Man-Bat
| Man-Bat | |
|---|---|
 The Man-Bat. Art by Mike Huddleston | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Detective Comics #400 June 1970 |
| Created by | Frank Robbins and Neal Adams |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Robert Kirkland "Kirk" Langström |
| Team affiliations | Secret Society of Super Villains |
| Abilities | Flight, echolocation, above-human strength |
Man-Bat (real name Dr. Kirk Langström) is a fictional character in DC Comics' universe who first appeared in Detective Comics #400, illustrated by Neal Adams.
Character history
Dr. Kirk Langström, a scientist specializing in the study of bats, developed an extract intended to give humans the bat's sonar sense and tested the formula on himself because he was becoming deaf. While it worked, it had a horrible side effect; transforming him gradually into a hideous human bat.
He first clashed with Batman when he tried to steal the chemicals needed to reverse his transformation, but his control over the new animalistic instincts resulting from his bat-like state was tenuous, and Batman was forced to subdue him in order to administer the antidote.
Langström later refined his serum, enabling him to retain his human intelligence while in bat form, and allowing himself control over his transformations. He worked for a while as a detective and independent crime fighter as Man-Bat, while he and Francine married and had a daughter, Rebecca. Eventually, however, his instability returned and he was left unable to control his transformations. In this condition, he clashed several times with Batman in the Batcave (which he found by following other bats through the network of caverns; he did not recall its location in human form, and he never knew Batman's secret identity), believing — erroneously — that his daughter was dead and that Batman was somehow responsible.
Although he briefly regained control of his transformations, this appears to have changed. He recently has begun to suspect that his cures missed an element of the serum, and he's losing control to his bat side. He believes he has slaughtered his own wife, son, and daughter.
However, both Kirk and Francine are shown to be alive in One Year Later. In Batman #655 (September 2006), Talia al Ghul takes Francine hostage and threatens to poison her if Kirk does not give her the Man-Bat formula. Talia utilizes the mutagen to turn members of the League of Assassins into Man-Bats.
Elseworlds
The Batman: Man-Bat mini-series, by Jamie Delano and John Bolton, is an Elseworlds showing Kirk and Francine, now living exclusively in bat form, with a teenaged son, Eugene. Man-Bat, more unstable than ever (although at least coherent), was determined to replace the human race with a "superior" species of man-bat hybrids. There's nothing about this story that suggests it was originally intended to be an Elseworlds episode, which suggests that it was assigned that way because it effectively made Man-Bat into a Ra's al Ghul-style megalomaniac, which apparently contradicted other plans for the character. Some assume that the comic was already completed or close to completion when the conflict arose, leading DC to go ahead with its publication but under the Elseworlds banner.
Other media
Television appearances
Man-bat has appeared in several Batman animation series including The Batman, Batman: The Animated Series, and The Adventures of Batman and Superman. He is played by Marc Singer in the latter two series.
DC animated universe
In Batman: The Animated Series, Dr. Kirk Langström is a zoologist at the Gotham City Zoo. He first appeared in "On Leather Wings" (which is the first episode of the series), where he to steal a serum at the chemical labs. Langström also has a wife named Francine Langström. One night, Langström drinks the serum, when Batman arrives to question him - revealing himself as the thief of the serum from the chemical labs. Langström transforms into a half-man, half-bat creature, and turns on Batman. Francine arrives at the lab and discovers that the creature is her husband. Langström is cured and returns to his wife.
Langström next appears in "Tyger, Tyger" where he analyzes the chemical that Dr. Emile Dorian used in his experiments.
In the episode "Terror in the Sky", Langström is having a dream that he transforms into Man-Bat, and he begins to commit crimes. Then, Langström is awakened, just to find the remains of the fruit and scratches from a rag. Then, as Francine decides to go to another city, due to Langström's inability to control the power of the Man-Bat, he then discovers that the other Man-Bat turns out to be Francine herself. In the end, Batman cures Francine, and she returns to her husband.
- In the Justice League Unlimited episode "The Doomsday Sanction," Dr. Milo mentions that Dr. Langström's research has proven useful to his research into splicing together human and animal DNA for the Cadmus Project.
The Batman
- In The Batman, Langström (voiced by Peter MacNicol) is an employee in Wayne Industries doing research on bats and apparently afflicted with albinism. Unlike the Batman: The Animated Series version of this character, this version is not married, meaning that his wife, Francine Langstrom, has not appeared yet in the show. When Bruce Wayne begins to cut off his project, Langström tells Bruce that he needs the project to cure the deafness of his niece, Carlie. When Bruce discovers that Langström was lying, he goes to Langström's office to discover the project's real purpose. Langström arrived in his vault to find his boss there, and drinks a serum, transforming him into a half-man, half-bat creature. He attacks Bruce at his office, and escapes. Bruce changes into Batman and confronts Man-Bat in the skies of Gotham City. They land on the ground, and Langström reverts back in his human form. To be safe, Batman destroys one of Langström's vials. Langström drinks the remaining vial, transforms back to Man-Bat, and kidnaps Detective Ethan Bennett. Batman confronts Man-Bat in a sewer, and Langström reverts back to his human form, and he was taken away to Arkham Asylum. In Pets, Langström is still in Arkham and trying to recreate the Man-Bat serum, while The Penguin finds a sonar device he wanted to use on his birds but ends up with a sonar for bats. When Penguin uses the device, dormant remnants of the Man-bat formula still inside Langström reawaken, transforming him to Man-Bat and instinctively goes to the Penguin's hideout. Somehow, Penguin is able to use Man-bat to do his bidding for him, returning him to his human form by saying "rest." Langström is furious with Penguin when he learned that Penguin plans to use it to turn Langström from human to a half-man, half-bat creature. At the docks, Batman confronts Man-Bat, and, using his own sonar device, induces a reversion back to his human form. Langström and Penguin are both taken back to Arkham.
Film
- Originally, Man-Bat was set to appear in the fifth installment to the original Batman franchise. Lee Shapiro's script treatment of what was to be entitled 'Batman: Dark Knight or Batman Triumphant, had Dr. Jonathon Crane / The Scarecrow during a vengeful confrontation with colleague Dr. Kirk Langstrom unknowingly initiates Kirk's transformation. The unsuspecting denizens of Gotham scream for Batman's head, believing the Manbat's nightly hunts to be the Dark Knight's bloodthirsty return to action. Bruce dons cowl and cape to clear his name and solve the mystery behind these attacks.
Video game appearance
- In the Super Nintendo game The Adventures of Batman and Robin, Man-Bat is one of the bosses.
Toys
- Man-Bat has made several appearances as an action figure as part of Hasbro's Batman: The Animated Series and Dark Knight lines, Mattel's The Batman line, DC Direct's Arkham Asylum line, and Art Asylum's minimates line. He has also been produced as a Heroclix.
- An unproduced prototype figure of Man-Bat for Mattel's Super Powers Collection was unearthed after the line's cancellation.[1]