Hugo Strange

Hugo Strange is a fictional character in DC Comics and a nemesis of Batman.

Related Topics:
Fictional character - DC Comics - Batman

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He first appeared in Detective Comics #36 (February, 1940) and is considered the first recurring villain Batman ever faced. He preceded The Joker and Catwoman by a couple of months.

Related Topics:
Detective Comics - February - 1940 - Villain - The Joker - Catwoman

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He appeared once during the Golden Age as a scientist who turned homeless test subjects into hulking zombies.

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A punch from Batman sent him tumbling off of a cliff, and he was seen falling to his supposed death in Detective Comics #46.

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He returned in the 1970s during the "Strange Apparations" arc. Having survived his earlier "death," Strange was running a private hospital for Gotham's wealthy where he held them hostage for ransom.

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When Bruce Wayne checked into the hospital to recover discreetly from radiation burns he received as Batman, Strange discovered Batman's dual identity and attempted to auction the knowledge off to Gotham's top villains. Mob boss Rupert Thorne tried to torture the information out of him, but apparantly ended up killing Strange (who'd actually survived) before he could learn that Wayne was Batman.

Related Topics:
Radiation - Rupert Thorne - Torture

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Strange's "ghost" haunted Thorne until he turned himself in to authorities.

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Post-Crisis, Strange was reintroduced in the "Prey" arc as a psychologist that was hired to use his skills to help bring in Batman. He eventually figured out Batman's secret identity, but instead of revealing it to the public, he kept it secret.

Related Topics:
Psychologist - Secret identity

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His greatest desire is to become Batman. To that end, he has tried several times to kill Batman in elaborate or peculiar ways, and then take his place, but all have met with failure. At one point in his career he was shot twice and dumped into a river; it was then assumed he had died. However, in Doug Moench's storyline "Terror" he mysteriously came back. He decided to work with another of Batman's enemies, the Scarecrow, and use him as a tool to help him capture Batman. Scarecrow turned on Strange, however, impaling him on a weathervane and throwing him in the cellar of his own mansion. The Scarecrow then made a plan of his own to use against Batman, and subsequently trapped him, injected him with his fear toxin and placed him in Strange's abandoned mansion, where he would have to get past a series of deadly traps in order to escape.

Related Topics:
Doug Moench - The Scarecrow

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Finally Batman was caught in one of Scarecrow's traps and fell into the cellar, but he grabbed Scarecrow and dragged him down with him. Scarecrow's trap was rigged to have the cellar slowly flooded, and now, as the water level rose, Scarecrow furiously tried to kill Batman. Strange, who had mysteriously returned to life, stopped him. Suddenly the water pressure caused the cellar walls to crack, and the three of them were swept into a nearby river. In the ensuing chaos Batman caught Scarecrow but lost sight of Strange.

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Both "Prey" and "Terror" were set during Batman's early years. In the modern timeline he returned in a five part arc that ran through Gotham Knights #8-12. He was posing as a psychiatrist doing standard stress evaluations at Wayne Enterprises. While Bruce Wayne was on his couch, Strange drugged him with a powerful hallucinogen in order to coax Wayne into admitting that he was Batman. Batman escaped and triggered a post-hypnotic suggestion in himself forcing him to completely repress the Batman aspect of his mind until Robin and Nightwing could thwart Strange and take him to Arkham Asylum.

Related Topics:
Hallucinogen - Hypnotic - Robin - Arkham Asylum

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