Planet newspaper editor Perry White were infected with a mysterious gas from Superman's Fortress of Solitude. This resulted in the two developing evil versions of Batman and Superman's personas and abilities while being deemed, "The Cape and Cowl Crooks". Eventually, Batman and Superman were able to join-forces to restore their allies to their normal states. Incidentally, Gordon also became a government-controlled Batman in New 52 continuity when he was equipped with a Superheavy Batsuit by the company Powers Tech though this initiative failed, resulting in the original Batman having to come back to fight Gordon's enemy Mister Bloom.
Bat-Hombre[]
Luis Peralda was an agent of drug-lord El Papayago in the South American nation of Mantegua. To assist the cartel, Luis donned a Batman inspired costume to become, "Bat-Hombre" and pose as a superhero vigilane while actually assisting the cartel. Luis later met the real Batman and feigned training under him while actually planning to steal his secrets and dispose of the vigilante. This plan did not work and Peralda was sent plummeting off the side of a cliff to his presumed death.
Batman (clone)[]
This organism was one of many Bruce Wayne clones created by the alien New God Darkseid but who were driven mad by Bruce Wayne's memories and died. After the real Batman killed Darkseid and was transported back in time by Darkseid's power so the killing might be undone, the clone's body was found and presumed by Superman to belong to Batman. The clone was buried in Bruce's place and later ressurected as a mad and evil Batman via the Lazarus Pit.
Bat-Mite[]
Bat-Mite is a god-like being from the 5th Dimension who is obsessed with Batman and appears to him in the form of a floating imp in a home-made Batman costume. He claims to be Batman's biggest fan and while technically being his ally and a member of the Bat-Family, he is well known to use his powers to both knowingly and accidentally torment the Dark Knight for his own amusement. Later comics would reintroduce Bat-Mite is a hallucinated figure of Bruce Wayne's mind though others had apparently shared the visions of the imp.
Batzarro[]
"Batzarro" or, "Bizarro-Batman" is a reversed clone of Batman created in the vain of Superman's distorted clone, Bizarro. Batzarro idolized Batman and claims to be, "The World's Worst Detective" while making botched attempts to aid the Dark Knight. Despite this, he is also known for gunning down civilians and enemies.
Composite Superman[]
Joseph Meach was a downtrodden employee of the Superman Museum in Metropolis where he envied and loathed the superheroes of the Justice League. While working at the museum one night, a freak accident blended Joseph Meach with the DNA of Batman and Superman, transforming him into the evil Batman/Superman hybrid, "Composite Superman".
Dark Knight[]
The Dark Knight is a clone of Batman's butler Alfred Pennyworth, raised to be a murderous vigilante. The clone was created by Alfred's old government affiliate Briar who wished to be the initial, "Dark Knight", but went mad from the procedure causing Alfred to try and kill him.
Doctor Hurt[]
Dr. Simon Hurt, born Thomas Wayne, is a 17th century member of the Wayne family who was outcast due to his satanism. Hurt later became an immortal who founded the hedonistic secret-society The Black Glove, connected to Gotham's mafia. Hurt has also conducted various experiments for the U.S. government such as causing Batman to hallucinate Dick Grayson's death in isolation, and brainwashing GCPD officers to become new Batmen.
Simon Hurt maintains a bat motif by worshiping the cosmic bat demon Barbatos and dressing in a bat masquerade costume modelled after that worn by his descendant, the late Dr. Thomas Wayne. Hurt additionally founded and lead the, "Club of Villains", a criminal counterpart to the, "Club of Heroes" which was composed of Batman and Robin inspired vigilantes from across the world. The club consisted of the enemies of these Batmen from around the world, united to fight their mutual enemies.
Man-Bat[]
Dr. Kirk Langstrom was a scientist who experimented on himself with a serum made from vampire-bat DNA in an attempt to cure his developing deafness. While the experiment restored his hearing, it also caused him to uncontrollably transform into the insane bat/human hybrid, "Man-Bat" which became an enemy of Batman. Paralleling Bruce's, "Bat-Family", Kirk's wife Dr. Francine Langstrom also became a super-criminal when she injected herself with an augmented version of the serum to become, "She-Bat" and used said serum for crime.
