Hugo Strange

Latest revision as of 10:12, 27 October 2023

Hugo Strange in Red Hood and the Outlaws v1 #21.

Hugo Strange is a male comic supervillain who features in DC Comics.

Biography

Golden Age

Hugo Strange in Batman: Gotham Knights v1 #9.

Hugo Strange

He later stole a concentrated lightning machine in order to create dense fogs that he used to mask his robberies of banks. (Detective Comics v1 #36) Strange later escaped from the city asylum along with five insane patients that he used as test subjects in his experiments. Through his experiment, he transformed them into hulking zombies by using a powerful artificial growth hormone that acted on the pituitary gland. Whilst transforming them into giant brutes but it made them mindless in the process. Strange attempted to administer it to Batman as well but the Caped Crusader had created a drug that stopped any of the abnormal secretions from affecting the pituitary gland. (Batman v1 #1) Though believed dead, in reality he came to survive and operate from the shadows. By this point, he had created a 'fear' dust which he planned to disperse across the city to drive people insane. For this task, he hired a number of criminals where they came to help him in this endeavour. During a fight with Batman, the Dark Knight struck Strange with a punch that sent him falling to his apparent death. (Detective Comics v1 #46)

In reality, the Strange had 'died' was simply a mandroid whilst the real one had gone into hiding after faking his death. He then embarked on another attempt to destroy Batman and Bruce Wayne, this time attempting to financially bankrupt Wayne by using various tricks to force three Wayne Enterprises shareholders to sell their stock holdings to him so he could bankrupt the company. He also attempted to frame Batman as a criminal. However, Strange was defeated and sent to prison. Batman was able to stop Strange from further exploiting his knowledge of his secret identity by falsely claiming that he hypnotized Strange to give him a fake idea of Batman's true identity just before Commissioner Gordon showed up to arrest him; his explanation was so convincing that Strange began to wonder if Batman was attempting a complex double-bluff by letting him think that Bruce Wayne is Batman and thus doubts whether his original conclusion was correct. (Batman Annual v1 #10)

Post-Crisis

Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Hugo Strange

He came to be raised in an orphanage in the lower east side of Gotham located in the heart of Hell's Crucible. (Batman and the Monster Men v1 #3)

Strange was formerly a professor of psychiatry at Gotham State University. Ultimately, his tenure was suspended over his increasingly bizarre theories in genetic engineering. (Batman and the Monster Men v1 #3)

He was conducting his secretive research in genetic manipulation but lacked the resources for his experiments leading to him getting funding from crime boss Sal Maroni. (Batman and the Monster Men v1 #1) Using patients from Arkham Asylum, he came to twist these test subjects that were turned into his Monster Men. Strange came to use three such creatures in helping him pay off his debt to the mob. This involved sending the Monster Men to massacre a mob gambling ouse and stealth several hundred dollars in the process. (Batman and the Monster Men v1 #2)

Strange next appeared on a talk-show to discuss Batman's psychology with Captain Gordon and Mayor Klass. Gordon came to be announced as the head of a new GCPD anti-vigilante task-force with the professor as their professional consultant. He began to develop obsessive behavior, making his own Batman costume to get inside his enemy's head. (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight v1 #11)

Hugo later decided to take the identity of Victor Absonus in order to get a job as a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum. This was so that he could manoeuvre himself into being the clinician that tended to the Scarecrow. (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight v1 #137)

Returning to Gotham while believed dead, Hugo Strange decides that he will kill Bruce Wayne and take over the Batman identity for himself. Disguised in the costume, he captures Catwoman and briefly interrogates her about their relationship using sodium pentothal. Now working as a psychologist providing evaluations for Wayne Enterprises' employees, he confronts Bruce directly during a session. (Batman: Gotham Knights v1 #8)

Later on, Batman came to encounter a man dressed as a combination of Bane and the Dark Knight who had beaten him up. He came tell Tim Drake his suspicions that he the imposter used Hugo Strange's monster serum combined with Venom shots in order to attain his great size and strength. (Batman v1 #665)

Afterwards, he was among the various Earth-based supervillains who became to be exiled to an alien world. (Salvation Run v1 #2)

Post-Flashpoint

Following the Flashpoint, a new version of history was created with a different history of events. Hugo Strange

Philip Kane set up a bio-initiative that sought to create a powerful restorative with this consisting of three scientists named Dr. Karl Helfern, Dr. Paul Dekker and Dr. Hugo Strange. Each were working on different aspects of this project that included bone, soft tissue and regenerating neural tissue respectively with the trio being called the Doctors Three. (Batman v2 #38) During the emergence of the Scarecow, the GCPD brought in Hugo Strange to study the effects of the villains Feat Toxin. (Batman and Robin Eternal v1 #14)

