Jervis Tetch (Prime Earth)

Jervis Tetch is the Mad Hatter, a Gotham City criminal who uses mind-control technology (usually in the form of hats) to control his victims. This makes him an enemy of Batman.

History

Origins

Main article: Batman: The Dark Knight - Mad

In school as a kid, Jervis Tetch was considerably small for his age and considered a outcast by his peers. However, he developed a crush on a girl named Alice Dee who was the only person who treated him kindly.^[1] Wanting to reach a normal height so that Alice would like him romantically, Jervis begged his parents to take him to the doctor to see if something could be done to make him taller. The doctor explained that his stature was in part caused by a testosterone deficiency and after some prodding, he agreed to test some experimental testosterone enhancers on Jervis. At a school dance, Jervis made an attempt to hold Alice's hand but was rejected by the girl, who explained that she didn't like him in that way. Dejected, Jervis spent the rest of the dance alone.^[2]

Although the drug initially worked, Tetch began to experience awful side effects, like premature hair loss, which he hid under a large top-hat, and worsening mental health. He soon became addicted to the drug, and his mind had totally warped to the point of insanity, developing an obsession with Alice Dee and one of his favorite stories Alice in Wonderland. In his derangement, the sound of his pet rabbit's thumping began to annoy him, and Tetch killed it with his bare hands. His parents, upon discovering what he had done, committed their son to the Arkham Detention for Youth.^[3]

Early Crimes

In his adulthood, Tetch became a criminal and based his persona around Alice in Wonderland, taking the name of one of the stories characters - the Mad Hatter. His first murder victim was a girl named Alice Young, sister to Sam Young, who Tetch had bought from a child trafficker Jeb Lester to fulfill his sick fantasy.^[4]

During Batman's second year as a vigilante, Tetch joined in on the "War of Jokes and Riddles" between the Joker and the Riddler for the right to kill Batman. The Mad Hatter was recruited to fight in the Joker's army, and the two sides battled in the war-torn streets of Gotham for weeks before Batman was forced to focus his efforts against one side. Batman chose to support the Riddler and captured the Hatter, sending him back to Arkham.

A "Perfect Day"

The Mad Hatter resurfaced, selling his mind control hats all over Gotham and holding casting calls at his missile launch facility base, all to recreate a "perfect day" he had years before at a theme park with his childhood sweetheart, Alice. He created a replica of the theme park in his base and took control of all the people he sold the hats to all to become the pedestrians in the park. He then went to Alice's house, where he finds to his dismay that she had become an alcoholic and a drug addict. He killed her to "put her out of her misery". He then attempted to cast a new Alice with "mind controlled girls", but ultimately killed them for falling short of his ideal. In frustration, he made his mind control subjects walk into the sewer and drown themselves.^{[citation needed]}

Mad

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"Arkham War"

After the Crime Syndicate invaded the planet and seemingly killed the Justice League, the inmates of Arkham Asylum divided Gotham City among themselves. However, Bane, wanting the city for himself, recruited the prisoners of Blackgate Penitentiary to join him in his fight against the Arkhamites in what would later be called "the Arkham War".

The Hatter, who had recently returned to Gotham after fighting Nightwing in Chicago ^[5], sided with the Arkhamites and worked primarily as a scientist alongside Mr. Freeze, with the mission of reviving the undead Talons, brainwashed to fight for them.^[6] However, the Bane proved victorious, defeating the Arkham army and declaring himself the winner of the Arkham War.^[7]

Anarky

On Christmas Eve, Hatter was discovered harassing homeless people in his delusions of finding Alice; Batman quickly threw him in jail. Soon after, a masked criminal named Anarky arrived in Gotham and distributed blank face masks to all its citizens in order to encourage them to committed remorseless crimes of chaos. With Gotham plunged into actual anarchy, Batman attempted to simultaneously investigate the new criminal and a collection of skeletons he believed were victims of the Hatter.

Before Batman could track him down, Anarky broke Tetch out of prison and brought him to his safe house, prepared to kill the Hatter. Anarky revealed himself to be Sam Young, the brother of Hatter's first victim Alice Young, who planned the whole thing in order to find Tetch and get revenge. However, before Young could get the chance to kill Tetch, he was stopped by Batman and Harvey Bullock; both Anarky and the Hatter were taken to prison.^[8]

Rebirth

Out of prison yet again, tech resembling that of the Mad Hatter's was discovered by Nightwing and Batgirl in Gotham, leading them to believe that he was getting revenge on them for his crimes they stopped in the past. However, the duo found that the Hatter was actually hospitalized, having been beaten within an inch f his life by a woman named "the Red Queen".^[9]

After the appearance of Challengers Mountain and a dangerous, cross dimensional group of Dark Knights, one of the fiends - the Batman Who Laughs - released several inmates from Arkham and gave them metal Joker cards that granted them powers under the condition that they would protect the mountain in Gotham. Tetch received one of these cards and became the last line of defense, using his power to create a dream-like world based off of Wonderland.^[10]

Powers and Abilities

Abilities

Weaknesses

Illness: Jervis has a hormonal deficiency, namely in testosterone, which causes him to be very short.
Mental Disorder: The experimental drugs Jervis took for his height not only did not help enough to be considered normal height, but also left him mentally unstable. Due to continuous use, he has become a psychotic sexual deviant.
- Drug Addiction: Jervis is addicted to the drug that he tried to take to increase his height.
- Obsession: Jervis is obsessed with the story of Alice in Wonderland, especially the character of Alice.

Paraphernalia

Weapons

Mind Control Hat: Tetch carries with him his iconic top hat that can hack into and take over people's minds. His hat also emits a powerful wave to block other psychic and mind control attacks, as well as project hallucinogenic illusions. His hats can also directly mind control people who unwittingly wore them.

Notes

Mad Hatter (Jervis Tetch) was created by Bill Finger and Lew Sayre Schwartz, first appearing in Batman #49. However, in the rebooted Prime Earth continuity his first appearance as part of the DC Universe is in Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's New 52 Batman series.

Secret Society of Super-Villains member
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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."

Batwoman Villain(s)

This character, team, or organization, is or was primarily an enemy of Batwoman. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Batwoman Villains category."

[1] Batman: The Dark Knight (Volume 2) #17

[2] Batman: The Dark Knight (Volume 2) #18

[3] Batman: The Dark Knight (Volume 2) #19

[4] Detective Comics (Volume 2) #40

[5] Nightwing Vol 3 27

[6] Forever Evil: Arkham War #3

[7] Forever Evil: Arkham War #6

[8] Detective Comics (Volume 2) #40

[9] Batgirl (Volume 5) #15

[10] Suicide Squad (Volume 5) #26

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