Simon Hurt (New Earth)

Dr. Simon Hurt is Thomas Wayne, an ancestor and enemy of Bruce Wayne. He started several plots against the caped crusader, including the Three Ghosts of Batman and the Black Glove.

History

Origin

Thomas Wayne was a devil-worshiping ancestor of Bruce Wayne, who attempted to summon a Bat-God named Barbatos, but instead was confronted by the Hyper-Adapter,^[1] the hyper-dimensional creature tasked by Darkseid with overseeing Batman's voyage through history after he was struck by the villain's Omega Effect. Corrupted, or perhaps possessed, by the Hyper-Adapter's energies, Wayne became extremely long-lived. Years after the summoning ceremony, during the 18th century, Wayne came across Vandal Savage and together they sought the secrets of eternal life that were supposed contained in a wooden box. Batman stopped then and retrieved the box from them, leaving them both unconscious. Wayne then traveled to England in order to pursue other forms of gaining immortality.^[2]

Wayne's lifespan allowed him to live through until modern times, returning to Gotham. At one point his descendant, Dr. Thomas Wayne, took him in and attempted to treat him in a secret room in Wayne Manor.^[3] He eventually grew to resent Thomas, rejecting the aid and going on to smear his descendant's name through perpetrating fake drug and rape allegations. Wayne created the new identity known as Simon Hurt (taken after Simon Magus) and starts working as a military doctor at Willowood Asylum, also becoming the leader of a secret cult known as the Black Glove. Hurt eventually gathered the cult at the Wayne cemetery after the recent deaths of Thomas Wayne and his wife Martha. Hurt planned to destroy the Wayne family name by forging evidence that would frame Martha Wayne as a criminal, through the creation of a film depicting Martha murdering the private investigator hired by her family. His ultimate goal was to take upon himself the identity of Dr. Wayne and gain all his fortune, but his plan was thwarted when a time-traveling Bruce Wayne escaped from their ritual, preventing Hurt from succeeding.^[4]

The Isolation Experiments

Simon Hurt was the psychiatrist chosen to oversee Batman during his time in the isolation experiment in his work for NASA. Using his exceptional skills as a psychiatrist, he deduced that Batman was essentially "powered by tragedy". During the Isolation Experiment, he gave Bruce Wayne a post-hypnotic trigger connected the phrase "Zur-En-Arrh" that would make him catatonic.

The Three Ghosts

Doctor Hurt was involved in a program which created three "replacement Batmen" with the participation of the Gotham PD. So for the three men who were chosen to be Batman's heirs, he set out to traumatize them to ostensibly make them better crimefighters. Hurt placed hypnotic suggestions in all of the men's minds so that they could all effectively be "activated" or "deactivated" at any time he chose. He arranged for the three replacements to fight a dazed Batman (following the isolation experiments), but they were all defeated.

Batman R.I.P.

Main article: Batman R.I.P.

Simon Hurt arranged the plan to eliminate Batman's allies on John Mayhew's island.^{[citation needed]} He even skinned the actor Mangrove Pierce, wearing his skin to appear as if not Pierce, but Mayhew himself had been killed.^[5]^[6]

After this, Hurt gathered a group of unknown criminals and formed the Club of Villains, adapting them into the Black Glove.^[7]

Hurt also managed to attack the Outsiders and he recorded a video message, letting them know about his master plan to bring the team down along with Batman.^[8]

While Bruce was trying to figure out who and what the Black Glove was, they made their move. Hurt activated Bruce's post-hypnotic suggestion, drugged him and left him on the streets of Crime Alley with no memory of who he is.^[9] After this, Hurt was forced to lure Commissioner Gordon into a trap inside Wayne Manor and hurt Alfred for his own pleasure. Immediately after this, Hurt decided to set the last step of his master plan in motion.^[10]

