The Mad Hatter (DC animated universe)
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| Bob Kane Bill Finger |
The Mad Hatter (Jervis Tetch), 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 Roddy McDowall. As in the current comics continuity, he has an obsesion with Lewis Carroll's fiction and uses sophisticated mind controling devises to commit his crimes.
He is a prominent member of the rogues gallery, who occasionally conspires with the others to destroy Batman and Robin.
Contents |
[edit] Appearances
[edit] Superman: The Animated Series
- 7. Knight Time
[edit] Non voiced cameos
[edit] DCAU Biography
A billiant yet obscure and unrecognized engeneer and electronic genius, Jervis Tetch works at WayneTech on experiments with mice using mind controlling microchips stored within hats to stimulate and take control over brain waves. His love for the Lewis Carroll fiction, as well as his Mad Hatter lool alike face, his insanity and his infatuation for his secretary, Alice, embitters and obsesses him to the point of a breakdown.
In Mad as a Hatter, after Alice breaks up with her long time boyfirend over a silly fight, wearing a Mad Hatter costume, he attempts to win her affection by taking her out on the town. She misinterpreted the gesture, however, as simply a way to cheer her up, and unwittingly spurned his affections further. Jervis manages to impress her with a number of people paying him respect as an importnat person. All of them wearing the mind controlling devises. However, Billy, Alice's boyfriend not only reconciles with her but successfully proposes. Driven over the edge, Tetch uses his mind controlling microchips to turn Alice into his puppet. After Batman captured him, Tetch pursues a life of crime under the alias of The Mad Hatter. Paul Dini, author of this revamp of the classic batman villain, once claimed that it was inspired by a true story [1] involving a shy technical designer who had unrequited feelings for a workmate, so he shot his workplace up.
In his second appearance, Perchance to Dream, the Mad Hatter traps Batman unconscious and puts him in a Vanilla Sky-like (the episode airs years before the movie is written) virtual reality dream realm which gave Batman his greatest desires, described by Tetch as Batman's "own private Wonderland", so that he won't interfere again with his plans. When Batman finally freed himself from the equipment by killing himself in the dream, he demanded to know why Tetch had used the machine rather than simply kill him. Sobbing, Tetch replies, "You ruined my life! I was willing to give you any life you wanted, just to keep you out of mine!"
In Joker's Wild, he is shown sociallising in the Arkham Asylum TV room. First playing chess with the Scarecrow and later, watching TV with him and Poison Ivy and the Joker.
After the Court releases him, Tetch develops new mind controlling chips that by being near the subject during his sleeping time, are abble to program them into an altered state of consciousness (or trance) in which they would do whatever the chip commands them to do. He also develops a new version of his mind controling hats that could also tap into an unused potential of the mind which can increase the subjects strength and stamina, turning them into the ultimate henchmen. With his new technology he goes to a south American country, to get "volunteer" henchmen with the controling hats and sell the chips to the ever popular Gotham City sociallite Veronica Vreeland, disguised as Worry men, miniature men figures that according to the folklore, are supposed to take away their owner's worries by putting them under the pillow at sleeping time. Vreeland not only bought one set for her but several to gift all her very wealthy friends including Bruce Wayne in The Worry Men. Soon (at te begining of the episode) all of them are leaving impressive amounts of money and jewals in strange places for the Mad Hatter's henchmen to pick up. Even Bruce Wayne falls victim after Alfred naively decided to put his mastr's set under his pillow. Batman is able to solve all the mistery and defeat the Hatter after a brief enquiring with Veronica.
[edit] The Adventures of Batman & Robin
The Mad Hatter is sent once again to Arkham, where soon after, in The Trial, he puts mind controlling devises and take over the asylum along with several of his inmates. They decide to put Batman on trial and kidnap him along with District Attourney Janet Van Dorn, who would defend him. The Mad Hatter is the president of the jury that declares him not guilty of their trajedies. However, they decided to execute him anyway, but Batman defeats them and restaures the order in the asylum.
However, even after that episode the Mad Hatter still has controling devises hidden in the asylum. As Batman develops in Make 'Em Laugh, the Joker eventually puts the Mad Hatter unconscious with on of his them and "borrows" the rest for a personal unrelated vendetta.
[edit] The New Batman / Superman Adventures
In The New Batman Adventures he reappeares in Over the Edge, in which as part of Batgirl's dream, he is in a crowd consiting also of Harley Quinn, the Riddler, Scarface and the Ventriloquist, gathered by the Joker's lawyer to sue Batman after his identity is revealed. However, his real first appearance is in Animal Act, in which after some time free he makes himself pass as a new mute clown at the fromer Flying Grayson's Cricus, where he takes control over most of the beasts to commit robberies.
He also appears in the Superman: The Animated Series episode Knight Time, in which after Brainiac takes control of Bruce Wayne / Batman in order to use the WayneTech resources, the Mad Hatter teams up with the Riddler under the leadership of Bane to take over the city. After they are stopped by Superman disguised as Batman and Robin, his expertise in nanotechnology allowed the substitute superhero to save Batman from Brainiac.
[edit] Design
The Mad Hatter's original look in the series was designed by Kevin Nowlan. He was designed as an average height/sized man with blonde hair, but his face is clearly modeled after Sir John Tenniel's design of the original Mad Hatter from the ilustrations of Alice in Wonderland. The suit, however, although coherent with the Victorian context of Alice in Wonderland, was original for the series.
For The New Batman Adventures, along with many other characters, the Mad Hatter was redesigned. This design makes him look like a blonder, very short and skinny rodent-like man like in the Alice novels, but the costume was also original as well as most of the new physical features. He also looks somewhat like an Oliver Twist character. However, according to Paul Dini (Batman Animated), this new look helps the character look less human like Tenniel's drawings.[edit] Action figure
[edit] See also
- The Mad Hatter (comics), the original version of the Batman character.
- The Mad Hatter (Batman TV series), the version of the 1960s TV series.
- The Mad Hatter, the Lewis Carroll character from Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Mirror.
[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.