A boy named Elliot Montrose who was the son of the deceased Julia Montrose claimed that he was the son of Hugo Strange. After his mother's death, Eli was adopted a middle class family and was intellectually gifted that he graduated college at age 10 and was working at the Pentagon by 17 until his superiors died in a freak accident. He returned to Gotham City and began overseeing work for his 'father' Hugo Strange. (Detective Comics v2 #8)

When the Crime Syndicate of America arrived on Earth, Hugo Strange came to be one of the many supervillains that joined their army in the Secret Society of Super-Villains. (Forever Evil v1 #1)

Overview

Personality and attributes

Some of his hirelings came to refer to him only as the Professor. (Detective Comics v1 #46) At one point, he took the identity of Victor Absonus in order for him to take a job at Arkham Asylum. (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight v1 #137)

He noted that his early childhood was scarred by trauma and grief. The experience was said to had honed and directed him with Hugo believing himself to be a product of Gotham City. (Batman and the Monster Men v1 #1)

According to him, the sciences were not without financial rewards for those with advanced vision. (Batman and the Monster Men v1 #3)

Hugo was said to be both brilliant and insane. (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight v1 #137)

Strange believed the world to be perverse beyond understanding. (Batman and the Monster Men v1 #1)

Ultimately, he was on a quest for genetic perfection. (Batman and the Monster Men v1 #4)

Strange came to believe that only he could face the madness of Gotham City and not be overcome by it. He claimed to had perfectly optimised his brain chemistry that meant he was the only sane person in an insane city. (Detective Comics v1 #942)

One account claimed that he had a son by the name of Elliot Montrose who was raised by his mother until her death whereupon he sought out Hugo Strange. (Detective Comics v2 #8)

Strange came to be fascinated at the Batman and thought the study of the vigilante would aid in the quest for genetic perfection. (Batman and the Monster Men v1 #4)

It was said that he identified with the Batman yet could not bear that thought at the same time. As such, he sought to eliminate the Dark Knight by trying to shatter his mind before killing his body. This was deemed the only way to prove his superior intellect and redeem his crippled ego. (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight v1 #137)

Powers and abilities

Hugo Strange was born an ordinary human being though one of small stature and poor physical form. He had attempted to attain the peak of physical perfection but he noted that there were some genetic limitations that prevented him from achieving that goal. (Batman and the Monster Men v1 #1)

Strange had come to learn yoga methods that allowed him to slow his heartbeat until it was undetectable. Using his technique, he was capable of faking his death and thus escape people checking to see if he was still alive. (Batman v1 #356)

He would once create a 'fear' dust that when inhaled cause a person to be consumed by fear and terror. (Detective Comics v1 #46)

One of his discoveries was an extract that sped up growth lands with this fluid when injected into a body turning the subject into one of the Monster Men. The sudden growth not only distorted the body but the brain also. (Batman v1 #1)

He was once part of a bio-initiative where he along his two comrades were referred to as the Doctors Three. (Batman v2 #38)

Notes

• Hugo Strange was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane where he made his first appearance in Detective Comics v1 #36 (February 1940).

Alternate Versions

• In Batman Adventures v1 (1995), a version of Hugo Strange appeared in the setting based on the DC Animated Universe. He was noted to have had a son named David Strange where he witnessed his murder by mob boss Rupert Thorne and was so overcome with grief that he sought to literally erase the memory with his mind control technology. The plan backfired, however; following the experiment, he could remember nothing but his son's death. After Batman stops him from killing Thorne, Strange came to be imprisoned in Arkham Asylum.
• In DC Comics Bombshells v1 #13 (2016), an alternate version of Hugo Strange appeared in the DC Bombshells reality. Hugo Strange was a eugenicist attempting to improve the gene pool by weeding out what he considered unclean. Following Killer Frost's plan to create a race of superhumans, Strange allied himself with the Penguin and Harvey Dent. With Harvey Dent at the head of Gotham City, Strange would have had access to all Gothamites' genes and control the generations to come. When the Batgirls attempted to stop the Penguin and his allies, Hugo Strange used his modified gun to force the Batgirls to fight each other. However, Dent eventually betrayed the Penguin and him in favor of the Batgirls. Strange fled in response, promising to find other scientists who share his dream. Strange found new allies within the Soviets. They fund his researches and he created several clones using Supergirl's DNA, of which two of them are Power Girl, who became the Soviet Union's secret weapon, and Superman, who he considered a failure.

