Daggett Industries is a amoral company was run by Roland Daggett. Originating from the episode Feat of Clay Part I of Batman: The Animated Series, the company and is most commonly affiliated with the tragic backstory of Clayface.
History[]
DC Animated Universe[]
Feat of Clay[]
Daggett Industries, is the personal company of Roland Daggett. His business produced pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and biological products; as well as real estate and land development. Daggett Industries, although nominally legitimate, was often unethical in its business practises. It is a rival company and main competitor to Wayne Enterprises.
After its Renuyu face cream was tested on actor Matt Hagen to try and restore his prior appearance after a car accident deformed his face, Daggett used Hagen's ensuing addiction to his product in order to force Hagen to carry out various crimes on his company's behalf. This included framing Bruce Wayne in an attempt to kill Lucius Fox. Renuyu's terrible addictive side effects and the botched attempt to murder Hagen in a coverup of the scandal were responsible for Hagen's transformation into the villain Clayface.
Appointment in Crime Alley[]
One of Daggett Industries subsidiaries, the Daggett Development Corporation, was implicated in a failed attempt to detonate explosives in the Crime Alley district of Gotham in a plot to redevelop the land at a considerable profit. Once again, Daggett's plans were frustrated by Batman.
Cat Scratch Fever[]
Daggett Labs, another subsidiary, later employed scientist Dr. Milo, who created a highly virulent virus he intended to infect the people of Gotham City by infecting stray animals. Daggett planned to allow the virus to spread before selling the antidote at an enormous profit, but his scheme was stopped together by The Dark Knight and Catwoman. The failure of this gambit left Daggett in considerable fiduciary debt.
Batgirl Returns[]
Despite Daggett Industries successfully weathering the various scandals in which Roland Daggett was able to deny culpability, he was eventually exposed through the combined efforts of Batgirl and Catwoman and arrested for his crimes. The fate of Daggett Industries after the eventual arrest of Roland Daggett is unknown.
Prime Earth[]
Daggett Industries (or Dagget Industries) appears as a chemical manufacturing company in this continuity. Here, their chemical was called, "Renu" and was deemed unsuitable for exposure to human skin. This company was active for decades prior to Clayface's creation as his father, Vincent Karlo, illegally used the chemical for his horror makeup/SFX career.
When Basil Karlo grew up to be an actor, he robbed Daggett Industries of Renu t hide his disfigurements. This lead to an accident where the GCPD crashed a large amount of the substance onto Basil, turning him into Clayface.
In other media[]
Film[]
- The Dark Knight Rises: Daggett Industries appeared in this film, headed by businessman John Daggett. The company teams up with Bane in hopes of taking over Wayne Enterprises, and hires Selina Kyle to steal from Bruce Wayne with the false promise of a clean-slate device to erase her past and start anew. Bane has Daggett's men pave explosive concrete across Gotham to turn the city into a No Man's Land, and Bane murders John by snapping his neck.
Notes and trivia[]
- Daggett Industries is a replacement for the Shreck Corporation when the producers were able to convince the studio to move away from the Max Shreck character. Daggett Industries also seems to draw influence from OsCorp of Marvel Comics. This is due to OsCorp's evil CEO Norman Osborn AKA The Green Goblin baring both character and visual similarities to Roland Daggett, along with OsCorp being commonly affiliated with mad science incidents which create super-villains.
- Daggett Industries' actions in An Appointment in Crime Alley is similar to the amoral operations of infamous historic public official Robert Moses (1888-1981) who worked to bulldoze poor and marginalized neighbourhoods in New York City for his own buildings.