Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Batman: Resurrection35 years after Tim Burton's live-action Batman movies, a new sequel has expanded the universe and given me something I've wanted for as long as I've been a Batman fan. Burton's movies introduced a number of what we'd all consider the top-level Batman villains: the unholy trinity of Joker, Catwoman, and Penguin, of course, but new novel Batman: Resurrection adds even more names to the Rogues Gallery.
One thing I've always bemoaned about Batman movies is the lack of imagination when it comes to choosing villains. We've seen the Joker multiple times, the Riddler twice, the Penguin twice, Catwoman three times (whether as a villain or not), and beyond that, the Rogues have been limited. Sure, we've seen lots of Batman villains imagined elsewhere, thanks to the likes of the Suicide Squad movies, but if they don't face their greatest foe, what's the point?
Batman: Resurrection is an excellent reminder of how rich those other alternatives are. Not only is it a DC have seemingly cast-off on the rejects pile. And reading Batman: Resurrection is the kind of immediate justification for my love of that character that it's almost impossible to see outside of the comics.
Batman: Resurrection Expands Batman 1989's Story
Set after Joker's death at the end of Batman (1989), Batman: Resurrection focuses heavily on the fallout from the man's attack on Gotham. Smylex victims are still dealing with the grim effects of his terrorism - including newly made orphans - but a new wave of his followers threaten to destabilize the city further.
Christened the Last Laughs by journalist Alexander Knox, they're behind a spate of arson attacks (thanks to hidden benefactor and Batman Returns villain Max Shreck). Then suddenly, a new evil emerges when a lowly aspiring actor is transformed by a Smylex-tainted batch of stage make-up into Clayface, and at the same time, Batman is confronted with the horrifying suspicion that Joker never actually died.
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The book is a hugely satisfying expansion of Tim Burton's Batman universe, dealing not only with the events that followed, but also with wider ideas about criminal fanaticism and obsession. Batman is still haunted by the Joker and as his mental condition unravels, the idea of what is truth and what isn't becomes the heart of the drama. And into that quagmire steps the iconic DC villain I've always wanted to see on screen: Hugo Strange.
Batman: Resurrection Introduces Iconic DC Villain Hugo Strange
Resurrection drops hints of the shady villain's identity long before it becomes clear that Hugh Auslander is the one pulling the strings. The twist is well-guarded by Auslander's apparently charitable nature and his commitment to finding a cure for Clayface. Eventually, through the revelation that Auslander is in fact an impostor, Batman comes to learn that he is in fact former Axis Chemicals scientist and Joker accomplice Hugo Strange.
The novel reimagines Hugo Strange's origin story, replacing his private hospital where he turned wealthy Gothamites into mindless monsters with Gotham Central's Smylex Ward. There, under the guise of healing Joker's victims, Auslander conducts his own research, having sent out his own Smylex variants into the world to test their impact on tragic victims. Clayface - formerly Karlo Babić (stage-name Basil Karlo) - is the result of one of those variants.
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Gradually, it's revealed that Strange has plans to transform Gothamites into his Monster Men, using a cocktail of chemicals in a grotesque agenda to encourage evolution. Just as he did in DC Comics, Strange plays god. Where he was once merely an accomplice to Joker, and the man behind Napier's access to the chemicals that created Smylex, Strange evolves into a huge threat to Gotham and the wider world.
Hugo Strange Cannot Be Ignored For Future Batman Movies
I have no hesitation to say that Hugo Strange is the perfect Gotham City villain. Yes, even more so than the Joker. That might seem like a bold statement, but consider Strange's typical plans for Gotham, as well as the ever-present commentary on the city's corrupted heart, and it's an easily justifiable one.
While he may appear to be a run-of-the-mill mad scientist archetype on paper, hell-bent on creating his own "improved" vision of man, Strange's obsession with his Monster Men offers a dark reflection of Batman's own condition. Gotham created Batman as a vengeful monster, designed to instill fear into the hearts of criminals. He is their ghoul, as terrible and awesome as the darkness, and a literal super man, even without the usually prerequisite powers.
Strange's Monster Men are his own attempt to scorch the filth of Gotham and create a superior race. They are, essentially, his twisted take on Batman's own mythology. And while Matt Reeves has openly itted his Batman universe will ignore more traditionally supernatural villains, I can only hope that James Gunn's fondness for the grotesque means Hugo Strange can appear in the DCU.
Too many Batman movies repeatedly use the same villains, while overlooking the potential for the likes of Strange and Clayface as monstrous reflections of Batman himself. Resurrection captures that parallel perfectly, and the Batman sequel makes a truly compelling case for Strange to be added to a future Dark Knight movie.
Batman
- Release Date
- June 23, 1989
- Runtime
- 126 Minutes
- Director
- Tim Burton
WHERE TO WATCH
Batman is a 1989 superhero movie directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne. The film features Jack Nicholson's chilling portrayal as Jack Napier, who turns into the Joker and reigns terror on Gotham. Kim Basinger also stars in the film as Vicki Vale, along with Michael Gough as Bruce's trusty butler named Alfred.
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