Professor Hugo Strange[]
Professor Hugo Strange is a derranged mad scientist and Batman's oldest recurring enemy. A brilliant psychiatrist, Strange managed to deduce Batman's secret-identity and became obsessed with the Batman persona with the belief that he, and not Bruce Wayne, deserved to be Batman. Strange would begin wearing a crude version of the Batman costume under his clothes and have lovers wear the Batman cowl during his missions to de-throne Bruce Wayne.
Three Ghosts of Batman[]
The Three Ghosts of Batman were officers of the GCPD experimented on by mad scientist Dr. Simon Hurt in an effort to create GCPD controlled, "Back-up" Batmen. The three included skilled marksman Officer Josuf Muller who became, "Bat-Cop", family-man Officer Branca who was exposed to the super-steroid VENOM turning him into the mad brute, "Bat Bane" who inadvertently killed his own family, and officer Michael Washington Lane who had his family murdered by Simon Hurt, transforming him into the, "Bat-Devil".
Dark Reflections[]
These villains do not necessarily match Batman's specific skills, posessions or gimmick but who do imitate his motives, theatrics, origins and mind. These villains also are often emblematic of one or more of the other categories of Batmen.
Arkham Knight[]
Astrid Arkham was daughter of Arkham Asylum's warden Jeremiah Arkham and psychiatrist Dr. Ingrid Karlsson, the latter of whom was beloved by the asylum's inmates. Astrid was born in the middle of an asylum riot and was delivered by asylum inmates Joker, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Clayface, Solomon Grundy and Two-Face. Not long after her birth, Astrid's mother was killed by a batarang to the neck, thrown by a recently transferred patient whom was subsequently killed in revenge by Solomon Grundy.
Out of mourning and respect for Astrid's mother, the inmates of Arkham took a large role in the raising of Arkham leading to the girl becoming obsessed with stories of chivalrous knights and wishing to avenge Batman who she saw as responsible for the pain inflicted on her family. As a young woman, Astrid Arkham took up a militarized knight-armour to become, "The Arkham Knight" and found the Order of the Sun, a templar dedicated to freeing Gotham from the Batman.
Batman of Zur-En-Arrh[]
The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh was initially an alien named Tlano but was later rebranded as a violent and unhinged backup personality of Batman. He was created by Simon Hurt as a trigger phrase during an isolation experiment based on what Bruce believed his fathers last words to be. After Hurt used drugs and the phrase on Bruce, he lost his mind and fashioned a red and purple costume and declares himself The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh.
Years after this ordeal the personality began to resurface in Batman's mind, compelling him to create Failsafe, A robot designed to take him down if he ever broke his No Killing rule. It was eventually revealed that the personality was created by Batman himself with a machine as a failsafe to keep his mind from ever being hijacked. After several failed attempts to make Batman a more ruthless vigilante such as making him push away his family and abandon his no killing rule, he eventually downloaded his mind into Failsafe becoming a separate entity and hoped to replace the Bat Family as Gotham's main protector.
Batman with the Bat-Family alongside Hush and the Rogues Gallery as counterparts
Hush[]
Dr. Thomas "Tommy" Elliot was the childhood best-friend of Bruce Wayne and considered family by the Wayne family. Unknown to Bruce, Tommy was being domestically abused by his parents leading to Tommy rigging his parents' car to get in an accident so that he could escape his abusive household to that of the Waynes with his inheritence. However, Dr. Thomas Wayne was able to save Tommy's mother and not long after, Bruce's parents were shot dead by Joe Chill. These events caused Tommy to grow deeply envious and hateful towards Bruce whom he saw as being handed he life which Tommy dreamed of.
As an adult, Tommy became a world-renowned surgeon who learned Batman was Bruce Wayne from the Riddler and subsequently assumed the identity of, "Hush" to unite Batman's enemies in an orchestrated attack against the vigilante. Tommy went so far as to fake his death at the hands of the Joker in-front of Bruce and later surgically alter his own face to be identical to that of Bruce Wayne.
