Man-Bat

Man-Bat
Cover to Man-Bat (vol. 3) #3 (August 2006) 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" Langstrom
Team affiliations	Secret Society of Super Villains
Abilities	Flight, echolocation, enhanced sight and hearing, superhuman strength

Man-Bat (Robert Kirkland "Kirk" Langstrom) is a fictional character, a supervillain and was, for a period of time, a superhero, in the DC Comics universe. He first appeared in Detective Comics #400 (June 1970) and was created by Frank Robbins and Neal Adams.

Fictional character biography

Dr. Kirk Langstrom, a scientist specializing in the study of bats, develops an extract intended to give humans a bat's sonar sense and tests the formula on himself because he is becoming deaf. While it works, it has a horrible side effect: it transforms him into a hideous man-sized bat.

The serum also takes away his intelligence, so he goes on a mad rampage until Batman reverses the effects.

Later, Langstrom takes the concoction again, and Man-Bat returns. He also coaxes his wife, Francine, into drinking the serum, and she goes through the same transformation, becoming She-Bat. Together, they terrorize Gotham City until Batman can once again restore them.

On some occasions, Langstrom takes the serum and retains enough intelligence to work for the forces of good. During one of these periods he works with the detective Jason Bard. On another occasion, Jimmy Olsen inadvertedly puts Superman into a cave occupied by Man-Bat to protect him from Kryptonite radiation that had reached Earth following the explosion of Krypton. Man-Bat calms the maddened Superman and then summons Hawkman, who helps Superman overcome the radiation.

Kirk and Francine have a daughter, Becky and a son Aaron. Because of the effects the serum had on Aaron's DNA, he was born in Man-Bat form.

Infinite Crisis

Man-Bat has been sighted in Alexander Luthor, Jr.'s Secret Society of Super Villains during the events of Infinite Crisis.

One Year Later

In the aftermath of that event, both Kirk and Francine are shown to be alive in the One Year Later storyline. In Batman #655 (September 2006), Talia al Ghul ties up and gags Francine, and then threatens to poison her if Kirk does not give her the Man-Bat formula. After Langstrom gives her the formula, she releases Francine as promised. Talia utilizes the mutagen to turn members of the League of Assassins into Man-Bats.

Gotham Underground/Salvation Run

Man-Bat is apprehended in Gotham Underground and is one of the villains seen in Salvation Run. Francine has appeared in Batman and the Outsiders, serving as the team's technical advisor, and her assistant Salah Miandad operates the "blank" OMAC drone known as ReMAC. In Issue #10 of that series, Kirk appeared, seemingly healthy and also aiding Francine.

Final Crisis

Man-Bat has been turned into a Justifier and was shown attacking Switzerland's Checkmate Headquarters.^[1]

Battle for the Cowl

Following Batman's death, Kirk is haunted by nightmares of becoming Man-Bat and killing his wife. When Francine disappears, he takes the serum and tried to follow her. After an altercation with the Outsiders, he returns to his human form and is captured by Doctor Phosphorus, who reveals the serum is not necessary to trigger the change. Kirk discovers Phosphorus has also captured Francine, and becomes Man-Bat to save her.^[2]

Powers and abilities

By taking his bat-gland formula, Kirk Langstrom can transform himself into a bat-like creature. By taking an antidote he can return to human form.

As Man-Bat, his strength, agility and endurance are all enhanced to super human levels; Kirk possesses a set of leathery bat wings that allow him to fly, and has super-sensitive hearing, and natural sonar. He emits high-pitched sound waves and can hear the echoes they make when they bounce off nearby objects, enabling Man-Bat to navigate perfectly in pitch black darkness.

If in Man-Bat form for a prolonged time, he will lose control over his animalistic side and works purely on instinct, making him prone to harm friend and foe alike.

Other media

Television

Man-Bat as depicted in Batman: The Animated Series.

• In Batman: The Animated Series, Dr. Kirk Langstrom (voiced by Marc Singer) is a zoologist at the Gotham City Zoo. He first appeared in "On Leather Wings", where he steals a serum at the chemical labs. Langstrom also has a wife named Francine. One night, Langstrom drinks the serum, when Batman arrives to question him - revealing himself as the thief of the serum from the chemical labs. Langstrom 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. After a battle across the Gotham City skyline, the Man-Bat is knocked out and taken back to the Batcave. Batman manages to flush the forumula out of Langstrom's system, and he is returned to his wife. Langstrom 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," Langstrom is having a dream that he transforms into Man-Bat, and he begins to commit crimes. Then, Langstrom 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 Langstrom's inability to control the power of the Man-Bat, he then discovers that the other Man-Bat turns out to be Francine herself, accidentally exposed to an alternate man-bat serum. In the end, Batman cures Francine, and she returns to her husband.

• "When Batman: The Animated Series was revamped into The New Batman Adventures, Man-Bat never appeared in the new show. His alter-ego did make a cameo in Bruce Wayne's wedding in the episode "Chemistry". In the comic Batman Gotham Adventures which is based on the show he makes an appearance in issue #18.

• In the Justice League Unlimited episode "The Doomsday Sanction", Professor Milo mentions that Dr. Langstrom's research has proven useful to his experiments splicing together human and animal DNA for the Cadmus Project. This ended with a disaster when a mutated warthog was mentioned to have destroyed his lab.

