Roland Daggett (DCAU)
From Pop-Cult Guides
| DC animated Universe: Chronology |
| Batman: The Animated Series | Superman: The Animated Series | Batman Beyond | The Zeta Project | Static Shock | Justice League | Movies |
|
| Characters: Heroes and Supporting · Villains · Minor · Organizations | Places and Props |
| Episodes | Movies | Web animation | Comics | Video games | Cast and crew | Broadcasting | Awards | Internet sites | DVD releases |
| Roland Dagget
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Characteristics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Created by | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bruce Timm Paul Dini |
Roland Daggett is a villain and enemy of Batman, created for Batman: The Animated Series by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini, played by Ed Asner.
Contents |
[edit] Appearances
- Feat of Clay, part I
- Feat of Clay, part II
- Cat Scratch Fever
- Appointment in the Crime Alley
- Batgirl Returns
[edit] DC animated universe biography
Roland Daggett is a persisten enemy of Batman that appears in several episodes of Batman: The Animated Series.
Roland is the president of Daggett Industries, and as a C. E. O. is everything Bruce Wayne is not: a corrupt businessman who isn't afraid to do whatever it takes to get as much money as he wants. He is a large red haired white man with a keen criminal mind, with a modus operandy in the tradition of similar to Max Shreck from Batman Returns, Lex Luthor and eventually Derek Powers.
Daggett debuts in the episode Feat of Clay: Part I, when Daggett Industries develops Renuyu, a chemical compound that alters physical appearance. Daggett convinces disfigured actor Matt Hagen their first test subject. Hagen quickly becomes addicted to Renuyu and Daggett forces him to do his bidding in return for more. Daggett opts to use him in his scheme to take over Wayne Enterprises for the purposes of using their superior marketing operation to get the flawed Renuyu into stores. Initially Daggett seeks to take over the company through insider trading, but Lucius Fox stumbled onto his plans.
Daggett made Hagen pose as Bruce Wayne and lure Fox, with the papers proving that insider trading was being conducted, to the Gotham Island Tramway so that Daggett's henchman Raymond Bell can kill him. Hagen botches the assignment thanks to the intervention of Batman, however. Furious, Daggett decides that Hagen has outlived his usefulness, and orders Bell and another henchman, Germs, to get rid of him. The two criminals catch Hagen breaking into the plant to steal a vat of the drug, and then poured gallons of the untested product down Hagen's throat, permanently transforming him into a hideous mass of shapeshifting clay.
Hagan, reborn as the criminal Clayface, soon begins to seek revenge against Daggett in Feat of Clay, Part Two. Meanwhile Daggett tries again to kill Lucius Fox, and is again thwarted by Batman. Regardless, Daggett goes ahead with prior plans to appear on Gotham Insider with Summer Gleeson for the purposes of promoting Renuyu. When questions are allowed from the audience, an elderly woman, asking a multitude of rapid-fire questions about the rumors of Renuyu's addictive properties, is revealed as Clayface and attacks Daggett. Batman intervenes, defeating Clayface and, somewhat reluctantly, saving Daggett's life. While the revelation that he had marketed a dangerous product was damaging to his business, Daggett ultimately survived the scandal and continued using his business as a cover for his criminal empire.
He next appears in the episode Appointment in Crime Alley, where Bruce Wayne's parents murder is revealed. Roland attempts to use the Daggett Industries subsidiary company, the Daggett Development Corporation, to tear down the section of Gotham City known as Crime Alley to turn it into a commercial complex. To this end, Daggett has his henchmen Crocker and Nytro, an expert bomber and explosives smuggler, under his instructions to blow up all the buildings in Crime Alley, regardless of whether or not they are inhabited. His plan is for Nytro and Crocker to set off the explosives while he is giving a speech to the Gotham Better Business Council. Batman again foils Daggett's plans when he ensures that the explosives would only destroy abandoned buildings. But because there is no proof that he'd paid Nytro to perform the arsons, Daggett avoids prison once again.
His next scheme involved obtaining the services of Doctor Achilles Milo in the episode Cat Scratch Fever. With Milo's help, Daggett plans to release a devastating virus into Gotham by infecting stray cats and dogs rounded up by hired hands Jessie and Ponch. Naturally, the only cure for the disease is marketed exclusively by Daggett Industries, and had his plan succeeded Daggett would've not only made millions, but he would have restored his considerably tainted public image, becoming a hero.
This time, it wasn't Batman who steps in to thwart Daggett: once she learns of the inhuman experiments being conducted by Milo at Daggett Labs, a recently released Catwoman attempts to spoil his operations. Although Catwoman becomes infected with the virus when she is bitten by her cat Isis (used as a guinea pig by Milo), Batman is able to cure her, stop Daggett's henchmen from putting the infected animals onto the streets of Gotham, and expose Daggett's evil plan. This time, Daggett's legal fees result in his company becoming bankrupt. Daggett Industries and its multitude of subsidiary companies was no more, leaving Daggett penniless, despite his public claims of innocence.
Daggett returns a fourth and final time in the episode Batgirl Returns. This time, he steals a jade cat statue from a museum, planning to sell it on the black market and use the money to get Daggett Industries up and running again. Catwoman, teaming with Batgirl, discovers his involvement, necessitating their elimination.
Daggett captured them and takes them to the abandoned Daggett Labs, planning to shoot them and dispose of the bodies in vats of acid. They are saved thanks to the timely intervention of Robin. Daggett himself almost falls into the acid vat - taking the jade cat statue with him - but both the statue and the villain are rescued by Robin and Batgirl (Catwoman, bearing a grudge against Daggett for the whole virus episode, chose not to participate in his rescue). This was the last time that Roland Daggett ever appeared in Gotham City, and he presumably went to prison due to his inability to hire a good lawyer.
[edit] Gang
[edit] Dr. Milo
[edit] Nitro
[edit] See also
| Batman: The Animated Series characters | |
|---|---|
| Heroes: | Batman | Alfred | Robin / Dick Grayson | Batgirl | Robin / Tim Drake |
| Villains: | The Joker | Harley Quinn | The Penguin | Catwoman | Two-face | Poison Ivy | Rupert Thorne | The Scarecrow | Ra's Al Ghul | Talia | The Mad Hatter | The Ventriloquist and Scarface | Clayface | Killer Croc | Mr. Freeze | The Riddler | The Phantasm | Bane | Man-bat | Firefly | The Ninja | The Clock King | Baby Doll | Roxy Rocket | Hugo Strange | Doctor Milo | Maxie Zeus | The Terrible Trio | Calendar Girl | H.A.R.D.A.C. | Red Claw | Roland Daggett |
| Supporting Characters: | James Gordon | Harvey Bullock | Summer Gleeson | Leslie Thompkins | Lucius Fox | Renee Montoya | Earl Cooper | Hamilton Hill | Andrea Beaumont | Carl Beaumont | Matthew Thorne | Thomas and Martha Wayne |
| Other heroes: | The Creeper | Etrigan the Demon | Jonah Hex | Zatanna | Supergirl | Batwoman | The Gray Ghost |
[edit] External links
- The World's Finest, a site with a complete guide to the DC animated universe. It's the source of a great deal of the related images in Pop-Cult Guides.
- DCAUResource.com, a very well documented site when it comes to DC fictional biographies.
- The Animated Batman, an Unofficial Guide, a site with a complete guide to Bruce Timm's Batman. It's the source of a great deal of the related images in Pop-Cult Guides.
