James Gunn never got his chance to release a Batman movie in the DC Universe (DCU) thanks to the delays to Matt Reeves’ Batman movies and the fact that Gunn is no longer running the brand. Fans were curious who Gunn planned to use as the villain in the Batman movie he had planned that would introduce Batman and Robin to his world. With the changes at Warner Bros., it sounds like the main plans are to only use big-name characters to make the most money possible, which is disappointing because there are some underrated villains who could have shown up in a movie by an actual comic book fan like Gunn.
While the main rumors right now are that the new DCU slate will rush out a Justice League movie and only focus on the main heroes and recognizable villains, there are several underrated Batman villains who deserve to show up in a live-action movie. It is less likely under the new leadership, but DC Comics’ fans can always wish for the best.
Anarky debuted in Detective Comics #608 (1989) by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle. Anarky is Lonnie Machin, and he was a 12-year-old with radical political views who attacked people he believed were harming society, such as a factory owner polluting a river. In his first story, he picked targets from complaints printed in the newspaper’s letters to the editor. He ended up rallying homeless people to riot over the bulldozing of Cardboard City before Batman unmasked him as a paperboy.
He was a great Batman villain because he often targeted people doing bad things, so Batman had to stop a kid whose complaints were often right. Alexander Calvert played Lonnie Machin on Arrow, starting in Season 4, and he returned in Season 5. Anarky also served as the main antagonist of the animated Beware the Batman (2013) and made his video game debut in Batman: Arkham Origins (2013). He hasn’t shown up in a DC live-action movie, but could be a great option.
Man-Bat debuted in Detective Comics #400 (1970) by Frank Robbins and Neal Adams. He is Dr. Kirk Langstrom, a scientist who drinks a serum made from bats and becomes a giant bat-creature. His wife, Francine, later takes the serum herself and becomes the She-Bat, and the pair terrorize Gotham until Batman cures them. They are unique villains because they aren’t villains in their human form, but they lose control of themselves when they transform into the creatures, similar to the Lizard in Marvel Comics.
The DCU proved that horror movies could succeed with the 2026 film Clayface, and that film’s profit could have opened the door for more horror movies. Sadly, it seems that won’t happen now in the new DCU, but Man-Bat could have made a fantastic horror movie for the company under James Gunn’s leadership. As it is, Man-Bat is someone who could be a great Batman villain in the movies if the new leadership is willing to offer some more horror-based characters.
Hugo Strange is one of Batman’s first villains, debuting in Detective Comics #36 (1940) by Bill Finger and Bob Kane. He is a brilliant scientist and psychiatrist, and he is one of Batman’s first recurring villains as well as one of the first to discover Batman’s secret identity. His defining modern story is “Prey” in Legends of the Dark Knight #11 to #15 by Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy, where Strange runs a smear campaign that paints Batman as a madman. He recruits Sergeant Max Cort into a task force and uses hallucinogenic gas to make Batman relive his parents’ deaths.
He was the main villain of Batman: Arkham City (2011), running the prison city. While Arkham Asylum has been introduced into live-action movies, having a film solely based around it could really work with Hugo Strange as the main villain of the film. It should be noted that there was a character in 1989’s Batman that might have been Hugo Strange, played by Michael Balfour, but he was never named in the movie.
There has been an animated movie based on the “Hush” storyline from DC Comics. Hush first appeared in Batman #609 (2002) by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee. Hush is Dr. Thomas “Tommy” Elliot, Bruce Wayne’s wealthy childhood friend turned surgeon. As a boy, he tried to kill his parents, and his mother survived only because Dr. Thomas Wayne operated on her, which fed Tommy’s grudge against the Waynes.
Hush is what Bruce might have become with an abusive family and his talents used for evil rather than justice. In the story, he teams up with the Riddler and works with the Joker, Poison Ivy, Clayface, and others against Batman, in a plot that includes a fake return of Jason Todd. In a later story, Hush surgically altered his face to look like Bruce Wayne in an attempt to replace him. Hush has been on TV and in animation, but bringing the “Hush” storyline to a live-action movie could be an interesting proposition.
The one villain group that has never appeared in a live-action movie is the most likely to show up, even with James Gunn leaving the DCU. That is because the Court of Owls is rumored to be part of The Batman: Part II by Matt Reeves. The Court of Owls made their full debut in Batman #6 (2012) by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo as the main threat of their first two arcs in DC’s New 52 relaunch.
The Court of Owls is a secret society of Gotham’s oldest and wealthiest families, active since the 1600s, who wear white owl masks and use murder and money to control the city. They own the city Batman thinks he knows. On live-action TV, the Court of Owls appeared on Gotham and Gotham Knights, but they have yet to make their live-action movie debut. If they are in Reeves’ movie, the chance of them showing up again in a DCU movie is slim, but they deserve it.
What Batman villains do you want to see show up in a DCU movie now that James Gunn is gone? Let us know your favorites in the comments below.
