Clownhunter
Clownhunter is a male comic character who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Bao Pham was a male human who lived in the modern age where he resided in Gotham City with his parents. As he was growing up, he was a fan of Batman and had managed to find one of his Batarang's that he kept with him arond five years ago. (Batman v3 #100) He often liked to play games in his room but had to help his parents in managing their restaurant that operated from downstairs. This was until one day when Harley Quinn brought the Joker to their restaurant in order for them to have a meal. Rather than escalate matters, Bao's father decided to serve them in the hope that they would leave after they had eaten and even said that the meal was free. It was then that the Joker released Joker Venom that killed Bao's parents right in front of his eyes. The Gotham City Police Department later arrived at the scene with Jim Gordon finding the young Bao who came to meet Batman who promised that this tragedy would not happen again. (Batman Annual v3 #5) Two years ago, his aunt and uncle came to enrol him in a private school after his parents deaths and got him an apartment live where he had not seen them since that time. During this time, it was shown that he was regularly bullied by the other students whilst others simply watched and never helped him. The rich kids continued to bully him even a year later but Bao began to fight back as he realised that they would never stop tormenting him. (Batman Secret Files: Clownhunter v1 #1) Since that time, Bao vowed revenge against the Joker and all those that followed him that included the clown henchmen and Harley Quinn. (Batman v3 #104) It was then afterwards that he concluded that Batman perpetuated a cycle of violence by allowing the Joke to live. This ultimately led to him deciding to take matters into his own hands in ending the threat posed by the Joker and his clowns. (Batman v3 #100)
Using the stolen Wayne fortune, the Joker proceeded to use the money to put the entirety of Gotham into chaos as it fell into the Joker War with the Clownhunter being among the people to rise up to fight his gang that were running rampant in the city. (Batman v3 #96) Bao was at home when one of his friends rushed to his home to let him know that one of the clowns set Mrs. Nyugen on fire with him witnessing her die before his eyes. It was then that he felt that Batman broke his promise as he had allowed the Joker go on the rampage again and again without stopping him. This saw him creating the identity of the Clownhunter as he sought to stop them from killing more people where he began to operate in the Narrows. (Batman Annual v3 #5) He started by intercepting Joker gang members that were travelling into the Narrows where he ruthlessly killed them. In one case, he managed to stop one of the stolen Batmobiles developed by Wayne Enterprises. Though unable to enter the vehicle, the Clownhunter instead decided to pour gasoline on them and set the cars on fire thus killing the occupants inside of them. (Batman v3 #97)
As the war ramped up, Clownhunter continued targeting the Joker's clown henchmen around the city. (Batman v3 #99) A group of clowns were sent in to deal with the Clownhunter who defeated the first wave and left them behind as a bait with a trap designed to trigger when they were released. When the second group arrived, they fell for the ambush with only the lead clown surviving and fighting Clownhunter. In this fight, the citizens of Gotham in the Narrows came to cheer the vigilante as he killed the clown. (Batman: The Joker War Zone v1 #1) Whilst on the streets, he saw the emergency broadcast being hacked by Oracle who provided tech support and re-assurance to the people in working together to end the Joker's rampage. With the Joker defeated, all the clowns went into hiding and hid their masks with Bao wanting to hunt them down. After the Joker War was over, Pham was informed that one of the many bodies that the Clown Prince of Crime had dug up and placed in theatres in the city was his parents. In his civilian guise, he went back to his place of residence to find Batman there after the Dark Knight had deduced his identity. Batman initially had intended to arrest the Clownhunter but saw that he was popular among the people in the Narrows for helping protect them from the clowns with none attempting to corroborate findings of him having killed any criminals. Thus, the Dark Knight decided to offer a chance for Bao to get some help and suggested he seek from Dr. Leslie Thompkins free clinic. Pham said that he did not want help and instead he wanted to kill clowns with Batman stating that he would stop him as Gotham had no place for a Clownhunter. After departing, Bao looked at the card Batman had given him and said that he would maybe seek help after he was done with his own mission. (Batman v3 #100)
