One of the most clever and thought-provoking comic series centered around the Joker has just called out the worst design ever given to a Gotham villain. While the character in question is unarguably a genius, the Mad Hatter is by far the most cartoonish and unintimidating villains in Batman’s rogues gallery. After the Hatter gets wrapped up in an ongoing police investigation, his regrettable costume suddenly becomes the subject called into question.
In the series The Joker Presents: A Puzzlebox written by Matthew Rosenberg with art by Jesus Merino and Ulises Arreola, nearly every one of Batman’s villains are called in for questioning at the Gotham City Police Department. The rogues gallery are brought into the station in regards to a mysterious crime that the Joker seemingly has information on, but is being a bit withholding, prompting the added pressure from other suspects. It is during the questioning of the Mad Hatter that the investigation took a brief sidebar and instead of focusing on the crime at hand, the police called into question the most integral piece to Hatter’s costume.
Upon relaying the circumstances of his arrest, the Mad Hatter accuses Batman of stealing his hat. Confused, the officer questions Hatter’s logic as the villain was currently wearing a hat upon his retelling of events. The Mad Hatter scoffs and says he has more than one hat, to which the officer replies, “Of course you do. Who doesn’t own a few hats the size of their own body?” being intentionally sarcastic and teasing the villain on his ridiculous claim to fame.
While the Mad Hatter does look rather ridiculous, it is a shame that his character has been boiled down to his outfit given that he is undeniably a mad genius. In the series Batman: Fear State, the Scarecrow piggybacks off of Mad Hatter’s genius in the design of his villainous plan to create a world of fear. The storyline proved that Hatter is influential to other major Batman villains as well as being one in his own right.
The design of the Mad Hatter is a disservice to the character and gives him an unfair disadvantage in terms of storyline diversity. Most of Gotham’s villains are fantastical and over the top both in terms of their personalities as well as their costumes. However, almost all of them have a dark and twisted side to their outlandish personas as well, making it so that writers and artists can adapt them to a more kid-like, fun storyline or a mature, dark storyline at their leisure. Because of the Mad Hatters iconic look, it is harder for fans to take him seriously even in stories that try to give him a more sinister edge, thus limiting his stories to only half of the opportunities offered to his fellow villains. A Joker comic just called out the worst Gotham villain design, one which has impacted its character the Mad Hatter in more ways than one.
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