Rupert Thorne is a supporting antagonist in Batman: Caped Crusader.
History[]
Early Life[]
Rupert Thorne is the current head of the Thorne Crime Family, one of the oldest and most powerful organized crime syndicates in Gotham. He has many officers of the GCPD on his payroll including Arnold Flass and Harvey Bullock. He regularly bribes Mayor Jessup and approached Harvey Dent with financial aid to his mayoral campaign in exchange for favors from the DA's office.
Later Life[]
He has a rivalry with fellow crime lord, the Penguin aka Oswalda Cobblepot, managing to flip one of her sons to his side; after Batman takes down the Penguin's operations, it created a power vacuum that allowed Thorne to expand his territory. He is voiced by Cedric Yarbrough. While Thorne already has Mayor Jessop under his control, when Harvey Dent begins his mayoral campaign, Thorne offers to support him as well, thus ensuring he would have an advantage regardless of who wins the mayoral race, although Dent initially refused.
Dent was unable to stop Gentleman Ghost from robbing the lower-class passengers of the train he was on, which made most of his donors withdraw their support due to his popularity diving.
In an attempt to regain appeal, Dent attended a visiting carnival, however, since was struggling in the polls Rupert Thorne and his right-hand Tony Zito approach him with the offer to fund his campaign in exchange for favors; driven by desperation as he was seen as negligent to the missing orphans, Dent accepted the bribe. Upon the first case that Dent was meant to toss out for Thorne, he instead went to continue the prosecution. In revenge, Thorne sent Zito, who ambushed Dent in the restroom, emptying a flask of acid on his face.
Dent received care for his burns, with the hospital allowing him to leave with half his face bandaged. Dent had abandoned his mayoral campaign, but refused to provide a reason, as well as claiming to not remember the events of his attack. Dent remained secluded in his apartment, until Bruce Wayne visited him and insisted that they go out to get dinner together to help him recover, although Bruce's main motive is to subtly interrogate Dent about the acid attack. Bruce tried to prod answers out of Dent, but his anger and paranoia about people mocking him made him have an emotional outburst; Dent removed the bandages to reveal his melted face, demanding that everyone enjoy the gruesome sight.
Dent fled into the night in shame and anger. Passing the breaking point, Dent follows leads to find Tony Zito; he grilled a lackey for information, but when the mob man made a disparaging remark, Dent brutally beat him so bad they he was hospitalized. Dent found Tony's girlfriend, and threatened her until she gave up Tony's safe house. Dent shot the two bodyguards, then overpowers Tony. Dent tied Tony to a chair, monologuing about recent events; Tony confessed Thorne made him do it, which Dent confirmed he already knew, but needed to kill him anyway, thus sets Tony on fire.
When Thorne and his son Matthew Thorne are watching horse races, he was interrupted by one of his goons alerting him about news of Dent's rampage. Dent aimed a car, with its accelerator pedal pushed down by a crowbar, crashing through Thorne's front doors. Dent then cut the mansion's power, entering under darkness; Dent engaged a firefight with Thorne's men. Dent yelled about his resentment for being unable to do anything before, but now will have justice; although, Thorne argued it sounded like vengeance, which Dent admitted that he agreed. After the available henchmen were dead, Dent approached Thorne with a gun; Matthew stood between him and his father, showing Thorne's only moment of selflessness as he begged Matthew to get away. Before Dent could fire, Batman arrived; after a brief scuffle, Batman tried to bring reason to Dent, who denied it, but eventually his fury ebbed, and felt awash with guilt over his murder spree, so surrendered without a further fight.
In Arkham Asylum, Harvey Dent refused to accepted help from former legal colleague, Barbara Gordon, as he believed that he deserved to rot for his crimes. Barbara argued that he was just another victim, and if he cooperated with the courts, giving evidence about the crimes he witnessed but didn't pursue as District Attorney, then he could be atoned. Despite believing it would only make him look worse, Dent agreed to offer.
As Dent was being loaded into the prisoner transport, there was an ambush from dirty cops on Thorne's payroll, Harvey Bullock and Arnold Flass, as they tossed tear gas that made the guards pass out, allowing them to kidnap Dent; Barbara had managed to avoid breathing the gas, so went to her car to follow the departing abductors. Dent managed to cause the car to flip by kicking the driver's head, as the steering wheel turned the vehicle too sharp to remain on its wheels. Barbara rescued Dent before the corrupt cops could recover.
Barbara had organized to meet her father, Commissioner Gordon, Detective Renee Montoya, and Batman at the docks to shepherd Dent to safety. However, Bullock and Flass had alerted Thorne of the escape, so they are a hit squad were sent to attack them. The hitmen were either killed by the honest police, and Barbara, or knocked out by Batman. Bullock and Flass were the last ones left, but Bullock was disabled; Flass, not wanting to leave Barbara alive as a witness, fired at her, but Dent blocked the bullet, taking a lethal hit. Batman disarmed Flass, and aimed the gun at him; Batman fired the remaining bullets, but deliberately missed Flass, who he punched out before tossing away the pistol in disgust.
When Barbara asked why Dent would sacrifice himself, and he confessed to not knowing himself, but being content that he did the right thing after all, so reclaimed some of his compromised principles in the end, then he died from the wounds. Thorne smugly conversed with an ally on the phone, feeling confident that now Harvey Dent was dead, he could return to routine business. As he sat in his chair, his window smashed as a batarang flew into the room, slicing Thorne's ear before becoming embedded into his chair. Thorne noticed a neighboring rooftop had Batman standing upon, who loomed menacingly as the lightning briefly brought him out of the shadows.
Appearances[]
Batmn: Caped Crusader[]
Season 1[]
- In Treacherous Waters
- Night Ride
- Nocturne
- The Killer Inside Me
- Savage Night
Trivia[]
- Despite all his crimes and bad deeds, Thorne appears to be a caring father to his son, Matthew. When his home was under attack by Two-Face, his first thought was to get Matthew to safety.