Hugo Strange was a brilliant psychiatrist obsessed with Batman to the point where he could think of little else.
History
Early Career
Professor Hugo Strange was an evil genius infamous for committing and organizing crimes all over the world, known as an international mastermind. His early encounters with his longtime enemy, Batman, mirror those of his Earth-Two counterpart. After his last criminal attempt, he was presumed dead, but in reality, Strange survived his encounter with the Dark Knight and went into hiding for a period of several years, leaving the world to think him gone forever.[1]
Strange Apparitions
Main article: Batman: Strange Apparitions
During the time when Batman and the Gotham City Police Department thought him dead, Hugo Strange fled to Europe to pursue his illicit ambitions there, free from the bedevilment of costumed crime-fighters. Dissatisfied with the lack of challenge by the regular law enforcers, Strange returned to Gotham City where he hatched a new plot to ransom Gotham's most affluent citizens by establishing a mental health clinic for the wealthy, where he would transform his "patients" into Monster Men and hold them for ransom. Bruce Wayne, having recently battled the superhuman psychopath Doctor Phosphorous as Batman, checked into the clinic to recover from radiation burns sustained during that fight, unaware of the institution's true, insidious nature. In his guise as Batman, Bruce soon discerned that something was amiss with the situation and learned that the clinic was a front for an illegal operation headed by its chief of staff, Dr. Todhunter. However, Batman's investigation of the premises was stopped when Todhunter, actually Strange in disguise, had him drugged and unmasked him in this disoriented state.[2]
Now cognizant of Batman's true identity, Strange modified his plans to account for this most unexpected turn of events and set into motion another, multifaceted, potentially more rewarding subterfuge. Strange would disguise himself as Bruce Wayne and pilfer the Wayne Foundation of its considerable funds, before organizing an underworld auction for the knowledge of Batman's secret identity. Once word of the auction spread, Strange instantly attracted the attention of three interested possible bidders: The Joker, the Penguin and corrupt Gotham City Council member "Boss" Rupert Thorne. All events seemed to point towards the revelation of the Batman's most closely preserved secret, yet things did not go as anticipated in the end, as Thorne's henchmen kidnapped Strange and tried to torture the information of Batman's alter ego out of him. Resistant to the end, Strange apparently died from the beatings that he suffered at Thorne's hands, and his corpse was evidently then dumped into the harbor.[3]
Ghostly Comeback
In the subsequent weeks after his demise, the ghost of Hugo Strange routinely threatened Rupert Thorne upon his every appearance with impending doom. Driven to the brink of madness from the shock and uncertainty of it all, Thorne hired Doctor Thirteen to discredit the reality of the "ghost". As might be expected, Doctor Thirteen deduced that the phantasm was a holographic projection generated by devices surreptitiously scattered throughout Thorne's residence and that its voice was merely a recording.[4] Consumed by crippling paranoia, Thorne convinced himself that the appearance of Strange's "ghost" was the work of two subordinate corrupt elected officials, whom he suspected of conspiring to overthrow him: Mayor Hamilton Hill and Police Commissioner Peter Pauling. Eager to take action against the perceived traitors, Thorne started with Pauling and successfully murdered him, only to be shot himself and taken in by Batman. In the aftermath, it was revealed that the "ghost of Hugo Strange" was actually the doing of the real Hugo Strange, who had been alive and well the whole time.[5]
Strange had survived Thorne's beatings and interrogation, using a yoga technique to slow down his heart rate to be virtually undetectable and thus simulate death, explaining how he had survived the seemingly fatal ordeal. With his revenge on Rupert Thorne exacted, however, now Strange was free to once again focus his efforts on Batman. For this purpose, Strange created a fake Wayne Manor including robot versions of Alfred and Robin and his own fake Batcave. This was chosen as the place for the final confrontation, when Strange would kill Batman and he would become the next Batman. However, his plan was thwarted by the real Batman and Robin, who arrived in time to aid his partner. Defeated, Strange activated a detonator to blow up the place with all of them inside, but all he accomplished was to destroy his fake replica of Wayne Manor and the Batcave. The heroes escaped unscathed and Strange was presumed dead again.[6]
Strange made one last comeback, revealing that he was never even present at the time when the explosion destroyed his Batcave replica. Instead, it was another one of his robots and, afterwards, he started planning Batman's downfall. Strange attacked Bruce Wayne and caused him to lose all his money, his home and his allies. In turn, he took over all of Wayne's possessions and tried to expose the truth to the world, but once again he was defeated by Batman and the new Robin. Taken to prison, Strange was made to believe that his knowledge of Batman's secret identity is merely a result of a purposeful hypnosis by Batman, but the conflicting information drives him relatively insane.[7]
Powers and Abilities
Abilities
- Animal Training: Strange has trained venomous snakes to attack on command.
- Cheating Death: Strange has evaded death on several occasions, no matter how improbably.
- Deception: Strange is a master manipulator, as well as being skilled at infiltration.
- Disguise: Strange was a master at disguising his voice and using high-quality masks to impersonate others, including Bruce Wayne.
- Genius Level Intellect
- Medicine: Strange developed a formula for transforming people into monsters.
- Psychiatry
Other Characteristics
Notes
- This version of Hugo Strange, including all history and corresponding appearances, was erased from existence following the collapse of the original Multiverse in the 1985–86 Crisis on Infinite Earths event and later restored following the rebirth of the infinite Multiverse during the Dark Crisis of 2022-2023. Even though other versions of the character may have appeared, this information does not apply to those versions.
Recommended Reading
Related
- 21 Appearances of Hugo Strange (Earth-One)
- 5 Images featuring Hugo Strange (Earth-One)
- 5 Quotations by or about Hugo Strange (Earth-One)
- Character Gallery: Hugo Strange (Earth-One)
Footnotes
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