In other media

Television

• In the DC Animated Universe, Hugo Strange made a number of appearances in the shared continuity setting:
  • In Batman: The Animated Series, the character made his animated debut in the episode "The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne" where he was voiced by actor Ray Buktenica. This version was a psychiatrist that ran a rest hospital that he uses to blackmail Gotham's elite with secrets via a machine that reads minds.
  • In Justice League Unlimited, Hugo Strange made a cameo appearance in the animated series episode "The Doomsday Sanction". He was shown to had been recruited by Cadmus where he was one of the scientists developing weapons for use against the Justice League.
• In The Batman, the character made multiple appearances as a antagonist where he was voiced first by actor Frank Gorshin and later by Richard Green. He was the chief psychologist at Arkham Asylum who was shown to be more interested in the deranged criminals minds and how they operated rather than cure them of their madness. This led to him operating on several occasions in provoking the inmates to cause more chaos and mayhem. Dr. Strange was noted to be a skilled in many talents including being a master chemist, programmer and knowledgeable in robotics. In "Gotham's Ultimate Criminal Mastermind", he was responsible for unleashing an advanced robot named D.A.V.E. onto the city where its personality was based on Gotham's most notorious criminals. In the series finale "Lost Heroes", he allied with the alien Joining, who give him universal knowledge that left him in a catatonic state.
• In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Hugo Strange made a non-speaking appearance in the setting of the animated television series in the episode "The Knights of Tomorrow!".
• In Young Justice, the character made an appearance in the episode "Terrors" where he was voiced by actor Adrian Pasdar. He was shown as a doctor who worked at Belle Reve who was later put in charge of the prison. However, he was secretly allied with the Light and assisting their schemes.
• In Batman: Strange Days, Hugo Strange featured briefly in the animated short where he was an antagonist in the black and white setting.
• In Gotham, a Professor Strange was first mentioned in the episode "Worse Than a Crime" where he was in charge of a secret laboratory that was being run by Wayne Enterprises. He made his first appearance in "Wrath of the Villains" where he was portrayed by actor B.D. Wong. It was revealed that he was a scientist that had been hired by Wayne Enterprises for a bio-engineering initiative with Dr. Strange being a friend of Thomas Wayne. The project was centered at a facility known as Pinewood Farms with Hugo Strange being given the code name the Philosopher. He co-opted the program making it a black ops project where he conducted cruel experiments on test subjects creating people with grafted animal limbs. Many died as a result of the experiments with the program being eventually shutdown by Thomas Wayne after he learnt of it. The survivors were taken to safety and the project was shutdown though Hugo Strange managed to re-activate it once more.

Films

• In Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, Hugo Strange appeared in the setting of the animated film adaptation where he was voiced by actor William Salyers. This version was Arkham Asylum's director who was fascinated by the concepts of masks and alternate identities, which drew him to both Batman and Jack the Ripper. He was later killed by his own patients after Jack threw him into a pit filled with them.

Video games

• In the Arkhamverse, Hugo Strange made a number of appearances in the shared continuity setting.
  • In Batman: Arkham Asylum, the character did not make an appearance though his biography could be unlocked by the player.
  • In Batman: Arkham City, the character made an appearance as a primary antagonist where he was voiced by actor Corey Burton. Dr. Hugo Strange had previously been involved in controversial behavior control experiments that he used to brainwash Warden Quincy Sharp and used him as a puppet by the time of Arkham Asylum. Following those events, he pushed Sharp to run for mayor in order for Strange to gain complete influence over Gotham. After Sharp's election, he had him propose the 'Arkham City' project that sought to create a city sized detention facility to hold criminals who were allowed to go rampant within its confines. Once it was authorized, Dr. Strange was appointed as the warden of the new facility. Unknown to anyone, he operated as the secret disciple of Ra's al Ghul. Strange and his accomplice Mayor Quincy Sharp later hired the mercenary group TYGER to act as Arkham City's security, while planning a purge on all criminals within it called Protocol Ten.
• In Injustice: Gods Among Us, the character made a cameo appearance where he was shown in the background of Arkham Asylum.

Appearances

• Detective Comics v1: (1940)
• Batman v1:
• Detective Comics v1:
• Batman Annual v1:
• Batman and the Monster Men v1: (2006)
• Red Hood and the Outlaws v1:
• Deathstroke:

External Links

• DC Database Entry
• Comicvine Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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