In the aftermath, Pham went about finding the identities of those clowns that had escaped arrest and returned to society. This saw him tracking them down in order to make them pay for their crimes during the Joker War. (Batman v3 #101) One of his targets was Harley Quinn who he tracked to Little Santa Prisca where she attempting to purchase a new apartment. Clownhunter was by a neighbouring rooftop where he was armed with a home-made rocket launcher and intended to use it to kill Quinn. Before he could commence the act, he was confronted by the mysterious Ghost-Maker who intended to kill the boy for being a criminal and murderer who operated outside the law. It was then that Batman arrived at the scene to stop the Ghost-Maker where the two battled for the fate of Gotham. (Batman v3 #102) Bao was told to run from the scene but he instead broke into Harley Quinn's apartment in order to kill her. She managed to evade his attacks and easily came to defeat him with Clownhunter being tied up. (Batman v3 #103) The three captives were taken to an abandoned wing in Arkham Asylum where the Ghost-Maker wanted to create a situation to prove to Batman that his ways were ineffective. This involved tying Batman and Harley Quinn to hospital beds but not the Clownhunter who woke up to find himself free. In the room were swords and the intent was for Bao to use them to murder Harley Quinn whilst Batman was helpless and could only watch her death. (Batman v3 #104) Despite Batman's pleas, Bao refused to listen to him and intended to use a sword to kill Quinn. However, Batman managed to free himself and helped Harley to escape being killed. He then looked to stop Clownhunter but he refused to stop and wanted to kill Quinn to avenge his parents. Quinn then decided to make her plea where she commented on how she had gone down a dark path under the Joker's influence but that she was trying to change now and she hoped that Bao would not fall like she had done so. This caused Clownhunter to decide to not kill her and instead left the scene allowing for Batman to focus his efforts on Ghost-Maker. (Batman v3 #105)
From the encounter, Batman told Clownhunter that if ever needed help then he should meet Leslie Thompkins. She was a doctor who maintained her own clinic where after an injury he came to her practice where she helped treat his wound. (Batman Annual v3 #5)
He later continued hunting clowns and watched over the activities of one named Sol. The man was seen to be recruiting more members for the Joker's eventual return. It was then the Clownhunter struck and he attacked Sol at his hideout in order to force him to give a name of every other clown. However, this turned out to be a trap arranged by Punchline from prison where she had orchestrated events so that Sol could eliminate the vigilante. Bombs were detonated that injured Bao allowing for Sol to get the drop on him. Despite that, he managed to turn events back on his attacker and injured Sol but the earlier explosion served as a signal for more clown reinforcements to arrive. This led to the Clownhunter being forced to flee the scene as he could not fight their large numbers. He was ultimately caught with Punchline ordering her men to kill the Clownhunter to be an example to show what happened to those hat fought their gang. Before they could do so, they were all knocked out by the Red Hood Jason Todd who saved Bao and offered to help train him so that they could both get revenge on the Joker. Bao said he would consider it though he preferred to work alone as the injured Clownhunter made his way home. (Batman Secret Files: Clownhunter v1 #1)
After helping out in the Scarecrow attack, Bao continued his fight against the criminal 'clowns' that still operated in the city. Batman came to meet him where Clownhunter refused to join his team of vigilantes. However, Ghost-Maker arrived at the scene offering to take Bao under his wing on the condition that he did not actively kill people but it was acceptable to badly wound their foes. Clownhunter decided to accept the offer and went to join Ghost-Maker. (Batman: Fear State: Omega v1 #1) Whilst training, Batman contacted Ghost-Maker in order to meet up and discuss a matter. (Batman v3 #121) This turned out to be reformation of Batman Incorporated with Ghost-Maker being tasked with funding and directing their operations. Clownhunter continued his training though came to hate the brutal methods employed by Ghost-Maker and regretted accepting the offer as he thought maybe he should have stayed in Gotham. (Batman 2022 Annual v3 #1)