Lincoln March (Owlman)[]
"Lincoln March" (unofficially/semi-officially known as, "Owlman") is the name which was assumed by a paralytic boy raised at Willowood Orphanage who believed himself to be Thomas Wayne, Jr., the lost son of Dr. Thomas and Martha Wayne and younger brother to Bruce. It was believed that Thomas Wayne, Jr. had died in a car-accident at the intersection of Lincoln and March street which was arranged by the aristocratic secret-society, the "Court of Owls" when the Waynes angered the court. "Lincoln" however believed he was raised at Willowood in secret and that his paralysis was the result of his troubled birth, with his proposed evidence for this being that Martha would frequently spend hours with the paralysed boy on her philanthropy visits to the orphanage.
After the Wayne parents were shot dead in Crime Alley, the boy was adopted by the Court of Owls and raised to be their agent. As an adult, he took the name of Lincoln March and acted as a politician and mayoral candidate who befriended Bruce Wayne. Throughout this time, Bruce manipulated the Court of Owls and killed many of its highest-ranking members so he could equip himself with the regenerative metal Dionesium and high-tech owl themed assassin suit used by the court's Talon assassins. Lincoln used his resources to wage war on Bruce Wayne's life, sometimes teaming with Bruce's rogues gallery to do so.
Phantasm[]
Andrea Beaumont lost her mother when she was young and to cope she learned hand-to-hand combat and often visited her mother's tomb to, "Talk". It was during one of these talks where she met a young Bruce Wayne speaking to his own parents' tombs. Bruce and Andrea became lovers with plans to marryuntil Andrea's father was targeted by the mob, forcing her to leave Gotham which Bruce wasn't able to do. After this, Andrea found that the mob killed her father before she could reach him, leading her to assume her own Batman-esque identity as, "The Phantasm". Andrea returned to Gotham under this moniker to hunt down and murder those responsible for her father's murder, all while posing as a ghost or, "Angel of Death".
Prometheus[]
"Prometheus" (real name unknown) was the son of two loving criminals that were gunned down in-front of him by a police-officer. Haunted by the event, the boy went on to use his inheritence of blood-money to train as a scientist and assassin so that he could avenge his parents' murder. The boy became the genius revolutionary eco-terrorist, "Prometheus" who made his base in a crooked house which he constructed in the dimension, "The Ghost Zone" while also having a pathological need to kill law-enforcement.
Wrath[]
Wrath (I)[]
When, "Wrath" was a boy, he saw his parents gunned down by rookie police-officer Jim Gordon who subsequently covered up the death. This lead to the boy growing up to be the costumed mercenary/cop-killer, "Wrath" who travelled to Gotham City to fight the now Commissioner Gordon. Wrath took in his own five, "Robin" style sidekicks by kidnapping orphans, only one of whom, Elliot Caldwell, survived.
Elliot Caldwell[]
Elliot Caldwell was a boy when he witnessed his parents murder at the hands of GCPD officers. He was later adopted by the original Wrath to be trained as his Robin inspired sidekick. After the original Wrath's death, inspired sidekick Caldwell took up the Wrath mantle to continue his predecessor's war on Gotham police. Paralleling Wayne Enterprises, Caldwell founded the company Caldwell Technologies to provide himself with technology.
Vigilantes[]
These enemies are vigilantes similar to Batman who are often made his enemies due to shared histories and/or violent extremism.
Azrael as Batman following the events of Knightfall
Azrael[]
The traditional Azrael is Jean-Paul Valley, a test-tube baby engineered with both human and animal DNA by the extremist catholic templar, the Order of St. Dumas. Azrael was conditioned by the order from a young age to be a murderous vigilante that served their cause. After Bruce Wayne had his spine broken by the mercenary Bane, Azrael took up the Batman mantle to act as a mad zealot who killed those he deemed, "Sinners". Azrael was eventually defeated by a resurged Bruce Wayne after having his spine healed with the help of Lady Shiva.
Black Spider[]
Eric Needham was a low-level criminal in Gotham City whose drug-addiction cost his brother his life. Motivated by his brother's death, Eric became the vigilante, "Black Spider" who targeted drug-dealers and mobsters to assassinate, putting him at odds with the Batman.
