The Clock King (DC animated universe)
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| Paul Dini (Temple Fugate persona) France Herron (Clock King) |
The Clock King, a DC Comics supervillain and enemy of Batman, consistently appeared in Batman: The Animated Series, and several of the related series created by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini, played by Alan Rachins.
Contents |
[edit] Appearances
[edit] DCAU biography
In Batman: The Animated Series, the Clock King is Temple Fugate, who first appeared in the episode "The Clock King" and was portrayed by Alan Rachins. Fugate is a stiff, anal-retentive efficiency expert, obsessed with punctuality, who is appealing a $20 million judgment against his business. The day of the trial, Gotham City Mayor Hamilton Hill, a lawyer with the firm representing the plaintif, takes the same train to work as Fugate, suggests to Fugate to deviate from his rigid schedule so as to appear more relaxed in court. Fugate took the advice, and had his coffee break at 3:15, instead of 3:00. However, as a result of this, and a string of accidents, Fugate missed his court appearance, lost his appeal, and was ruined.
Seven years later, in The Clock King, Hills is the current mayor and is campaingning for a second period. Meanwhile, Temple Fugate adopts a clock-based gimmick and embarks on a series of sabotages to public services in order to spoil Hill's campaign, and culminates by kidnaping and taking him to a clock tower to tie him to the small hand so that when the the big hand gets by at 3:15 (the very time Hill sugested Fugate to take his break) he'd get crushed. And, had Batman not interfered, it'd have worked.
The Clock King's obsessive-compulsive attention to detail did allow him to be a formidable opponent using various time pieces and completely memorized schedules of various activities to his advantage. For instance, in his first confrontation with Batman, Fugate was able to suddenly backflip from the building top he was on to land on a passing train he knew would pass underneath at that exact moment to escape before the superhero could react in time to pursue him. He even was able to briefly spar competently against Batman, due to having memorized the timing of the crimefighter's moves from news footage of his previous fights. Unfortunately for Fugate, he accidentally jammed his clock cane between the gears of the clock tower and disappeared in the collapsing rubble of the clock tower, presumed killed.
Having survived, Fugate returned in the episode Time Out of Joint (which was the name of a sculpture built by the TV series character), having acquired a device that allowed him to move at ultra-fast speeds, seemingly freezing time for everyone except himself. He resumed his revenge against Mayor Hill, but was foiled by Batman and Robin, who had acquired similar devices with which to fight him. This time, Fugate was arrested and taken to Arkham Asylum. In the episode, his fighting skills were somewhat absent, making him an easy capture for Robin.
In a 2004 Batman Adventures comic, Fugate rigged the election against Mayor Hill, and watched his "years of exile and humiliation" in Blüdhaven. Nightwing and Batman apprehended him. However these events are not confirmed as part of the mainsteam continuity.
Temple Fugate was later seen in the Justice League Unlimited episode Task Force X" where he served as a planner and tactician in the "Suicide Squad" who guided the team with strict clockwork effiency. In exchage for his services, he was granted his freedom back.
[edit] Design
Fugate was much less flamboyant than his comic-book incarnation or Batman's enemies in general. While he did base his crime around a general clock-theme, his weapons were discreet and his "costume" was a simple business suit (brown and tan in The Clock King, all black on Time Out of Joint) embellished only by a walking cane shaped like a clock hand and glasses with clock faces on the lenses.
In his Justice League Unlimited appearances he seemed to have dropped all the clock themed gimmick, wearing regular round glasses and his brown suit. Making him look like a professional strategist rather than like an insane character.[edit] Trivia
Temple Fugate's name is a play on the Latin phrase 'tempus fugit,' meaning 'time flies.' Interestingly, Fugate has never (at least in his animated appearances) referred to himself as the Clock King, a name coined by Batman; the closest he ever came to calling himself that was in this exchange:
- Batman: I'm here to clean your clock Fugate!
- Fugate: I don't think so Batman. You see, when it comes to clocks, I am King.
[edit] See also
[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.
- The Clock King at DCAUResource.com
- 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.