Hurt lured Batman to Arkham Asylum, where he forced Batman to fight the Joker while Jezebel was desperately calling for Batman's help. Batman tried to save Jezebel but he fell into a trap and the neurotoxins from a trap of flowers disoriented and paralyzed him.^[11] Hurt and the other members of the Black Glove buried Batman alive and were celebrating their victory in Arkham Asylum. However, Batman managed to rise from the grave and locked the Black Glove inside the asylum. When Batman started beating the members of the Black Glove, Hurt tried to escape via rooftop on a helicopter. Batman caught up with him and Hurt claimed to be Dr. Thomas Wayne, Bruce's father, and that he had his death faked, which Batman knew was a lie. Hurt then revealed that he planned a conspiracy that would ruin the Wayne family^[12] unless Batman joined the Black Glove. Bruce refused to give in and Hurt tried to leave on the helicopter piloted by Bat-Devil. Bruce jumped on the chopper and smashed his fist through the windshield, causing the pilot to lose control of the helicopter, which fell down to the river and exploded instantly.^[13]

Batman & Robin

Shortly after Red Hood's insurrection, Hurt was revealed to have survive the helicopter crash with Batman and spent approximately for six months in Mexico as a drug lord known as El Penitente before returning home to Gotham to finish what he started.^[14] He worked with Professor Pyg in which he used the Circus of Strange to release a drug into Gotham's air with the intention of driving the city mad, subsequently making a public return as 'Thomas Wayne' with the intention of setting up his headquarters in the Batcave.

Hurt had captured Batman (Dick Grayson) and Robin (Damian Wayne). He then has Dick Grayson unmasked, taunting him and then shooting him at the back of the head in attempting to force Damian Wayne to swear allegiance to him in order to save Grayson's life. However, Grayson and Damian had already anticipated his attack; Grayson surviving Hurt's attack relatively unharmed while Hurt's attempts to open the box that Bruce Wayne left in the past revealing nothing but a Batarang and a note saying "Gotcha!", the room subsequently filling with smoke as another Batman appeared, marking Bruce Wayne's return to the fold.^[15]

In the subsequent confrontation, Hurt attempted, and failed, to trap Bruce Wayne in a prison in the Batcave, but nevertheless escaped through the cave's water access while Bruce was busy rescuing Alfred. Having escaped to a graveyard, Hurt was confronted and defeated by the Joker. The Joker dosed Hurt with Joker Venom and buried him alive, claiming that he proved to be a disappointment as a 'new' arch-enemy. The Joker claimed that he has "taken care" of Hurt, but Bruce Wayne was not quite willing to believe that Hurt was truly dead.

Convergence

Convergence
This section of the history takes place during Convergence, a massive crossover event revisiting characters from past eras and realities. The villains Brainiac and Telos plucked them from their own timeline and stored them together, causing them to cross over into each others' reality. Its precise chronological placement and canonicity may be unclear.

It is revealed that Bruce was correct when believed Hurt wasn't dead, as he led an army of Batman's rouges gallery attacking the Earth 2 Batman. He was apparently killed when Thomas committed suicide and blew himself up.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Immortality: Possessed by the demonic Hyper-Adapter, Simon Hurt cannot die from old age and has not aged for hundreds of years.

Abilities

Acting: He also has acting and theatrical capabilities.
Psychiatry: Doctor Hurt is an expert in psychiatry and hypnosis. Having lived for many years, his wisdom and intelligence surpass that of the average human.

Notes

Although this character was originally introduced during DC's Earth-One era of publication, their existence following the events of the 1985–86 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths remains intact. However, some elements of the character's Pre-Crisis history may have been altered or removed for Post-Crisis New Earth continuity, and should be considered apocryphal.

Trivia

It should be noted that on several occasions Simon Hurt is described as the Devil by Michael Lane, James Gordon, the Joker and Batman himself. This alludes to the fact that the Black Glove movie was cursed and how Hurt knew Batman would die on his next mission.
Simon Hurt was an adult human male in 1765. This would make him a contemporary of Batman ancestors Darius and Anthony Wayne, but whether he was a parent, uncle, or brother to them is unclear.
Hurt's alias among Thomas and Martha Wayne's friends, Mangrove Pierce, may be a reference to the author Ambrose Bierce.
Like many members of the Black Glove, Doctor Hurt travels around in a black limousine, but also occasionally travels by helicopter.
Many weapons Doctor Hurt uses cause more psychological than physical damage, such as his Thomas Wayne operatic mask and cape or the words 'Zur-En-Arrh'. He may also occasionally carry a handgun as a last resort.