- "The League of the New Order of Hirohito, Heavenly Ruler and Prince of the Rising Sun, marches on, and nothing will ever stop it. You might just as well try to stop the tides, the winds."
- ―Prince Daka[src]
Prince Tito Daka, also called Dr. Daka, was a scientist, agent of the Imperial Japanese government, and evil mastermind residing in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, California. He first appeared in the 1943 Batman film serial, where he served as the primary antagonist to Batman and Robin.
Overview[]
- "I am Dr. Daka, humble servant of his majesty Hirohito, heavenly ruler and Prince of the Rising Sun. By divine destiny my country shall destroy the democratic forces of evil and the United States to make way for the New Order. An Order that will bring about the liberation of the enslaved people of America...Each of these men...is a specialist in his line and has been especially selected by me to execute the orders I receive from Tokyo. "
- ―Prince Daka[src]
Prince Daka was a member of the Imperial Japanese Royal Family. At the outbreak of World War II, he was sent to the United States as an agent of the Japanese Empire to engage in a campaign of espionage and sabotage, now called 'Doctor Tito Daka'.
To prepare a for the Japanese invasion, he worked out of a hidden location in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, called the Cave of Horrors. It is here that he organized a group of nefarious business men called the League of the New Order. In his secret location, Dr. Daka builds a machine known as the 'Electrical Brain' to turn those who oppose him into pseudo-zombies.
However he had one thorn in his side, Batman and Robin, the caped crusaders of the city and agents of the American government. Daka employed many a thug to rid him of the pesky dynamic duo but they always failed and in the end, Batman and Robin found a way to turn everyone back to normal, and vanquish the pseudo-zombie threat once and for all.
In the ultimate show-down, Batman and Robin apprehended Daka, tying him up, they then found the way to turn people back to normal from being zombies, remove the zombie head-piece and use the Electrical Brain again reversing the effects. Daka then found a knife in his pocket, and used to cut himself loose, taking Linda Page hostage, as he attempted to creep back to his secret lab, Linda in tow, Batman quickly tells Robin to press the button that closes the door to the secret lab, Daka panics and drops Linda and rushes to the entrance to the secret lab. Unfortunately Robin hits the wrong button opening a trap-door which leads to a pit of hungry, angry alligators, Daka falls through the trap-door, and is eaten alive.
Behind-the-scenes[]
Daka was created for the 1943 serial by screenwriters.Victor McLeod, Leslie Swabacker, and Harry L. Fraser. At the time of production, America was embroiled in World War II against Japan, so the filmmakers saw fit to create an original, politically-relevant nemesis for Batman.
Daka was portrayed by Caucasian actor J. Carrol Naish under "yellowface" makeup intended to make him appear Japanese. Naish, an Irish-American from New York, was popularly called "the one-man United Nations" for playing characters of many different nationalities. He would also play another Japanese character in 1943, in the film Behind the Rising Sun.
In other media[]
- Prince Daka was adapted into comics many years later, appearing in All-Star Squadron #42 & 43 in 1985, and later in DC's Crimes of Passion #1 in 2020.
Trivia[]
- As the primary antagonist of Batman (1943), Daka is the first cinematic Batman villain.
- The name "Tito Daka" is not a real Japanese name. In fact, "Tito" is impossible to properly speak or render in Japanese, because Japanese does not have a "ti" sound in its phonetic alphabet. The closest equivalent is "chi" (ち, in hiragana, or チ in katakana).