Overview
Personality and attributes
It was noted that he was quite young and little more than a kid. (Batman: The Joker War Zone v1 #1) He was noted for being 17 years old when he operated as a vigilante. (Batman v3 #103) Whilst in that guise, he refused to be called by his real name of Bao and insisted that his name was Clownhunter. (Batman v3 #104)
Bao said that he liked to play video games and that they made sense to him unlike the real world. (Batman Annual v3 #5)
Ghost-Maker believed that Bao was under a severe disadvantage as he allowed a twisted fantasy of revenge to fuel him. He suggested that Clownhunter needed to learn to let go and learn control. (Batman 2022 Annual v3 #1)
He remarked that he had to think creatively in fighting some of his opponents. Clownhunter had no compunction with killing his enemies where he said he had burnt them, blown them and electrocuted them. (Batman: The Joker War Zone v1 #1) By the end of the Joker War, it was said that he had killed 23 people that were connected to the clowns. (Batman v3 #103) This number later went to 27 later on after he continued to hunt them down. Bao had said that he preferred to work alone and was not afraid of being by himself. However, he did note that no matter how much he fought that he could not fight against a numerically superior enemy. (Batman Secret Files: Clownhunter v1 #1)
Initially, he revered Batman but this changed following the death of his parents at the hands of the Joker with Bao believing that criminals such as him only hurt people by continuing to live. (Batman v3 #100) Despite him using a batarang, he did not worship Batman and in fact believed that the Dark Knight had his chance to defend the city. The failure in saving them from the clowns led to him being interested in a permanent solution in dealing with such criminals and he believed that Gotham agreed with his methods. (Batman: The Joker War Zone v1 #1) He was said to had been driven by the death of his parents and seeking to avenge them. Despite that, Batman did not believe he should be locked away as this would simply destroy the potential he had in the future. (Batman v3 #103)
Pham had a poster of Wonder Woman and said that he had dreams about her hugging him and comforting him. He said that these dreams were nothing weird and rather someone to comfort him as he was still traumatised by the death of his parents. (Batman v3 #100)
He would later sometimes help Batman during times of need in Gotham City. Though helping, he said he did not like it and had no desire to join Batman's team. Clownhunter wanted to help people but believed that he had a better way of accomplishing that goal. (Batman: Fear State: Omega v1 #1)
Powers and abilities
Bao Pham was born an ordinary human being with no specially inherent powers or abilities. (Batman Annual v3 #5)
He later came to be taken under Ghost-Maker's wing where he was trained in close combat. (Batman 2022 Annual v3 #1)
A signature weapon of his was a baseball bat that had a batarang embedded at the head. This allowed it to serve both as a bludgeoning instrument but the batarang provided a sharp end that he could use to stab into an opponent. (Batman: The Joker War Zone v1 #1) He referred to this weapon as being his bat-bat. (Batman v3 #103)
Clownhunter was shown capable of using a rifle that he could use to snipe at his targets. He was shown as being adept in the use of traps and was able to rig explosives that he used as part of his ambushes. (Batman: The Joker War Zone v1 #1) He was shown to had been capable enough to make home-made rocket launchers based on instructions from the internet on his phone. (Batman v3 #102)
Notes
- Clownhunter was created by James Tynion IV and Jorge Jiménez where he made his first appearance in Batman v3 #96 (October, 2020).
- The character was named the Clownhunter in Batman v3 #97 (2020) with his real name being revealed in Batman v3 #100 (2020).
- On Newsrama, Tynion said in an interview, "And then on top of that, I am also getting to write a Clownhunter story - this new character that I’m creating with Jorge in the pages of 'Joker War' - with the amazing James Stokoe, who I’ve been a tremendous fan of forever... Clownhunter will definitely cause a headache for Batman. But he’s definitely not on the side of Joker in 'The Joker War.' Punchline and Clownhunter are sort of the new children of this new Gotham that’s building over the course of my run."
Appearances
- Batman v3: (2020)
- Batman: The Joker War Zone v1: (2020)
- Batman Annual v3: (2020)
- Batman Secret Files: Clownhunter v1: (2021)
- Batman: Fear State: Omega v1: (2022)
- Batman 2022 Annual v3:
External Links
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