Dr. Kirk Langstrom was an employee and scientist at Wayne Enterprises who created a serum that turned him into Man-Bat.
Contents
History
In an effort to become the ultimate "Bat" in Gotham City, Dr. Langstrom worked on a mutative serum that would transform him into the extremely powerful and evil Man-Bat. One day, Bruce Wayne, CEO of Wayne Enterprises, inquired about the subject and purpose of his experiments, and Langstrom told Bruce that he was trying to cure his niece's deafness. Bruce soon discovered that Langstrom had lied after a visit to his niece. Bruce went back to Wayne Enterprises, and, after he looked through Langstrom's journal, discovered that he wanted to be like the Batman. Langstrom, not knowing that Bruce Wayne was Batman, took a dose of his new serum, which caused him to transform into Man-Bat. Langstrom terrorized the city during his newfound need for blood. Man-Bat wreaked havoc throughout Gotham, but was eventually apprehended when the serum wore off.
When transformed into Man-Bat, Langstrom had increased strength, a sticky mucus that bound specific areas on the victim, razor-sharp claws, a thirst for blood (his first foray into Man-Bat led him to the Gotham Zoo, where he sucked the blood out of animals), and saw via the means of his new sonar vision. While the world looked solely black-and-white to him, objects that emitted heat showed up as solid white.
In "Pets", The Penguin used a sonic device to take control of Man-Bat's mind, and used Langstrom as a tool to steal gold. Eventually, Batman put together his own sonic device and used it to turn Man-Bat against Penguin.
Man-Bat was later among the many supervillains who was captured by Rumor. Following that incident, Man-Bat was sent back to Arkham Asylum.
After Langstrom served time at Arkham, he turned to an honest life as a scientist, and promised never to use the formula again. Sadly, that same formula was found by the Terrible Trio who were able to alter it to change people into other kinds of animal hybrids. When Batman suspected Langstrom as the cause of the hybrid related crimes, he had him develop an antidote.
Appearances
The Batman
- Season 1
- Season 2
- "Pets"
- Season 4
- "Rumors"
- Season 5
- "Attack of the Terrible Trio" (Only as human)
The Batman Strikes!
- Issue 2
- Issue 10
- Issue 23
Voiced by
- Peter MacNicol (English)
- Shoto Kashii (Japanese)
- Grzegorz Pawlak (Polish)
- Mario Scarabelli (Italian)
Gallery
Trivia
- Langstrom seemed to have albinism.
- The Bat DNA that Langstrom used was that of Vampire Bats.