Ghost-Maker[]
Minhkhoa "Khoa" Khan was an old friend of Bruce Wayne's who he trained alongside him during Bruce's seven years of training. The two became rivals when Khoa learned Bruce fought to avenge his parents' deaths rather than to study the art of murder. Because of this, Khoa would take up the identity of, "Ghost-Maker" to act as a murderous vigilante in Gotham as a means of proving himself better than Bruce.
Lock-Up[]
Lyle Bolton was the head of security at Arkham Asylum where he kept the inmates in inhumane conditions. When Bruce Wayne exposed Bolton, he took up the identity of, "Lock-Up" and began using traps of his own design to attack criminals and those he saw responsible for the loss of his job.
The Reaper[]
Dr. Benjamin Gruener[]
Dr. Benjamin Gruener was a Jewish-German medical doctor alive during World War II. Gruener and his family were captured by the Nazis and forced into a concentration camp where he watched his family die. After the war, he became, "The Reaper" to hunt down nazis and murder them.
Judson Caspian[]
Judson Caspian was a Grim Reaper themed vigilante who murdered young petty-criminals and delinquints on the streets of Gotham before being defeated by the original Green Lantern, a paranormal Gotham vigilante named Alan Scott. The Reaper reappeared in Gotham years later and became an enemy of the Batman.
Jason Todd riding in-front of the Bat Signal
Red Hood[]
Jason Todd was a young boy raised on the slums of Gotham City with a dirtbag father who died in Blackgate Prison and a drug-addicted mother who abandoned him. Jason was later raised by the criminal thief Nocturna before being caught by Batman stealing the tires from the Batmobile at which point Batman adopted the boy to be the second Robin. Jason became much more unstable and violent then his predecessor, then after murdering a domestic-abuser and brutalizing super-criminals he ran away.
Jason was later lured out of Gotham by the Joker who proceeded to beat him to a pulp with a crowbar and leave Jason to die in an explosion. After this, Jason was mysteriously resurrected and driven to rage and madness by the trauma of his own death alongside the knowledge that Batman never killed Joker in revenge but did recruit a new Robin in the form of Tim Drake. Jason took up the Joker's old moniker, "The Red Hood" to wage a war of revenge against the Joker and Batman where he became a vigilante and morally motivated gangster who was a self-declared, "Better Batman".
White Knight[]
White Knight is a vigilante/serial-killer who has a reversed moniker from that of Batman's, "Dark Knight". Lewis Bayard was the son of a guard at Arkham Asylum who was killed by the inmate Dr. Alexander Sartorius AKA Doctor Phosphorus. Because of this, Bayard assumed the angel inspired alias of, "The White Knight" to try and not only massacre the patients of Arkham Asylum, but also their family-members as a means of ending their bloodlines. Lewis was stopped by Batman and Robin and then institutionalized in Arkham Asylum with cybernetic wings which he wore, now fused to his back.
Alternate Universe Batmen[]
These are Anti-Batmen who are evil counterparts to Batman/Bruce Wayne originating from alternate realities and who come to fight mainstream-continuity Batman.
Barbatos[]
Barbatos or the, "Hyper-Adapter" is an bat-like deity which personifies Batman's abstract essence in the Multiverse. Barbatos has been identified with various bats throughout Gotham's lore such as being the bat Bane had nightmares about, an urban-myth affiliated with Arkham Asylum, or the bat which landed on Dr. Thomas Wayne's bust when Bruce had his epiphany to become Batman. Portrayals of Barbatos vary from being cosmic god of the nightmarish Dark Multiverse, or as a Lovecraftian agent of the New God, Darkseid who has chased him throughout time with intent of destroying the hero's being.
Barbatos also established, "The Dark Knights" a twisted Justice League composed of dark Batmen from different dark multiverse realities. In Prime Earth continuity, he was worshiped by the Court of Owls whom acted as his servants. In New Earth continuity, he was worshiped by Dr. Simon Hurt who became a failed human vessel for the New Gods.
Batman (Thomas Wayne)[]
This Batman originates from an alternate timeline accidentally created by the Flash when he went back in time and saved his mother from being murdered by the Reverse-Flash. The butterfly effect of this new timeline made it so that Bruce Wayne was shot dead by Joe Chill rather than Dr. Thomas and Martha Wayne who watched their only son die. This event resulted in Thomas becoming that world's Batman and Martha the Joker, both of whom were incredibly violent and murderous. Before the Flashpoint universe was destroyed, Thomas was saved from it and planted on Earth by the Reverse-Flash as a means of psychologically torturing him as the only survivor of his lost universe.
