DC Database
Advertisement

A psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum, Hugo Strange has an interest in the minds of the psychotics and psychopaths that fill the cells in Arkham.

Strange testified at Ethan Bennett's, aka Clayface, court date, giving Ethan a clean bill of health for his mental stasis.

Although he claims to want to help the inmates at Arkham Asylum, Hugo Strange seems more bent on finding out how the criminal mind works, rather than simply curing it.

After being "cured" of his affliction by Professor Hugo Strange, Arnold Wesker (The Ventriloquist) was able to resume his life in the real world. Despite being successful in his new life, Professor Hugo Strange wished to "test" his criminal therapy and gave the Scarface puppet back to Wesker, causing him to fold and resume his criminal career.

Strange once ran Arkham Asylum until his own asylum deemed him was insane himself. He was then tossed into one of the Arkham's padded cells. On many occasions he tried to study Batman but none succeeded. He invented a machine that allowed someone to enter a person's mind and entered The Joker's, sparking his new interest in The Batman.

In Gotham's Ultimate Criminal Mastermind, Dr. Strange invented a special computer to study Batman. Taking the profiles of Mr. Freeze, The Penguin, The Riddler, The Joker and himself, Dr. Hugo Strange created "Gotham's Ultimate Criminal Mastermind", a Digitally Advanced Villain Emulator or "D.A.V.E."

Allowing this Frankenstein to unleash itself upon Gotham by programming it to "escape" from Arkham, Strange allowed it to lure and study The Batman. Though he had set the ultimate trap for Batman in the batcave, Dave had not planned on Batman using reverse logic on Dave. Although Dave knew of the origins of others, he did not know the origin of himself -- or even that he was not even human. After Batman told him this, it bought him enough time to crush Dave under the giant penny.

Now committed into the very place where he used to treat his patients, Hugo Strange requested The Batman's audience and told him of his mad ambitions to turn everyone in Gotham into a zombie who listened only to him.

Unbeknownst to The Batman, he infected him and Robin with the very same virus he planned to inflict upon the city, making Batman and Robin the carriers. Batman then spent the remaining 48 hours trying to cure a city that did not need treating before eventually overcoming Strange's mind control and realizing he was seconds away from infecting Gotham. Strange remained in Arkham with his mad scheme stopped.

Strange was later shown as one of the criminals captured by the vigilante Rumor. Once freed he tried to escape, but was later put back in Arkham.

He later tried to help a robotic alien race to take over earth, requesting all of the knowledge of the universe. After succeeding, they granted his wish, however the amount of knowledge caused his brain to overload. He has all of the knowledge of the universe but is left as a vegetable.

Powers

Abilities

Other Characteristics

  • Catatonic State: Although a genius Strange was still a human. His brain couldn't comprehend all the information, most of his mind was destroyed in the process. Martian Manhunter had a very big problem in scraping information from Hugo's brain after that.
  • Obsession


  • This version of the character is exclusive to the continuity of the television series The Batman, related film, and the tie-in comic The Batman Strikes!. It is an adaptation of Hugo Strange. The original character was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger and first appeared in Detective Comics #36.
  • Hugo Strange was voiced by Frank Gorshin - who played the Riddler in the 1960s Batman TV show. After Gorshin's death, Richard Green took over the role.
  • In "Strange New World", Strange's role in the episode was originally going to be filled by the Scarecrow. This makes sense considering that Batman suffers hallucinations throughout the episode thanks to a toxin made by Strange, which resembles the Scarecrow's iconic fear gas. However, the Scarecrow was restricted from appearing in the show due the version played by Cillian Murphy in The Dark Knight Trilogy.

Related

Footnotes


Batman Villains 0003
DC Bullet 2024

Batman Villain(s)
This character, team or organization, has been primarily an enemy of the Batman, or the Batman Family as a whole. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Batman Villains."

Injustice League Unlimited 002
Justice League Villain
DC Bullet 2024

This character is or was primarily an enemy of the Justice League, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Justice League Villains."

Advertisement