• In Batman Beyond, a new trend called "splicing" involved fusing together animal and human DNA. The new Batman Terry McGinnis, ends up captured by the leader of the splicers, Abel Cuvier aka Chimera, and is injected with vampire bat DNA and ends up resembling Man-Bat. He is later turned back to normal by Wayne.

Man-Bat as he appeared in The Batman.

• In The Batman, Langstrom (voiced by Peter MacNicol) is an employee in Wayne Industries doing research on bats and apparently afflicted with albinism. When Bruce Wayne begins to cut off his project, Langstrom tells Bruce that he needs the project to cure his niece's deafness. When Bruce discovers that Langstrom is lying, he goes to Langstrom's office to discover the project's real purpose. Langström arrived in his vault to find his boss there; he admits that he created the formula so he could be feared like Batman, 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 Langstrom reverts back to his human form. To be safe, Batman destroys one of Langström's vials. Langstrom drinks the remaining vial, transforms back to Man-Bat, and kidnaps Detective Ethan Bennett. Batman confronts Man-Bat in a sewer, and Langstrom reverts back to his human form, and he is taken away to Arkham Asylum. In "Pets," Langstrom is still in Arkham and trying to recreate the Man-Bat serum, while the Penguin finds a sonar device he wants to use to control a large condor but ends up with a sonar designed to control bats. When Penguin uses the device, dormant remnants of the Man-Bat formula still inside Langstrom reawaken, transforming him to Man-Bat and instinctively leading him to the Penguin's hideout, as he continues repeating the line: "Come to me." With the sonar device, Penguin is able to use Man-Bat to do his bidding for him, returning him to his human form by saying "rest." Langstrom is furious with Penguin when he learns that Penguin plans to use it to turn Langstrom from human to a half-man, half-bat creature for his own gain, and promises Penguin that the minute he loses the sonar device, he will feel Man-Bat's wrath. At the docks, Batman confronts Man-Bat, and, using his own sonar device, induces a reversion back to his human form. Langstrom and Penguin are both taken back to Arkham. Langstrom returns in "Rumors" as one of the many villains captured by the vigilante Rumor. He was shown in his human form and later in his Man-Bat form, implying he has full control over his transformation. Langstrom made one last appearance in "Attack of the Terrible Trio", no longer a villain and renouncing the Man-Bat name. Batman charged Langstrom with creating an antidote for his own mutagen that some college students (who are the show's version of the Terrible Trio) had stolen from him and were planning on infecting the entire student body with.

• In Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Last Bat on Earth", Batman travels to the future to stop Gorilla Grodd, who is now leading the apes. When Batman goes into the Bat-Cave with Kamandi and Dr. Canus, he encounters humanoid "Man-bats" that, like the rest of the humanoid animals, can talk. Batman and Kamandi manages to drive them out after he defeats their leader. They later assist him in an all out war against the apes, having gained respect for the Dark Knight.

Film

• Man-Bat was considered as an antagonist in one of the unproduced scripts for a third Joel Schumacher Batman film.^[3]

Video games

• In the Super Nintendo game The Adventures of Batman & Robin, Man-Bat is one of the bosses. In this game, he speaks; although in the show, he never spoke in Man-Bat form.
• Man-Bat is a boss and playable character in Lego Batman. He is an enemy of Batman and follower of the Penguin. In the game, he possesses super strength and the ability to glide using his wings.^[4] In the Nintendo DS version, Man-Bat is an unlockable character through the "Villain Hunt" minigame.
• Man-Bat is set to appear in the upcoming video game DC Universe Online.

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, Art Asylum's minimates line, and the HeroClix line.
• Man-Bat is also one of the action figures from the line, Secret Files 1: Batman Rogues Gallery. The Man-Bat version of this is the brown skinned/fur with green pants.
• An unproduced prototype figure of Man-Bat for Kenner's Super Powers Collection was unearthed after the line's cancellation.^[5]
• Man-Bat was also featured in Mattel's DCSH line. The brown version was scheduled for series 8, but was dropped and replaced by Catwoman. A white version of Man-Bat was featured as a San Diego Comic Convention exclusive in packaging designed by Frank Varela of Mattel Toys. It was revealed at the 2009 New York Comic 'Con that the brown version is now scheduled for Mattel's DC Universe Classics series 10, which is slated to ship sometime in 2009.

Miscellaneous

• In The Batman Adventures (a comic series based on Batman: The Animated Series), another Man-Bat was formed when Dr. Stefen Perry stole the Man-Bat serum from Langstorm. He was defeated by Batman and arrested by the police. He was later recruited by Dr. Emile Dorian who hoped to use his assistance to form a "House of Dorian" with a mutated Catwoman, Anthony Romulus's Werewolf form, and Perry/Man-Bat.

• In the original broadcast version of the Batman: Animated Series episode "Terror in the Sky" Batman States "The Hell it Isn't" When Langstrom protests his innocence at willingly becoming the Man-Bat a second time. Later broadcasts and the DVD release were changed to "The Devil it isn't"

See also

• List of Batman Family enemies

References