Thomas reunited with his son but was insistent that he stop being Batman and let him take over. When Bruce resisted, Thomas tried attacking the Bat family only to be incapacitated by Catwoman and sent to Arkham Asylum. In Arkham, Thomas teamed up with Bane to unite Bruce's rogues gallery to defeat Bruce so Thomas could take over as Batman. During this time, Thomas also emotionally manipulated the meta-human vigilante Gotham Girl into becoming his super-powered side-kick.
The Batman Who Laughs and his feral, "Robins".
The Batman Who Laughs[]
The Batman Who Laughs is a nigthmare reality's Bruce Wayne who killed the Joker and developed his sadistic, anarcho-nihilistic insanity. This Bruce massacred the Bat-family and kidnapped various children to torture into feral, cannibalistic, "Robins" who he keeps on chain leashes. The Batman Who Laughs would find himself in mainstream continuity where he made his way to Gotham City and began terrorizing its Batman by summoning other evil alternate Batmen, sending murdered alternate-reality Bruce Wayne corpses to the GCPD, and equipping Batman's rogues with cosmic weaponry.
The Dark Knights[]
The Dark Knights is an evil version of the Justice League which is composed of different evil multiverse Batman counterparts, each of which is made to parallel a different Justice League member. The group was established by the demonic bat god Barbatos and was lead by the deranged, "Batman Who Laughs".
The Grim Knight[]
"The Grim Knight" is an alternate Batman who moments after watching his parents die, picked up Joe Chill's gun and shot the mugger. After this, he trained to become an extremist vigilante who used Wayne Enterprises technology to take control of Gotham City from behind the scenes, controlling all of its technology and keeping it under constant surveillance. After the murders of mobsters the Penguin, Black Mask, Killer Croc and Red Hood along with mutilating mayor Harvey Dent with radiation to lose half of his face, Batman was tracked down by an off-the-grid Jim Gordan and arrested by the FBI. The Grim Knight was later brought by the Batman Who Laughs into the mainstream universe to fight its Batman.
Owlman[]
Owlman AKA Thomas Wayne, Jr. is an alternate-universe son of Thomas and Martha Wayne who arranged for his parents to be shot dead by his butler, Alfred :The Outsider" Pennyworth. Using his family fortune, Thomas grew up to be the sadistic and heartless, "Owlman" who terrorized Gotham City alongside his young sidekick Talon. Owlman was also a member of the Crime Syndicate of Amerika, a fascist guild of super-criminals who used their joined powers to take-over the United States.
In other media[]
Film[]
- Batman: Mask of the Phantasm: This film set in the DC Animated Universe created the character of the Phantasm, seemingly inspired by the Reaper from the comics.
- The Dark Knight: This film had several, "Batmen" who used lethal weaponry and homemade Batman costumes to try and imitate Batman while fighting crime.
HARDAC
Television[]
- Batman: The Animated Series: This series introduced the characters of Lock-Up and HARDAC, the first of whom is an afformentioned Batman-style vigilane while the latter was a mad A.I. obsessed with crude ideas of justice and whom turned into a robotic replica of Batman. The series also featured adaptations of Man-Bat, a vigilante third-personality of Two-Face called, "The Judge", and Prof. Hugo Strange (albeit without his Batman obsession).
- Justice League: In the "A Better World" arc, this series introduced the villainous fascist alternate-universe Batman, "Lord Batman".
Video-games[]
- Batman: Arkham Knight: This video-game featured the original incarnation of the Arkham Knight, here a version of Jason Todd who secretly survived after being tortured by the Joker.
Trivia[]
- Nightwing has his own, "Anti-Nightwing" type villains such as Nite-Wing and Deathwing who imitate his persona, Ravager who parallels his origins, the Tarantula who acts as a murderous and abusive vigilante counterpart, and his great-grandfather Talon who acts as an overall shadow foil to Nightwing.
- Deadshot was originally introduced in the Silver Age of comics as a sort of anti-Batman vigilante before being reimagined as a hitman.